How much in debt are you

Lefty Bicek

Channing Poor Sailboat wrote: »

It's actually probably nearer to triple the monthly mortgage payment (typical bank car loan of 50k over 5 years for example would be a €980 month).

I am debt averse and that would probably keep me awake at night!!

Which is a total repayment over the period, of >60k :eek:

Trigger Happy

Trigger Happy wrote: »

I get why people borrow for a car even though I never would.
What is madness is borrowing for a wedding.

I understand borrowing for a wedding, what gets me is the sheer amount that people borrow for their wedding. Crazy money sometimes.

Potential-Monke

Channing Poor Sailboat wrote: »

I just find myself asking why on earth would you leave a decent pensionable more or less guaranteed job for life? Especially when you have debt to clear.

Details of your loans etc only stay on the ICB for 5 years so unless you've come to some other type of debt settlement then it won't be on your credit history for 10 or more years.

Many reasons tbh. Throughout my close to 10 years as a Garda, I experienced a lot of failings in management that was the real driving cause, but wasn't enough to make me quit. Bad decisions, hiding the lack of manpower when important people visit, not ensuring everyone is doing their fair share, taking preferences to people due to their interest/status in sports, or fishing, or something else. But, I was willing to work through that, with the hope of getting out of where I was stationed.

Then, the workload got too much. So much paperwork and literally given no time to complete it. Recession killed us, and you were lucky to see the inside of the station other than at the start and end of the shift (unless you had a prisoner), but at the same time giving out that the files were late. The Jackie Chan meme was just constantly in my mind when this happened. Add in that it was becoming par for course to not get a lunch and work well beyond your intended end time, having to go to court on your days off, seeing people you've arrested walking the streets even though they should be locked up due to being a career criminal... It's deflating.

Next, the change in management to hang you out to dry the first chance they could get in order to get promoted. The lack of support from management regarding violent incidents. I was assaulted 4 times, with the last one being a few boxes to the face and nearly thrown off a 3rd story balcony. Not a single person was brought to court for them. A colleague hurt his wrist while chasing a burglar coming out of a house. Scrote ran down a dark alley, Garda followed, pitch black, they both fell over something, scrote ran away and Garda had a badly twisted ankle. Management told him it was his fault.

And finally, the nail in the coffin. I had anxiety due to all the above, and while I was able to manage it most days it was getting worse. Then my dad had a stroke, so as I was the only child with no siblings I said I'd transfer close to home to be there for my parents (he's grand now!), and I had the station sorted to go to, everyone all ok with it except for the local Chief, just would not let me transfer out due to 'lack of manpower' but no problem sending people in the golden circle where they wanted... I just quit then, couldn't hack it anymore and would probably have done something I would have regretted.

Job security is great, a state pension would have been lovely (if it was still there and decent in 20 years, the retirement age for now but always increasing), but nothing can overshadow mental health, and I'm 100% better off for doing it. Yes, I'm in debt for the foreseeable, and i'll probably never have a place to call my own again, but i'm far, far happier than I was 4 years ago.

Regarding my debt, even though I've been paying on time every week for the last 3 years i'm still behind, so it's still affecting my credit history, and until it's cleared the 5 year time frame won't even start, and i'm about €3k behind and barely covering the repayment interest for now. New job recently so hoping to up the repayments soon. At the current rate, it will take 8 years to clear.

Such is life, as others have noted it's my own fault for borrowing, but I still hold the GCU to some blame for giving it to me, appears there was no oversight. Pretty sure I could probably get some debt written off due to that reason, i'd imagine the application forms are interesting as to how they decided I could afford to pay it back, but I don't want to make over 10,000 enemies who can mess up my life!

sbsquarepants

Bishop of hope wrote: »

Status symbol is usual reason.
I see earlier this poster couldn't justify an expensive watch, that's reasonable, but it sounds funny then to have a 47k loan left on a car and try to justify that.
Sounds like it would be a case of a car is easier to show off than a watch, I mean you'd have to roll up your sleeves and wave a lot before you'd notice a watch.

There's no point in having money if you don't use it to get something you like. For me personally i don't think i'd spend 47k on a car if i won the lotto, i'm just not into cars. For someone else though that could be the best possible use of 47K as far as they are concerned.

