Bikeguide.org - Bike maintenance for BMX'ers
The Street => The Lounge => Topic started by: paranoidmexican on August 02, 2016, 02:43:01 PM
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Hey Bikeguide, I thought we could discuss the one thing that plagues us all.....debt. Maybe we can give each other tricks and tips?
I'm about $1200 in debt via credit cards. I really want to pay them off ASAP, but with bills I'm lucky to pay off $100 here and there. Is getting a personal loan to pay all my cards off in one sweep worth it? Will this negatively affect my credit? Or help it? Or would you say I'm better off chugging along slowly but surely as I am now? I make about $2600 a month and pay about $2300 in rent, car notes, etc...
My wife makes about the same as I do, but her credit score is in the lower 600's. We're using her paychecks for the baby (due Oct 15, woo) and food/groceries/gas.
As is we're making ends meets but living check to check. This is one thing I REALLY want to get out of.
My credit score is in the mid 600 range and my goal by 2018 is to have as close as perfect score as possible and buy a house. (I was trying to buy a house this year but my credit was short a few points and I couldn't make the down payment)
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Assuming you're not adding to your $1200 debt besides the cumulative interest, you really aren't that bad. Make more of an effort to pay it down. Since you have multiple cards(?) pay off what is gathering the most interest as fast as possible. If you're living paycheck to paycheck now, make shit tighter. Cut your cable bill, raise your thermostat. Do what it takes.
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Adjust spending so that you can save a third or at least a quarter of your monthly income. Invest that into an index fund or whatever you're into. I prefer this over owning a house. Over 25 years it should be worth about the same minus all the hassle of home ownership and even more so if you decide to move to another city or even within the same city because selling a home is expensive.
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my current and future income for the next year is close to zero, i have 7k debt, how can i wipe this out? thanks /r/finance
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Budget. Budget. Budget. Do some forensic accounting - narrow down where every penny has gone so far in 2016. See where you can eliminate any waste or excessive spending moving forward. Only you can break the cycle of living paycheck to paycheck.
You have another life you're bringing into this world in just a few short months. NOW is the time to develop a plan and the financial habits that afford you and yours the financial security you need.
Regarding your credit card debt and your credit score; how does the balance you're carrying compare to your total overall credit limit? If you're serious about improving your credit score quickly you need to drop your balance down to under 30% of your total revolving credit limit ASAP.
Do you have any savings? Where was this down payment going to come from? What sort of car notes are you carrying? Buy or lease?
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shit $1200 in debt. Sign me up. Between school loans, mechanics tools, harley note, credit cards, and the house. I might kill you if I give you the number.
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If you have a baby coming and only have $300 a month left over, you're gonna struggle. If you are renting, downsize immediately.
As for the credit card, sometimes you can get a deal on a new account that will have 0% interest on balance transfers. Open one of those, transfer all your other debt to that single card and then pay it off before the 0% interest offer expires. Then close the account and never get another credit card ever again. If you can't manage $1,200, you should not have a credit card.
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Thanks for the sound advice guys. I ended up staying in my current apartment, the only things cheaper in the area are super shitty/ghetto. If I was single I would live in the hood and not be bothered.
What I might do is try and get a part time job since my full time job is barely alive (as some of you may know, I work in the Oilfield and business is not very good). That's really why I'm struggling a bit now, this year I took about a $20,000 pay cut and it hurts.
I'm planning on refinancing my wife's car pretty soon. Back in 14 when I was making damn good money I bought her car and my truck. I was stupid and went with the first deal I got. Both vehicles had almost 20% APR!! I refinanced my truck and got it down to 8% significantly lowering the payment. That's the plan with her car.
My wife and I were talking about our budget last night. Our biggest fault is eating out. She works for AT&T installing Internet (I think this is a man job, pregnant women don't need to work outdoors) and when she gets home is too tired to cook, and I'm kind of a piece of shit and can't cook. As a result, we end up getting some shit fast food. My goal this month is to read some cooking for dummys stuff online and do some learning. This will also help with my current health issues too. Yay diabeetus.
