Are you financing or paying cash?

[EBolgiano]

I guess I am one of the pay cash guys. I am 53 and all of my vehicles and house are paid for. However, I've been quite fortunate with my work and income. It is quite amazing how far out the American public has gotten with the credit cards, revolving credit, truck and house payments. We looked at a big SUV for the wife several years ago. I told the salesman I wanted to pay cash and he did not know what to do! My oldest son told me one time "dad, you live in a dream" and I told him yeah, and its my dream. Stay out of debt and stay happy! Ed B

 

[Ncostello]

Wingate... how did he get your account info from a fuel pump? When I get fuel only the last four numbers show on the receipt. Was it an employee at the fuel station? Because I'm thinking you'd have to have access to the stations system to see where the money is being pulled from.



I do like your point about a credit card not being tied to the bank account.

 

[tempforce]

i paid cash for my first house, and i lived off my savings for years, waiting for my settlement. i'm tired of living in a r. v. , and i want to get back into a house before prices jump out of my price range, so financing is my only option for getting into a house. as i know prices will skyrocket as soon as the economy recovers, placing me outside the safe zone of affordability. if i have to finance a house for 15 years. at 3-5% i'll still lose money. as i would be paying instead of being paid interest.
i'm willing to use credit, so i can live in a house and have a place to do my own repairs and grow my own food and have my own power supplies. becoming self supporting. if i was in my 20's i would wait. if i wait now, my plans would never happen.
as my income to home prices will not get better.

on the credit card, my debit card was hacked at a fuel station. thankfully my credit union saw purchases, 500 miles apart at the same time of day and shut my card down. now i use the credit card and pay it off. always check you reciepts when you check out, as some employees add a cash back, and pocket the cash.

 

[EGroeneveld]

How very true. We have friends on their 5th house in 8 years because they keep wanting to move up. Funny thing is they are complaining about no money because of their huge mortgage payment. McMansion with crappy furniture. Nice cars with no money for gas. Fancy clothes with no money to eat out with friends once in a while.



Live like no one else!!



Best thing we ever did was bought our first house (in 2001) and have decided that 1631 square feet is plenty for us. More would be nice but we have what we need. Even if we adopt a couple more kids in the next few years we will stay. I am 34 now and we are telling people we are living tight because our plan is to be debt free (house, truck, student loan) by time I am 40. I keep reminding myself what I could do with no debt payments. its tough sometimes but worth it.



Live like no one else!!!

 

[tempforce]

great plan, i've been debt free most of my life. and when i finally made it, it felt great.
but over the last few years, i've reverted, due to not wanting, but needing a larger truck, for safety reasons. and i couldn't find suitable used units.
if i wait until i have the cash to buy a house i will be 80 before i have enough. due to inflation and housing over pricing. then it won't be worth it.
if i move while the prices and the economy is depressed, i can buy a low priced, small house, and get it paid off in 15 years or less. and still put money into savings.
big difference between 60-90k and 200-300k. as everything is going to go up again, as soon as the economy recovers. and with all of the gov. spending interest rates are going up to the rates of the 80's or higher. and the money is being devalued just as fast as it's being printed. so buying gold/silver/platinum metals as a hedge is a good idea as well. some that i bought in the late 90's have increased in value by 600%. not bad... . as i lost my behind due to enron investments.....
cc

 

[DValentine]

I talked to a young kid at work the other day who bought a 09 a week ago. He said " the salesman got my payment just 50 dollars higher than what I was paying for my gasser Chevy. " I just cringed, walked away shaking my head.

 

[BrianJ]

Wingate... how did he get your account info from a fuel pump? When I get fuel only the last four numbers show on the receipt. Was it an employee at the fuel station? Because I'm thinking you'd have to have access to the stations system to see where the money is being pulled from.



I do like your point about a credit card not being tied to the bank account.

Probably used a "skimmer", which is getting more and more common by thieves. They put a card reader on top of the fuel pump card reader and steal the card info. I have an acquantance who had is bank account emptied by such a device.

 

[ceastmen]

Credit Cards

My wife and I got upside down with credit 40+ years ago.

I swore never again, we shovled our way out in 3+ years.

If we as a nation would pay as we go our friends at the banks with the credit cards wouldn't be pronging everyone now!

Now if we can only get our Government to do the same we would have our Country back!!!!!!!!!

 

[Wingate]

Wingate... how did he get your account info from a fuel pump? When I get fuel only the last four numbers show on the receipt. Was it an employee at the fuel station? Because I'm thinking you'd have to have access to the stations system to see where the money is being pulled from.



I do like your point about a credit card not being tied to the bank account.

I had to file several reports with local law enforcement and according to the police dept. and our local district attornies office, the pay at the pump transactions are done "batched"... . (the police detectives term) by an outsourced company on a nightly basis... and that is where the internet hacker got into the system. I am not the only one who has had this happen from a pay at the pump transaction. The guy that just happened to do mine was a juvenille from somewhere in Nevada... .

A couple of years ago in a totally different town with a company credit card, I bought diesel fuel and two days later, my card # was being used in Hollywood California to purchase a 3K jacket, $30. 00 worth of unleaded, and a $10. 00 meal at a local Burger King...

My wife now watches our card thru on-line banking and monitors EVERY transaction.....

Bad thing is, every time I buy something off the Mac Tools truck, she knows about it!!!.

