[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Debt (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 3/4/2009 11:53:00 PM EDT
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Guys I'll keep this short and to the point:
If you're in debt get out of debt asap. Some things a brewing. (as if we didnt know) |
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Guys I'll keep this short and to the point: If you're in debt get out of debt asap. Some things a brewing. (as if we didnt know) Yeah, a bit more specifics would be helpful. Of course, debt is bad, but it would be helpful to know what you are basing this 'asap' on. |
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Why not just file for bankrupt. are you being serious? Well pardon me for suggesting or playing devils advocate on something. In this forum it is generally frowned upon to take the attitude "that you can just file bankruptcy". The whole idea of being prepared is to take care of yourself without being a burden to others. Sticking a bank or finance company with your unpaid loans would definitely count as a burden to them. In addition, what if you file for bankruptcy and the court decides to take your house to cover your debts? Now you are a survivalist with no residence. Great way to take care of your family. 
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Why not just file for bankrupt. are you being serious? Well pardon me for suggesting or playing devils advocate on something. In this forum it is generally frowned upon to take the attitude "that you can just file bankruptcy". The whole idea of being prepared is to take care of yourself without being a burden to others. Sticking a bank or finance company with your unpaid loans would definitely count as a burden to them. In addition, what if you file for bankruptcy and the court decides to take your house to cover your debts? Now you are a survivalist with no residence. Great way to take care of your family.
vaughn, i agree that we all should be striving for self-sufficiency, but it's unlikely that the bankruptcy court would take the house. most states have homestead laws that protect your home. also, there is some great irony in the fact that our banks are sticking us, the tax payer, w/ their bad debt. the more people take from the .gov, the more dependent upon them we become. |
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Guys I'll keep this short and to the point: If you're in debt get out of debt asap. Some things a brewing. (as if we didnt know) Gee, thanks for reminding me that I'm in debt and can not get out of it asap. 
I think 1-3 days of Super-Duper-Hyperinflation would help out alot of people who have debt. You know just 1-3 days worth. 
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... I have no debt other than my house. But my house is a significant debt. I'm in the same boat here. Just payed off my truck last week, have a good chunk of money in savings, working on getting 3-6 months of physical cash in hand, but I have 25 years left on my mortgage. My job is secure and indexes with inflation as well as any .gov job , I have plenty of equity in the house (which will stay there) and can easily cover the mortgage while piling money into savings, stocking food and other necessities.
Can't say I 'know' what is coming, but something is brewing, it isn't gonna be pretty and really won't feel good 
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Ok, perhaps you 'know' something is coming (but don't know what). I'll give you the benefit of the doubt on that.
My question then would be, on what are you basing your conclusion? If I had the same information would I come to the same conclusion? If so, why not post what that information is, or at least where I can find that information? Or is this simply based on the reading of other people's opinions about information that they are reading, which may or may not be actual information, but could be conclusions that they are making based on still other people's opinions? I'm not saying to not be prepared, but it would be nice to know from what information a conclusion of "get out of debt fast" is coming from so that I can draw my own conclusions. I doubt that a lot of us here in this forum are likely to simply accept someone saying "get out of debt asap, something bad is coming" without evidence. Sorta like saying, on a sunny day in the river valley, "a flood is coming, move to higher ground asap" without giving the report that it's been raining 3+ inches/hour for 12 hours 50 miles upstream. Don't get me wrong, I believe there is something that will happen that is going to, at the least, not be pleasant, but what I am saying is that if there is evidence someplace that points to a specific possible event (or events) that require an urgency of action, I would like to know what it is. And I'm sure others here would like to, also. After all, it would be easier to convince the doubters (women in most cases, from what I've read here before) that focused and concentrated action is required immediately. |
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I have about 7k of credit card debt...that's down from quite a bit more at one time. That's not counting my house.
While I understand getting out of debt is important, in the last few weeks my eyes have been open and I have redirected my money toward food storage and water. I just spent 100.00 that I was going to add as an extra payment on a credit card above the minimum due, but I had this feeling in my gut that buying some mylar bags, oxygen absorbers and buckets was more important right now. |
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Being debt free is a wonderful freedom, but it is not possible for every one at once. If you owe a lot of money, it is going to take a while to pay it off, no matter how you cut your expenses, what you sell, or how many jobs you are willing to work at the same time. That being said, if there is a period of high inflation coming quickly, spending the extra money you have now on paying off your debt is not as efficient as purchasing supplies you will need in the future. If the period if high inflation is not coming for a while, or at all, you may be better served paying off your debt. It is a personal call for everyone, based on their own individual circumstances and beliefs on what the future holds.
