I bought my car yesterday -- quite unexpectedly! I was going to wait until Saturday when my son could drive me to several places in distant suburbs. But when I looked at local websites rather than the big Autotrader-type things, I found new options.
I bought a 2014 Kia Soul with only 29K miles. It is in beautiful, perfect condition. I paid cash (which included putting $2700 on a credit card) and the total was $12,705. I'll get some of that back because I'll be reimbursed for taxes and fees.
It was a little over my spending limit, but I am so pleased. I did look extensively at Toyotas and Hondas, understanding totally that their reliability is legendary, but the only options for me would have been cars that were older than the one I lost (which was pretty old already!) or cars that had very high mileage.
The Kia Soul has good ratings for reliability as well, and I am trusting that this will be a good car. I love the way it looks and the way it handles, the roominess of the interior and the nice, high seat! I didn't realize how much I hated getting in and out of the low-slung Civic. A friend of mine just told me that he LOVED his Soul and that it handled great in snowy conditions.
The fly in the ointment is going to be quickly paying off what I put on the card. I'm going to have to really be frugal in order to pay it off in a couple of months to ameliorate the interest. Unfortunately, this is the worst time of the year for that, as Christmas is coming, as well as two birthdays this month.
Today I'm going to go get my wheel tax paid, as well as go to the gym and pick up a few groceries. I'm due for a haircut, but I think that may have to wait until tomorrow. But I'm so excited to get in my new car!
A New Car!
November 1st, 2019 at 12:01 pm
November 1st, 2019 at 12:50 pm 1572612653
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November 1st, 2019 at 03:27 pm 1572622047
If the credit card debt is high at a bad time of year, you might look at a 0% balance transfer offer. You can find those typically for a 4%, sometimes 3%, rarely (but occasionally) a 2% fee. If you find one for 3%, that's just $81 paid upfront, and that might make things easier as you get into the spendy time of year. That's what I do whenever I have a big unexpected expense, like my Buffy's veterinary hospitalization back in June. Being able to pay the fee, essentially a low interest payment, and then spread the payment on the principal over time, really helps.
November 1st, 2019 at 03:43 pm 1572622990
Nerdwallet has some offers...
November 1st, 2019 at 04:04 pm 1572624268
https://creditcards.chase.com/a1/freedom-slate/compare?Cell=...
November 1st, 2019 at 04:05 pm 1572624337
November 1st, 2019 at 04:07 pm 1572624476
Those that focus on the zero percent loans will forever be in debt. The only people that should consider these loans are people that will require most if not all of the zero percent period to pay off the loan and will actually have the loan paid off at the end of that period. Others are just fooling themselves.
November 1st, 2019 at 04:15 pm 1572624953
November 1st, 2019 at 08:00 pm 1572638436
November 1st, 2019 at 09:12 pm 1572642741
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November 2nd, 2019 at 12:03 am 1572653032
Consume now, pay for your past consumption that you could not afford later. Or maybe never pay for it and die with a lot of debt or file bankruptcy. Very bad advice, IMO.
November 2nd, 2019 at 05:46 am 1572673572
November 2nd, 2019 at 03:48 pm 1572709703
Credit cards can be a danger to those who use them indiscriminately, buying more than they can afford.
They can also be a tool if used wisely. I charge everything I can, paying in full each month, and I add about $50 a month to my bottom line that way. It costs me nothing, and in fact makes tracking my spending very easy. I don’t churn through cards to get bonuses but I have used that feature when I had a reason to want a new card. If I had a large unexpected expense I would consider a zero balance card as a way to finance if I didn’t have or want to deplete my savings.
November 2nd, 2019 at 07:55 pm 1572724549
Dido is advocating spending more than you can afford and then paying it off when you can afford it. The problem is that you continue to want things you can't afford. You end up going further into debt to satisfy those wants.
I'm disappointed that someone that is a professional financial adviser would give such poor advice. Looking at her finances as disclosed on her blog, I suspect that if you subtract out her retirement accounts, her net worth is not very high. She's juggling high credit card debt, a mortgage, and a HELOC. Another job loss would likely be very damaging to her. In my opinion, her choices and the rationalizations for making them compromise her credibility. As Dave Ramsey says, "Don't take financial advice from broke people."
November 3rd, 2019 at 02:02 pm 1572789761
What I had in mind was the analogy to a mortgage. Many fewer of us would live in homes if we had to pay for it entirely up front. Now a house is possibly, but not necessarily, an appreciating asset, while a car is a depreciating one, but I am in no means advocating for living beyond ones' means; just pointing out that it would be possible to spread the expense over a bit of time so as not to feel so crunched in the short term.
Think about losing weight. You could try to starve yourself for a short term, or consume fewer calories over a longer term. Either way, to lose weight, calories in will need to be less than calories out. But cutting a few hundred calories a day is more sustainable than starving yourself. I believe in responsible debt use, and not living beyond one's means, but also in managing cash flow in a manner that is sustainable. Ideally one has an emergency fund that covers all of these unexpected expenses, but if one doesn't, then a zero percent loan and cutting expenses somewhat over a period of time might be more sustainable than trying to "starve" oneself financially over a short term.
November 3rd, 2019 at 05:19 pm 1572801563
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November 4th, 2019 at 12:17 pm 1572869834