• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

the financial help thread

"Buy low sell high".... Sorry I had to do that... If you can afford to invest in stocks, you should have someone or research the stocks & companies yourself or pay a financial adviser to show you the ropes, otherwise you throwing your money away, think of stocks & bonds as long term, the daily flocculation wont really matter as much, unless your a day trader... Pay Cash for everything you can, don't buy unless you have the money & income to do so, you don't need the biggest baddest house or car, well house anyway, real estate use to be the best way to get ahead, know you better be cautious were & when you by any kind of real estate, right now loans are cheaper but very hard to get with out very good credit, don't go crazy with credit cards try to pay them off regularly or your just paying that much more % for the products you already bought... Especially with food, unless you pay it off regularly or all the miles & bonuses mean nothing, you don't kneed the $5 cup of Starbucks coffee or going out to lunch everyday, bring a bag lunch & eat at home instead of restaurants, you will be surprised how much you will save in the long run... If you buy a house pay a little over the payment it will all go to loan principle a little adds up quick especially in the first 5 years, or you can pay the same amount split in half & pay bi-weekly & pay off the loan much quicker..... "You don't need to be a cheap a$$, just don't be a dumb a$$", live within your means of income...
 
Go to school!! At work I did not take full-advantage of the tuition assistance program that gave me up to $5k a year for school! STUPID, STUPID, STUPID!!!! I could have 3 degrees by now!!!! They just re-instated it, so I am going to major in FINANCE!!! I am going to learn how money works. And how to make it work FOR me! There was tons of great advice given in the previous posts. Save, pay yourself first, NEVER let any matched 401k money go wasted! Marry a smart woman! My wife is like a 2 year-old with a credit card! It is NOT working! Best advice, DON'T get married unless her family is rich! DON'T marry for looks! A toolmaker friend at work married a fat lawyer. He got a new pontoon boat for his birthday [which is cool cause SHE has a house on a LAKE!]. Dont marry a woman who's family lives in a trailer park. If your woman cant handle money, dont be afraid to keep it from her. You are the man of the house and you make your decisions based on what is best for the FAMILY, and take care of her NEEDS, not her whims. I'm not a chauvinist, I just learned the hard way.
 
yep

Go to school!! At work I did not take full-advantage of the tuition assistance program that gave me up to $5k a year for school! STUPID, STUPID, STUPID!!!! I could have 3 degrees by now!!!! They just re-instated it, so I am going to major in FINANCE!!! I am going to learn how money works. And how to make it work FOR me! There was tons of great advice given in the previous posts. Save, pay yourself first, NEVER let any matched 401k money go wasted! Marry a smart woman! My wife is like a 2 year-old with a credit card! It is NOT working! Best advice, DON'T get married unless her family is rich! DON'T marry for looks! A toolmaker friend at work married a fat lawyer. He got a new pontoon boat for his birthday [which is cool cause SHE has a house on a LAKE!]. Dont marry a woman who's family lives in a trailer park. If your woman cant handle money, dont be afraid to keep it from her. You are the man of the house and you make your decisions based on what is best for the FAMILY, and take care of her NEEDS, not her whims. I'm not a chauvinist, I just learned the hard way.

Marry up in class always helps... Or as my Pops now divorced 3 times & 1 common law wife, cut that dollar earned down to almost nothing after paying ex-wives, child support & the worst is alimony payments for a women that you aren't even living with any more, but still getting screwed...LOL... at least the child support goes for raising the children hopefully... Don't even consider marriage if your not willing to stick it out for the long run... Pops now says "marry a fat, ugly woman, so when she leaves you, you will be happy"...LOL... If you or your family have any major means of property or income by all means get a prenuptial agreement... You know why divorces are so expensive ? because they are worth it...LOL... Sorry I had to do that.
 
B-U-D-G-E-T. Live within your means. Dont go all government on yourself and spend more than you make. You cant print money (well you can but its kinda illegal). List all your obligations at the beginning of the month, list income, do the simple math. You'll start to see a pattern. We never realized that we would spend $300-$500/month just eating out (5 in the family). Real eye-opener. We set the budget to $60/week which usually equates to Sunday after church being our day to eat out. With only $60. No cash, no eat out. Simple. My wife takes $250/week to the grocery store. Thats it. She fudges sometimes and will go over on occasion and swipe the debit card for the difference. But its still a lot less than what she would usually spend. And people usually are intrigued by her use of cash and coupons and ask her questions. She takes $40/week for her to spend as she pleases. I take the $160/month. She even gets an extra $160/year bacause she gets it every week! I disagree with the credit card usage. Pay in cash at all times IF possible. It is U.S. Legal Tender. Swiping a card is less painfull than having to acutally hand over the cash to someone. It WILL make you think twice about the purchase. If you see something you want, save for it. Makes it that much more enjoyable when you finally get it. I'm a firm believer in the 15 year mortage if you must buy a house. We were 25 when we bought our first house. Difference between a 15 and 30 year mortgage was about $100/month. However, I would've ended up paying almost $100K more for the house on the 30 vs. the 15. My young brain could understand that math and see that advantage. We paid it off in 10 and saved a little more even. Our current mortgage is about 3 1/2 times what our first mortgage was, but its our only monthly obligation outside of utilities. Its also a 15 year mortage. Saves us more than $250K over the life of the loan vs. a 30. We still manage to tithe AND save. And give to other charities if we want. I'm not gonna lie, it does make it a little tough sometimes but mostly because we have to "wait" for what we want. We'd like to do a little remodel in the kitchen, build a killer deck in the back yard or throw some serious money at the Roadrunner. But we're being taught patience, the tithes/charity are helping those that need more help than I need a deck, kitchen or perfect RR. It'll come in time.
 
