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Pay off those debts
BobJudy
Member Posts: 6,633 ✭✭✭✭
With the feds raising interest rates the interest on personal debt will go up;
They raised it .25 today which doesn't sound to bad, but they forecast 6 more similar raises this year. Judy and I are lucky that we don't carry any debt but for those that do, it is going to get more expensive. On a positive note perhaps savings and CD interest rates will go up. I remember some pretty darn good CD rates as a result of Carter bungling the economy.
For those in the hole at the moment, switching to cheap beer and buying store brand foods so you can pay down your debt would be a good thing. Bob
Comments
That is why I only take out FIXED rate loans! Interest will be like it was in the 1980s soon enough! In less than 2 years, this country is being destroyed from the inside out!
When we bought our house 6 yrs ago, we got a VA approved fixed rate loan. We have had numerous offers for a re-fi loan with "rates even lower than what you currently have". We asked if that's a fixed rate and they all kinda stutter uh well no. No thank you, we will keep what we got.
The only debts we have come monthly in the mail and are paid within 2 days.
Joe
There are time-proven rules about personal finance:
Owe as little as possible
Save (invest) as much as possible
Buy what you really need, not what you merely want
Repair, reuse, recycle what you have
@Rocky Raab like our grandpappys used to say,
"Use it up, wear it out. Make it do, or do without".
Wisdom then, and wisdom today.
A prudent and wise course to follow.👍
I am old enough to remember holding on to bills until the last minute before paying them. Leaving the money in the bank as long as possible to get the interest. Now at todays savings account interest rates we also pay the bills quickly because we aren't losing anything. Bob
I can't. I don't have any.
Well dang Ricci, with the quality of firearms you have been listing for folks lately, that doesn't surprise me. I wasn't worried about you having to give up Black Silk and switching to Yuban!
Probably a lot of folks on this forum are at least debt free and fairly secure financially. There may be a few though who should follow Mike and Joes example and switch any variable rate mortgages/loans to a fixed rate. This forum having a definite conservative lean means on the whole its members will probably do better than a lot of the country if interest rates go crazy. Bob
We bought our house in 1983 with an 11 3/4% FHA loan. Tell that to kids today and I think they think we're lying. I don't wish it on anyone and hope it doesn't return. In our neighborhood, a $60,000 dollar house in 1983 is now $300,000 if you keep it up and remodel. We re-fied a couple times and were glad to lock on 4.5% and will be done with that debt this year.
Debt.......now that's truly a dirty 4 letter word to me, a lot worse than many others which I'm prone to say at times.
"Never do wrong to make a friend----or to keep one".....Robert E. Lee
I will admit that when I was young, I made about every financial mistake there was. My mindset revolved around having a credit card with a 1000 dollar limit meant I had 1000 dollars in my pocket. I would always carry a balance and just get another card to fill up.
It took me a very long time to smarten up. Sure wish I knew then what I know now, but we all know that wishes in one hand and crap in the other........
We met with our investment guy this week to get some tax stuff straight. He said that we're like a lot of his clients: he can't get them to use the money they've accumulated because they've been saving so long they don't know how to spend.
He's right, too. We have more than we could ever spend, but still use lunch coupons and ask for the senior discount!
I sold one of my rentals last Oct and paid off every dime I owe. It's been nice.
My greatest fear in life, is dying and leaving money in the bank.
A few years ago I'd have a bit of fun with the "officers" at my credit union.
I'd point to their big brass savings/loan plaque, over their customer service area.....which "proudly" advertised their current "rates".
I'd state that......you guys want to LOAN me your money for 5 to 7 percent............................................while proudly proclaiming that you will PAY me......one-half of one-tenth of ONE percent, to store my money here.....right??....and I should be happy about that....right?? Their "looks" were classic deer-in-the-headlights.
I laughed all the way to my car.
A year or two after that they rolled out(must have been running low on total deposits) their new "Premium Checking Plan" that paid a good percentage. But, after two years, even that percentage was drastically lowered............................classic "bait-and-switch" tactic.
Oh well......maybe after a few years, we'll finally have regular savings that actually accrue a meaningful interest. One can only hope.
While I'm dreaming.......maybe tax-free municipal bonds will make a comeback.
No kidding. I maintain five-digit checking and savings accounts at my bank, and my total interest earned last year was less than two dollars.
If you're looking to make money a bank is mostly likely the last place to look.
"Never do wrong to make a friend----or to keep one".....Robert E. Lee
@Rocky Raab You're so right about about living your life, saving, saving, saving. Well, I did break down & decided that I can now buy better brands of liquor. But, I'm still working on ordering a meal that costs $2 more.😏
@62vld2042 Yup, those intro rates last for a year to get your money then go bye, bye. Back in the ole days, we would take out a pension loan at 4% & put it in the bank at 8%. But, home mortgages were double digit%.
Agree, I want my last check to be to the undertaker, and I want it to bounce.
