It's been just about two years now that I was able to take some gains from the last crypto bull market and eliminate the debt that my wife and I were living with. It was a big moment for us and quite honestly it changed our lives to some degree.
After the last loan was paid off, I made the decision that I would try to never get a loan again. Of course I knew it would be a tall order to say "never", but on paper it all seemed to work out pretty clearly.
I knew in the back of my head that eventually @mrsbozz would need a new vehicle. We purchased her 2014 Buick Lacrosse from a used car dealership in 2016 and it had very low miles on it. The plan was always that one of her nieces would probably get that car when they were old enough to drive and then we would get something different. Again, I had it in my head that our next vehicle would be paid for in cash, no financing, no loan, we would buy it outright.
I've never owned a brand new car in my life and given how quickly the depreciate in the first couple of years, I likely never will. There I go saying "never" again.
What I failed to realize was the fact that the years have been flying by much more quickly than I anticipated. We were down in Ohio visiting family a couple of weekends ago when the subject came up of our car. Believe me, it isn't that I don't know how hold my niece is, but I seriously thought we had more time.
I was thinking something like two to three years to prepare for a new car, then I was quickly reminded that those two or three years are actually closer to one or two. Probably on the long side of one if I am being honest.
Suddenly, I'm in a situation where I need to scramble to figure out how I am going to pay for a new vehicle.
I failed, I totally admit it now.
Once our debt was paid off, I should have been putting money aside in anticipation for this. In fact, I did do that at first, then life and other things started to happen. We had a new found freedom of not living paycheck to paycheck. I started putting more money towards our mortgage and somewhere along the way, I stopped putting money into our savings account like I should have.
No more slacking off!
I've pretty much accepted the fact that I am not going to be able to purchase our next vehicle without some kind of loan. Well, I guess I probably could, but it would totally wipe out all of our savings and emergency money... not a great solution.
Trust me, I know this is a pretty minor curve compared to what a lot of people get thrown at them each day. On a scale of 1 to 10, this definitely rates as a 7 or 8 in terms of "first world problems".
It's frustrating though because I should have known better.
I am better than this, I should have done better than this.
My plan now is to save up as much as I can until we need it for the car. Accept the fact that I am going to have to finance a portion of it and try to get the lowest rate I can when that time comes. Additionally, I am going to make sure we get a loan that doesn't have an early payoff penalty.
That way if the crypto bull run comes back around I can pay off the loan in full after only holding it for a year or so. Better yet, the bull run comes early and none of this even matters. I'm not holding my breath though.
On some level I almost feel like it is harder to live without debt than it is to live with debt.
I think it's easier to be mindful of your finances when you have debt. You are always planning and preparing, tracking, and tapping the breaks on spending when necessary. Take that away, and it is easy to lose track of where you are at.
Maybe it's just me. Like I said, I should have done better. I'm not usually one to make mistakes with my money like this. The good news is, unlike some catastrophe you can't prepare for, this is something I can see coming (although quicker than I realized) and at least prepare for it a little bit.
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There isn't much you can do about it but I don't think taking debt is that bad. It's annoying but if it's in a reasonable amount and there is plenty of room to still invest/save, then I think it's just a minor annoyance.
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Yeah, you are probably right. I need to look at it as not the bad thing that it could be. I have proven I can get out of it in the past (more than once). I shouldn't let it be master over me, but instead I am master over it.
Definitely not just you, no, you're not alone!
I'm back in my own house that was previously rented out, and now things are slightly more difficult, but I'm working on it. Unfortunately is Hive not one of the solutions for me, at least not for the foreseeable future..
Work in progress.. :)
I'm with you, especially here in the US, what I make from Hive is great, but I could never live off it. My hope is that one day Hive can be a good supplement to my income, but it's gotta hit like $5 per token or higher before that happens. Best of luck to you in your current situation!
Damn, live and learn. I haven't been able to save for ages, and sadly to do that I'm going to have to go back to work after months off. Now that's going to be a shock. Car loans suck.
Yeah, they sure do! I hope you can get things sorted out. Life is rough all around and these past two years really haven't helped.
