25w100k+ said:
MalibuRenter said:
If you go from living alone to being married with no kids, it gets much easier to save. Few expenses are exactly double of living alone, and many are considerably less, especially rental housing. I am assuming both people are reasonably responsible and frugal.
In my experience, four things tend to swamp all others in savings: 1. Making more money, but not spending more. 2. Lower housing costs, e.g., roommate or spouse vs single. 3. Getting rid of all credit card debt. 4. Having a car which is paid off. There are some exceptions to that last one. If the manufacturer is really desperate and it is actually 0% financing, it's probably worth it. Skipping the coffee at Starbucks is more of a symbolic gesture.
As many of the people on this blog know, I have a crazy level of savings, and with falling prices I may buy a house for cash. I also sidestepped the market crash and have a positive portfolio return this year.
Glad to know I might not be dirt poor in ten years if I get a wife.... :-D
Now, what do you think about using a HELOC to buy a car? You can write off that interest...definitely saves some money...
Cash for a depreciating asset just seems like such a bad financial move.
You can spend your cash on all kinds of things, but let's look at the car. Assume for the moment you actually need a new car and have found what you want at a good price. If you pay cash, you reduce your liquidity some. If the price of the car is pretty close to your savings, you reduce your liquidity quite a bit. That leaves you more exposed to things like job loss.
On the other hand, you might finance the car at a really low rate. If that rate is genuine, and not a shell game of lower rate with higher price, you might find that financing it through the manufacturer is quite effective. This would especially be the case if you have good credit, are shopping in the current slow car market, and are looking at a car that there is an oversupply of.
A third option is a HELOC, assuming you can get one, or your bank hasn't cut off new lending. The situation would have been much different a year ago. Often, the interest rates were both lower and tax deductible up to $100k. The problem many people had was they used their HELOC and then took on even more debt somewhere else, like credit cards.
It doesn't matter which form of financing you use, your car will still depreciate while you own it. If you paid cash and had an emergency need to get rid of the car, it would be easier. However, in California that emergency need is probably really bad news. Like getting your license revoked, being unable to drive due to health conditions, going to jail, etc.
Some people have extra cars (more than one car per licensed driver in the house). Those people probably don't need as many cars as they have. The extra cars depreciate, cost more to insure, etc.