Only secret I could pass on to someone young today is this. Learn to live with out, save up and pay cash, over your life time you will have saved three to four hundred thousand in interest alone. Always protect 10% of your net worth in a sure way that will be worth something. Don’t know if I have all the answers, but it has worked for me.
And one last thing, don’t be afraid to say no, and if it sounds to good to be true more than likely it isn’t. eg. build back better.
Spend less than you make always worked for me...
Yep most here forget the portion they owe as their part of the 32 trillon in debt plus much more not seen as U.S. citizens but then they probably think that they will merely just write it all off with no consequences in the future.Like increase in Taxes? Or a hair cut on your savings you think? May be a cut in SS benfits,the list is endless. Hyper Inflation is sure to happen very soon anyway how you slice it.
serf
https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/585679-you-owe-more-than-500000-and-counting
The short answer is $572,000. That’s how much each household or adult taxpayer owes,but each man, woman and child in America — so nearly $2.28 million for a family of four.
You can make your check payable to the U.S. Treasury.
Or you can learn about the debt problem and support policies that attempt to contain it – and maybe someday reverse the trend – which means opposing Democrats’ spending spree.
I'm 63 yrs old. I've been opposing my entire working time. When does it take effect?
Well what is your social score like? Do you agree on all your social media with the great lie with The Great Reset? Then it won't be long. Cheap beer with lousy food is on the menu for you!😁
serf
We've always paid off things as they come due, and rarely carry any debt except our mortgage ... the lone exception is occasionally I'll buy a "toy" of sorts and it may be on my credit card for a month or 3, but I could never justify giving the bank or CC company any more of my hard earned money than I had to ...
I understand extenuating circumstance, but the thing that pisses me off are these commercials of people that owe the IRS tens of THOUSANDS of dollars and get it negotiated down to chump change, same with credit card debt ... for the most part, they just laugh all the way to the bank! If the IRS, CC companies and other lenders want to eliminate the interest, that's one thing but to "forgive" the principal ... that's just wrong!
I feel like a sucker for living within my means ... and don't get me started on generational welfare! Legal refugee immigrants come here with nothing (I don't care that they get a hand up from the government), work hard and contribute to society why do we put up with leaches?
/rant off
? otherwise, you'll find an excuse.
YEA, NO KIDDING, I have $234.67 in my checking and it paid for THREE MONTHS a total of 2 cents.!🤑
Yep, can't even make money by robbing them anymore! 😁
I will provide my services to help you learn how to spend it! Just send me a little(or a lot, your choice) and I can help you break that habit!!!😁😎👌
My wife and I tried for years to get her parents to spend their money and enjoy life while they were healthy enough to do so. Never happened. Much of their nest egg later went to an adult care home charging 8 grand a month. 😓
It's kind of a double edged sword, if they spent it earlier, would they have been able to afford the adult care home?
Back in the day, my grandparents lived with us until they passed. Was this just a passing scenario? All the older people today now go to these $$$ institutions to live out their lives🤔
OK, I was going to leave this alone, but... Yes, our seniors stayed at home, until recently when my aunt needed more help then we could offer. She was living with my mother, with my wife & me just down the street. I offered an adult nephew (who doesn't work) a grand a week to stay there & help. He turned it down with my sister's blessing. So much for keeping the money in the family. My aunt cut "the bum" out of her will. I cut both him & my sister out.
My wife and I took care of her mom who was suffering from Alsheimer's up until things got to be too hard for us. Mentally and physically hard. If there would have been little to no money in MIL's estate, Medicaid would have covered the costs of senior nursing\living care.
The love of money is the root of all evil. Warfare is legalized crime and Central Banks are a ponzi scheme. Politicians are nothing but slave masters. Welcome to the con game upon we the people. Taxation and fees are a cancer and Democracies are just a tool to manipulate the masses.
serf
Carter days were 15-18%. With all the new fed raises you might get to see...might and I highly doubt..3%.
Exactly
And if you try to move the money, they can go back either 3 or 5 years?
5 yr look back.
With The New cashless Fed Coin coming with a carbon tax on everything you buy then you ain't seen nothing yet! You will be unable to hid anything doing with any kind of money exchange period!
Now the new ideas on investments are carbon capture entities. Buy the royalties on it and you will be on the ground floor and will reap astronomical profits ! Of course the nations states might nationalize it all for their own emissions under The U.N.Agenda 2030 protocols.
Investments are always a moving target for the politicians to tax you on to perpetuity .Remember the power to tax is their greatest power! They are the slave masters for the little middle class people. The poor and the rich will be the winners.the middle class will get the squeeze. The rich will always charge you interest on any purchase with a loan.
serf
5 yr look back is to protect the elderly from having the govt, go after their assets. A life estate is a perfect example. A home cannot be taken by the govt for medical expenses if the elderly person put the home in someone else's name 5 yrs prior to going to a nursing home or nursing care within that home. Now if the elderly person have money in the bank it has to be " spent down " until they only have 2k dollars to qualify for medicaid which covers their nursing home or in home care.