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Spur08

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Posts posted by Spur08

  1. 14 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

    For years, the longest term car note was three years.  Then five-year notes came along.  Now it's any goddamn thing that gets the monthly payment low enough to "afford," eight years and a balloon payment, blah blah blah.

    It's mostly criticism of things described in the third sentence, above, which are pure ghetto finance /noracist.

    But also, it's paying interest on a swiftly depreciating asset for longer than a reasonably short period.

    This is, of course, if you want to be seriously financially responsible and not a car fanboi.  I am a car fanboi to a degree, but I force myself to wait (drive a car 8 years minimum) and shop pretty hard for gently used cars and pay cash.  And typically, longer-term and other goofy-ass finance options are unavailable for used cars.

    I agree to an extent, however, it also seems that the 5 year terms popped up as car prices have increased.  I bought my fanboi car straight out of college b/c I felt it was a right-of-passage/was slightly entitled.  The new purchase was mainly safety driven (heh) for the new arrival, but timing was also important.  My car is paid off and I'm working to make it a 10 year car.  By the time my wife's car is paid off, my car will hit 10 years and we will have the same amount available for a new (to us) vehicle.  Granted, I see how and endless cycle of car payments is problematic and unnecessary.

  2. 9 hours ago, NBMisha said:

    Congrats to you guys that are into this young.  By way of positive feedback I can tell you the payoff, that is, when you can retire and live the life your reasonably want to live, is a beautiful thing.

    Once the paycheck stops coming, budgeting skills and living within a budget are at a premium.  Make sure that among your investment etc skills you are building that you become expert at this.  Extra points for achieving this expert level while staying married.

    I'm actually dealing with this with my folks right now.  My dad is a CPA and, all around, a pretty bright and well-prepared guy.  He just had his contract canceled by his company this past Friday and, it seems, all the planning over the last year leading up to this forced retirement was just shit.  The sobering reality hit him that he needed another year or so for short term costs is really weighing down on him.

    7 hours ago, tokamak said:

    I have no idea what an "investment loan" is, but I'd do the same as you - 7% is high and you should get rid of that ASAP. I fall under the "don't like debt" category, so I'd probably look at paying more than the minimum on that grad school debt next, but truthfully 4% isn't awful so that's just personal preference.

    Next things to look at IMO would be IRAs, then 529s for the kid(s), in that order.

    If you max 2x 401ks and an HSA while paying down all that debt, you are probably doing better than like 90% of people.

    We've opened a 529 for our daughter, but we haven't started regularly contributing yet -- just special occasions and gifts from the grandparents.  The investment loan is a real estate project that was crowd funded by a close group of friends.  I didn't borrow for the full amount, just a small portion of what I needed.  I do understand that this should be the first to go.

    Other notes -- I have a $1MM 30 year term life on myself with some smaller life insurance options through my company for the wife and baby.  Wife and baby have some whole life plans paid for by her folks that they took out themselves.

    I thought about seeing a fee-only CFP but feel like I'm doing alright by myself, for now.  Plus I don't want to shell out the $3K...

  3. I'm doing an oil analysis via Blackstone Labs on this next oil change.  If I post results here, can anyone provide input or am I better off at BobIsTheOilGuy?  Anyone done one before?  My car is a 2013 Tahoe with 110K miles

  4. 1 minute ago, TwiceHorn said:

    Your interest rate on student loan is high enough that it probably makes sense to retire it ASAP.  Personally, I hate debt.  Some don't and some debt is unavoidable.  But when the interest rate is getting close to reasonable investment return, it probably makes no sense to save instead of retiring the debt. 

    And for the future, if you can't "afford" a car on a traditional three-year note, you can't afford it. 

    Appreciate the input.  The car was poorly planned.  We needed a safe vehicle for our [at the time] pending "oops" baby.  Something I forgot to mention, we are planning on having (conceiving) our second [hopefully, last] kid within a year.  

  5. Call it a bug....I've been listening to the Dave Ramsey podcast and have been implementing certain aspects of his "baby steps". 

     

    This will be the first year that both my wife and I max out our 401Ks, child-care FSA, and almost max HSA.  We are early-30s, have a toddler under 2, and a mortgage.  

    1 car w/ a, roughly just under, $30,000 note; 4 years and change

    30 year mortgage (don't plan to accelerate payments)

    Grad loan debt of $39K @ 4.24%

    Investment loan of $19K @ 6.99% (Dividend payments pay for 3/4 of P + I payments)

     

    Both of us have large bonuses coming in the next month which will pay-off the investment loan.  Would it be better to pay down the additional debts or continue to max out 401K and HSA?  Any other personal finance strategies that we're overlooking?

     

  6. While those look delicious, at some point its not a grilled cheese anymore. I'd say the addition of both a meat and a vegetable is that point. 
    You don't know how wrong you are. A pair of nice toasted Texas white with mayo on the back combined with some melted sharp cheddar and leftover brisket. Just beautiful
    • Like 1
  7. This place is awesome. Unseen in the top of the second picture was the seafood hushpuppies. As you can see, they were awesome. The dish was duck hash. Very good

    Chicken and biscuits. Holy hell I want so bad

    I probably gained 40# on this trip. Need a salad cleanse for the rest of the month. 9f21a732ad94f27621bc8d11e0b8dfea.jpg6e8aff529f07a9fb55e29ef6fff73f0f.jpg1076ecdc55a6bb00872e0a2c2f01e8d8.jpg

    • Like 4
  8. I land tomorrow at 8:30 AM.  Checking in to my wife's hotel (she's been there all week) and then I'm off to du Monde for some coffee and beignets.  I'm taking a cooking class starting at 10 AM for 3 hours and then the rest of the day to myself.  I'm thinking Drago's for dinner?  Wife is free starting Friday and we're going to Atchafalaya, GW Fins, Cochon, and Ruby Red Slipper.  What else should we get into -- food, drink, or otherwise?

  9. When my wife taught 4th grade math, every year they would have multiple night time meetings with a roomful of angry parents because of this.  The angriest were usually engineer dads who never struggled a bit in math and couldn’t understand how anyone could find the old way difficult.  It really offended them that the teachers wouldn’t stick with the method that worked so well for them. 
    I know they were engineers because this is the first thing they would tell her before they splained how she should do her job.  It drove her crazy since has 2 masters degrees (evolutionary fish biology and education) along with 2 BS’s (biology and chemistry) and her dad is one of the top physicists in the world.  She is pretty good at maths, especially at a forth grade level.
    Funny. Her picture isn't showing up
    • Like 2
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