the first two years I worked in the library or the gym where I basically just did my homework and rarely checked out a book or fixed someones membership. The last two years I did undergrad research. I think i made like 7 bucks per hour and min wage was 5.25 per hour at the time.
I had jobs all throughout college. Full-ride scholarship (tuition + books). Another scholarship my freshman year that paid for housing + a monthly stipend. So I got out of undergrad with only a few thousand dollars in loans (which I took out to cover our state required 9 credits of summer session classes, which were not covered under the scholarship). I also had a scholarship for law school, but still have to take out loans to cover it.
The debt I have is one that I don't even want to think about. Before I met my wife, I had a car loan and a little bit on a personal credit card. Now I have not one, but 2 car loans, a mortgage, a home equity, her student loan, my credit card (which the balance has increased), and a personal loan in her name. Believe me, it could be a lot worse, trust me because it was when we first got married. We have come a long way but we still have a way to go. Having a car loan (even 2) doesn't bother me that much and there are very few people who can get out of not having a mortgage loan. But I would really want to see us get my credit card, her personal loan, and student loan all paid off within the next couple of years. I just don't know if that will ever happen, though.
This is actually a terrible misconception. There is good debt (which is very good) and there is bad debt (which is very bad). People who understand the time-value of money (TVM) understand that debt is a good thing (when handled properly) and can be leveraged to increase your wealth. The concept of TVM is that today's money is worth more than it will be worth years from now. With this in mind, it makes sense to incur debt properly (well-secured and with low interest rates) in order to invest in items which may provide a return which is greater than the cost of the debt. Many many rich people incur LOTS of debt - not because they need it, but because of TVM. Fixed mortgages and student loans are simple examples of good debt. Bad debt, however, is debt that is not well-secured and/or is incurred a high interest rate nad/or has a low return on investment. America's in big trouble right now mostly because we suffer from affluenza and also because Americans generally don't understand the difference between good and bad debt.
Case in point. If I have a 0% interest credit card that I can put $10,000 on and I know I have the 10k to pay it back easily, why would I avoid using the card? If nothing else, I can put the 10k in an interest bearing account that brings back 4%. Let's say I have a 2 year window before the interest starts to kick in, I can turn that 10k into a bigger dollar amount instead of just losing it from the beginning. The 10k is gone no matter what, it has to pay off the debt or the initial purchase. But by using debt properly, while I may have lost 10k, I earned the interest on it while it was invested. If you are smart with your investments and you supplement it with regular savings etc, you can easily use debt to accumulate wealth. Maybe not at huge numbers, but it all adds up.
um, no. you forgot about rent (if i didn't own the house) and the expected raising value of the house. however, if you give me the money to pay off my house, i'll gladly send you $10,000 minus $3,300 per/yr over 30 yrs (assuming 10K is just my interest).
Correct - assuming you are responsible on the card and don't leave debt on it past the 0% time period ('cause I betcha the interest rate on that sucker AFTER the 0% time period will get your attention!)
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0wP9D6tYRAU&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0wP9D6tYRAU&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> I rest my case. (Also I've never had problems myself. And the tech community has given it great reviews, which they wouldn't give if this appeared to be a short-lived start-up or had security/privacy issues).
2 years ago, when I was married I had roughly 60k worth. After the divorce and some crafty budgetting, I am down to about 10k. I'm on a mission to be debt free in the next year. Except the house. That will take a few more years.
I've got ~13k on the car ~10k on student loans ~10k on credit cards thats $33k So which method do you guys think it's better overall, the snow ball method or paying off the highest rate credit card first? Right now, all I'm doing is paying triple the amount minimum payment for all of my credit cards (I have 4) and the minimum on my car and student loan.
Clearly responsibility is the key. I think people should know whether they are responsible enough to have credit cards though. If you are the type where money burns a hole in your pocket, I'd avoid using credit cards for big purchases. You'll always end up burning the money that you need to use to pay it back.
The lesson of this thread, look for signs of debt before getting hitched. Being aware can't hurt. $2,000 student loan $2,500 credit card I bite off what I can chew, and always pay my credit cards off the same month. My pops is in the antique business and needed some help. Thank God gas prices went down, it was killing the domestic economy.
Well I married my dream girl, I married my dream girl but she didn't tell me, her credit was whack. So now instead of living in a pleasant suburb, we're living in the basement at her mom and dad's. No we can’t get a loan, for a respectable home, just because my girl defaulted on some old credit cards. If only I had gone to free credit report dot com, I’d be a happy bachelor with a dog and a yard.
it's not like that. for med school, law school, and bschool - there's no "being more economical". those graduate schools have high rates of tuition and you really can't take a job on the side (it's against policy in law school, in bschool you're too busy recruiting). it's also why doctors/dentists, lawyers and post-MBAs make so much - you got to pay off the loans. i wouldn't be this much in debt if i went to engineering grad school, poly sci etc., as those schools entice grad students to work for them with free tuition, grants etc. I'm a JD/MBA, so i'm doubly screwed. i ask myself everyday what i was thinking in terms of ROI.
probably close to $500k, if you include my car, what I have left on the house, student loans, etc. I'm lovin' it! Last month my amex bill was $26,000. awesome
Let's see... My car is paid off. No student loans (thank goodness - now if I can just get through grad school without any I will be happy) Mortgage - 73K Home Equity LOC - 20K Credit Cards - 12K That's it. If I could get the value of my house up above 120K I could refinance the Mortgage and LOC then get a new LOC with a lower rate to pay off my credit cards. (The credit cards are from being a moron when I first graduated college that I am still trying to pay off. Bought the house when the lady who lived in the apartment next door to me was murdered... needless to say I wasn't going to live there long after that.) Or just get a higher paying job.
