Financing over paying cash

[Beachbourbon]

To raise your credit score. Pay off any credit card you use for purchases in full every month-do not carry a balance.

Also, pay off your debt. Pick one, and focus on paying it off early.

Once you have done these things you will have a better debt/income ratio and show you pay off what you owe on time, and regularly zero out balances owed-these will improve your score.

One more thing-paying the bill when you get it instead of waiting until it is due will also raise your score

There is no magic to repairing credit or raising your score, it is just math and hard work, but worth it!

Good luck

[babock]

My credit score is around 800 but I really don't care at this point in my life. I am retired and will likely never make a big purchase other than a vehicle and I would only finance the vehicle if it's a very low interest rate.

[lbrjet]

Paying all of your bills on time each and every month is the only way to repair your credit score. It may take years but it will eventually go up. As a previous poster said income has nothing to do with your credit score. They don't know your income and don't care.

[ncebeemer]

Re: Banks don't want to finance because they think you cant make the payments. I had the same problem. We are fortunate to have planned well and have good financial assets. We withdraw from IRA monthly to pay our bill, in full, especially credit card accounts. The bank looks at what our outgo is compared to our "income" (hint same amount) and claims bad debt to income score. A few year ago, I refinanced one of my homes and I had to make withdrawals from the IRA in an amount to get to a 36% debt to income. I banked the excess and used it in the coming months. But I lost substantial income from having that money out of the market.

My brother is going to sell his house in California and move to Idaho. He said he was going to pay cash for the Idaho house. I told him he was wrong. I told him that if he ever needed that money in later years, he couldn't access it, short of selling the house, because he could never show enough income to justify a HELOC or even a first mortgage. Something to consider in out later years. (He has changed his and his wifes mind about paying cash)

Good Luck

[Rjpoog1989]

Hi, new to the forum. I’ve taken a good bit of crap from people over financing stuff. When it came to the camper, we want it to be a one time purchase. We searched for just the right floor plan that we thought would make the most sense. This took the used market mostly off the table, especially given the limitations of my TV. So yeah, we’re financing the one we really want. Took the loan for 12 years, but probably pay it off in 5. We have a young daughter and want to start making memories now, not 5 years from now.

[Bob2019]

It would scare me to death to have a large amount to pay each month and loose it all if a job loss or health issue came our way. Unless I can comfortable pay for something and not loose sleep over payments, I hold off until I can afford it. I feel it is not wise to retire with a mortgage. You can't live on Social Security and money here today may not be there tomorrow with you or spouse's health and there you sit. We followed this idea and until kids left home - we hardly were able to save a cent. Later started saving for a number of years and then we bought a townhouse for cash. Last January bought a Forester with half down in cash with a plan to pay off the balance in 5 years. Debt is like owing your soul to the company store. (Banks) Nothing in life is worth living like that.

[hobienick]

Originally Posted by Bob2019

It would scare me to death to have a large amount to pay each month and loose it all if a job loss or health issue came our way. Unless I can comfortable pay for something and not loose sleep over payments, I hold off until I can afford it. I feel it is not wise to retire with a mortgage. You can't live on Social Security and money here today may not be there tomorrow with you or spouse's health and there you sit. We followed this idea and until kids left home - we hardly were able to save a cent. Later started saving for a number of years and then we bought a townhouse for cash. Last January bought a Forester with half down in cash with a plan to pay off the balance in 5 years. Debt is like owing your soul to the company store. (Banks) Nothing in life is worth living like that.

It all depends on your risk tolerance. We ith a good loan rate it is really hard to take money out of long term investments. The caveat is to have the self control to not borrow too much.

It also depends on what is most valuable to you. Do you wish to accumulate wealth? How about memories or time with family?

Personally, I made the choice to focus on family instead of career. By that I mean keeping a healthy work-life balance. I use every vacation day I have. I work like heck during my 40 hours each week so I don't have to put in extra time. Because of these choices it will limit how much I can advance. I feel that if I have tons of money but I can't stop working long enough to enjoy it, why have it. We live very comfortably and have a healthy retirement planned. We are also able to have a stay at home parent and some great memories/experiences as long the way. Many of them while camping.

[Beachbourbon]

Originally Posted by mnoland30

The best financial advice I got from a Credit Union adviser when I was in college. Buy your first car (or RV) and finance it. Pay it off as quickly as you can, and then continue making the payment into a savings account. When the car (or RV) is worn out, you'll have the cash to purchase an upgraded car (or RV).

I was a Registered Investment Adviser for a few years. The stock market hasn't really been a gamble for the last 120 years. On average, it has gone up somewhere in the neighborhood of 12% a year. The way to take the gamble out is to be a long term invester. Put money in every year while you are working, and take money out every year when you retire. It works. Open either a traditional IRA (if your taxes are high) or a Roth IRA, and buy an Exchange Traded Fund ETF that tracks a diversified index like the S&P 500. Many companites don't even charge a fee to purchase. Government employees have the S&P 500 as one of their investmen options. They put money in every payday. The secret to the market is buy low, sell high. You just have to patient.

If you include 1929, inflation beat the market through 1990 (proven by economists). From 1990, considering all the turbulence of recessions, 9/11, great recessions (depression) and coronavirus, this probably continues to be true.