Horses for courses and all that.

circadian

No debt except mortgage €110k/pa thereabouts.

Was swimming in debt after University (thanks SLC) but that's, uh, not really a problem anymore.

CivilCybil

anewme wrote: »

The reality, harsh and all as it is, is no one forced anyone to take loans, extra money etc.

The onus is on ourselves to assume some personal responsibility and ownership.

The last recession was full of people complaining that it was The Banks/ Credit Union etc fault for giving them money. I understand illness etc changing people’s circumstances, but you really need to factor in risks such as job loss when taking the money and what happens s if you are out of work for a time, etc.

It’s your own fault. No one else’s. It’s easy to blame others when you really need to look closer to home.

There were some pretty shady practices at the time though. Myself and my partner were on about 50k jointly. All of 21 years old. Looking for a mortgage of 180k.
Broker kept telling us we'd be mad to use savings as our deposit. Offered us 100% and 110% loans. Encouraged us that we'd be better off buying a 4 bed detached and borrowing 300k than the 3 bed semi we were looking at.
Encouraged us to push out repayments to 35 years because we were young.
We were barely adults and put our trust in these "financial advisors" because we were naïve enough to think this person was impartial. Everyone was encouraging us to buy the bigger house. The builder. The estate agent.

That was 2005. We're only just coming out of negative equity meaning 13 years of repayments for feck all. We'd have been worse off if we hadn't decided to take an 80% LTV mortgage.
We have a tracker mortgage too which was another wise choice we made.
But the banks kept trying to get us to cash that out too.

There was some seriously irresponsible lending going on so it's not possible to absolve the financial institutions of all responsibility.

I do find some people’s fear of borrowing money quite strange, it’s almost a badge of honor for some that they don’t have any borrowings where was to me it’s a bit of a backwards outlook. Even using the word “debt” gives the image of someone scraping by to pay off a loan and fighting off people knocking at the sort while not being able to afford food. I know technically yes if you are in debt but most people never describe it that way, they say they have a loan or whatever.

The fact is sensible borrowing is a very valuable way of managing your finances and allows you to buy things like a car that would take Impractically long to save up for. Saying you can make do with a cheap car is irrelevant. People like to be able to have a nice lifestyle and well thought out borrowing allows this.

I also think many are looking at the borrowings of others from their own perspective. People saying they would be awake at night worrying if they had a 30k car loan are light on a lowish salary and of course they would be on the breadline whereas most who would have this level of borrowing or more for a car are very comfortably able to pay and likely don’t even think about it, the money leaves their account every month and that’s it.

MetzgerMeister

How is not being in debt a backwards outlook

Woshy

No debt at the moment (just sold our house so no mortgage even). Plus work owes me about 100 for expenses so I'm actually in the black!

Really though, the weight taken off when debts are paid off is unreal. It's amazing how much it weighs you down

6541

I am wondering can you play the debt game.
So interest rates are low, anyone know a good debt strategy to actually use debt to make money.

anewme

CivilCybil wrote: »

There were some pretty shady practices at the time though. Myself and my partner were on about 50k jointly. All of 21 years old. Looking for a mortgage of 180k.
Broker kept telling us we'd be mad to use savings as our deposit. Offered us 100% and 110% loans. Encouraged us that we'd be better off buying a 4 bed detached and borrowing 300k than the 3 bed semi we were looking at.
Encouraged us to push out repayments to 35 years because we were young.
We were barely adults and put our trust in these "financial advisors" because we were naïve enough to think this person was impartial. Everyone was encouraging us to buy the bigger house. The builder. The estate agent.

In all fairness, if you even did the maths on the back of a cigarette packet, you would see that there was no way you could afford repayments on a €300K loan on the back of a €50K salary jointly.

Maybe because I was very poor growing up, as in, no rent paid, no lights as ESB was cut off, no food, I know that if you don't pay, it literally gets taken away, so I would be wary of what I sign up to.

That said, I agree very much with the post above, if you want a car loan and you can pay it, no problem, if you want a wedding and can pay it, no problem, if you want a watch and can pay for it, no problem. Everyone likes different things and more power to their elbow.

