Pay off debt or keep savings

Short and sweet:

I financed a 2012 Rzr back in February. 5 years, 6.99% interest. I am making over payments on it, at this rate it will be paid off a couple years early. I do, however, have $10,000 sitting in a savings account that I put back 2 years ago for a house down payment when I was with the girl I thought (at the time) I was going to settle down with. I contribute $400 a month to this account so it continutally grows. This savings account isn't yielding me much interest, maybe 2 pennies every couple months. I am single and have no intentions of buying a house. My current living situation is great, I live in a nice apartment with all utilities paid for less than $500 thanks to having a hook up.

So, my question, should I take the $10,000 needed to pay of the Rzr out of my savings? This would save me about $2500 in interest throughout the life of the loan, plus it will free up around $300 a month that is going to my payment. My thoughts is I'll take half of the payment ($150) tack it on to the $400 I'm already contributing to my savings, and I'll have the $10,000 made up in less than 18 months. I am even open to stuffing any OT money in the savings account.

Now before some of you talk about having a cushion, I keep minimum of $5000 in my checking just in case I were to be off work or lose my job. I can survive on that money for 5-6 months if needed. I also put 13% of my pre tax pay in a 401k through the company.

 

Sounds like you already made up your mind, pay it off so you don't owe that 2500 in interest.

 

Well if you want to build your credit, you should continue to make monthly payments. That actually increases your credit score.

 

haha you know me a little too well man. i like to hear what i am about to do is the right thing. plus i like to see what others think, maybe i'm not seeing something i should be.

a car and truck payment is taking care of that lol

 

If you have a 6 month liquid savings fund in another account, do one of two things with this money:

- Pay less now and pay off the loan. The $2500 you'd save is far more than the interest that money would earn in savings.

- Get the savings into a retirement or investment account that's actually going to have a decent percentage return.


A few other tips:

- Don't buy a house. Ever. They're not good decisions.

- Get a Roth IRA started with some after-tax money. 401k isn't nearly as beneficial for young savers compared to a Roth.

 

The simple answer is pay off your debt, but then
take ALL the money you were using to pay the debt
monthly and put that into a retirement account.

The second part is critical and most people don't do it.

 

pay off debt so you can save even more in future.

 

That's along the lines I was thinking. I am lucky to earn a quarter a year on interest in the savings account. Why throw away $2500 when I have the money to pay off the loan. Just hate seeing $10k go so quickly. I keep telling myself it was for a house but hell, I'm single and do not see a house in my near future.

Curious to know why you are against buying a house. I must say, I've rented for 2 years now and I love it, but owning a house still seems to have its perks for me. I have taken my annual raises (usually 2-3%) and rolled em into my 401k. I am up to 13% contribution, the most you can do pre tax is 15%. Was thinking once i max it out, I'll open an IRA and start rolling my % based raises into it. I have my 401k and the company guaranteed retirement pension.

 

oh and I forgot to mention


buy some hookers and blow.

 

Wise words from a wise man...how do I know this, you're a Mountaineer fan

My thoughts too!

hahaha. well I have a montly alottment for having fun, do strip clubs count? lol

 

If that $10,000 can make you more money than the $2,500 in interest don't pay it off. That is 25% of your loan... soooo... It would be tough to find a passive investment that will net more gain (preferrably tax free) That $10,000 does nothing for you sitting in a low interest earning savings account while you're paying crazy interest that you can't even write off. As far as you credit rating goes paying off a loan like this early will have more positive effect than negative. At 23 having the ability to save this kind of dough is impressive... plus being smart enough to rent for less is equally impressive... I retired and bought a self storage facility @ age 37... It starts by having the discipline to save money... now put it to work for you

 

Most of the perks people espouse for home ownership are fallacies.

You don't make money on houses, and you don't throw away money renting. Example:

Someone rents for $5000 annually, another person gets a mortgage for the same. Over 30 years, they're both out $150,000 (to an extent - rentals usually rise a small amount each year, but not enough to really throw the math off significantly. Also, they do drop at times, especially if the housing market is good and it's hard to attract tenants). The homeowner sells the house for $250,000. He made money right?

No, he lost, bigtime. Here's why:
http://146.142.4.24/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=150000&year1=1980&year2=2012

And that's just on pure buying and selling prices. Let's not forget that every year that homeowner paid:

- Property Tax
- Homeowner's Insurance
- Maintenance Costs
- Put in TIME to perform the maintenance
- Interest on the mortgage.

