• CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    When someone else is stuck buying a car with a higher APR, I’m getting close to fed rates

    One of the tactics I picked up in a book on financial management was to start paying myself some kind of money as a monthly payment instead. You do that by…either lucking out and having parents that bought you a car and drive that for as long as possible, or you (like me) buy some total shitbox, either paying off the entire thing at sale or nearly immediately, and keep that on the road for as long as and cheaply as possible, all while making “payments” on my next car. Trust me, that first car especially will not be glamorous.

    Then, with the money you paid yourself for whatever time - use that to buy the next car. I haven’t had a car loan in years as a consequence of this.

    • CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works
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      6 days ago

      Paying for everything in cash isn’t always the smart financial decision. Would you rather take a 2% loan on a car and put $30k into the market earning 15% or take that $30k and earn 2% by paying for a car in cash? This isn’t true all the time especially right now, but that was the smart move just a few years ago. Think about all the people with 2.5% mortgages right now who didnt wait to buy with our current 6%+ mortgage rates.

      • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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        5 days ago

        Yep. These are all tradeoffs to be weighed. Part of the equation for me is knowing the market volatility for jobs tends to fluctuate wildly, too. It’d be one thing if a job was virtually guaranteed over the course of a loan, etc.

        I don’t mind having debt for something like a house - I have no real alternative anyway and it tends to appreciate in value besides. I did a refi in 2021 and locked in an absurdly low rate for instance.

        Lastly - earning 15% in the market? Returns like that are not necessarily guaranteed. I sure wish they were!

    • QuarterSwede@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      Flipping cars from a shit box to get to high end is certainly one way to help with this. I personally never did that but know those who did.