The ones I have a problem with is the ones who spend it and then cant pay and start blaming others. And look after your own affairs and dont bother monitoring or begrudging what someone else has. All this I dont understand why someone gets a car loan. OK, dont get one then.

Back in 2009, I bought a new car. One of the neighbours gave out to me for driving in my fancy car when many people on the road were out of work. He got told to f off. There's too much watching other people and backbiting in this country.

The post saying they wanted to "deflate" people when they bought a new car is a typical example of this.

Wibbs

Bishop of hope wrote: »

Status symbol is usual reason.
I see earlier this poster couldn't justify an expensive watch, that's reasonable, but it sounds funny then to have a 47k loan left on a car and try to justify that.
Sounds like it would be a case of a car is easier to show off than a watch, I mean you'd have to roll up your sleeves and wave a lot before you'd notice a watch.

It also depends on the watch. If you bought a Rolex(before the current and recent Rolex value bubble) and sold it on in five or ten years time, you'd get your money back and with certain models maybe even be slightly ahead, so essentially it would be a "free" item. Ditto for a lot of vintage stuff.

However a new car is a scarily depreciating "asset" and the more high end the car the bigger the loss involved(there are some exceptions but they're extremely rare). Case in point; a mate of mine bought a fancy German brand car right at the tail end of the "boom". Well the seats were showing their age and so a couple of years ago through a mutual friend in the car trade he was able to buy an entire example of his car model, with seats and interior in near new condition for IIRC 800 quid. When new he slapped down nearly 70 K on it.

Don't get me wrong I very much see the appeal of a new car and with loans/PCP being easy to get so it doesn't sting so much on a monthly basis and thank god for new car buyers as cheap bastards like me wouldn't be able to buy secondhand cars at knockdown prices, but... for me anyway buying a new car is one of the most daft financial decisions people can make.

ELM327

anewme wrote: »

People will borrow for what floats their boat.

What floats your boat may not float my boat, but that's ok.

What matters is that you can repay what you borrowed.

If you can, well, that's your choice, if you cant, well, its your problem.

Exactly. And I can afford comfortably the repayments so it's not an issue.

Motivator wrote: »

So your car is costing you a lot more than your mortgage every month? Looks like it’s probably double your mortgage repayments.

Why would you do that?

My mortgage is what most would pay on a car loan and my car loan is what most would pay on a mortgage. I don't really go out drinking a lot anymore, don't smoke etc. Cars are my hobby and I've wanted a Tesla for years. So that's why.

Bishop of hope wrote: »

Status symbol is usual reason.
I see earlier this poster couldn't justify an expensive watch, that's reasonable, but it sounds funny then to have a 47k loan left on a car and try to justify that.
Sounds like it would be a case of a car is easier to show off than a watch, I mean you'd have to roll up your sleeves and wave a lot before you'd notice a watch.

Nothing to do with status symbols.
I just like cars and this one, a Tesla, is one I've wanted for years.

Channing Poor Sailboat wrote: »

It's actually probably nearer to triple the monthly mortgage payment (typical bank car loan of 50k over 5 years for example would be a €980 month).

I am debt averse and that would probably keep me awake at night!!

Pretty close to the repayment, yeah.
As I say above , my mortgage is what most would pay on a car loan and my car loan is what most would pay on a mortgage.


I enjoy cars more than I enjoy houses so here we are!

anewme

ELM327 wrote: »

Exactly. And I can afford comfortably the repayments so it's not an issue.



My mortgage is what most would pay on a car loan and my car loan is what most would pay on a mortgage. I don't really go out drinking a lot anymore, don't smoke etc. Cars are my hobby and I've wanted a Tesla for years. So that's why.





Nothing to do with status symbols.
I just like cars and this one, a Tesla, is one I've wanted for years.





Pretty close to the repayment, yeah.
As I say above , my mortgage is what most would pay on a car loan and my car loan is what most would pay on a mortgage.


I enjoy cars more than I enjoy houses so here we are!

Exactly!

I dont see why you need to justify your position either.

