I'm again procrastinating until the last moment to get in the "I can't afford it award."
For March 2016 the I can't afford it award goes to
Ted from this post.http://viscarjones.blogspot.com/2016/03/painting-picture-at-different-angle.html?m=1
With over 110 THOUSAND dollars in cars he's trying to get rid of Ted has become the most expensive in the hole person I have ever nominated.
That is all..
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Scared of these drastic GOOD changes
I'm scared. To fully understand why, I need to go back a couple decades to explain. When I was about 10 or 11 my oldest brother and his friends were going to go to a fireworks show the county did every year. I counted my change I had and found that I had barely enough to go with him. I asked him if I could go and he said he would think about it. Later that night I noticed my sister was getting ready to go. I again asked him and he told me to save my money for my mission and took my sister instead. I still remember them staring out our window to a brand new car pulling in the driveway. (His friend had just bought a new car) Although it hurt I wasn't heartbroken and I sincerely thought he meant what he said. The very next year my sister went again with cousin's. There was no room for me. The next year my sister was once again invited to go with my grandma. I finally complained made my case to my mom and my mom told my sister that it was my turn. I waited for my grandma to arrive. She never did. My mom said that she probably just forgot. I found out later she heard about us arguing and decided not to pick me up because she thought I started it. O.k. So I was let down 3 years in a row. No big deal right?
Pepsi had a promotion if you collected phrases on bottle caps you could win prizes. The one prize I wanted was a snowboard trip for 4 to Colorado and 5000 dollars spending money. The phrase was "As If" I believe I had "If" which was the easier one. A guy at school said excitedly that he found "As" in a 24 pack box. We started making plans but he never brang it to school. He claims his sister got into a fight with him and hid the game piece. He probably was lieing about the whole thing but then again I was still Let Down
My wife tells me this story. She once had a 1000 dollar winning game piece for a taco bell game. She kept it on her dresser and wanted to cash it in. After school one day her mom came home with a newer car. She asked her if she had seen the winning game piece she said no. Years later after talking to one of her mom's friend she found out her mom had cashed the 1000 dollars and used it as a down payment on a car.
She was let down
After meeting my future wife having a blast at college and heading home for a semester not knowing what to do my wife's parents decided they wanted to go to Disneyland. After hearing I had never been they asked my wife if she wanted to come and invite me. She excitedly told me the news and again we started planning. Weeks before the day arrived her parents back tracked, more than likely due to money problems, and instead of telling us straight up more swept it under the rug and said it was an idea not an actual plan. Let down again.
My wife received an exciting offer to do a simple house sitting job near new york
She was going to be paid thousands of dollars to be flown to Staten Island NY and watch cats. (Seriously rich people have way to much money it's made them insane) She decided to invite me along and to top it all off we applied and got a job offer to be summer camp counselors in New Jersey. The plan was to stay at the Staten Island house (alone;) and after 3 weeks head to new Jersey make a little and fly back to Arizona and continue college but if you haven't guessed, we both were Let down.
Apparently this rich lady who hasn't had to work since the 50s thought the cats would not adjust to a new sitter.
I have alot more examples and maybe I am biased but I do feel I have had more than my fair share of let downs to the point where I basically kick my shoes against the ground and say there's always tomorrow only wishing that things would get better with no actual plan or relief in site. Year after year there is some hope and help but then something happens like a vehicle break down or a medical emergency that once again stalls our financial goals.
So why am I scared??
For the first time our financial situation has improved drastically. Our financial outlook looks incredible and to top it all off. My horrible credit score has increased over 100 points!
This is not normal for me. I'm scared of what it means. Will I lose alot of money in one day to be punished for writing assumptions that aren't true. Will I let go on our spending habits and go back to living a hard core budgeting life? Will I be independently wealthy? Will my family dislike me because of that? Will my in laws ask me for loans and be upset when we don't loan them the money? Yes I'm getting ahead of myself and there are alot of assumptions in the air but the facts are there too. AND THEY SCARE ME!
Here are the facts.
1. For the last 5-6 years my average income was between 32 and 40 thousand.
2. If you add all of our income without our tax return this year including our projected income for March we are averaging 100 thousand dollars a year.
That is a fact! I did the calculation!
