My father grew up in the Great Depression, and always taught us to be frugal with our spending and debt. It was understood that when starting out, one may have a mortgage on a house, a lease on your vehicle (or whatever they had before leases), and household debts related to bringing up a family. But when my father reached his fifties, he owned his own house, cars, raised three children, and was debt free.

I am now pushing through the same part of my life. I find that my school loans have been paid for, my home, car, and miscellaneous and sundry household items are owned debt free. Now to be fair, I live in a very modest home, drive a less than brand new vehicle, and exist sans the latest and greatest technical features that are all the rage today. Nor do I don’t own any credit cards, which I realize hurts my credit rating. If I don't have the money for something, I simply don't buy it.

What say you, O’ wise SigForum brain trust? Where are you financially? You may wish to reply to this poll without commenting, or, Vis versa, comment, without answering the poll.

Question:
Where Are You In Managing Your Debt?

Choices:
I’m in the black. Home, car, life is all debt free.
I’m living paycheck to paycheck, but still am ahead of any debt.
I manage my debt month to month, with a mortgage and car payments.
I maintain a debt between $500 and $1000, besides house and car.
I maintain a debt between $1000 and $5000 besides house and car.
I maintain a debt from $5000 to $15,000 besides house and car.
I’m totally in the red. I’ve no idea how to get out of debt.

 

My credit card debt is purely because I want something and don't want to deal with my wife

Like today, I finally caved and bought one of those VP9's with the threaded barrel from PSA. It was $550 and I didn't really need the inquisition over another gun.

I bought it on my credit card. I'll be able to dink and dunk and have it gone in a month or two without the boss every being the wiser.

I do have a sizable mortgage, but that doesn't really bother me.

Networth is most certainly in the black despite mortgage and cars.

Debt isn't bad IMO. It's bad when it's a result of uncontrollable spending impulse, otherwise, I think it's fine because the cost of money is so low.

If a great deal on a gun came up and I had to put it on a CC and pay it off over 6 months (say a new Wilson or something), I wouldn't be opposed to it.

I'd prefer to not have to, but if that is what I had to do at the time, I'd be fine with it. I'd never do such a thing if I didn't know I could allocate the money to pay it off timely though. Buying without knowing where the money was coming from and carrying the debt of purchase for years would be beyond silly to me.

My house isn't paid for but both cars are. Still have some credit card debt but the balances are pretty low...compared to what they were a while back.
My credit rating hasn't been below 825 for a long, long time.

I have been trying to reign in my debt but I suck. I have ~$8000 now and should be down to $2000ish in Oct. The problem is as soon as I get to $0, a major appliance breaks or something like my timing belt in the Ridgeline being due in 5,000 miles.

On a positive note, 2 cars, a house in Taiwan, and a boat paid off. My current house was a short sale and is worth $67,000 more than what I paid for it.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: SIG4EVA,

Retired.

Just a mortgage (old and cheap - like me.)

If I couldn't pay for something now, how would I pay for it later?
.

Learned a lesson a long time ago > earn interest not pay it.
Paid off the house years ago by putting everything extra I earned into it ~ pd 30 yr mortgage in 12-13 years.
Never looked back and can pay cash now for whatever I/we need/want.
Manage your overhead and you manage your life.
YMMV
We did Dave Ramsey before he was Dave Ramsey (you know what I mean).

I dont fit into any category. My only debt is my Mortgage and I do NOT live paycheck to paycheck. I have a healthy emergency fund of 6 months worth of expenses should anything happen. I'm investing in retirement and thats about where we are.

I've been doing a WHOLE LOT better with this ever since I met my wife and we got married in 2012. She's really whipped my sorry fiscal ass into shape, drill sergeant-style. I've gone from being in drowning debt with credit cards to the tune of nearly $25,000, plus a car payment and mortgage and barely being able to live from paycheck to paycheck to having just a few thousand in debt between us, a paid off car and another that's nearly paid off and savings going into the bank.

It was hard, I won't lie about that. I went from buying anything I pleased whenever I pleased to being on a very tight leash and anything over $50 has to be discussed whether we really need it, no more buying a new or newer car every couple years, etc.

quote:

Nor do I don’t own any credit cards, which I realize hurts my credit rating. If I don't have the money for something, I simply don't buy it.