[Beachbourbon]

Originally Posted by Bob2019

It would scare me to death to have a large amount to pay each month and loose it all if a job loss or health issue came our way. Unless I can comfortable pay for something and not loose sleep over payments, I hold off until I can afford it. I feel it is not wise to retire with a mortgage. You can't live on Social Security and money here today may not be there tomorrow with you or spouse's health and there you sit. We followed this idea and until kids left home - we hardly were able to save a cent. Later started saving for a number of years and then we bought a townhouse for cash. Last January bought a Forester with half down in cash with a plan to pay off the balance in 5 years. Debt is like owing your soul to the company store. (Banks) Nothing in life is worth living like that.

I agree: debt is the new slavery

[babock]

Originally Posted by Beachbourbon

If you include 1929, inflation beat the market through 1990 (proven by economists). From 1990, considering all the turbulence of recessions, 9/11, great recessions (depression) and coronavirus, this probably continues to be true.

Every graph I have ever looked at shows the market beating inflation...usually by a lot! Did you say that backwards?

All I know is I maxed out my 401K every year I was working and I was able to retire in my late 50s without a pension based on what I invested in my 401k. If it didn't beat inflation, how was I able to do that?

[Beachbourbon]

Most graphs don’t include the crash of 1929. We did this in an economics course and mathematically proved it.

Most investment folks use graphs and numbers not including rough spots or try to minimize these. Hence the concept of “long term investing”. Pro tip: the long term is the sum of all the short terms combined-ALL including the crashes, so all those graphs and models which remove or gloss over 1929 or 1987 or 2008 are faulty IMHO.

You did well in your 401k by maxing it, $ cost averaging and compound interest. This is very different than a graph saying if you invested $10k in 1928, you would have X $ in 2020. Most of your 401k is $ you put in each month, over years.

[babock]

Originally Posted by Beachbourbon

Most graphs don’t include the crash of 1929. We did this in an economics course and mathematically proved it.

AS always, you can skew data. Do the graph after the 1929 crash and you have a whole different view.

Markets were pretty flat during the the 60s. Of course MOST people that are reading this didn't start investing until the 70's and after. Don't you think that graph would actually be a better indicator? Graphs starting from the 50's all show the market beating inflation...and its not even close even with the flat 60s. You don't think using graphs from the last 70 years is sufficient?

Hopefully, you have contributing to a 401K or IRA since you started working or are you relying on the data from your economics course to keep you out of the market. If you don't invest in the market, how are you saving for retirement?

[lbrjet]

Because you maxed out your 401K every year.

Average annual returns can be deceiving. For example, a stock or index goes down 50% one year and is up 100% the following year. Your average annual rate of return is 25%, but in reality you have not made dime.

[Beachbourbon]

X2^

[Beachbourbon]

Originally Posted by babock

AS always, you can skew data. Do the graph after the 1929 crash and you have a whole different view.

Markets were pretty flat during the the 60s. Of course MOST people that are reading this didn't start investing until the 70's and after. Don't you think that graph would actually be a better indicator? Graphs starting from the 50's all show the market beating inflation...and its not even close even with the flat 60s. You don't think using graphs from the last 70 years is sufficient?

Hopefully, you have contributing to a 401K or IRA since you started working or are you relying on the data from your economics course to keep you out of the market. If you don't invest in the market, how are you saving for retirement?

It has been established recently that the post war economy was not in equilibrium, but rather an anomaly of higher returns than a normal market. So yes, if you graph from the beginning of WWII to the end of the post war era, these graphs look good. However, once you balance that out with the new normal going forward (1987, 2008, now) and the past crashes of 1929 and the 1800s, the real equilibrium begins to emerge and is not nearly as prosperous as we have been lead to believe.

This “lucky boom” is the complaint of subsequent generations of non “boomers” since their graphs are not as prosperous.

[babock]

Originally Posted by lbrjet

Because you maxed out your 401K every year.

Average annual returns can be deceiving. For example, a stock or index goes down 50% one year and is up 100% the following year. Your average annual rate of return is 25%, but in reality you have not made dime.

Yes...and my rate of return was phenominal since I started working in 1982.

Between 1982 and 2020, the average rate of inflation was 2.63%. You can use this calculator.
https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inf...982?amount=100

One Roth IRA that I started in 1982 with $2500 is currently worth over $50k. It's actually higher than that but if you figured out the compound growth over 38 years using $50K, that's over 8%.


Actually..that is the best way for it to happen if you are constantly putting money in the market. You dollar cost averaging is way lower. Slow and steady up is not as good as having dips along the way if you are constantly investing.

BTW, if a stock went down one year 50% and then went up 1000% the following year, the rate of return for that time period would be 0%. They don't take the return from each year and then average those numbers together. If you look at the rate of return for any number of years, they take the price at the beginning of the period and the price at the end of the period and use those two numbers for calculations.

[babock]

Originally Posted by Beachbourbon

It has been established recently that the post war economy was not in equilibrium, but rather an anomaly of higher returns than a normal market. So yes, if you graph from the beginning of WWII to the end of the post war era, these graphs look good. However, once you balance that out with the new normal going forward (1987, 2008, now) and the past crashes of 1929 and the 1800s, the real equilibrium begins to emerge and is not nearly as prosperous as we have been lead to believe.

This “lucky boom” is the complaint of subsequent generations of non “boomers” since their graphs are not as prosperous.

So..what have you been doing investing for your retirement?

BTW, if the crashes in both 1987 and 2008 didn't happen, I would have WAY less in my retirement...dollar cost averaging is your friend.

[Wolf Alaska]

ddddddddddddddddd

[USMCbh1983]

Dave Ramsey.

www.daveramsey.com

CASH IS KING