Timeline for Paying off debt and living within means vs. long term planning
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
30 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 8, 2018 at 14:44 | answer | added | RonJohn | timeline score: 1 | |
| Dec 7, 2018 at 15:46 | comment | added | topshot | If you haven't found it already this site will help you. mrmoneymustache.com The forum is also very useful. | |
| Dec 7, 2018 at 9:22 | comment | added | RedSonja | Maybe this is entirely out of place, but I would suggest not having any more children until you have a steady income. In fact, to many of us, it seems unwise to have children at all before you have finished your education. At the moment you are just one serious illness (or bad pregnancy) away from economic catastrophe. | |
| Dec 6, 2018 at 16:31 | comment | added | Eric Lippert | I would caution you that "Most people come out of school with large student loans so we are already ahead of the game." is fallacious reasoning. That you are doing better than most people in your situation is irrelevant. "We're on a path to misery, but we're getting there slightly slower than others" should not be any kind of comfort; it should be a warning. | |
| Dec 6, 2018 at 15:23 | history | protected | NL - SE listen to your users | ||
| Dec 6, 2018 at 11:11 | comment | added | Jasper | @EricLippert Thanks for the explanation. It's all just monthly paychecks where I live... | |
| Dec 5, 2018 at 21:34 | comment | added | user3067860 | How do your families manage their finances? If you both grew up in similar families with similar lifestyles to what you plan to have, they have to have managed it somehow (and they now have some extra money to help out in emergencies). You should ask them in particular how they managed to early years--many people have stronger memories of their late childhood, when their parents had more free income, and don't necessarily remember early childhood when, e.g., mom/dad had a second job or they always only ate the cheapest foods... | |
| Dec 5, 2018 at 20:04 | comment | added | Hart CO | Do you all qualify for any assistance programs? Subsidized student loans, etc? Not for new debt, but to resolve credit card debt. | |
| Dec 5, 2018 at 18:19 | comment | added | Eric Lippert | @Jasper: There are some mortgage lenders which provide a service where you can pay down your mortgage 26 times a year instead of 12 times a year, which not only makes it easier to budget, it also usually pays off the loan faster. But not all lenders offer this service. | |
| Dec 5, 2018 at 18:17 | comment | added | Eric Lippert | @Jasper: Another way to look at the problem is: if you are paid every other Friday, then on average ten months a year you get paid twice, and two months a year you get paid three times. But most people's fixed expenses, like interest on debt, is payable once a month. So even if you are in the situation where you are paid 26 times a year, that can still screw up your budgeting because you might come up short for several months until you hit a 3-pay-period month. When you only have $500 in the bank, there's no margin for error. | |
| Dec 5, 2018 at 18:13 | comment | added | Eric Lippert | @Jasper: Pay schedules vary widely in the US, but two common schedules are get paid first and third Friday of each month and get paid every other Friday. If you are in the first situation you have 24 paydays a year. If you are in the second situation you have on average 26 paydays a year. If you budget as though you are in the second situation when you are in the first situation, you are going to be short by an entire month's pay by the end of the year. | |
| Dec 5, 2018 at 17:52 | comment | added | Jasper | Could someone explain "I realized that this is due to the fact that most months only have two Fridays for paychecks" to me? I think it's because I lack some knowledge about the way pacychecks work in the US (or something else), but I can't make heads or tails of that statement. | |
| Dec 5, 2018 at 15:51 | comment | added | Bob Baerker | If this was 1980 when existing student loan rates were ~3% and money market rates were over 15%, it would be better to keep a low interest student loan. Free money! But it's not 1980 and carrying debt now in the hope that you get a better return on the stock market.is not a good plan. | |
| Dec 5, 2018 at 14:06 | answer | added | Lie Ryan | timeline score: 3 | |
| Dec 5, 2018 at 13:39 | comment | added | user71981 | He feels that becoming too intense about budgeting/maximizing income will be detrimental to our current career paths and our mental/emotional health as a family. I do not want to belittle his concern, but that has nothing to with the actual facts happening in the world; it is a mindset how you deal with the facts. Why not see it as a game to play (and win)? BTW I take my hat off to the both of you for taking this on now and not letting it slip. | |
| Dec 5, 2018 at 12:38 | vote | accept | anon | ||
| Dec 5, 2018 at 12:36 | history | edited | anon | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Dec 5, 2018 at 12:12 | answer | added | NoDataDumpNoContribution | timeline score: 3 | |
| Dec 5, 2018 at 3:52 | comment | added | corsiKa | As a fellow "debt can be your friend" advocate like your husband, I should make you aware that not all debt is created equal. A low interest student loan might be better to keep - after all you get better returns on the stock market. A credit card at your stage of life is going to be 20ish percent which is unacceptable. | |
| Dec 5, 2018 at 0:00 | comment | added | Eric Lippert | Are you familiar with Micawber's Principle? Because right now you are in the "result: misery" side of that principle. Get to the "result: happiness" side and stay there. You are close! | |
| Dec 4, 2018 at 23:35 | comment | added | Victor | It is more likely that your mental/emotional health will suffer more if your credit card debt gets out of control rather than living frugally for a few years. Not all debt is bad, but debt for consumer goods certainly is bad. | |
| Dec 4, 2018 at 22:59 | answer | added | Julien Lopez | timeline score: 5 | |
| Dec 4, 2018 at 21:23 | answer | added | computercarguy | timeline score: 36 | |
| Dec 4, 2018 at 21:00 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/StackFinance/status/1070060261493624832 | ||
| Dec 4, 2018 at 20:40 | answer | added | sevensevens | timeline score: 18 | |
| Dec 4, 2018 at 20:28 | comment | added | Upper_Case | How does your household income compare with the typical household income for your area? $84k is lavish in some areas, and totally insufficient in others. | |
| Dec 4, 2018 at 19:33 | answer | added | NL - SE listen to your users | timeline score: 26 | |
| Dec 4, 2018 at 19:28 | answer | added | Pete B. | timeline score: 36 | |
| Dec 4, 2018 at 19:15 | review | First posts | |||
| Dec 4, 2018 at 19:26 | |||||
| Dec 4, 2018 at 19:12 | history | asked | anon | CC BY-SA 4.0 |