I use credit cards for convenience, not to spread out the payments or because I can't afford what I'm buying. I pay them off every month before the due date and pay no interest.

Debt is not always a bad thing. As mentioned net worth is a more important number and of course a healthy positive cash flow makes like a lot easier.

We still have my wife's student loans from pharmacy school and will for over a decade yet. But when I consolidated the interest rate it was right at 1 percent. Why would I want to pay that off??

Just paid off our 2014 Honda Accord. I could have bought cash but took out a loan for .9 percent because of my credit rating. The funds that I could have paid it for cash almost doubled during the time of the loan.

Mortgage is paid off though. At age 65 I have never paid a dime in credit card interest but rack up a lot of reward points.

Retired.

No debt.

Credit cards are for convenience only. I never put anything on a card that I know won't get paid off on the next cycle.

Income = social security and disbursements from an IRA that's been working for several years.

There's an emergency account that sits in an account that gets 0.75% interest. It never gets touched unless there's a real emergency.

I'd rather have a nicer bigger house, but this one is paid for and I can tolerate my neighbors, so far. The car is 2 years old and I paid cash for it, so no payments due. Occasionally, I can buy something I want, just because I want it and don't have to worry about it.

To quote Hicok45 "Life is good".

Townhouse is paid for, student loans are gone, credit card paid every month. Have a loan on my vehicle but that was by design to mitigate tax burden on my small side business. I also save 50% of my take home every paycheck. It took me a while to get to this point but it feels good.

I used to be concerned about debt. Not anymore.
My bills are all paid. I have a little fun money every month.
Since reaching my 60s, I find I need or desire less every year.

I am middle aged with one in college and one in middle school. 2 of the 3 cars are paid for and I have a mortgage. No credit card debit and a decent savings. Things are tight but we paid for braces and have been able to pay tuition for my daughter to keep her debt free through college so far.

quote:

Originally posted by JohnV:
I dont fit into any category. My only debt is my Mortgage and I do NOT live paycheck to paycheck. I have a healthy emergency fund of 6 months worth of expenses should anything happen. I'm investing in retirement and thats about where we are.

Same here. I voted that we're in the black, because the amount we have in savings is greater than what we still owe on the house. We could pay it off anytime we want, but since the remaining payments are almost entirely principal there's no point in it.

No car payments, no credit card debt, and student loans were paid off long ago. Our income exceeds our expenses, with the extra going to saving for the kids' college and/or real estate investments.

I'm envious of those of you who can live debt free. I'm working that way myself, but it's tough to get there. Dave Ramsey has been a big help, and I've still got a long ways to go, but I'm in a lot better shape than I was two years ago.

45, no debt. Paid off the truck in July. I could've paid it off sooner but the interest was negligible compared to the growth of my investments.

quote:

Originally posted by JohnV:
I dont fit into any category. My only debt is my Mortgage and I do NOT live paycheck to paycheck. I have a healthy emergency fund of 6 months worth of expenses should anything happen. I'm investing in retirement and thats about where we are.

I resemble this.

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I have a mortgage that is less than 25% of the property value, and an IRA and 401(k) stuffed with half a million bucks.

I'm slightly illiquid now, but one year from now, should I be forced to, I can access the retirement accounts without getting penalized.

I did a financial status last night and found I'm back where I was before I got laid off in 2011. And to think my spouse left over money....

quote:

Originally posted by Sig209:

quote:

Originally posted by JohnV:
I dont fit into any category. My only debt is my Mortgage and I do NOT live paycheck to paycheck. I have a healthy emergency fund of 6 months worth of expenses should anything happen. I'm investing in retirement and thats about where we are.

I resemble this.

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Me as well. We do use a credit card for day today purchases, but it has a low limit, we pay it off every month, and always have enough in the bank to do so. My cars are old and high-mileage, but they're paid for, and anything that breaks on them I can fix. Our house is our only debt, and I'm on track to have it paid off well before I turn 40. I'm 32 now.