Balzé Halzé debt is an anchor. Nothing else. The opportunity lost to build wealth with your income vs. waiting for inflation to "reduce" your debt is massive.

RogueJSK:
We have the same attitude toward debt. There are times in my life I would have benefited from "leveraging up" but that definitely adds stress, not knowing if the leveraged asset will keep increasing in value or not.

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:
RogueJSK:
We have the same attitude toward debt. There are times in my life I would have benefited from "leveraging up" but that definitely adds stress, not knowing if the leveraged asset will keep increasing in value or not.

It's all about RISK. You can leverage debt and hold millions in assets, until something happens and you can't maintain it. I'm sticking with slow and steady. Debt free except the house. 15% to my Roth IRA. Hopefully, aggressively paying off the mortgage soon. I took a good break after paying off $56,000 in debt in 9 months and building my emergency fund of 6 months.

I was being cynical. Of course people should pay off their debt as soon as possible. I certainly have.

For the country though and our massive debt, the government actually benefits from the inflation. The people always get screwed though.

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:
RogueJSK:
We have the same attitude toward debt. There are times in my life I would have benefited from "leveraging up" but that definitely adds stress, not knowing if the leveraged asset will keep increasing in value or not.

quote:

Originally posted by SIG4EVA:
It's all about RISK. You can leverage debt and hold millions in assets, until something happens and you can't maintain it.

I agree. I could theoretically pay the minimum on my 2.25% mortgage, and invest what I've been paying extra to principal at 10+% return. But I'd rather get the mortgage paid off ASAP, and drastically reduce my monthly expenses in case "shit happens", and then worry about what to do with that extra money when "shit doesn't happen".

quote:

Originally posted by SIG4EVA:
I'm sticking with slow and steady. Debt free except the house. 15% to my Roth IRA. Hopefully, aggressively paying off the mortgage soon.

Good deal. Sounds a whole lot like my situation.

I hate being in debt. A mortgage is a somewhat better kind of debt (especially at the ridiculously low interest rates lately), and basically an inevitability for most homeowners, but I still want to be free of that ASAP.

I was in debt when I was younger and dumber, and living outside my means, which I fought to get out of once I pulled my head out of my ass. When I met my ex-wife, she was in debt, and we worked together for years to get her out, with the deal being that we wouldn't get married until she was out of debt and prepared to stay out of debt. She apparently did, and apparently was, until it was revealed a ways into our marriage that all she had done was consolidate it and lie about it, and she was actually still in just about as much debt as before. That whole situation (financial infidelity/lying/vastly different financial attitude) was ~90% of the nails in the coffin of our failed marriage.

Fuck debt. I'll take simplicity and financial security, even when it requires hard work and delayed gratification.

Getting out of debt is one of the single best things you can do.

In my first marriage, my wife spent money like a drunken sailor and we got pretty far in debt. She even took out credit cards I knew nothing about and spent the money she got from them.

Then I got rid of her and walked away with almost nothing and I vowed that I would be completely debt free inside 15 years.

So 13 years later I owned my house outright, had no CC debt or other debt of any kind and I don't to this day. I bought my current house for cash and I've now bought 3 different new cars for cash.

Having money means you have a large amount of freedom and nothing more, but it's a great feeling.

I got the whole enchilada this time with Tabitha as a dependent.

She broke her hand really badly last month, so I will use this to pay her medical bill.

Our $2800 showed up in the bank account today. No debts of any kind, so I'll use it to pay my property taxes this year.

Thinking you can send the money to the R candidate in your area, that way BuydemBucks are going to help fund candidates to defeat the D hold on the house and Senate LOL

If I get the $1400, I will use it to pay for my health ins. quarterly bill (medi-gap), and for insurance on one auto.

The chunk we’ll get, plus tax refund, will pay off the car I bought for my wife in November and fund our 15 year anniversary trip... a trip we’ve been dreaming off since we got married those 15 years ago.

quote:

Originally posted by thumperfbc:
and fund our 15 year anniversary trip... a trip we’ve been dreaming off since we got married those 15 years ago.

Sweet! Where to?

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by thumperfbc:
and fund our 15 year anniversary trip... a trip we’ve been dreaming off since we got married those 15 years ago.

Sweet! Where to?

thumperfbc, please don't say Stockton or Lodi. Head to the coast or foothills.

Just dropped $2800 on the mortgage. Oof.

I'm clearly not getting shit this go around. Would've loved to put that money to my daughter's school.

Got my brand new tire. Other brand new tire got 3 punctures darn it. Getting it mounted and balanced this morning. Have a tail light assembly coming soon too. If I dont have to buy many more auto parts, scouting for a H&K..

quote:

Originally posted by Russ59:
thumperfbc, please don't say Stockton or Lodi. Head to the coast or foothills.

Lol. Stockton. You're funny. I was thinking Bakersfield!

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by thumperfbc:
and fund our 15 year anniversary trip... a trip we’ve been dreaming off since we got married those 15 years ago.

Sweet! Where to?

When we got married in 2006 we wanted to go to a Sandals property in Jamaica but over the years my wife shifted to wanting to do Hawaii in an effort to explore our own country first. However, looking at the COVID related restrictions still in effect in Hawaii, we decided we didn't want to travel there this year. Too much hassle. So I started looking into other options, primarily an Alaskan cruise. But Canada screwed that up for the year.

So then we remembered our once dream of Jamaica so I started pricing that out, and it was easily doable with our Hawaii budget in mind. I talked to a coworker who has done some traveling and he said he wouldn't go back to Jamaica, but that he would gladly go back to the Dominican Republic... Punta Cana specifically. I looked into it and was really surprised at how affordable it was.... An upscale all-inclusive major name resort for about half of the costs of a Sandals resort.

So with the stimulus and tax refund and cashing out the comp, we are able to do quite a lot this year financially.

A lot of people are going to pay down debt with this stimulus and I just did too, have $7500 left on a HELOC that went adjustable rate a few years ago and just dumped $5000 into it. What the .gov really want everyone to do is go out and BUY MORE STUFF, but that’s not going to happen much I suspect.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
What the .gov really want everyone to do is go out and BUY MORE STUFF, but that’s not going to happen much I suspect.

Paying existing debt still results in the money being circulated into the economy, much like buying something new.

Stuffing it into the proverbial mattress does not, though.

Enjoy spending your kids' and grandkids' paychecks!