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If you want an easy/tasty/cheap meal to cook and like fish give this a try:
Roll out a piece of foil or parchment paper about 18-24" long.
Slice tomato, onion, lemon into thin slices and layer on foil/parchment (I also toss in basil, up to you though)
Season the veggies with salt/pepper to taste and hit it with some olive oil or a few slices of butter
Lay fish ( I usually use a cheap whitefish but up to you) on top of the veggies, season both sides of fish with salt/pepper
Toss some more lemon and olive oil/butter on top of fish
Roll foil/paper into a sealed pouch and put in baking pan in a 350* oven for 20-30 minutes
You can serve this with some plain rice or pasta as there will be a nice broth/sauce in the pouch.
This will serve 2-4 people depending on how much fish for just a few bucks and is quick, simple and cheap.
I have plenty of other cheap/easy meals but this is probably the easiest to prep and clean up for only a couple dollars.
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If you want an easy/tasty/cheap meal to cook and like fish give this a try:
Roll out a piece of foil or parchment paper about 18-24" long.
Slice tomato, onion, lemon into thin slices and layer on foil/parchment (I also toss in basil, up to you though)
Season the veggies with salt/pepper to taste and hit it with some olive oil or a few slices of butter
Lay fish ( I usually use a cheap whitefish but up to you) on top of the veggies, season both sides of fish with salt/pepper
Toss some more lemon and olive oil/butter on top of fish
Roll foil/paper into a sealed pouch and put in baking pan in a 350* oven for 20-30 minutes
You can serve this with some plain rice or pasta as there will be a nice broth/sauce in the pouch.
This will serve 2-4 people depending on how much fish for just a few bucks and is quick, simple and cheap.
I have plenty of other cheap/easy meals but this is probably the easiest to prep and clean up for only a couple dollars.
that sounds really good, and easy. If you want to send me more recipes like that I'm all ears...err eyes. adambmx1990@yahoo.com
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Buy a slow cooker. Cooks all day, you basically come home to a meal. Pork, chicken, chili, stews....
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If at all possible where you live, think about getting rid of your car and just bike everywhere.
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Sell both your cars and buy something cheaper/older, it probably doesnt even have to be something shit or boring, just a bit less new.
My missus is a coupon dork, she saves a fucking fortune, ie many grand per year. Quite a lot of work mind...
Sell your ass.
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If at all possible where you live, think about getting rid of your car and just bike everywhere.
this is suicide in Houston....lol. I wish though, maybe if people didn't constantly try to run over bikers here.
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Sell both your cars and buy something cheaper/older, it probably doesnt even have to be something shit or boring, just a bit less new.
My missus is a coupon dork, she saves a fucking fortune, ie many grand per year. Quite a lot of work mind...
Sell your ass.
You looking for a good time sailor? we've never really tried coupons, but I think we're going to try that now. My mom does it and her garage is a damn warehouse almost haha
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Being tired after work and being a lazy turd isn't as nice as not making a payment for interest alone is it?
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I second the slow cooker comment, so fucking good. You can also use really cheap cuts of meat...a shit piece of meat cooked for 8 hours becomes an average piece of meat at the very worst. Pulled pork burgers, lamb shanks, chilli beef, the list goes on.
If you want recipes, follow pages like Tasty on Facebook. There is a lot of crap ones, but some are really good, cheap and easy.
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I refuse to believe you're Mexican and don't know how to make cheap burritos.
Where do I select an index fund? I spent a half hour googling about and sorta understand.
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I refuse to believe you're Mexican and don't know how to make cheap burritos.
Where do I select an index fund? I spent a half hour googling about and sorta understand.
Burritos are more tex-mex and I'm not a big tex-mex fan. Sorry.
My mom literally just gave me a slow cooker. Stoked.
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Also, beans and rice. Fucking love beans and rice and you can feed 4 people for about $3.
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Retweet on the beans and rice. Also retweet on being in debt
It takes a hell of a lot of money to be a grownup.
