we are in TROUBLE

[temp guest]

Originally Posted by iCe

Cool... I'm at about 0.5x on my house and as soon as it gets here at about 0.2x on my vehicle so I did good :o)

For cheap horsepower get a bike... out of the box 10s 1/4 mile times or less for crotch rockets and out of the box low 14's for "muscle cruisers" like the VTX1800...

ok, ive got serious debt ratio envy. very good.

Incidentally, ive owned a vtx 1800. it was very nice but I decided I did not like riding anymore so I sold it. before that I owned a yamaha r1 which someone thought they should own more than me, so one day I came out of my apt and it was gone. thank God for full coverage insurance.

[pippin]

i'm working on paying off my cards... from 6 cards i'm down to 3 - I rarely buy 'stuff' as my husband puts it, and am paying a car loan also.

Hopefully by may I'll have two of the three cards paid off and about $2000 in savings with other card 75% paid off.

thats my short term plan though :)

[iCe]

Originally Posted by temp guest

ok, ive got serious debt ratio envy. very good.

Incidentally, ive owned a vtx 1800. it was very nice but I decided I did not like riding anymore so I sold it. before that I owned a yamaha r1 which someone thought they should own more than me, so one day I came out of my apt and it was gone. thank God for full coverage insurance.

The R1 rocks. I crashed my VTX (twice actually). The last crash was about 2 weeks before the next R1 Blackbird was going to arrive at my dealer. I was SUPPOSED to get it but with a severely dislocated shoulder I couldn't. I wanted something that was easier to tear the twisties up in. The crash probably saved my life One of my last dumb... things to do on the VTX was hit the rev limiter in 5th gear on the VTX on a long straight country road on a moonless night... 135 / 140 (never was sure how far off the speedo was) is a rush in the dark... and stupid... which is why I don't have any kind of performance vehicle anymore... no self control but really good memories

I hate having a balance so I tend to pay my cc's off pretty quickly. The house and land I got a good deal on. I have a decent job plus I do side work that pays well. That's why my debt ratio looks good. If I could get my photography business headed in some direction then life would be grand.

I received a letter from one cc company yesterday telling me that since I never used their card they were canceling me It's taken quite a few years to learn not to spend it just because I can... trust me... I've haven't alway been careful with my spending

[Gambit]

Something I haven't seen in this thread is the knowledge that the majority of these people who have no concept of budgeting, buy everything on credit, and have debt up to their eyeballs will, at some point, expect someone (Uncle Sam) to bail them out. That "someone" is everyone who is an American taxpayer, forced to shoulder the burden of our neighbors' irresponsibility.

Do your best to educate those frivolous folks you run across. If you don't, you'll pay for it. And so will I, and so will our kids.

[cr8iveimages]

This has turned out to be a great thread.

Shane-It is a travesty when someone is taken by a fly by night company, and I see it way to often. I work for one of the largest banks in the US and part of my job is actually sitting them down and showing them what they can afford, they do not always listen, but I hope that they some do. To many lenders allowed Stated Income loans at 100% Financing, and now they are paying for that....ie..the client who makes 75k and gets a 450k home! We do stated loans as long as we can verify the assets, and in some cases we will do a stated income loan with stated assets. With that said, we have less than a .6% foreclose rate, because we factor so many things in....

Tem Guest- Yes Countrywide tanked! The founder has dumped most, if not nearly, all his stock in the company. Their banking division is seeing people take money out because of their mortgage woes. They are the leader in sub prime loans, and it is hurting them more than ever. And I know them well, as that is where I started my career in the mortgage business...but after learning all that I could and seeing who well they take them to the 'cleaners' I started working on the banking side of mortgages... (PM if you want to talk off line)

Credit is a good thing to have! But you have to use it the right way. My wife and I are up in debt right now. Baby, new house, wedding, new furniture, etc...but we pay more than the minimum and pay most all the smalls one off each month. Not having credit can actually cause you to have bad credit (as in no lines)....

So use it wisely. If you do not need it, don't get it. If you cannot get a low rate or no interest for x months pay cash...

Anyways...have a good night!

[markfh]

Originally Posted by ndsimm

he's on 1070 now??? I thought he was on 950? he kept changing, I either listen online or listen on XM

he's helped a lot to improve my finances

My mistake... You're right, he's on AM 950. Good show. I guess I'm getting punchy what with catching up with all the honey-do's, photographing WW2 medals for a client (for money), building 4 new computers, continuing on my scanning project (anybody got a used slide scanner they don't need anymore?) and spending time with the wife and dog.

I need more hours in the day...

[markfh]

Originally Posted by iCe

For cheap horsepower get a bike... out of the box 10s 1/4 mile times or less for crotch rockets and out of the box low 14's for "muscle cruisers" like the VTX1800...

I built a mid 11s version of the Dart GTS 340 back in the day. Cheap don't mean better. Nothing like heavy steel around you when things go wrong.

Personally, I'm alergic to road rash and I've seen or known too many that had bikes get hit by blind or stupid drivers.

The Dart I have now is all stock and all original with, cough, cough, 265HP at the crank.

[Duffy Pratt]

My mom always said "Take care of the luxuries and the necessities will take care of themselves."

I agree that you should buy stuff that holds its value: so buy expensive glass. The way I figure, if I don't spend tons of money on frivolous items, then the terrorists win. So my goal is to die in as much debt as I can possibly manage. Anything else would be a disservice to the economy.

Duffy