3. If you add our tax return the average jumps up to 136 thousand. (I have basically made my yearly net income in 3 months)
4. My car is paid off! Make that 3! I'm set for minor car break downs. If one breaks we will simply move to the next one till that one is fixed. (Just had one this week. Car had a flat don't have time till this weekend to fix it so I moved to my 2nd van)
5. My credit card debt has went from around 92% debt limit to around 25%.
6. It could drop to zero before the end of the month! But. We have decided to start a down payment fund.
7. Thats right, By the end of March we will have 5000 dollars in our savings exclusively for a down payment towards our new house!
I don't know what to think of it. Maybe it's a spur of good luck. The horizon looks really good from here and I hope it's just as good when we get there but I have been let down alot. That is why I'm still writing my thoughts and ideas. I haven't and won't be in a rich careless mindset. I have to know where my money is going. My 7 goals that I wrote about could be done alot sooner than I thought.
Enough pondering.
I won't believe it till I see it anyways.
Happy pie day to all the nerds:)
Or the day after pie day.
Pepsi had a promotion if you collected phrases on bottle caps you could win prizes. The one prize I wanted was a snowboard trip for 4 to Colorado and 5000 dollars spending money. The phrase was "As If" I believe I had "If" which was the easier one. A guy at school said excitedly that he found "As" in a 24 pack box. We started making plans but he never brang it to school. He claims his sister got into a fight with him and hid the game piece. He probably was lieing about the whole thing but then again I was still Let Down
My wife tells me this story. She once had a 1000 dollar winning game piece for a taco bell game. She kept it on her dresser and wanted to cash it in. After school one day her mom came home with a newer car. She asked her if she had seen the winning game piece she said no. Years later after talking to one of her mom's friend she found out her mom had cashed the 1000 dollars and used it as a down payment on a car.
She was let down
After meeting my future wife having a blast at college and heading home for a semester not knowing what to do my wife's parents decided they wanted to go to Disneyland. After hearing I had never been they asked my wife if she wanted to come and invite me. She excitedly told me the news and again we started planning. Weeks before the day arrived her parents back tracked, more than likely due to money problems, and instead of telling us straight up more swept it under the rug and said it was an idea not an actual plan. Let down again.
My wife received an exciting offer to do a simple house sitting job near new york
She was going to be paid thousands of dollars to be flown to Staten Island NY and watch cats. (Seriously rich people have way to much money it's made them insane) She decided to invite me along and to top it all off we applied and got a job offer to be summer camp counselors in New Jersey. The plan was to stay at the Staten Island house (alone;) and after 3 weeks head to new Jersey make a little and fly back to Arizona and continue college but if you haven't guessed, we both were Let down.
Apparently this rich lady who hasn't had to work since the 50s thought the cats would not adjust to a new sitter.
I have alot more examples and maybe I am biased but I do feel I have had more than my fair share of let downs to the point where I basically kick my shoes against the ground and say there's always tomorrow only wishing that things would get better with no actual plan or relief in site. Year after year there is some hope and help but then something happens like a vehicle break down or a medical emergency that once again stalls our financial goals.
So why am I scared??
For the first time our financial situation has improved drastically. Our financial outlook looks incredible and to top it all off. My horrible credit score has increased over 100 points!
This is not normal for me. I'm scared of what it means. Will I lose alot of money in one day to be punished for writing assumptions that aren't true. Will I let go on our spending habits and go back to living a hard core budgeting life? Will I be independently wealthy? Will my family dislike me because of that? Will my in laws ask me for loans and be upset when we don't loan them the money? Yes I'm getting ahead of myself and there are alot of assumptions in the air but the facts are there too. AND THEY SCARE ME!
Here are the facts.
1. For the last 5-6 years my average income was between 32 and 40 thousand.
2. If you add all of our income without our tax return this year including our projected income for March we are averaging 100 thousand dollars a year.
That is a fact! I did the calculation!
3. If you add our tax return the average jumps up to 136 thousand. (I have basically made my yearly net income in 3 months)
4. My car is paid off! Make that 3! I'm set for minor car break downs. If one breaks we will simply move to the next one till that one is fixed. (Just had one this week. Car had a flat don't have time till this weekend to fix it so I moved to my 2nd van)
5. My credit card debt has went from around 92% debt limit to around 25%.
6. It could drop to zero before the end of the month! But. We have decided to start a down payment fund.
7. Thats right, By the end of March we will have 5000 dollars in our savings exclusively for a down payment towards our new house!