It really is the American Way.
My plan for next car purchase was to have the cost of the car saved up in HBD, and take out the interest towards the payment.
I have 7 HBD saved up so far.
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Ouch! Well, maybe you have more time to get that car than you think. Good luck!
If HIVE goes x200 I can incorporate that plan today.
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Besides, I am hoping my minivan lasts at least another 10 years, which is only 3 more years than I originally hoped it would last.
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That is cool. I was thinking we would get a lot more years out of this car too, but I totally forgot that we had promised it to my niece!
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I have some loans at around 1 or 2% which are making sense with the high inflation right now. I wish I had borrowed more now.
Did you see Wax take off again?! A nearly 20% move up last night!! Plus Hive over $0,40 again..
No, I really haven't been paying much attention to WAX. It needs to get back up over $.50 before it will really make sense for me to care about it. That being said, any positive movement is always a good thing. I'm just disappointed because I swore I would never take a loan out again. It's not the end of the world of course, but I just feel like I let myself down. Those sound like some great rates you got. Dump it all into HBD and pay it off in like a month!
just more discipline and you seem to be in the right path
I hope so. I need to get my butt in gear and straighten out the ship!
Well you might have not been saving for a vehicle but you well still saving monthly in to crypto.
We gave up our car in Covid, the UK has marvellous public transport and if you are prepared to help the plant and do a little juggling, more people can do without a car here. I know over there it is different.
We don't save money for a vehicle now, we do however do something I learnt a few years ago. You know when you buy something they will sell you warranties on goods and appliances. Well decline to buy those but instead put the money into a separate savings account, and when things dor break, dip into it and get a new one. We use if for laptops, fridges etc and saved us a few bob over the years!
That's a great method you have to take care of those chance occurrences that pop up to ruin your day! I wish we had a better public transit system. The distances are just so big here. Our rail system sucks. I'd love high speed trains. I'd rather travel that way than by air.
Yeah sure, because you have that taskmaster holding the whip over you. When they go away you have to become your own taskmaster, which is a much tougher thing to do.
Anyway.
I think we all do dumb things with our money. Even if we do learn from the mistake, we often immediately fall into another dumb thing. haha. Such is life. We just keep learning and keep trying to improve.
It's good that you are willing to recognize your mistakes. It makes it much easier to learn from them.
Yeah, that is a good point about the taskmaster thing. I remember when I had debt I used to say "I get paid today!". Then when it was gone it would be halfway through the next week and I would say "oh, we got paid last week". It's crazy how things shift.
Yeah, I don't what I'll do if I don't have debt to pay. lol I'm sure I'll spend my way back into it somehow. It's amazing, I never think about points on my credit cards until they're empty and then I think, "Hmmm, I should use my card to pay for this and then pay it off and get the points." Eventually I forget or I have something unexpected come up and next thing I know I'm spending 6 months trying to pay it off again. lol These marketers really effed us good when we were young....
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Yeah, they have it all down to a science don't they! Like I said, I am sure it is totally first world problems, but I think it is something we all deal with. I really should have been more disciplined these past two years. Like a lot of things though, you always think you have more time!
Try not to be too hard on yourself. It's not easy to remember everything with all of the moving pieces of life. I hate debt too but sometimes debt can work to your advantage if you're making more from your invested capital than you're paying in loan interest. If done smartly, borrowing can be a net gain over paying cash.
Yeah, that is a good point. It's just hard to accept because I was so set on not having to do financing again. Thanks for the wisdom!
Instead of a car note, I suggest you consider a HELOC, if you own your home mortgage-free. Home Equity lines of credit give a lot of flexibility and you only pay interest on the amount outstanding. A disciplined person, which you probably are, can use a HELOC as a safety net. When you don't need it, pay it to $0 so there is no interest owed, and when you need some cash, draw on it. Just a few words of caution, HELOCs are typically adjustable rate, so mine is around $6.5% right now. And some HELOCs have an annual fee of a few hundred dollars.
Good idea. Our mortgage is the one thing I wasn't able to pay off though. We have a ways to go before that is out of the way! It sounds like a much better option when I am ready for it though.