Mortgage extra Payment Calculator

lukem
I get your point and applaud your accomplishment. I'm not trying to criticize you, but is there any reason you wouldn't take 0% financing. Just to avoid having a payment? All other parts of the car purchase being equal, the cash you paid could make a significant amount of money over the life of the 0% loan.

 

Just the principle of living debt free. The only place I would have been comfortable with putting the money is in cash equivalents and they are earning next to nothing...not worth it.

 

As far as getting this thing to be a sticky, the actual calculator tools that work would need to be forefront.
I really enjoyed this discussion and glad it got a bump. We're all a bunch of folks trying to heat our houses for less than the oil/gas man - meaning most don't like bills that vaporize money..mortgages included

 

That tipping point is the start of the faint light at the end of the tunnel

 

Only debt we have are semi grown up kids and the mortgage, it's get up for bi-weekly payments. I've managed to save almost 400K earning 8 + percent and higher returns. Now I'm looking for another career.

 

I hope you at least have your retirement savings - assuming you dont have a traditional pension - in something more aggressive than cash equivalents. Savings, CDs, money market are all making less than inflation right now. You have to take on some risk in the bond & equities markets to save enough to live on comfortably in retirement.

Its a crappy system but if you you want to be one of the well off folks in this economy you have to think like one... and one things the very wealthy do is use debt on purpose as leverage to make money. I dont aggressively pay off some good debt - such as my mortgage and student loans - on purpose so that instead I can aggressively save to my 401k and IRAs. I hope to retire in my 50s regardless of what happens to SS and give up the rat race all-together; those accounts are my ticket to that goal.

 

I index the markets with my retirement savings....that's long money....not short money needed to pay a near term debt. Big difference.

 

gotcha, agreed and I do the same. I love vanguard

 

When I leave this job I'm moving all my stuff to Vanguard...but for now its nice having everything all in one place.

 

Agreed, the value of money is hard for the financially illiterate to grasp when access to more money is constantly thrown in their face in the form of as much debt as they can handle. But if your like lukem, and already have the cash in the bank you already understand this concept.

With the cash in the bank, being as disciplined as you are and being 0% interest, I guess I wouldn't call it debt.

Another point is with little or no credit history you are kind of "putting yourself out on a limb" in terms of how the rest of the world deals with money. Albeit unlikely, in the unfortunate/unavoidable set of circumstances that you have to take on debt, you get screwed.

 

Call it what you want. I could hide bodies on my ledger all I want, but at the end of the day I still owe somebody else money...and I don't enjoy that. I do, however, enjoy knowing that I don't owe anybody a dime for anything.

Very true. I'll take my chances. But if the chit hit the fan that hard, having a good credit score probably wouldn't save me either.

 

With rates so low right now, it's basically in your favor to be in debt.

There is something nice about being debt free, that's for sure. But if you need something, like a new car, waiting and saving 3 years to buy it instead of just taking the 0-2% loan on it works out to be nearly the exact same money out of your pocket once you factor inflation and that's before your accumulate repair costs to the old hoopty.

 

I didn't read thru all of this, just the first page or two... will read rest later.

But my wife is a Financial planner, CPA, Broker,... (and all that financial crap! ). Before her, I was a mess all over the place, didn't pay any attention to finances, paychecks, bills, debt... never thought about ANY of it. Just cruised through life buying and paying with little thought. Then she came along and FIXED IT! I'm now 51, and debt free. Own my house outright, a car, an SUV and a truck all debt free, and add in my boat also debt free. Sure, I'm lucky enough to make enough money, and my wife does alright too, but most of the debt free is based on GOOD solid financial decisions. Aka, paying down the mortgage, buying what you can afford, NOT LEASING!! (I think CAR leases are one of the dumbest things people can do, BUY your car, don't throw your money away to banks and dealerships!).

Few notes:
1. Mortgages: 1st ting to do is get a FIXED RATE mortgage (do not fall into the variable rate trap!), and then pay at the very least 1 extra payment a year, preferably 2 or 3 extra payments a year. It w3ill cut your mortgage in 1/2~!!! THAT IS ALOT OF MONEY in your pocket and/or to pay other things off like cars!!

2. DO NOT LEASE ANYTHING, unless it is for business and it's the only way to make money (need a tractor to farm....), and even then you better think long and hard about it and the long term business plan!

3. If you do have some extra money/savings/inheritance.... DO NOT INVEST IT YOURSELF! Get a good trustworthy financial planner to invest it / advise you on it. They actually know what they are doing, the good ones anyway. You don't have your dentist fix your car do you? So why have your mechanic invest your money?

4. ONLY charge on credit cards what you can pay off THIS month!!! You should NEVER have a credit card balance, EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Credit cards have the highest interest rate of anything in the world, DO NOT USE THEM unless you pay it in FULL every, single month! If you have CC debt, pay it off FIRST, and never incur CC debt again!

 

One more thing, you guys "loving" Vanguard, they have some of the HIGHEST built in back office fee's in the industry. What they call "No Load" are actually HIGH LOAD in most cases. The admin fee's are built into the product instead of showing you what they are, that is all. Be careful what products your investing in with Vanguard.

 

You folks talking up 401k's as if they are great, and make sure your take the "matching free money".... 401k's are NOT so great, and the "matching money" is often NOT worth shooting for. 401k's are GOVERNMENT regulated, and while they are tax free NOW, they will NOT be tax free when you go to use that money. In fact, taxes go UP, so when you go to use that money, you will pay a HIGER tax on it, AND you will basically pay compounded taxes on the growth (if there is any!) of that matched money. MOST of the time, you would be much better off taking your money now, and investing it yourself (with an investment advise). Not to mention you can't use that money until your 60 1/2 (or whatever it is today?), and throw in the GOVERNMENT we all know and love so much, can change that anytime they want! And they are currently trying to change the 401k law right now, to make it 65 or even higher before you can use it!

That is absolute crap. I want MY money, in MY hands and control, not the governments, and the rat bastards in congress telling me when, how or where I can spend it!

 

Sounds great, what's the "toy"?

No need to keep a "balance" on the CC for credit rating, just use the card monthly, and pay it off monthly. You will have no fee, no interest, just a free credit card to use, and it will be shown on your credit report as active, and paid monthly (aka good credit).