Enjoy your Tesla. Jealous

facehugger99

sbsquarepants wrote: »

There's no point in having money if you don't use it to get something you like. For me personally i don't think i'd spend 47k on a car if i won the lotto, i'm just not into cars. For someone else though that could be the best possible use of 47K as far as they are concerned.

There's big difference between spending €47k of your own money on a car than taking out a €47k loan to do so.

If you've got the cash to spend and love cars then great. If you're putting yourself in that much debt for an asset that will be worth a faction of what you borrowed in a couple of years, that's just plain stupid IMO.

kippy

facehugger99 wrote: »

There's big difference between spending €47k of your own money on a car than taking out a €47k loan to do so.

If you've got the cash to spend and love cars then great. If you're putting yourself in that much debt for an asset that will be worth a faction of what you borrowed in a couple of years, that's just plain stupid IMO.

If the poster can afford it and it's what they are into - fair enough - not something for everyone but life can be short - the bad times can often outweigh the good.
You can't take any of it with you.

ELM327

facehugger99 wrote: »

There's big difference between spending €47k of your own money on a car than taking out a €47k loan to do so.

If you've got the cash to spend and love cars then great. If you're putting yourself in that much debt for an asset that will be worth a faction of what you borrowed in a couple of years, that's just plain stupid IMO.

If you consider the opportunity costs of the interest and depreciation (i work as a risk analyst in credit risk so I'm familiar with the data thanks) worth it to have the car of your dreams and can afford the repayments comfortably, is it still stupid?
More or less stupid than spending a few hundred down the pub a month? Smoking it?
On takeaways, coffee in starbucks etc?

As if to prove my point, a friend of mine died a week after me getting the Tesla. He was in his early 30's and had so much life in front of him. I'm glad to enjoy my life and what is that about except doing what you love with those you love.


I get it's not something you'd want to do as you see cars as a commodity but I really enjoy cars. I couldnt actually tell you how many cars or how many tens of thousands over the years I've spent on interesting cars. I literally have no interest in buying a 192 plate attached to a dacia or renault no name nothing.



If I told you that spending your disposable income on funding your interest was stupid, how would you react?

MetzgerMeister

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

How is not being in debt a backwards outlook

I mean the attitude to debt not being in debt or not.

facehugger99 wrote: »

There's big difference between spending €47k of your own money on a car than taking out a €47k loan to do so.

If you've got the cash to spend and love cars then great. If you're putting yourself in that much debt for an asset that will be worth a faction of what you borrowed in a couple of years, that's just plain stupid IMO.

Madness to spend your own money on a car like that. If I was buying a car for 47k and I could buy it all in cash I’d still borrow the majorly of the cost of it. Very poor financial management to burn up a load of savings like that much better to borrow.

elperello

Somehow cars bring out the worst in people.
A car is such a visible sign that you have spent €xx.

Others may have interests that cost a lot but nobody sees it.

I have an interest that involves purchasing specialist equipment that is quite expensive and wears out requiring replacement.
You'll never see criticism in these threads of this type of expenditure but everyone has an opinion when it comes to cars.

anewme

Or the people who go out at weekends in Dublin and spend a hundred euro a go, which is easily done.

facehugger99

ELM327 wrote: »

If you consider the opportunity costs of the interest and depreciation (i work as a risk analyst in credit risk so I'm familiar with the data thanks) worth it to have the car of your dreams and can afford the repayments comfortably, is it still stupid?
More or less stupid than spending a few hundred down the pub a month? Smoking it?
On takeaways, coffee in starbucks etc?

It's stupid yes.

People's circumstances change. A €47k loan will take years to clear.

Why saddle yourself with that much debt? - the asset itself will be practically worthless at the end of the term.

I would question the financial intelligence of anyone who uses the 'Well, you could die tomorrow' argument.

Sure why start a pension or save anything if you have that attitude?

quokula

Alyssa Pitiful Aeroplane wrote: »

Madness to spend your own money on a car like that. If I was buying a car for 47k and I could buy it all in cash I’d still borrow the majorly of the cost of it. Very poor financial management to burn up a load of savings like that much better to borrow.

Whatever about the cost of the car being worth it... I can't get my head around this. Why would it be better to pay interest for years than pay for it yourself?