I don't know what to think of it. Maybe it's a spur of good luck. The horizon looks really good from here and I hope it's just as good when we get there but I have been let down alot. That is why I'm still writing my thoughts and ideas. I haven't and won't be in a rich careless mindset. I have to know where my money is going. My 7 goals that I wrote about could be done alot sooner than I thought.
Enough pondering.
I won't believe it till I see it anyways.
Happy pie day to all the nerds:)
Or the day after pie day.
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Painting a picture at a different angle then the media (oil fields job loss)
I'm pretty sure most of you have heard that the oil industry has taken a nose dive. I
have recently seen many local news articles here in Utah. We are one of the state's that do have some of our workforce at these jobs. The news paints a picture of struggling Americans who are standing in line trying to get a job trying to get unemployment benefits or trying to get food at a food bank. Not to mention Church help with their mortgage or food. I want point out a different side of this picture that no one will talk about because A they feel it's irrelevant or B the economy has benifited from these booms so nobody want to let their fellow neighbors know there is another way to weather these storms. Neighbors want to continue to compete against their neighbor showing off artificial wealth until a disaster like this happens then all of a sudden there is a plethora of brand new trucks four wheelers and cars on the classifieds that these people have NEVER been able to afford. They purchased on credit and now rely on the generosity of their neighbors an entitlement from their government and a fair share of their churches welfare all the while THEY brought upon themselves alot of this misery.
For those who have had a great paying job out in the oil field and now are unemployed, I have a small questionnaire for you.
1. How many vehicles do you currently have?
2. Are you financing those vehicles?
(If no skip to 5)
3. How much total is left on the loan?
4. How long have you had those loans?
5. Do you own any recreational vehicles?
(If no skip to 8)
6. Do your recreational vehicles have loans on them?
7. How much do you owe on those recreational vehicles?
8. Do you own or rent a home?
(If rent skip to 10)
9. Is your home mortgage more than 250000?
(If no and you skipped from 2 to 5 to 8 congratulations you passed! Feel free to answer 10)
10. What did *YOU* do to prepare for this kind of and emergency???
11. If you answered 3 4 and 7 do you still feel ok asking for help even though you know you helped cause your financial worries??
These are questions one should really think about. Seriously! We have just recently climbed out of a recession! It wasn't that long ago! And still people who get these high paying jobs go out and spend like there's no tomorrow racking up 10s of thousands in car loan and credit card debt on frivolous purchases that crash in value and become a hindrance when you lose your job!
So you need help huh?
have recently seen many local news articles here in Utah. We are one of the state's that do have some of our workforce at these jobs. The news paints a picture of struggling Americans who are standing in line trying to get a job trying to get unemployment benefits or trying to get food at a food bank. Not to mention Church help with their mortgage or food. I want point out a different side of this picture that no one will talk about because A they feel it's irrelevant or B the economy has benifited from these booms so nobody want to let their fellow neighbors know there is another way to weather these storms. Neighbors want to continue to compete against their neighbor showing off artificial wealth until a disaster like this happens then all of a sudden there is a plethora of brand new trucks four wheelers and cars on the classifieds that these people have NEVER been able to afford. They purchased on credit and now rely on the generosity of their neighbors an entitlement from their government and a fair share of their churches welfare all the while THEY brought upon themselves alot of this misery.
For those who have had a great paying job out in the oil field and now are unemployed, I have a small questionnaire for you.
1. How many vehicles do you currently have?
2. Are you financing those vehicles?
(If no skip to 5)
3. How much total is left on the loan?
4. How long have you had those loans?
5. Do you own any recreational vehicles?
(If no skip to 8)
6. Do your recreational vehicles have loans on them?
7. How much do you owe on those recreational vehicles?
8. Do you own or rent a home?
(If rent skip to 10)
9. Is your home mortgage more than 250000?
(If no and you skipped from 2 to 5 to 8 congratulations you passed! Feel free to answer 10)
10. What did *YOU* do to prepare for this kind of and emergency???
11. If you answered 3 4 and 7 do you still feel ok asking for help even though you know you helped cause your financial worries??
These are questions one should really think about. Seriously! We have just recently climbed out of a recession! It wasn't that long ago! And still people who get these high paying jobs go out and spend like there's no tomorrow racking up 10s of thousands in car loan and credit card debt on frivolous purchases that crash in value and become a hindrance when you lose your job!
