+1 for Mint.com. Very hand tool and good UI. It even makes suggestions on how you can save more money (different credit cards, checking accts, etc.) though i've always been too lazy to switch.
Damn son! You go to med school twice or something? I'm going to take on about half what you have in student loans in another 7 months.
Hey man, you're lucky to have a (future) wife with that kind of attitude about spending money. I wish I did. I cringe every time I see Ann Taylor Loft on our bank statement.
I wouldn't consider a mortgage dept. You get a tax break on the interest and the value of the house rises(hopefully). It's like rent but you get to keep the house at the end. If you don't consider rent debt, you should consider your house debt either, unless you've got a second mortgage or paying insanely high rates.
Bank of america has a "My Portfolio" that is part of their online banking. It's free, can register all accounts and you can categorize every transaction on all accounts to see what you are spending. Also, has graph charts, expense reports, income v. expense analysis, and you can set a budget with alerts when you go over in a certain category. It is the only reason that I bank with BofA.
I appreciate it. Sometimes I listen to those shows that talk about how to get out of debt, and people would call in with 5 digit figures on their credit cards. So I was just curious
You have to enter your login info. Here's the privacy details: Mint There is a certain leap of faith and you should be paranoid giving sensitive info anywhere online. But there are many good reviews from reputable places (Time, Motley Fool, PC Mag). I forgot to say it also hooks into your stock portfolio if you have an online account with any of the popular brokerage sites.
In regards to why we need 'new stuff' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence iPod is one of the prime examples of planned obsolescence, they're evil, stop supporting them!
$20K in student loans and I have about $4000 left on my car. The $4000 on my car is scheduled to be paid off in September of 2009 but it will be sooner than that. Like the OP, I will never buy another new car again.
I have about $6 in credit card debt right now, but it isn't real debt. I have more than enough cash on hand to pay it off, but the credit card is 0% interest for about 8 more months so I've only made small payments to pay it off each month while keeping the bulk of cash in growth accounts. The month before the interest kicks in, I plan to pay it off entirely. I'll have netted a profit on the cash. Won't be huge, but it will be significant. Do whatever I can to raise the house fund up. I have about $1000 left on my car (woohoo!) and I have A SINGLE student loan for one semester of college my freshman year that my mother is supposed to pay off next April.
Debt is what you owe, regardless of whether or not you're going to see some kind of return on your payments. A house/mortgage is debt because you can't walk away without paying what you owe for it (usually done by selling the house itself). In contrast, you actually pay rent in advance (first of every month) and you can walk away at any time (not taking in to account a fee for breaking the lease).
technically, it is, i guess. but i consider it a future asset i'm paying into. i have 180K left on my house.
