Should I keep the truck I have or go into debt for a new one?

why would you want to go into debt when in reality you don't have to

 

By your words, no person should buy a house, things for their business, or anything that's extremely expensive but important until they can pay for it in cash. Sorry to bust your bubble but your comment is idiotic.

David

 

Our house and vehicle are paid off, and we don't carry a balance on our credit cards. We akways pay them off every month


l think having an easily manageable debt, or making regular payments, can be a good thing for your credit rating. Financial institutions really like to see prospective customers that consistently pay their financial obligations on time.

A bit of interest paid over a short loan is a small price to pay for a goof credit rating.

But this is just my opinion.

Good luck.

Plus, I think liking the vehicle that your get into and drive every day of your life is very important. If l hated my vehicle, it would ruin my day.

 

As others said, save until you have at least a good down payment. What can you afford as a payment monthly comfortably? Start setting that aside for the next 8 months. You will have a couple grand to put down.

There is bad debt and good debt. If you put enough money down and your payments are aggressive enough to stay ahead of the depreciation curve, you are never really in debt. If you owe $20,000 on an asset that is worth $24,000 you hold a positive equity in the asset. If this was a balance sheet for business you would look at assets vs debts.

But why not consider the halfway measure? Dont spend $32k on a new truck and taxes, etc. Buy another used 2nd gen with a V6 for a couple grand more than what your truck will sell for? Then you have the V6 you want and next to no payments.

 

Everyone is knocking on debt and 99.9% of have house payments. Why aren't we all renting month to month or living out of our paid off vehicles with a PO Box for an address (for freedom and flexibility as it's been said) until we save enough cash to buy a house outright?

 

Sounds good, now start investing so you can build that nest egg!

 

I’ve done it. And my business is debt free too.

 

Not saying a mortgage is a bad thing, but considering a a 30 or 40 thousand dollar truck is a toy you shouldn't take out a loan for it.

Plenty of people rent a small apartment until they can afford a starter house in cash. Me and my wife are saving for a 20 percent down payment on a house we can pay off in 15 years because of how expensive renting is in our area.

What other important things do you need a loan for besides a house?

The reasons businesses fail is because they take out debt. How many large retailers have filed chapter 11 because of the overwhelming debt they have?

A home is a different type of debt, because we don't have generational houses in our culture that are passed down to us. Even then, you need to be smart with the house you buy and get something that you can afford to pay off in a reasonable amount of time, such as a 10 or 15 year mortgage instead of a 30 year mortgage.

 

not many people want to live in their car.

i view the interest/taxes on my house as rent. at the beginning, those costs were like renting an apartment. now it's down to costing less than half of what an apartment would cost. can't wait to be paid off

 

Agreed, I also don't want to live out of a car. But like you said, it's a want, not a need. This concept is why my wife and I decided to move out of our month to month rental and buy a house utilizing debt. Did we need to? No, our rental was technically providing us shelter and basic necessities to live life. Just like the OPs desire to have a truck he likes is a want, not a need. Everyone's situation is different and people place higher priorities on things other people wouldn't. I think blanket statements like most are saying in this thread that absolutely do not go into debt just don't fit 100% of peoples wants/needs.

I also understand comparing debt on a house to a vehicle is comparing apples to oranges... however, a house may not ALWAYS be an appreciating asset depending on circumstances.

 

I'm very lucky. I was able to retire at 51 with no debts and a pension.

But your point is very valid. People have to think about retirement as soon as they can. Pretty much as soon as they start working. If they can watch their extravagant spending and put some money away every money. They'll be really glad that they did when they get older.

 

In my opinion, the best truck you'll ever have is the one that is paid for (because it's yours)!

 

Trust me when I say every millennial is incredibly jealous of the ability to get a pension lol. At my work they stopped offering pensions about 10 years ago, which was a couple years before I started working there. The 401k option is there but it is a much shittier option than the pension. It is funny cuz some of the older guys there say things like "should've got on the pension plan", I don't think they realize basically everyone would choose a pension plan IF they had the option to do so.

 

All i gotta say is that i have a truck payment for the first time in my life and it sucks.

 

I’d rather have a 401k and be the one in control of my retirement money. A pension has its own risks.

 

wait till this happens then youll really be depressed

 

The best serious relationship repellent is honesty: “where do you see yourself in five years”
“Hopefully living in a van as a rafting guide/ski patrol...”

 

A lot of other countries do this, it’s just that US has credit readily and easily available and people want immediate gratification

 

I am a prime example of this...we paid our first house off in 2009, had no credit cards, no payments of any kind. We decided to move up in house in 2015...we had an incalculable credit score. In order to get a loan, we had to find a lender that would do manual underwriting. The mortgage broker was able to do it, but it ended up being a FHA loan. My understanding is that FHA Loans are less appealing to sellers than regular home loans for various reasons. My Real Estate agent needed to explain to the sellers that we had a FHA Loan, not due to poor credit, but due to not having any credit at all.

It all was fairly frustrating, considering that our net worth at the time was more than double what we paid for the house.

Lesson learned. I will always have a credit card that is paid off monthly. Credit score does matter, even if you don’t plan to borrow any money.