How do you save money? Ideas while saving, investments? - Page 2 - Aquarium Advice

TankGirl · 01-05-2005, 11:55 PM

The quickest, most secure way to personal wealth is through real estate. No lie. My husband and I would not be living like we are now on what we make if it was not through prudent purchase and sale of our first house.

This may not be feasible while living overseas but as soon as you can, buy a house. Your equity will be like a savings account, especially if you plan carefully where you buy. I also commend you for thinking ahead at your age - that attitude will serve you well!

BrianNY · 01-06-2005, 07:17 AM

At your ages you're going to be in great shape. Most people don't understand how money works and the importance savings merely because of compounding. QTOFFER is soooooooo right on the credit card debt too. With the exception of a mortgage, debt should be considered as something only short term.

[acronym:0e112064b8="In my opinion"]IMO[/acronym:0e112064b8] at your ages you can afford to take a little risk on growth funds. Fidelity has something called a Freedom Fund which is geared towards changing risk based on the year you expect to retire. Nothing is 100% certain but if you're investing for the long term you're way ahead of most.

plkdb · 01-06-2005, 02:00 PM

The debts we are paying off now, are a couple of credit cards, a student loan, and a car payment. However, everything is at 6% or lower. I was paying 21-24% interest on our cards, but finally got everything switched over for the soldiers and sailors act. I didnt have bad credit, just had no credit. Not sure which is worse. Basically it says any debt you incur before you come into the military, is required to have the interest rate dropped to 6%. Best thing was, any late fees, or interest over 6% that I had paid since opening the accounts, were refunded to me. That took a huge chunk out of two of my cards which have since been closed. Capital I dont think they are supposed to do that, but I wasnt complaining! One was really good about switching over, I had to threaten Discover and my Best Buy Card with legal action for them to finally switch over. Before that they had me jumping through hoops trying to get it switched, faxing info, calling, etc., took me a year to get them taken care of. Cap One took all of 5 min, no faxing, no mailing, just one phone call.

I hear what your saying about real estate, but I would be more comfortable buying property back home. Just not having to deal with the foreign economy, and exchange rates, plus I am NOT impressed with any of the quality of construction I have seen over here yet. Everything is just so cheaply built. I live in a really nice area, small town, lots of doctors and lawyers, and we recently had new floors put down in the bathrooms. Good grief, I couldnt belive the floors when they pulled up the linolium, to put down tile floors. It looked like any piece of scrap wood that they could find, they put down, some nailed, some just resting in place. The hot water pipes that run through there were rubbing up against the floor boards. No insulation or anything around them, just bare copper pipes. The house is a nice looker, just the longer we live in it, the more you really see how it is put together, and I notice the same problems with more and more houses over here. My favorite thing was they actually marked on the floor where it creaked under the linolium. One spot said "Mike, floor squeaks here", the other said "here too, squeak, squeak!"

01-05-2005, 11:55 PM	#11
TankGirl Aquarium Advice Addict Moderator Emeritus Join Date: May 2003 Location: Richmond VA Posts: 8,279 Images: 16	The quickest, most secure way to personal wealth is through real estate. No lie. My husband and I would not be living like we are now on what we make if it was not through prudent purchase and sale of our first house. This may not be feasible while living overseas but as soon as you can, buy a house. Your equity will be like a savings account, especially if you plan carefully where you buy. I also commend you for thinking ahead at your age - that attitude will serve you well! __________________ TG Central Virginians click here and join the Regional Forum! View My Gallery Here

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01-06-2005, 07:17 AM	#12
BrianNY Aquarium Advice Addict Moderator Emeritus Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NY Posts: 4,259 Images: 18	At your ages you're going to be in great shape. Most people don't understand how money works and the importance savings merely because of compounding. QTOFFER is soooooooo right on the credit card debt too. With the exception of a mortgage, debt should be considered as something only short term. [acronym:0e112064b8="In my opinion"]IMO[/acronym:0e112064b8] at your ages you can afford to take a little risk on growth funds. Fidelity has something called a Freedom Fund which is geared towards changing risk based on the year you expect to retire. Nothing is 100% certain but if you're investing for the long term you're way ahead of most.

01-06-2005, 02:00 PM	#13
plkdb Aquarium Advice Activist Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Eglin AFB, FL Posts: 117	The debts we are paying off now, are a couple of credit cards, a student loan, and a car payment. However, everything is at 6% or lower. I was paying 21-24% interest on our cards, but finally got everything switched over for the soldiers and sailors act. I didnt have bad credit, just had no credit. Not sure which is worse. Basically it says any debt you incur before you come into the military, is required to have the interest rate dropped to 6%. Best thing was, any late fees, or interest over 6% that I had paid since opening the accounts, were refunded to me. That took a huge chunk out of two of my cards which have since been closed. Capital I dont think they are supposed to do that, but I wasnt complaining! One was really good about switching over, I had to threaten Discover and my Best Buy Card with legal action for them to finally switch over. Before that they had me jumping through hoops trying to get it switched, faxing info, calling, etc., took me a year to get them taken care of. Cap One took all of 5 min, no faxing, no mailing, just one phone call. I hear what your saying about real estate, but I would be more comfortable buying property back home. Just not having to deal with the foreign economy, and exchange rates, plus I am NOT impressed with any of the quality of construction I have seen over here yet. Everything is just so cheaply built. I live in a really nice area, small town, lots of doctors and lawyers, and we recently had new floors put down in the bathrooms. Good grief, I couldnt belive the floors when they pulled up the linolium, to put down tile floors. It looked like any piece of scrap wood that they could find, they put down, some nailed, some just resting in place. The hot water pipes that run through there were rubbing up against the floor boards. No insulation or anything around them, just bare copper pipes. The house is a nice looker, just the longer we live in it, the more you really see how it is put together, and I notice the same problems with more and more houses over here. My favorite thing was they actually marked on the floor where it creaked under the linolium. One spot said "Mike, floor squeaks here", the other said "here too, squeak, squeak!"