I'm in my late 20's with a 0.09% car loan being my main debt (I have enough cash for it saved and some of it invested). No student loans since I worked, saved and paid my college tuition off which made me learn to be frugal.
I never buy anything unless I have the money so I use credit cards to boost my credit rating and earn rewards points. The longer I can hang on to my own money instead of paying in cash right away, the more interest it will earn in the bank. I also never exceed spending over 30-40% of my credit card limit and only limit myself to 2 credit cards. Online banking is a great way to monitor purchases, bills and control spending. I even put purchases such as a cup of coffee on credit cards so they're always being used and paid off. Credit card companies already make money from restaurants and stores that accept them. When you don't pay on time you let them win. I know it sounds like the "ideal" scenario to be responsible but it's important to start doing things right at a young age.
M.D.
@
Jul 06, 2009 13:17:28 PM
Student Loans are the real killer
Credit Cards are dangerous, but its hard to save when so much of your income is sucked up by student loans and their monstrous interest rates. But its a catch-22. I needed to go to grad school to get a high-paying job in my field, and the only way I could get my degrees was to go into debt via student loans.
If the true goal of any university is to invest in students and make sure they can contribute as fully as possible to the success of our country and the global community, then universities should stop sitting on their endowments (as they already know from the past year, just sitting on your money makes any university extremely vulnerable during market downturns, universities wasted billions of dollars by not doing anything over the past 10 years, and investing in students, research, etc.), and provide more fellowships, scholarships, tuition waivers, etc. or if a graduate consistently pays off their loans over a 5-7 year period, their remaining debt should be waived. I know from experience that paying off a student loan teaches anyone a strong lesson in personal finance, and responsible spending.
Josh
of MD
@
May 28, 2009 13:04:01 PM
credit cards
i recently paid off a credit card. the company then reduced my limit. the whole credit card business needs to fire overpaid execs and rebate that money to the card holders
jerry
of IL
@
May 28, 2009 10:49:06 AM
Pay Cash.
Pay cash. Save the credit cards for the large unexpected bills like car repairs, etc. Then pay them off at the end of the month. My son just graduated with a masters from OSU with only a $13K school loan. Worked while going to college and payed cash for everything he could since he had no credit cards. The few things that had to be charged to a card, he used my card. He landed a $75K/year starting job. Discover will only give him a $500 credit card which he uses for a few purchases and pays off every two weeks. He wanted a $2000 card, but Discover considered him a credit risk since he always pays cash. Funny thing is I have over $175K available via 8 different credit cards and they all have zero balances since I very seldom use them and I pay cash. I'm the real risk since at 59 years old, I could lose my high paying job and cash out the cards and never be able to pay off the cards.
Credit card companies are scum.
John Smith
of OH
@
May 13, 2009 09:18:04 AM
credit cards
credit card companies are scum bags, you know it, I know it,
the congress folks and senators know it and I bet the credit card companies know it too. But our leaders like to see the average American get squeezed by these credit card
predators. lets not forget that most of our congressional leaders and representatives do sleep with them. Yea for
M.D. @ Jul 06, 2009 13:17:28 PM
Josh of MD @ May 28, 2009 13:04:01 PM
jerry of IL @ May 28, 2009 10:49:06 AM
John Smith of OH @ May 13, 2009 09:18:04 AM
John of TX @ May 11, 2009 20:45:35 PM
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