Comments for HarvestingDollars

Comment on Avoid Middle-Class Land Mines by Dustin @ Envelope Budget Software

Dustin @ Envelope Budget Software — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:51:54 +0000

It’s funny when you start listening to Dave everyday, you pretty much know what he’s going to tell callers. Sometimes you cringe when people start talking and just start shaking your head because you know they are going to get it from Dave!

Comment on How Much Does Unemployment Pay? by Greg

Greg — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:31:41 +0000

The reason rates are so much higher for low income receipients is that they gain very little by going back to work. It pays them to sit around and take the easy money as long as it’s available.

Comment on Mistakes That Can’t Be Easily Undone by The Realist

The Realist — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 04:29:00 +0000

Believe it or not, but when I graduated college, I was not earning $46K/year. That was in 1992. That also was not a lot of money – even for back then. If you go to college and think you are going to make $100K/year, you probably won’t make it! The average college salary at time of this post is $46K. If you think you are going to make this, you are nuts. Most college graduate make about $25-30K. How do you pay for an apt. and car and clothes at this level of income plus pay taxes?

Don’t get me wrong, education is #1. Just don’t spend like your going to make a lot of money when you graduate!!!!! Pay off your student loans first. There is no way to get rid of them!

Comment on Paying Off Your Mortgage Early Is A Bad Idea When… by The Realist

The Realist — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 03:56:00 +0000

“If people continue to lose jobs and scale back we could see deflation for a while before it reverses to inflation.” What if you are 55 and listened to this advice? Don’t pay your mortgage early? You could be facing losing your home right now. You did things right, you kept your 4-6 months of salary in savings, but you have been out of work for 12 months. And you have 12 years to go on your mortgage. But you can no longer keep paying it. What are you going to do? Where are you going to live?

I pay an extra $100/mo on my mortgage. Always have. Now I also have gotten up to saving $100/pay check and increased my 401k to 15%. Lastly, I am now paying 5% to my son’s college education. I do not take home that much more than I did 10 years ago. Why? Because I don’t need it to live comfortably. I save more so I don’t have to worry later. Car breaks down? Got it covered. Son goes to college? Got most of it covered. Furnace goes out, got it covered. I lose my job at 50? I may not be covered 100%, but I do know that I won’t lose my house because I have been “Paying Off my Mortgage early”.

Comment on Top 4 Things Everyone Should Know About Their Finances by The Realist

The Realist — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 03:44:47 +0000

To be more specific, this amount should be documented in the budget. To know it by heart is overkill. The only numbers you should know by heart, is how much are you saving and how much you owe. If you owe more than in your savings you need to do something. Outside of that, as long as you don’t purchase things impulsively, you should be OK as long as you have a budget. If you purchase things impulsively or on credit, I would have to agree, you need to know these four numbers!

Why do I need to know this information? Because I want to charge something or take out a loan. STOP BORROWING MONEY! I have one loan, my mortgage. I also charge money from time to time. Recently I charged a new garage door ($2000) to my credit card. But guess what? The credit card is charging me 0% interest on new charges and I also have $4,000 in the bank. I am earning interest on my money, not much but something, and I am paying for the door with money I have in the bank. I lose my job – I can pay it off at 0% interest – free money. Otherwise – don’t borrow a dime! It is not worth it! If you don’t borrow, you don’t need to know all these numbers, you just need to be able to figure them out before you buy anything that requires a loan.

Comment on I’m Getting A Decent Tax Refund by The realist

The realist — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 03:16:15 +0000

Let’s be sure to not give a cent to the gov’t! I’m sure the average joe who whitholds an extra $25/PP is happy he kept his money the past year. He saved his $25 a pay period and will get back his $650 for the year plus interest! That should total $653 with an APY of 1%. WOOHOO!! We stuck it to the gov’t! We kept our three dollars!!! Let’s go celebrate! We can go to White Castle and if we’re lucky, we can each get a slider with bacon and cheese with the interest!!! Provided we saved the $25 each P.P.

If the gov’t kept those $3 for a million people each year, they’d have $3 Million! WOW! $3M in taxes that I don’t have to try and make up.

But wait, the average joe doesn’t save his $25/P.P. He spends it. So in May when his truck breaks down and he needs to pay the mechanic $600 he charges it. And pays 18% interest. If he is a good credit risk, it may be 8% interest. Good thing we screwed the gov’t over! Now I owe more than 8 x’s to the bank. That makes financial sense to me!

Let the Gov’t have a free loan and you get $650 back in May so you can get carpet or pay the doctor or get part of your house painted or you could get your truck fixed without having to charge it.

Comment on Written Goals Beat Mental Goals Everytime by Paying off the Last Card — Kingdom First Mom

Paying off the Last Card — Kingdom First Mom — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 06:57:19 +0000

[...] Setting a concrete goal was a big factor in how quickly we paid things off. One year ago, we had roughly $7000 in credit card debt. When our frugal journey began, I never imagined this day would come so soon. [...]

Comment on Top 4 Things Everyone Should Know About Their Finances by New Zealand

New Zealand — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 05:51:42 +0000

Interesting post! Lot’s of people do need help budgeting better!

Comment on Bank On Yourself – Is This Strategy For Real? by Brent

Brent — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 17:11:10 +0000

I have had one of these policies for almost 5 years. I am very pleased with the way it works so far. So much so, that I have become somewhat of an online evangelist.

I haven’t seen an argument yet that I can’t lick.

My favorite argument right now is Dave Ramsey’s “They keep your money when you die” argument.

Oh really?

Numbers don’t lie and here are mine…

One day one of policy, I could have dropped dead and my wife would have received $400,000.

One year and $12,000 in premiums later, if I had died, my wife would have received $450,000.

(Could I interest you in some 2nd grade math?)

After 2 years and $24,000 in premiums, my wife could’ve bumped me off to receive half a million dollars!

Dave, half a million is MORE than $400,000 + $24,000.

And if I die today, my wife will get the original $400,000 death benefit + our $50,000 we paid in premiums + another $100,000 in “take that, Dave!” money.

BOY works well when implemented as described.

And I happen to like (and got lucky) with Lafayette Life because it turns out they have almost the highest ratings you can get from Fitch and AMBest. And ratings matter when you’re talking about life insurance.

Comment on Top 4 Things Everyone Should Know About Their Finances by Stocks on Wall Street

Stocks on Wall Street — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 10:03:33 +0000

Most people do not know how to handle their finances, thats the problem.