So you need help huh?
(Oil field worker who lost his job)
Estimated payment 1060)
You need me to dig deep and donate generously?
(Another oil field worker
Estimated payment 900)
I should probably be more generous in my fast offering donations.
(Oil field wife
Estimated payment 420)
So you can continue to live in that nice house?
Drive your nice truck?
(Estimated payment 590)
Have my kids donate food at the school food drive because your food money went to your sports car?
(Estimated payment 390)
Why do you need to get rid of this payment? How are you suppose to impress people at a stop light your never going to meet?
If you think that's shocking.
Meet Ted.
Ted has just became my first contestant of the ICAI Award for March. Ted is not an oil field worker. He works at an insurance agency although you couldn't tell that lately because it seems as if Ted is changing careers to be a car salesman.
If your looking for a truck he's got that available too.
And if your the person who likes the rugged outdoors he's also got this.
If you haven't caught my sarcasm Ted is not an actual car salesman. No, he's dug himself into a hole of debt and because his buisness is around the oil industry it is my hypothesis, my assumption that Ted has lost Alot of income and because of that he can no longer afford his 116 thousand dollars in car loans.
REALLY TED?
REALLY ?
It's artificial wealth Ted! Not real!
I love listening to Dave Ramsey. I haven't had the chance lately because he doesn't come on till 7 and my wife can't stand him. I used to go to work at 5 a.m. finish my route around 4:30 p.m. hurry to the plasma center to get a few bucks run to the grocery store and on my way home listen to him. I found this on youtube just last night. It's amazing how much we think alike. He's taken the words right out of my mouth.
Oil workers
Ted
Everyone who has a car loan listen and learn!
Sunday, March 6, 2016
Student loans, the gateway drug to getting further in debt.
So I'm beginning to realize how certain people are able to afford these nice vacations while they are at college. College students have gold mind when it comes to getting money or at least they think they do. Our wonderful government has given them the ability to get these wonderful government backed loans which they for the moment think is free money. Their lack of experience with large loans and because they live for the moment not realizing the consequences that moment will have 5 years and a few kids later such as buying a brand new car or atrip to Florida Disneyworld and a cruise (it happens). They went to college borrowed money met their spouse borrowed some more money took vacations together then barrowed money spent lavishly and foolishly got married borrowed once again to buy a car and then???...... realization hits that they can't afford to pay it back.
I've been there. Although I have never actually had student loans I do remember getting my first and second credit card in college. I would always tell my future wife we should take a trip and worry about the consequences later. Imagine if you didn't have to worry about the consequences for 2, 4, 6, or sometimes 8 years and your assumption at that time is that you'll be making alot of money so that student loan will take care of itself. I probably would of done a few nice vacations. I'm glad I didn't though.
It is my assumption that my January's winner of the "ICAIW" fell for this trap and now has hit a realization that the bills are due the government who backed his and his wife's loans is at the door asking for their money. It is also my argument that a reason that airline tickets cost so much could be due to student loans. Students have found a free way to take vacations and are taking advantage of it. Allegiant in provo is doing quite well because of this. Try to find a ticket. It's getting more and more difficult.
So for your enjoyment and the reason why I started this subject here are some screenshots of one of the latest text topics that one of our local radio station does.
Probably got her degree in FUN!
I seriously had no idea it cost that much.
And what exactly did that 90000 dollars pay for? Be honest. You took a few trips here and there right??
Student loans do not go away even in a bankruptcy! But!! There is a way to transfer student loans over to credit cards and credit cards are a different type of loan that usually doesn't garnish waiges.
"She took vacations" Why not? At the moment it's free money!
There are ALOT of stay at home moms with degrees. I have mixed feelings on that.
250 thousand to be a pharmacist??
350 thousand to be a dentist??
Your not married yet. Trust me. You will fight about that debt in one way or another. I might reconsider marrage.
Obviously do your homework before getting into debt and trust me when I say this. Someday you will regret racking up money for those spontaneous surprised or even planned vacations using your student loans to pay for them. Avoid them if you can BUT, There are good uses for student loans unfortunately so many have no control over their finances that they can not use them for good so because of that my council is to AVOID taking out any loans.
Another good article on student loans.
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