Wednesday, July 9th, 2008
Have you ever thought about what you’d do with a lump sum of money if it was given to you? We all talk about what we’d do, how we’d invest it or pay off whatever.
Well my wife came home today and asked me what I’d do with $30 - $40,000 dollars if we had it in the bank. I immediately shout out the most responsible answer I could think of, “pay off your student loan and save the rest. I don’t know, why?” (currently at $31,200).
As soon as I asked the question she handed me a 3 page letter. I noticed it was from the owner of her company. I also immediately noticed it was personalized to her so I eagerly started reading. It started out with the normal fluff… “great job, etc”. But then I damn near shit myself once I got to the second paragraph.
First I must say, with her having the greatest boss one could ever ask for, I feel her boss’ gesture itself should be looked at and admired. So in turn, we’re taking 10% of that money and giving it away to something/ someone. So far, we’ve discussed: Struggling college Juniors and/or seniors needing books to giving some to a specific family member in need. Nothings yet official.
Secondly, now I’m REALLY stuck with the question of what am I to do with “me precious”. My heart says to buy a second rental property for long term income. No better time to do it than now. The way I see it, her student loan is with a 6% interest rate so any investment I’d make would have to get me more than 6%. What better investment than something that will pay me monthly with no overhead? So I’m thinking some will go towards buying and fixing a rental property.
Since the deal is to finalize in weeks, that’s when she’ll get her “gift” from her company. But still I’m sitting here wondering, what would you really do with a small (in the thousands) lump sum of money? We all fantasize about it but what would we really do with it? It’s a problem I’m loving to have at the moment. Life’s good right now.
Posted in Informational, Inspirational, success | No Comments »
Saturday, May 17th, 2008
WOOO HOOOO!
The $9K + student loan I took out to invest in myself is FINALLY paid off in full. I sent them the last $458 of it today.
Looking back on it, it wasn’t a bad investment and if I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t. I would’ve instead chose a local community college in hope of getting my GPA up high enough to merit some sort of scholarship upon obtaining my associate degree.
Dave Ramsey, makes a LOT of sense when he stresses that there are no longer prestigous colleges so a college education anywhere is somewhat equal no mater where you go.
Boy how I wish I would’ve received that lecture, 13 years ago, but truth is, I would’n't have listened to the lecture as I had my mind set on attending Lane College in order to get away and be with my friends.
The experiences themselves were great and I wouldn’t trade that for anything though so i guess it was a win-win situation in the end.
I’ve been really busy remodeling my mothers beauty salon so I apologize about not being able to put some kind of an update up.
Tired but relieved.,
Roger
Posted in education, goals, success | No Comments »
Friday, April 25th, 2008
Well during my downtime (laid off) I’ve been contemplating paying off 2 bills or keeping my cash stash for a raindy day.
If you’ve read my initial blog entry “My RDL introduction - Financial breakdown” you’re aware of my 2 debts I’ve been wanting to pay off.
Nebraska Furniture Mart (Wife just HAD to have a new washer & dryer set) and my (investment in myself) student loan. Those debts totaled $5500.
With the help of my budgeting program I’m now going to pay those 2 bills off IN FULL by May 30th of this year. If I get my stimulus check ($2100) early, I will be able to pay them off earlier than that.
Paying off those 2 bills will leave us with 3 debts left. My Wife’s student loan ($30K) Our mortgage ($97K) & our rental mortgage ($57K). This will also allow us to save $280/month which was going towards paying those 2 bills off.
My next hurdle will be to payoff the wifes student loan which will allow us to save $288/month. It’s a long hurdle but I think it’s attainable within 2 years. I’m reaching for a goal of end of ‘09. Realistically I’m thinking middle of ‘09
YEAH ME!
Posted in Generate income, Informational, Inspirational, Personal debt, education, goals, success | 1 Comment »
Monday, April 14th, 2008
Where do I start? I’m currently a laid off Sprint employee looking for work. My official release date was March 21st, 2008.
Despite the layoffs, I’m determined to get my family financially fit. I prepared for this round of yearly layoffs by treating myself as a corporation. I cutback on bad debt in order to increase my bottom dollar. I paid off both cars (2002 Yukon Denali XL & 2005 Ford Freestar) in April 2006. That alone allowed me to save $500+/month. It hurt me to have to write a $20K check which drained my savings & cashed in stock but it was worth it in the end.
I then switched to Vonage in February of 2008 for home phone service, saving me $40+/month. On top of that I switched my trash removal service which netted me a savings of only $20 /qtr (every little bit helps).
These cutbacks and debt payoffs now allow us to save approximately $1000 - $1500 per month.
Currently I receive a severance package from Sprint that allows me to get paid (bi-weekly) until August 22nd, 2008 (with benefits). If I land a job soon I have a real opportunity to get a great head start on becoming debt free.
A breakdown of our situtation:
- We bring home around $5k/month.
- Outside of mortgage and utilities we have…
- My wifes $30K student loan ($288/month)
- My $3500 student loan ($110/month)
- $2000 Nebraska Furniture Mart bill ($130/month)
- Our $58K rental property mortgage ($505/month)
- The rental property is currently generating $205/month income.
Currently we’re on track to have at least $20K in savings by the end of the year ($15k if I don’t find a job by then). If I can land a job soon, $40k in savings shouldn’t be out of the question at the end of the year.
Having given a financial breakdown of my situation, I’m hesitant to payoff the NFM & my student loan bill at the moment. Doing so would deplete our current savings account to a little less than half. Considering I’m unemployed at the moment, I wouldn’t feel comfortable taking out of our emergency stash at the moment to pay these off. Besides, The NFM bill is interest free until the middle of 2009 and the current $130/month payment will have me paid in full by that time. Also, my student loan is only 6% interest rate so it’s not like it’s killing me at the moment. I’ll pay it off early regardless as I pay at least $150 every month (applying the extra to principal).
Well there you have it. My financial breakdown for future references.
Roger Garrett
Posted in Informational, Personal debt | No Comments »
