Posted by ET,
under Auto Loans, Debt, ET, The Economy |
08/18/2010
The Federal Reserve released its quarterly report on household debt and credit, and I was surprised to see some good news that I wanted to share.
The Good News: Auto loans are up 25%, payments on a bigger % of debt are current, and the total amount of credit account inquiries has gone up for the first time in 3 years. These are all signs of an increase in demand. Credit Card accounts are being closed faster than they are being opened, and this can be seen as a good thing (consumers are getting smarter) or a bad thing if you believe this will impact credit levels.
Why is all of this happening? I believe that people are past the pain point of holding cash in fear of losing their jobs and the need for a few new things such as a car, work clothes, school items, updating appliances, etc. Yet, they are not opening new cards in an effort to get a one time price break or deal at a retailer. Hopefully these purchases fall within your financial plan, and are budgeted for. If they are, congrats on sticking to your plan and stimulating the economy at the same time.
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No Comments | Tags: Consumers are getting smarter, Economic Recovery, Federal Reserve, Increase in demand
Posted by KEJONES,
under Auto Loans, Debt, Family, Financial goals, General, Mortgage |
05/17/2010
Recently I read that if you really want to get ahead financially, you shouldn’t sweat the little things- like that indulgent, over priced coffee that you can conveniently swing by and pick up on the morning commute. Apparently that isn’t making as much of an impact on finances as that indulgent, over priced VEHICLE that some of us choose to drive. Or that ridiculous, keeping-up-with-the-Joneses house that that vehicle is being parked at. And I say AT and not IN because, be honest, the car isn’t kept in the garage because the garage is full of other stuff! Apparently we are spending too much on our cars, houses and food.
That made me think back to my recent post about cutting back on eating out: For my family, it’s true, an easy place for us to cut back. For my parents it’s not as realistic because they rarely eat out, so maybe that won’t work for them. So I thought more about the other things mentioned…the house and cars.
The house? Size-wise we absolutely could downsize, however we couldn’t scale back the mortgage payment, so that’s not really as realistic of an option. We were lucky enough to have land to build on given to us (from my uber-generous father in law!), contracting services and my husband and father in law (as well as other generous family members and friends) did a huge majority of the work. In return, we have a lot of equity in the house and a very low mortgage payment. It’s ironic because we were SO eager to get into our dreamhome and have space for everyone to spread out. I quickly learned that the more space you have, the more “stuff” you accumulate and the more space you have to clean! Thinking back to the days when we lived in a two bedroom apartment I realize I was happier. Yes, it was tight…and our family was one child smaller, but I think there is a happy medium to be had. Plus in this market, I can’t imagine listing a house and waiting for it to sell. Definitely NOT the time for us to downsize.
The cars? We have three kids…one car seat and two booster seats. Therefore, we are limited to vehicle options at this point. One is paid off, so that’s about as smart as it gets. It is on it’s second transmission and we are beginning to think it might be time for a third soon, although hopefully not. The other is not paid off, we bought it used and it works for us. I’m not sure we could replace it with anything more economical. We could lower the monthly payments by extending the terms of the loan, but that’s not smart for us, I’d rather pay it off sooner. We have recently checked into refinancing the car at a lower rate, we found some great rates through a local credit union, without extending the terms. If anything, I think we need to work on bulking up our 50 pound 8 year old, so he’ll grow and meet the height and weight requirements to get him OUT of the booster-then we can focus on our 6 year old. I’ll cut the baby some slack…for a few years anyway.
The food? We are working on it. We have adjusted to eating out less. I’m interested to see how we do by the end of the month. I’m not sure we will make our goal of 50% less, but I’m sure we are going to do better than we have been. And little by little, we’ll get there…
Popularity: unranked [?]
No Comments | Tags: Auto Loans, budget, car payments, house, Mortgage, think big to save big
Posted by Mrs. Doubtfire,
under Auto Loans |
02/8/2010
You know that saying “you never stop learning”? Well how true that was and is for me. My entry to simplifi was to see just how good or bad I was doing in my planning for retirement….by the way I wasn’t doing very well, but that is another posting all together.
What I want to write about is something the website taught me without me even knowing. Years of high school and higher education didn’t teach me this and many years in the professional world didn’t teach this, but a free website did.
So here’s my story. My wife and I were looking for a new car and we decided on a GMC Envoy Denali. A gas guzzler I know, but my wife and I felt we really needed something bigger…….once again another posting all together.
In purchasing the car, we decided to go out and get the financing ourselves. We shopped around for the best APR and found this one particular credit union (a very well known credit union) offered the best rate.
Their offer was as follows: 4.9% APR with nothing down or 4.75% with $1,710 down. In the past I would have chosen the lower APR and thus the lower monthly payment, thinking the lower monthly payment would give more disposable cash each month. However, when I actually sat down with a simple paper and pencil (and lets be honest a calculator) I discovered something that wasn’t intuitive. The real difference between the two offers was $400 over the 60 months, which equated to just over $6 per month. For some reason, at this point in my life, that didn’t seem like a deal.
The simplifi website taught me that taking the $1,700 and putting it in my daughters 529 plan, or paying off credit card debt or sending in an additional mortgage payment was and is the prudent thing to do.
After this scenario, I started taking stock in other facets of my life that I could incorporate my new found financial knowledge. Don’t get me wrong I could always work out the 2 for 1 offer or buying the bigger size is usually more cost efficient. What I discovered is not how to save, but what to do with the savings that the 2 for 1 or the bigger size or the better financing deal affords you.
Thank you simplifi.
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1 Comment
Just want to say what a great blog you got here!
I’ve been around for quite a lot of time, but finally decided to show my appreciation of your work!
Thumbs up, and keep it going!
Cheers
Christian,Earn Free Vouchers / Cash