 

[EWalshak]

Excuses

Its really pretty funny(not really) how people will find every excuse to get into more debt. They are really pretty creative when it comes to ways to justify what they do when it comes to debt. It sounds a lot like the liberal , wishy washy people in govt that think we need to spend, spend, spend our way out of debt. Bull hockey. Part of the reason we have become weak as a nation has to do with our society being weaker individually. Wants VS Needs.

Live like no one else! Maybe someday we can get back to the point when China and other countries dont own more of the good ol' USA then we do. Live like no one else!!!

 

[EWalshak]

Im teaching my kids every chance I get so that they wont have to learn the hard way like I did. I didnt have anyboby teach me about being smart with the green stuff. They realize that financing things is not an option at all. When we buy, we pay cash. Whenever I buy a vehicle or a piece of equipment I make sure they are there and they see me whip out the cash and own it as soon as I buy it. They realize that using a debit card isnt a good idea either because mentally it separates spending with physically seeing the flip(cash) coming out of your pocket and a person that uses credit/debit will spend more on average than the cash paying person. Live like no one else!

 

[rscurtis]

This is something that should be part of the public education curriculum, but it's no accident that it isn't.

 

[jgillott]

Wingate, very good point. Our socialized educational system is also set up to keep people in debt.

This is something that should be part of the public education curriculum, but it's no accident that it isn't.

Do you mind explaining this a little more? I'm not saying that I agree or disagree, but I'm not sure exactly what aspect of the curriculum/educational system you are focused on.

 

[EWalshak]

My 2 cents

The left side of govt wants to keep people dependent on them. Thats why they give people a handout. It breeds dependency. If you need them to sustain, you will vote them in to office. You know... job security. That is weaved into what is taught in public ed.

 

[EWalshak]

The stronger a people are, the less they need govt. The weaker they are, the more they need govt. After all the Federal Govt was originally started to do two things. Deliver the mail and protect the shores, and that was it. Look at it now. Some people think they need the govt to do everything for them. Remember the govt is supposed to serve the people, not the other way around.

 

[tempforce]

The stronger a people are, the less they need govt. The weaker they are, the more they need govt. After all the Federal Govt was originally started to do two things. Deliver the mail and protect the shores, and that was it. Look at it now. Some people think they need the govt to do everything for them. Remember the govt is supposed to serve the people, not the other way around.

so true... ...

 

[rscurtis]

Do you mind explaining this a little more? I'm not saying that I agree or disagree, but I'm not sure exactly what aspect of the curriculum/educational system you are focused on.

My point is that the principles of basic consumer finance are not sufficiently taught to young people today. Many have no concept of interest cost or compounding, or how to live within their means. And this is a generational problem- if the parents don't know basic finance, their kids probably won't know it either. Spend a couple of Saturday evenings watching the Suze Orman show and you'll see what I'm talking about. I believe this curriculum is intentionally omitted in order to keep people paying as much interest as possible to all the Wall Street banksters.

 

[tempforce]

try to get correct change if the cash register is not working. many basic skills are being left out so that special interest education can use the time.
that's why more people who are interested in the quality of their kids education are using private schools and home schooling. the only other option is to try to change the system from the inside, becoming a teacher, getting on the school board.

 

[jgillott]

My point is that the principles of basic consumer finance are not sufficiently taught to young people today. Many have no concept of interest cost or compounding, or how to live within their means. And this is a generational problem- if the parents don't know basic finance, their kids probably won't know it either. Spend a couple of Saturday evenings watching the Suze Orman show and you'll see what I'm talking about. I believe this curriculum is intentionally omitted in order to keep people paying as much interest as possible to all the Wall Street banksters.

At work, we jokingly refer to this as the circle of ignorance. I've been a public school teacher for quite a few years now and we see it from generation to generation. Not only do the children of the kids we taught years ago look and act the same as their parents did at that age, they tend to follow down the same paths. Unfortunately, in our current standards/test based curriculum, there isn't much time for teaching common sense or practical thought.



Let me give you one example of how this could be applied to what you were talking about. When I went to college, I worked full time as a firefighter/paramedic to pay the bills. I even spent several years driving truck locally to make a little extra $$$. Thank God, I was able to come out of my undergrad degree without student loans or personal debt. Then, when I was looking for my first teaching job, I found a place that would pay for my graduate degree. I worked myself half to death for about 7 years to get finished with my personal education without debt, but I'm in better shape today because of it. And, I would argue that I probably took my education much more serious since I knew exactly what it took to earn the money.



Now, before the kids even decide on a major or a college to attend, the admissions offices are talking to these kids about getting their student loans and all the extras that can be added to those loans including computers, housing, transportation, etc. I have at least 1 or 2 student teachers come through my classroom yearly from one of the local colleges. During the time they spend with me, I always take the time to talk to them about their future plans, graduate school, etc. Up until the last few years, most of them would say that they wanted to find a job now and they finish grad school later on. Now, most want to continue in college as long as they can so they can continue to delay the start of their student loan payments. The last kid that student taught with me, had over 150K in loans to pay back. It makes me sick to think of trying to pay that back on a starting teachers pay, let alone if he has difficulty finding a job right away.

 

[Wingate]

Unfortunately, in our current standards/test based curriculum, there isn't much time for teaching common sense or practical thought.



I could not have said it better myself!!!... . Children are taught neither to do simple math, reading or writing. This is in no small part due to Dept. of Edu. standardized tests that determines the size of the check issued back to the school!. . My daughter is an elementary school teacher and some of the stories she tells us... . its REALLY scary!!!. .

JG... Some of the worst stories she has shared with my wife and I are about the PARENTS, not the kids!!. .