Some of the best advice came from my grandfather about a week before he died. Make sure your largest bill(usually your home) is not over one weeks pay. Hard to do. Lots of people would say so but look at their house. My brother has a 5000 sq foot house thats basically been for sale since we finished it. And thats with my free labor. My house is about 1100 sq feet for my wife and i. we take off when we want, i buy whatever i need whenever i need it. And dont have to check my accounts to see if i can take her out to dinner.

The other part of his advice has already been touched on. He said no matter what youre making always save something. I have a couple accounts i never pull money out of. Not saying there is a fortune in them but its there
 
Wow thanks for all of the tips and info guys..... Hope it helped others too and not just me
 
Only advice I can give is don't use a credit card. I've never had one in my life and have never been in debt. I like to pay with cash or debit when buying things (and hey, small business owners, mechanics etc. love getting paid with cash) personally I find it a lot easier to keep track of my money that way. It's either in the bank or in my pocket heh. If you need to buy something online just use a pre paid mastercard, I swear by mine.
 
True but heres a quote from a fellow a body member

I,m kinda the opposite with debt and credit.My dad told me years ago..You,ll never own anything if your not in debt.So off to the bank to get a mortgage and buy a house(I was 27 yrs old)Got a mortgage for $180K in 1990 at 16% interest(Holy crow)that was 2.5% when paid off..Instead of paying monthly,I paid weekly payments.Instead of 25 yrs I paid it off in 17 yrs.If your gonna use a credit card,pay it off when the bill comes in.Paying cash for everything is no way to gain credit and we all know credit is BOSS.Without a good credit score,you,ll have a hard time purchasing anything of significant value.(home,car,cottage,boat)This is just my experience and opinion.I,m now 48yrs old and mortgage free.:D
 
My old boss told me this; DON'T get married or get a girlfriend! They always cost you money, time and pull you away from what you want to do! He said go out and get a hooker once a week. She knows what her role is and gets it done without complaining and is ALWAYS willing. Its get in and get out. The cost of her once a week is usually cheaper than a night out with the girlfriend or wife for dinner and entertainment (and especially those christmas or birthday gifts). Then take the rest of the money you would have spent on the other half and do what you want when you want, buy the car, house and shop YOU want and have your married buddies over to drink beer, watch guy movies as loud as you want and watch them drool!
Not saying this is what I did, but man sometimes it really makes sense! LOL
 
My old boss told me this; DON'T get married or get a girlfriend! They always cost you money, time and pull you away from what you want to do! He said go out and get a hooker once a week. She knows what her role is and gets it done without complaining and is ALWAYS willing. Its get in and get out. The cost of her once a week is usually cheaper than a night out with the girlfriend or wife for dinner and entertainment (and especially those christmas or birthday gifts). Then take the rest of the money you would have spent on the other half and do what you want when you want, buy the car, house and shop YOU want and have your married buddies over to drink beer, watch guy movies as loud as you want and watch them drool!
Not saying this is what I did, but man sometimes it really makes sense! LOL

You forgot the cost of shots, antibiotics and Dr visits, not to mention getting your bore punched aint no picnic either.
 
yep

You forgot the cost of shots, antibiotics and Dr visits, not to mention getting your bore punched aint no picnic either.

:iamwithstupid: Now that's funny advice there....
 
I have been reading this with interest and trying to decide if I should comment since things have changed for me.

I have always thought I was a little more savvy than the average guy with my general life and have done very well for someone with a simple high school education.

I have been married 3 times and while yes, when it comes to an end and you have to split thing if you have a wife that contributes to the income then it is only fair to split the proceeds when the marriage is over.

I made the biggest mistake of my life a few years ago when I sold income producing property (even though it was at the high point and I got a lot of money for it) and reinvested it in raw land that I intended to turn into a storage business. I paid cash for the dirt and then the economy tanked and no bank would lend on a new start up business. This was all a GREAT plan but when you have to rely on someone else's money you may not have any control, ESPECIALLY if they are not willing to lend.

Hindsight is 20/20. I should have waited with the cash for another couple of years and bought single family homes now that they have bottomed out and the rental market is so strong with all of the displaced, foreclosed on, previous homeowners that now need a place to rent.

Fortunately EVERYTHING I own is paid for but there are still many expenses. Taxes, insurance and utilities.

Do you know what the definition of broke is per financial economists? If you have less that 6 months worth of saving to support you in the life style you are living if you lose your income source. When most people hear this they are totally shocked.

The bottom line here is that no matter how well you plan, things can always go south. The best thing you can do is not over extend yourself and pay things off as quickly as feasible. There are way too many careers that are subject to the turns in the economy. I am not in big trouble because all is paid for but things are now tight where it was VERY comfortable before.
 
Once again, great advice here! But I will never go with the idea of paying cash for everything. You must learn how to leverage cash, and credit, to invest, for long-term returns. Or to even have access to cash when that "once-in-a-lifetime" deal presents itself! I missed out on a few that way. A good example would be the time I used $3000 to pay-off my truck early [smart I thought!], and save on interest. But one week later, I had the opportunity to buy a Harley from a "distressed" seller that was about $3k under market value! So by doing the responsible thing, I screwed myself out of about $3k in profit because I didn't have cash-on-hand!
 
Live like no one else, so you can live AND GIVE like no one else. -Ramsey.
 
Damn
I just noticed it's a 13 year old thread :thumbsup:

:luvplace:
 
Auto Transport Service
Back
Top