Mortgage extra Payment Calculator

... I knew it! ...

 

401(k) match can be good and bad. It is free money so you should take advantage of it. I received it from two different jobs. But it is often paidin company stock. The first company that I got the match from did pay it in company stock. The company tanked and so did the value of the match. Fortunately I knew the pitfalls of having your company stock in your 401(k) and had moved out all the money once it was vested so I didn't lose it all. (Ask anybody who worked at Enron, they were encouraged to put their entire 401(k) into the company.)

 

I have a spread sheet showing the power of compound interest and the split at age thirty. It is amazing that after 45 yrs you can have more from the first 10 yrs of saving than you will get by saving the same amount each month for the next 35 years. Can't attach .xls files here. PM me with a real email addy if you would like it.

 

My wife invests in clothing! She just picked up 3 prs. of shoes at a killer deal so I am told. Sometimes I am just so proud of her for looking out for our financial future!

Gary

 

My employer, a non profit, gives you 5% toward your 403B, and will match up to another 5%, and I know of a lot of people who don't take advantage of that

 

It really boggles the mind that people just walk away from free money... cause they cant be bothered to take the 5 minutes to learn aoubt it. Its why they have been pushing proposals to auto enroll people in 401k's..... People just cant be bothered to help themself.


My company plan used to be awesome... 10% matching up to 5 or 6%... then the dropped it to 50% matching up to 6%.... but at least its always been a cash match, not company stock.

 

Very true. And then they complain when #$&*(# goes to hell... but cant be bothered to take a stand, get involved, vote, etc.


We any not all agree on things around here, but one thing I can say is Ive not yet met a member of this board who doesn't take the time to learn about issues, think and take a stand. If we had a lot more of that around we might have a lot less problems.

 

Well I'm only 38 but I fully expect that in my lifetime the US dollar will be replaced by something else as the world's reserve currency.

 

Don't bet the farm on it.

 

Great thread guys.. Read every post.. We have some really smart people here.. My wife and I just bought our first house last March. We stayed on the very low end of the budget so we could put down the 20% to avoid pmi while retaining a nice chunk of change. We simply treat the mortgage as if it's x amount more than it actually is and we stick to that. When we were going through the process we asked what we would have been approved for and it was roughly 3x what we spent - not borrowed..lol.. That's nuts..

My weakness has always been vehicles. They might be about the worst purchase you can possibly make but I like driving and that trend will continue..lol.. I've always had 2 since I was 21 but always had one paid off before I bought the other and never traded one that wasn't paid for.. We have 4 now but one of them might actually be going up in value which is a first for me..lol..

 

Do you have kids or plan to?

 

This is why so many companies pay the big bucks to "advertising" folks..............................folks that can make you WANT something when in reality you don't.

 

Goes far beyond advertising. This is our culture.

 

It's actually replacing the need/necessity/requirement for living thing: with the want/desire/lust emotion.

 

My wife and I have a rather unique way of saving money. When we were married 35 years ago we came up with the idea of having a "Romance Jar" where one of us would have to put money in the jar. Got 9 dollars saved so far!

Gary

 

Access to easy money made delayed gratification obsolete. Case in point the 84 month car loan. It's not about what you can afford...it is now about what you can afford right now.