Adam what the fuck were you thinking getting into an auto loan at 20% get out of that shit fast.
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I've got my financial situation down to an art. Basically spend nothing Mon-Fri and survive off bananas at work, then do a big food shop on the weekend for veg / fruit primarily, go to Costco once a month for other shit like rice, tinned goods etc. Ride my bike everywhere so no daft car costs. My mortgage is completely covered by the rent I charge my girlfriend for living with me. Leaves me with masses of disposable income to waste on expensive bikes, beer and holidays, the important things in life.
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Retweet on the beans and rice. Also retweet on being in debt
It takes a hell of a lot of money to be a grownup.
Adam what the fuck were you thinking getting into an auto loan at 20% get out of that shit fast.
I was dumb and impatient. The vehicles are refinanced as of yesterday.that's almost 500 I'm saying a month on both vehicles now.
When I worked out of town and was given money for hotels in would get the cheapest hotel and split it with 3 other guys and buy bread/ham/ Mayo etc and eat nothing but sandwich all week. Going to try something like that again. Like I said earlier my biggest problem is I seem to have an addiction to going out to eat.
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You might as well keep going out while you still can, because pretty soon all that shits coming to a screeching halt for the best part of 2 decades. Happy hrs, cheaper places, meal deals, whatever + cheaper beer.
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I've got my financial situation down to an art. Basically spend nothing Mon-Fri and survive off bananas at work, then do a big food shop on the weekend for veg / fruit primarily, go to Costco once a month for other shit like rice, tinned goods etc. Ride my bike everywhere so no daft car costs. My mortgage is completely covered by the rent I charge my girlfriend for living with me. Leaves me with masses of disposable income to waste on expensive bikes, beer and holidays, the important things in life.
Biggest envy boner right now.
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I'm a budget king. I have set up my online banking so that two days after pay day every month, money goes into 6 different accounts which are all set aside for different things. I've got accounts for mortgage/bills/food, holidays, clothes, savings, car maintenance (MOT, servicing and repairs kitty) and even put money aside for Christmas/birthdays. Anything left over is to do whatever I want with that month.
If you can do that and pretend that the money in those accounts doesn't exist unless it is for those specific things then there aren't many things to pop up that can screw you over financially. Another thing that I do is look at what's in my spending account and divide it by the amount of days left till payday...a bit like when you're on holiday with foreign currency. It gives you a good idea of what your disposable income is for the month by the day and makes you keep on eye on what you are wasting money on in the week. When you hit halfway through the month there's shit loads of money left per day and it doesn't feel so bad to buy expensive shit.
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Yeah that's definitely a big key to success, all my direct debits / mortgage / bills come out the day after payday, makes things so much easier when it comes to budgeting and giving you a clear idea of what you actually have.
One thing I would definitely recommend if you can afford to, is overpaying your mortgage. I put an extra £100 a month into mine and it knocks years off it.
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I spend all of my money on booze and cocaine. $2300 a month sounds retarded to pay out. I pay £240 a month for my rent and phone bill.
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What's an 8 ball of charlie go for in the UK?
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So one week down and I realized I spend about $200 on breakfast/lunch a month! Started cooking, made some spaghetti and now I've got lunch for 2 days. Crazy how you think "eh what's 10 bucks" adds up quick.
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What's an 8 ball of charlie go for in the UK?
Depends on what it is. The number £1500 was been thrown around a bit the other day. £1200 if you buy 4.5.
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So about $1,420,6969
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Exchange rate is down buddy.
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Fucking hell, that must be some good quality snow or we're getting good prices down here at the moment. A$400/g.
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Oh, for a G it's like £40-50 for "bash" or £80-100 for "flake". I'll be honest and say I had to google what 8-ball meant.
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Where do I select an index fund? I spent a half hour googling about and sorta understand.
