I announced HERE that I am in the process of writing my next book. It will be a book that is addressed to high school students, and I am sharing 12 Things I Wish I Had Learned About Money Before I Hit The Real World.
That is not necessarily the title, and it might end up being 10 things or 15 things. All I know is that I want (and need) your help in writing this book!
For the next few days, I am going to ask you to take a couple minutes of your time and share some things you wish you would have learned about specific money topics.
Part Three Debt
Here is the question that I want to hear your thoughts on today:
What were the first debts you ever obtained, and how did they impact your financial situation?
Share stories!
Read entire series
NEED YOUR HELP - Writing A High School Money Book - Part 4
May 26th, 2009 at 09:16 pm
May 27th, 2009 at 01:20 am 1243387209
i am 21. the first debt i ever incurred was a car loan, for $6135, at age 19 (i think... can't remember!). The second was a home loan, shared with my DF, for $304 000 at age 21.
i don't count credit card debt, because i have never not paid the balance in full at the end of the cycle.
Comparing the two loans, you would think that the $304k would be the scariest of all right? well, you would be wrong. I remember being so terrified of taking out a loan, that I didn't listen to my DF when he suggested asking for $9k instead of $6k, to get a subaru instead of a nissan. Sure, my car is good still, but I do kick myself for not listening to him. Looking back, I would do it now in an instant.
I am not saying that by not being 'scared' of my home loan, I am being flippant, but having a car loan made me realise that, while debt is not something you want to have, it can be managed, and it is not always EVIL BAD. Sometimes it is just bad, but not terribly bad. You have to weigh the pros with the cons, and consider where you want to be, and what you have to do to get there in your life. I have never been one to ever consider going into debt over silly things like clothes and handbags. My opinion is probably very different from others, who consider paying in cash for everything the only way, and that all debt is evil. I am not like that. But I think every debt circumstance is a learning curve.
How did my debt impact me financially? The car loan, hardly at all. In fact, I probably would not have taken it out, had I saved more for it. But it was a matter of emergency, I needed a reliable car, and did not have the funds to pay outright for it at the time.
The home loan? To be truthful, there are some things I have given up by choice, but if I really wanted to, my lifestyle would probably be very much the same as when I was renting - but I choose to sacrifice some things to pay down the mortgage more than the minimum.
anyway, hope some of that might be useful to you!
May 27th, 2009 at 03:42 am 1243395761