Your savings aren't going to generate as much interest as servicing the loan will cost you.

kippy

facehugger99 wrote: »

It's stupid yes.

People's circumstances change. A €47k loan will take years to clear.

Why saddle yourself with that much debt? - the asset itself will be practically worthless at the end of the term.

I would question the financial intelligence of anyone who uses the 'Well, you could die tomorrow' argument.

Sure why start a pension or save anything if you have that attitude?

If the person has the ability to pay back the loan and the relevant insurances in place - I don't see the issue - although, again, it is not something I would do myself, even with the means.

I'm not using the "Well, you could die tomorrow" in a financial sense I am using it in the sense that if the poster is into cars and can afford them, isn't it good to enjoy them while he/she can?

Why spend any money at all on unnecessary items (Smartphones, Smart TV's, Big Houses, anything but potatoes and bacon and cabbage) when you could be saving every penny for what?

Like everything, you need to strike a balance - you put so much into a pension/savings because if you do survive you are screwed when you retire.

Feisar

Outside of the mortgage, €20K on a loan to up the house.

ELM327

facehugger99 wrote: »

It's stupid yes.

People's circumstances change. A €47k loan will take years to clear.

Why saddle yourself with that much debt? - the asset itself will be



practically worthless at the end of the term.

I would question the financial intelligence of anyone who uses the 'Well, you could die tomorrow' argument.

Sure why start a pension or save anything if you have that attitude?

The term of the loan is 5 years but I have a number of shares and bonuses that I will be using to pay it down aggressively - aiming for below 4 years


I don't view it as "saddled" with anything. It's current expenditure which is about 150-200% of my prior fuel costs. I do 60k km per year.


You can question my "financial intelligence" all you want but considering I am gainfully employed within the industry for years you'll understand why I don't give a crap what you think!

facehugger99

ELM327 wrote: »

You can question my "financial intelligence" all you want but considering I am gainfully employed within the industry for years you'll understand why I don't give a crap what you think!

Being "gainfully employed" has nothing to do with financial intelligence BTW.

Ush1

Alyssa Pitiful Aeroplane wrote: »

Madness to spend your own money on a car like that. If I was buying a car for 47k and I could buy it all in cash I’d still borrow the majorly of the cost of it. Very poor financial management to burn up a load of savings like that much better to borrow.

How is it poor financial management when it will cost you more to service the loan?

averagejoe123

Alyssa Pitiful Aeroplane wrote: »

Madness to spend your own money on a car like that. If I was buying a car for 47k and I could buy it all in cash I’d still borrow the majorly of the cost of it. Very poor financial management to burn up a load of savings like that much better to borrow.

Unless the loan is 0% then you are wrong to thing this.

How are you going to achieve a greater risk free return on your 47k that beats the interest on the loan?

ELM327

facehugger99 wrote: »

Being "gainfully employed" has nothing to do with financial intelligence BTW.

Generally yes, however as it is my profession I would disagree in this instance.
Care to address anything else in any of my posts or are you just continuing with the "it's stupid" remarks? (Which of course I shall attribute to begrudgery)

facehugger99

ELM327 wrote: »

Generally yes, however as it is my profession I would disagree in this instance.
Care to address anything else in any of my posts or are you just continuing with the "it's stupid" remarks? (Which of course I shall attribute to begrudgery)

I've already outlined my reasons - I couldn't be arsed explaining them further. The fact you're so defensive about it is telling.

Personally, i don't care what random internet people think of me or my decisions - try it yourself sometime, it's remarkably liberating.

ELM327

facehugger99 wrote: »

I've already outlined my reasons - I couldn't be arsed explaining them further. The fact you're so defensive about it is telling.

Personally, i don't care what random internet people think of me or my decisions - try it yourself sometime, it's remarkably liberating.

As I have demonstrated I don't care
Oh and.. begrudgery.. grand thanks!

anewme

ELM327 wrote: »

Generally yes, however as it is my profession I would disagree in this instance.
Care to address anything else in any of my posts or are you just continuing with the "it's stupid" remarks? (Which of course I shall attribute to begrudgery)

It's just pure begrudgery.

