I had my last ride 14 years. I estimate that I saved $50,000 by running that bad boy until it died.
Financial Thread
- Thread starter NATEizKING
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I had my last ride 14 years. I estimate that I saved $50,000 by running that bad boy until it died.
I don't look at it that way. I look at it like this:
My wife comes to me and says "The heel of my shoe fell off and I need a replacement". The problem is that we only have $10 saved to buy her new shoes but the ones she wants are $80.
In my world
We'll take the $10 and fix your shoes and start saving for those $80 shoes. I would tell her "next time give me a little heads up so we can save more for the replacement"
In my world I'm always saving for my next vehicles so that I don't have to get a loan. It's just like making loan payments except that I'm not tied into a loan in case something bad happens. Once people pay off their car I don't understand why they don't start saving for the next one. Actually I do understand, a large majority of people never pay off their car and just go from car loan to car loan.
just to piggyback on this because it wasn't something that I realized - you have complete control of the Roth IRA. You can essentially treat it as extra savings. Because anything you put in (not gains) can be taken out penalty free if you all of a sudden need extra money (though that shouldn't be something you're doing anyway). If it's in a 401k, even a Roth 401k, there may be some more hoops to jump through. Plus you will likely have more options to invest in through your own IRA vs. a company's options.
This big time. Most 401k's are filled with high cost funds that you don't need.
yeah mine are nearly all over .5 and probably 40-50% well over 1. Both of DH's companies have been nearly all Vanguard options. I tried to ask about getting some better options (only had one S&P index fund option - that was actually on a lot of top ten lists - and they just swapped it out for one .2 higher in fees......single international option is like 1.5%.....etc.) and was pretty much given a "don't worry your pretty little head, little girl" type of response.
It depends on what you call respectable. If by respectable you mean a car in the $20K range then yes that's very tough. On the other hand, if you mean a car in the $5-10K range then not as much. I would consider a car $20K and above a nice car, and in the $10K range to be respectable. I bought my car in 2009 (2003 Honda Accord) for about $7500 and it is in good shape, gets good gas mileage, and runs reliably. Sure, it's not fancy but it's not ugly either. I guess I'm also lucky in that I'm not a car person, so it doesn't bother me that I drive a 4 cylinder lame car. The way I figure is that I'll work my way up and each car "cycle" I'll be able to afford a nicer one.
Absolutely. And when you switch jobs, don't roll your funds into your new employer's plan. Roll them over to an IRA with the vendor of your choice. (Whatever you do, don't cash it out!) Then you'll always have complete control over it.
Any have a recommended Financial Planner or Advisor in the Ankeny or Urbandale area that they would recommend?
What are they fee structures like for such services?
Any information is appreciated.
What are they fee structures like for such services?
Any information is appreciated.
One thing that kind of puts me off about Mint, is what happens if they ever get hacked? They say they are a read-only service, which is great. but if they were hacked, the hackers would have access to not only your bank account numbers, but the passwords to go with them. Then they could just go over to the mobile banking side and have access. Am I wrong in thinking this?
This is really the only thing holding me back from signing up for it at this point..
This is really the only thing holding me back from signing up for it at this point..
My car is 5% of my current salary, but the great part is I got it at 60% of it's value 5 years ago so it is worth the same now as what I paid for it then. I'll probably have it another 5 years, never been a car person just get me there.
I haven't had a problem in three years of using it - this was something my husband asked about too. I did some reading and they say they use the same level of security as banking systems. Any type of breach and the entire Mint system would be toast.
http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/06/should-you-trust-mint-com/
Which is why I said you need to be smart about it. Loading up on debt is definitely not recommended but people saying you can't go out and buy a car at 0% unless you can pay 100% cash isn't necessarily accurate either.
I could go out and buy my next car with cash but doing so would take away my ability to continue to invest in real estate at the level I want to. So leveraging debt for me is huge and brings me more income long term. So saying "don't take out any debt outside of a mortgage" can be just as foolish as well.
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I never have much in the bank account anyway, and wouldn't all but $50 of any bank account or credit card be covered by the company or the FDIC?
What would you guys think of changing my 401k contribution every few months or so to a high percentage and then lowering it back to normal? I'm able to change mine whenever I want which may be typical, I'm not sure. The max is 99%, but obviously I don't see myself doing that.