Inflation and costs of ownership make home ownership IMPOSSIBLE to make money off of in the best circumstances. The ONLY way houses are profitable is as rental properties financed primarily by the tenants.

The guy who rented may be out his 150 grand, but at least he's not out the extra of the listed costs above. In fact, he probably put that shit in some kind of account that EARNED money to at least offset some of the bite inflation puts in your ass. And while the homeowner was mowing the lawn and repairing his deck, Mr. Rental was on vacation, or at the very least enjoying a relaxing evening rather than the Honey-Do list.

Most people don't figure out until way too late in their lives that buying power, not the number on paper, is what matters.

It's slightly more complex than this in actual math (every dollar paid into the mortgage is not a 1980 dollar, so the mortgage technically gets cheaper each year), but the basic concepts hold true even when error is calculated in.

First of all, discount the pension because you won't get that. Those are going the way of the DoDo and it'll get canceled before you ever have a chance to take advantage of it.

401k is a great start. Most people in our age group aren't saving for retirement at all. But you do realize you're gonna pay taxes on the funds when you withdraw them, right? For money that is going to have SO much time to add capital gains, doesn't it make sense for the gains to be tax free? This is why a Roth makes more sense for young savers. As you get older, shift a larger percentage of your retirement savings over to a 401k to take advantage of the company match. Since that later-invested money will have much less time to grow, it's important the contributions are larger to begin with.

 

I can't tell ya where I got my knowledge to save but I have to admit I save all I can. My reasoning for putting back for retirement like I am is so when I do retire, I can do pretty much what I want. But I'm still alotting myself enough to spend now and have fun. The renting for less than owning is a luck deal for me. I love it though. I'd like to get into the self storage business. Find the right location and you can make some profits in just a few years.

 

Maybe. Possibly. Assuming Citi, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and the rest of the crooks that own the government don't create another bubble and torpedo everyone's retirement investments right before we need to draw on those funds.

Put it this way: You're stacking the odds in your favor as best you legally can. That's good.

You're also having some fun NOW, and that's ALSO good, because future fun is never, ever guaranteed.

 

Why not rent a home to live in, get the same facility, and defer all those additional costs?

 

As much as I'd love to own a house, I cannot possibly find a house for less than $500 a month with ALL utilities paid for in as good of shape nor as big as what I am living in. Not only that, but if anything tears up or if a line busts, make one phone call and it's taken care of. For a single guy, it's a darn good deal.

Plus, the housing market in WV sucks, houses are over priced. I can buy a house in the Mayberry-like burbs of Greensboro where I have family for $125k that I couldn't touch for $175k here. It's ridiculous.

 

Fixed that for you. The glut from the late 90s to the late 2000s was amazing. The market is still oversaturated, and the jackass development industry is getting back to building again.

Housing prices are still finding true market value. This is obvious in homes being short-sold with tax values WAY above the asking price. Investors are still getting the fuck out of real estate, which tells you further decline, not recovery, is coming down the pipe.

I'll further clarify by adding:

Home ownership is still right for some people for completely different reasons having nothing to do with money. I bought my Tacoma when I already owned a paid-off, perfectly serviceable daily driver Corolla and had no need for a second vehicle.

Why? Because I wanted it and can afford it.

There are values other than monetary. All I'm saying is that for me, and for most males, home ownership is a net negative financially and otherwise. Females are different. They need to nest and compete with each other on Facebook, when picking the kids up at school or at soccer practice, at family gatherings and such.

Oh yeah, one more thing: Don't get married either.

Anyway, it's late. I'm crashing. See you tomorrow TW.

 

You sound like a very smart young man, pay off the truck, and start that nest egg again!!

 

Good points as well. I can't imagine place like Cali and how bad the housing market has gotten there. Both sides offer great arguments in buying vs renting. And don't get me wrong, I will own one day. WV has remained pretty stale lately with the housing market. Not to say if I ran across a great deal on a house or even some land to build on one day I wouldn't jump on it. That is my goal actually, buy some land then wait until my parents finish building their house in a couple years, buy their old trailer then live in it and build on my land. And no need to apologize, I don't consider this a thread jacking lol

Almost made that mistake 2 years ago, gonna take a helluva woman to change that anytime soon!

Thanks for the compliment, and for further supporting my case that really didn't need to be argued in the first place I don't reckon lol

 

Land is a different story. As Mark Twain said: "Buy land. They've stopped making it."