If your in America almost always the best thing to do is S&P500, I believe Vanguard do one with a low operating cost. It essentially buys a share in every company in the top 500 companies. It then goes up (or down) with the market. Many choose it because it is very diversified (if the price of raw materials goes down, then mining companies share price drops, but manufacturers increase) This means that your stocks arn't very volatile. On the down side it means you wont make hundreds of thousands in months. But it will generally outperform interests rates and is one of the safer ways to do it on the stock market. Also, keep putting money in no matter what, it is too difficult to time the market.
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tax return will clear off the majority of my remaining student loan, and i should be in the black in a few months. fuckin stoked
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Financial planning doesn't start with 'tricks and tips' like little nuggets; entire studies are devoted to this subject to balance income, spending, expected returns and risks. i can't write a usual wall of text at the moment (a lot of reading can be done via /r/financialplanning as a lesson one anyway) but i'll return to this thread with some stuff slightly more comprehensive
I'm about $1200 in debt via credit cards. I really want to pay them off ASAP, but with bills I'm lucky to pay off $100 here and there. Is getting a personal loan to pay all my cards off in one sweep worth it? Will this negatively affect my credit? Or help it? Or would you say I'm better off chugging along slowly but surely as I am now? I make about $2600 a month and pay about $2300 in rent, car notes, etc...
you're almost always better off to do that, essentially refinancing your debt yourself. credit card debts are some of the most undesirable debts to owe, and people that have them usually already have other bank debts. is this the case with you? if not, it is highly advisable to take a personal loan out to pay off your credit card debts immediately, they really fuck you when you can't pay everything off every month.
Given that you're currently struggling with monthly income, i'd assume you dont have a rainy day fund (usually considered 3 month of income equivlant, or 6 months of spending). You need to start reducing financial liabilities and outgoings now. the slowcooker is a very good start - hefty, healthy meals at low efforts, there are a lot of recipes online, and if you go to local farmers markets you can pick up a lot of vegetables for cheap, and they provide ample nutrients. potatos (with skin) will become a major part of your diet since they have a lot of essential nutrients for your health, and this is extremely important. you need to reduce fast food consumption both for your health and your wallet - what seems like a cheap meal actually costs much more than cooking enough for 3-4 meals, especially with the slow cooker, ample cheap veggies and cheap cuts of meat (which get tender when using slowcookers anyway).
should you have specific financial related questions pls ask
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So, do I find someone like you cow to begin an index fund?
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It baffles me when people are concerned about their finances and yet are eating out regularly and have cars on finance. My colleague is always complaining she is poor yet eats out for lunch everyday.
Why not sell your cars, pay off the finance, and buy a cheaper car outright? Will save you loads each month
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It baffles me when people are concerned about their finances and yet are eating out regularly and have cars on finance. My colleague is always complaining she is poor yet eats out for lunch everyday.
Why not sell your cars, pay off the finance, and buy a cheaper car outright? Will save you loads each month
my mate was like this, stated he had to leave london as it's too expensive, but was paying £400 a month finance on a car that was way beyond his means. we managed to convince him to trade it in eventually, he now has a car which he owns outright and is still very nice.
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So, do I find someone like you cow to begin an index fund?
You just need a broker to sell you them. In america there is an app called robinhood, which has no fee trading, which is the best you can really do if your not investing six figures. In the UK I use DeGiro, which has commission free ETFs, and very low prices for trading anyway.
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Not sure if you have it, but Acorns is a nice app that deposits your change into a fund. If you buy a drink for $3.50, it rounds up the change to the nearest dollar, i.e. 50c, and puts that in your Acorns fund.
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Not sure if you have it, but Acorns is a nice app that deposits your change into a fund. If you buy a drink for $3.50, it rounds up the change to the nearest dollar, i.e. 50c, and puts that in your Acorns fund.
I'm going to look into this.
I've started driving for Uber, and that seems to help a little. I need to get a TNC license to pick up in Houston city limits though. One guy that's been driving for Uber told me he goes around 10pm-3am to Downtown all weekend and will average 500 dollars a weekend. Stupid hours and probably stupid people but definitely seems worth it. And to get where I need to be I would only have to do a crazy shift like that once a month (assuming I can average at least 300) The goal after paying my cards off will be to pay off at least one vehicle next year.