Someone who smokes pointed out to me recently that I must spend over €10K a year on holidays. I told them it was probably nearer €15K.

anewme

facehugger99 wrote: »

Personally, i don't care what random internet people think of me or my decisions - try it yourself sometime, it's remarkably liberating.

But its not any of your business what anyone else spends their money on. Once they have the money to pay it, why are you bothered?

You are dictating that because people are not doing as you do, that they must be stupid.

facehugger99

anewme wrote: »

But its not any of your business what anyone else spends their money on. Once they have the money to pay it, why are you bothered?

I'm not

anewme wrote: »

You are dictating that because people are not doing as you do, that they must be stupid.

I'm saying that I consider it to be stupid and have clearly outlined my reasons- why do you care what my opinion is?

anewme

facehugger99 wrote: »

I'm not



I'm saying that I consider it to be stupid and have clearly outlined my reasons- why do you care what my opinion is?

The whole point is that people like different things and your idea of stupid is not anyone elses. If someone borrows 47K for a car loan, that does not make them financially stupid. It just means, that they can afford 47K on a car loan.

facehugger99

facehugger99 wrote: »

I'm saying that I consider it to be stupid and have clearly outlined my reasons- why do you care what my opinion is?

What’s the point in life if you aren’t enjoying it though and that involves spending money in most instances and may require loans. If you are comfortably able to repay why is it stupid?

So you just sit at home counting your savings with a smug look on your face.

sbsquarepants

facehugger99 wrote: »

There's big difference between spending €47k of your own money on a car than taking out a €47k loan to do so.

If you've got the cash to spend and love cars then great. If you're putting yourself in that much debt for an asset that will be worth a faction of what you borrowed in a couple of years, that's just plain stupid IMO.

#

"That much debt"is not a universal concept. To me 50K is a very considerable amount of money, but there are plenty of people who it would barely register with - and i don't mean footballers and rockstars, just well paid working people. My boss for example paid 30K for an electric motorbike, it's been parked up in work for the past 2 years, i've seen him on it twice i think. For all i know he put it on his credit card and cleared it off at the end of the month like i would buy a new t-shirt!

Alyssa Pitiful Aeroplane wrote: »

I mean the attitude to debt not being in debt or not.



Madness to spend your own money on a car like that. If I was buying a car for 47k and I could buy it all in cash I’d still borrow the majorly of the cost of it. Very poor financial management to burn up a load of savings like that much better to borrow.

I can't for the life of me understand this. What possible sense is there in paying interest when you don't need to?

Upthewalls1

We earn about 80k jointly, dh and I. There is about 28,000 left to pay on our mortgage and that will be cleared in a few years. We have a car loan alright and pay back about €300 a month on that. Next year is when we'll really start to rack up some debt though as we will have a teen starting university in september 2020 and another one starting in 2021, so the next 5 years at least will be tough. Then when the younger of those two is finished our 3rd child will be ready to start college too.

Ush1

Ush1 wrote: »

How is it poor financial management when it will cost you more to service the loan?

Firstly car finance is very cheap nowadays, 0% is readily available and under 3% is common place.

Aside from that you can’t put a value on having access to a large amount of cash instantly or with relative ease at the very least and having savings is means you do.

It’s very hard to save up 50k and takes quite a while, so much better to keep it and pay off the car from day to day money at low intestet.

sbsquarepants wrote: »

#

I can't for the life of me understand this. What possible sense is there in paying interest when you don't need to?

As above.

Even the ultra wealthy use finance to buy things.

facehugger99

anewme wrote: »

The whole point is that people like different things and your idea of stupid is not anyone elses. If someone borrows 47K for a car loan, that does not make them financially stupid. It just means, that they can afford 47K on a car loan.

Yeah , I heard similar sentiments back in 2006.

Perhaps you missed the last recession, but I can assure you, for a lot of people, it absolutely doesn't mean that at all.

Trigger Happy

Joshua Ruiz 2 wrote: »

Liquidity should be a consideration. If you want a certain buffer of savings for liquidity for unforeseen expenses.

