111–120 of 123 posts
During my 2 year drive from Alaska to Argentina, it took almost the entire trip for me to learn this lesson. At first in Mexico (and Central America in general) I genuinely thought people were just lazy and I would think "Why don't you get a job". The years rolled on, my Spanish improved, and I had many great conversations about this topic. Finally, a great friend in Argentina explained the situation to me. It's all…
During my 2 year drive from Alaska to Argentina, it took almost the entire trip for me to learn this lesson. At first in Mexico (and Central America in general) I genuinely thought people were just lazy and I would think "Why don't you get a job". The years rolled on, my Spanish improved, and I had many great conversations about this topic. Finally, a great friend in Argentina explained the situation to me. It's all…
You actually know someone who bought a phone on credit?
You put $0, or $99 or $199 down, then you're in a 2 or 3 year contract.
Stop paying that contract and see what happens to your phone (Hint: They take it off you, your credit score goes to rubbish)
You don't own the phone, you're paying it off over many years.
To buy such a phone not on credit, you'll pay something like ~$700 up front, and it's yours for life.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
No TV, no radio, a pretty heavy assortment of ad blockers for my browsers and I refuse to visit people that won't switch off their TV when they have guests or I leave if they don't. Yes, that's rude. No, I don't care. If TV is more interesting than real life people then the real life people have the option to go elsewhere.
Out of curiosity, do you not watch TV series or movies (on a monitor), or is it just cable TV that you don't watch? What about popular music, news, video games and other cultural expressions that all subtly promote materialism?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
By the time you pay off the mortgage you will have paid 3-4 times the value of the property because of the interest. So on a $400k house you will have put $1.2mil - $1.6mil into the savings account, but you'll only have a ~$500k property to show for it (IF the house appreciates, which it hopefully does, fingers crossed). That's a seriously inefficient way to save.
FUD. The number is less than 2x, not 3-4x. Loan amount: $500,000 Interest rate: 4.5% Total paid: $912,033.56 http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/managing-debt/annual-per... You're forgetting two other things: 1.) A portion of interest paid is tax-deductible (rent is not). 2.) $1 today is not worth $1 30 years from now - your payment stays constant for 30 years, but your dollars gain more buying power.
He didn't say 'extra' just paying 3 to 4 times. And that 4.5% can be improved upon but only if you go variable rate, if you lock it down for longer it can get quite a bit higher (or if you are considered a higher risk client, such as someone who is self employed).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You have to consider the rent-vs-buy situation of that particular market in order to really evaluate the decision of whether or not taking a mortgage is the right thing to do.
Bingo. For my recent move I made a spreadsheet to calculate the financial impact of rent vs. buy. I had to guess at a lot of factors , but in the end it was a no brainer. Do the calculation! Cost to Buy: estimated lost investment returns on down payment (after taxes), estimated lost returns on monthly payment (cumulative), financing costs after tax deduction, real-estate taxes after deduction, insurance, HOA fees, ut…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The reason I paid cash was very simple: because of a nasty little slip-up during my immigration into Canada I ended up un-insured (you have three months to apply for OHIP but being in the heat of a launching start-up I totally missed out of it). Many years later, on a short trip to NL I got hit with the gall bladder issue and I was rather pleasantly surprised that it was as cheap as it was.
An infographic [1] comparing the cost across states. Those high cost ones seem absurd to me. But I've read my EOBs on every surgery I've had. One hospital charged something like $200-300 for the stitches (maybe 20 stitches used) . Not stitching, the stitches. The personnel costs were listed separately. US medical costs are broken. [1] http://www.bernardhealth.com/woofstreetjournal/bid/197140/Ga...
Thanks for that graph, I had no idea it was this bad.
I'm tired of seeing "people who are in debt waste their money" or "people who are in debt live beyond their means" as the default explanation for indebtedness. I'm in debt. I have debt for a car, furniture, and medical expenses. (despite the fact that most of my furniture was acquired for little cost, and insurance covers most of my medical expenses) I also have a new MacBook Pro (I'm a developer), much to the chagri…
Huh. Starbuck habit of $5/day (conservative?) over a 200-day work year amounts to $1000. Have to spend $100,000 to make that just 1%.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
FUD. The number is less than 2x, not 3-4x. Loan amount: $500,000 Interest rate: 4.5% Total paid: $912,033.56 http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/managing-debt/annual-per... You're forgetting two other things: 1.) A portion of interest paid is tax-deductible (rent is not). 2.) $1 today is not worth $1 30 years from now - your payment stays constant for 30 years, but your dollars gain more buying power.
You're missing the point that you are also paying the principal. He didn't say 'extra' just paying 3 to 4 times. And that 4.5% can be improved upon but only if you go variable rate, if you lock it down for longer it can get quite a bit higher (or if you are considered a higher risk client, such as someone who is self employed).
Just so everyone is on the same page. The original 30 year, $500k loan that Domenic_S is proposing, at 4.5% interest has a monthly payment of $2533.43. After 360 of those payments (30 years * 12 months per year), all the principal and interest will have been paid off.
360 * $2533.43 = $912034
$912034 / $500000 = 1.82
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You opted out of health insurance??? Obviously I would never wish a freak traumatic accident or sudden debilitating illness on anyone, but should one happen to you, please post back here about how those slightly bigger monthly paychecks worked out for you.
Anecdote: my brother, who IIRC was unemployed at the time, chose not to purchase even a catastrophic plan, under the theory that he was perfectly healthy so why should he? Then one day, out of the blue, horribly sick, with intense abdominal pain, almost unable to walk, he had to be taken to the emergency room to have his appendix removed. The bill was something like $17K and he paid all of it out of pocket. He was in…
It's risky to not have at least a catastrophic health insurance, but it is also quite expensive to have it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Investing $4000/month (which is what I do on a salary barely over $100k while living by myself in a 1 bedroom in the East Village, NYC and going out for every meal) at 3% will get you $1 million in 17 years. That means you'll be a millionaire by the time you're 40 if you start doing this right after graduating college. 3% happens to be the rate that stocks have historically appreciated above inflation, so by doing th…
"Investing $4000/month (which is what I do on a salary barely over $100k while living by myself in a 1 bedroom in the East Village, NYC and going out for every meal) at 3% will get you $1 million in 17 years." Might want to consider that inflation averages about 2.5-3% annually... So effectively you're treading water there in terms of investment (though saving is good).