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I use digit savings. Take a few dollars here and there and puts it into a savings account
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I use digit savings. Take a few dollars here and there and puts it into a savings account
I have my credit cards on auto pay and I also have a little auto pay that goes into my savings account
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Financial planning doesn't start with 'tricks and tips' like little nuggets; entire studies are devoted to this subject to balance income, spending, expected returns and risks. i can't write a usual wall of text at the moment (a lot of reading can be done via /r/financialplanning as a lesson one anyway) but i'll return to this thread with some stuff slightly more comprehensive
I'm about $1200 in debt via credit cards. I really want to pay them off ASAP, but with bills I'm lucky to pay off $100 here and there. Is getting a personal loan to pay all my cards off in one sweep worth it? Will this negatively affect my credit? Or help it? Or would you say I'm better off chugging along slowly but surely as I am now? I make about $2600 a month and pay about $2300 in rent, car notes, etc...
you're almost always better off to do that, essentially refinancing your debt yourself. credit card debts are some of the most undesirable debts to owe, and people that have them usually already have other bank debts. is this the case with you? if not, it is highly advisable to take a personal loan out to pay off your credit card debts immediately, they really fuck you when you can't pay everything off every month.
Given that you're currently struggling with monthly income, i'd assume you dont have a rainy day fund (usually considered 3 month of income equivlant, or 6 months of spending). You need to start reducing financial liabilities and outgoings now. the slowcooker is a very good start - hefty, healthy meals at low efforts, there are a lot of recipes online, and if you go to local farmers markets you can pick up a lot of vegetables for cheap, and they provide ample nutrients. potatos (with skin) will become a major part of your diet since they have a lot of essential nutrients for your health, and this is extremely important. you need to reduce fast food consumption both for your health and your wallet - what seems like a cheap meal actually costs much more than cooking enough for 3-4 meals, especially with the slow cooker, ample cheap veggies and cheap cuts of meat (which get tender when using slowcookers anyway).
should you have specific financial related questions pls ask
I'll echo this to a degree. You stated you are barely able to make $100 payments now, this raises a risk of default when taking a personal unsecured loan (which is what you would be looking at). Current rates float in the high 9.xx% range for a well qualified applicant (lower than the rate on your cards). The difference between your credit card debt repayment and loan repayment is the repayment schedule. Banks use fixed amortization schedules, this means that while they (usually) are okay with you paying more than the payment due, they are not okay with you paying less. Credit cards on the other hand usually offer a minimum payment that is less than you could find on a loan.
Unfortunately with the information given there is no solid answer. Is the $300 surplus you have each months end used for food? If not, what is it used for? Are you cancelling the cards prior to your prospective loan? These are all factors in what action, if any, is best for your financial well being.
x2 on emergency fund with a goal of 3-6 months sustainability, especially with a little one on the way (congrats). I highly advise you to go speak to a financial advisor with a newborn coming. Consultations are almost always free. They can steer you on the right path for the rest of your life financially. Seek out a registered local CFP in your area.
Cheers.
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Yeah that's definitely a big key to success, all my direct debits / mortgage / bills come out the day after payday, makes things so much easier when it comes to budgeting and giving you a clear idea of what you actually have.
This was the biggest change for me a couple of years ago, night and day.
Doing alright but paying London rent, despite getting a sound deal, eats into a lot of it. Putting away about £400 a month into savings once all is said and done - and have a nice cushion built up but could easily do better if I didn't eat out/drink out so much. Admittedly I am probably supplementing myself by around £200 a month through mildly grey expenses on the company card ;)
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I'm no financial guru but I found if you record every dollar and cent you spend on a spread sheet you soon find exactly where your extra coin is heading. Like what you've done with not buying lunch every day.
A few dollars here and there over the space of a month can easily add up to a a decent amount.
I learnt this the hard way. Being on monthly pay makes you really need to find where each dollar is going and why.