It takes 2 hours to get a loan approved. Why not get a loan for the unforeseen expenses - only when and if they arise - and so only pay interest when you really need to?

sbsquarepants

Joshua Ruiz 2 wrote: »

Liquidity should be a consideration. If you want a certain buffer of savings for liquidity for unforeseen expenses.

Still makes no sense - use the money you have (unless you can 0% finance, which you sometimes can) If you're paying any interest at all you're better off using your own money, if something else crops up in the mean time you can borrow for that if need be.

It never makes financial sense to pay more than you have to!

Ush1

Alyssa Pitiful Aeroplane wrote: »

Firstly car finance is very cheap nowadays, 0% is readily available and under 3% is common place.

Aside from that you can’t put a value on having access to a large amount of cash instantly or with relative ease at the very least and having savings is means you do.

It’s very hard to save up 50k and takes quite a while, so much better to keep it and pay off the car from day to day money at low intestet.

0% finance is fine but still no "cheaper" than buying outright. Anything above that is costing you more.

A large sum of cash is relative as is saving being hard. 50k might be a lot to you but not much to others. I never said anything about having no cash available.

Also the value of cash goes in one direction over time, down.

anewme

facehugger99 wrote: »

Yeah , I heard similar sentiments back in 2006.

Perhaps you missed the last recession, but I can assure you, for a lot of people, it absolutely doesn't mean that at all.

Not sure if you read the OP's post.

He has a tiny mortgage. He also does not mention how much he has saved.

The people I have no time for are the ones who borrow the money and then blame it on someone else when they can't pay it back.

I've lived through 3 recessions now and never once missed a payment on anything so I know how to manage my finances.

I took a loan of 40K from the Credit Union recently to do up the house. I can afford to take a loan of 40K. Now you might find that stupid, but I like to have a nice home. It will be paid off in 4 years time, exactly at the same time as the mortgage.

I'm like NoX, would rather take the loan and keep the savings.

I think you need to trust people to look after their own finances.

Ginger83

sbsquarepants wrote: »

#

"That much debt"is not a universal concept. To me 50K is a very considerable amount of money, but there are plenty of people who it would barely register with - and i don't mean footballers and rockstars, just well paid working people. My boss for example paid 30K for an electric motorbike, it's been parked up in work for the past 2 years, i've seen him on it twice i think. For all i know he put it on his credit card and cleared it off at the end of the month like i would buy a new t-shirt!



I can't for the life of me understand this. What possible sense is there in paying interest when you don't need to?

Do you mind me asking what kind of bike?

facehugger99

anewme wrote: »

I think you need to trust people to look after their own finances.

I'm not sure why you're trying to personalize the topic - Just to be clear again, I honestly don't give a sh'te about anyone's finances as long as they don't blow back on the financially prudent to bail them out if things go tits up.

There is plenty of on-thread evidence of people who have got themselves up to their neck in debt. I've worked with colleagues who thought every year was going to be like 2006 and borrowed accordingly - it didn't work out great for those guys and some of them are still living with the consequences.

Being able to service a debt now does not mean you will easily service it in 18 months time - that's what most of the last recession boiled down to.

Taking out the thick end of a €50k car loan so you can tell yourself you're Charlie Sheen in Wall Street is a particularly stupid move for most people IMO.

jester77

I've never taken out a loan, besides the mortgage. I usually save up for things I want, and keep a rainy day fund for general things that come up.

sbsquarepants

Ginger83 wrote: »

Do you mind me asking what kind of bike?

I'm not too sure. It's a BMW and it's shaped like a scooter more so than a motorbike, cars or bikes are just not my thing!

anewme

facehugger99 wrote: »

Being able to service a debt now does not mean you will easily service it in 18 months time - that's what most of the last recession boiled down to.

In my case it does, I will just pay it off.

You dont know the person with the 50K car loan could do the same.

No need to insult people about being Charlie Sheehan, if they want to do it for whatever reasons, best of luck to them.

facehugger99

anewme wrote: »

if they want to do it for whatever reasons, best of luck to them.

Luckily most don't share your caviler attitude to debt.

Some do unfortunately and they are usually the ones braying loudest for 'debt forgiveness' when the **** hits the fan.