While I recommend being debt free, I also realise that many people have dug them selves in a hole with debt, and it is not a quick process to get out. I also realise that for some people, they can throw every bit of money they make for the next 5 years at their debt and still not be free of it. With that in mind, I have to recommend purchasing some supplies, (food, extra used clothing, water filter, rifles (2) and handguns (2) a few hundred rounds of ammo, some basic medical supplies, and other necessities that you will need on a daily basis). Lets be honest, a few months worth of basic food items is not going to cost that much, and compared to the insurance it provides, and the fact that you can use it anyways, the expense is minimal. You probably already have the firearms covered since you are on this website. You should have 2 or 3 months of living expenses in an emergency fund, so that you do not get further in debt (some of this should be in cash), when surprise expenses show up - and they do and will continue to do so. After you have these things covered, pay off the debt as fast as you can. Change your living and spending habits to cut out unnecessary expenses, but that money towards preps, savings, of debt reduction. For example: $1.50 a day for a cup of coffee is $7.50 a week, $30 a month, and $360.00 a year. Buy a coffee maker and make your own. Not only will you save money, you will save time also. I am debt free, and living simply is what got me here, and is what is keeping me here. |
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I'm not a regular contributor to this forum, so I hope no one gets upset about me butting in here, but I have one thought to add to this discussion:
My home mortgage will be paid up in 2 months (yeah, I'm one of the idiots who did the right thing and paid their mortgage - I feel like such a patsy). Other than a small mortgage on a couple of business buildings I own, I have no other debt. But - the property tax payments on my home will be almost $800/ month (paid semi-annually). Make SURE you have enough cash put away to handleany taxes on your homes. The local .gov, when it needs money, will be much quicker to act than a mortgage holder. Edit - grammar, clarity. |
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I'm not a regular contributor to this forum, so I hope no one gets upset about me butting in here, but I have one thought to add to this discussion: My home mortgage will be paid up in 2 months (yeah, I'm one of the idiots who did the right thing and paid their mortgage - I feel like such a patsy). Other than a small mortgage on a couple of business buildings I own, I have no other debt. But - the property tax payments on my home will be almost $800/ month (paid semi-annually). Make SURE you have enough cash put away to handleany taxes on your homes. The local .gov, when it needs money, will be much quicker to act than a mortgage holder. Edit - grammar, clarity. Great point, if/when there is SHTF (mass unemployment/hyper-inflation)property taxes will be raised in kind, and unless things are bad enough to where a tax revolt will gain traction youre screwed if you cant pay. As for myself I never really got into too much debt, and I have recently woke up to find myself in the "debt is evil" camp. I have a CC which I use to obtain the reward points and pay off every paycheck. I have received $750 in Visa gift cards with my points thus far and paid no interest at all. Its nice for the bank to pay ME to use credit for a change, but many cant or wont discipline themselves in this fashion. I also refi'd my truck, I cut off a year and upped my payments $100 a month and am on track to pay it off by the end of the year with double or triple payments each month. Being debt free will give someone a lot of freedom, but if you have fixed rate debt sometimes your capital is better served buying preps as some have said. Im military so I will have an income stream for the foreseeable future but I just want that flexibility. |
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Just to play Devil's Advocate for a bit: If the system collapses, where will the debt go? I was wondering this as well, if the S really HTF, debt would be the last thing to worry about. I agree with being debt free and am working hard at that, but in a SHTF I would rather have preps than that last $1200 paid off the CC. |
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Guys I'll keep this short and to the point: If you're in debt get out of debt asap. Some things a brewing. (as if we didnt know) I'm there and it feels GOOD. Canceled a credit card last weekend because they wanted to shorten the grace period, increase fees and raise the interest rate. Never had a balance, but I think they were angling to get me for "late" payments by a much shorter grace period. John |
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I have minor debt but I'm unable to pay it off like I wish I could due to being unemployed for the first time in my life. I bought my house with cash. and owe nothing on it, My debts are 2 credit cards totaling about 6K and I owe the city the first half of taxes... Which I'm disputing due to the fact they have my house valued at 84K and I bought it for 10K (run down a little outdated and sat for 2 years, It was a sheriff repo) My woman owes about 8k in student loans. but otherwise has no debt other than a womans store credit card with a limit of $350 which she rarely uses and if she does she pays it off within 1-3 months.
If the SHTF and the govt. collapses I could care less about what I owe. I'll be mostly prepped. and ready to roll out if need be or stand my ground till I need to bug out. |
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I'm not a regular contributor to this forum, so I hope no one gets upset about me butting in here, but I have one thought to add to this discussion: My home mortgage will be paid up in 2 months (yeah, I'm one of the idiots who did the right thing and paid their mortgage - I feel like such a patsy). Other than a small mortgage on a couple of business buildings I own, I have no other debt. But - the property tax payments on my home will be almost $800/ month (paid semi-annually). Make SURE you have enough cash put away to handleany taxes on your homes. The local .gov, when it needs money, will be much quicker to act than a mortgage holder. Edit - grammar, clarity. 800 per month....!!!! Good God I hope you live in a 5000 sq ft house. I pay less than that for a year |
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Why not just file for bankrupt. are you being serious? Well pardon me for suggesting or playing devils advocate on something. In this forum it is generally frowned upon to take the attitude "that you can just file bankruptcy". The whole idea of being prepared is to take care of yourself without being a burden to others. Sticking a bank or finance company with your unpaid loans would definitely count as a burden to them. In addition, what if you file for bankruptcy and the court decides to take your house to cover your debts? Now you are a survivalist with no residence. Great way to take care of your family.
Sort of like what our Federal Govt has done with all of this debt. estimated to be 56 Trillion Dollars. Who elects these idiots on both side of the Aisle. Every single American could be debt free and we could still be in this position. This is minus mortgages. It's not the American citizens debt that is causing this. IT's our Federal govt spending more than they take in, in taxes. They refuse to cut spending, on stupid shit. Now I understand the housing issue, but who was enticing this shit, the FEDS. Anything you point to, for the underlying cause is the FEDS. Housing relaxed borrowing.. lack of manufacturing jobs...illegals taking our jobs..because some are too lazy too work because the Feds make it easy to sit home and collect a free check instead of making them Work. You can be on welfare and be debt free. I should run and pay off my credit card debt, and not prep. Maybe I would,if they were, confined not to jack my interest as they feel. (In my case I had 8pct 11k Limit) Which I would use and pay. I am just saying in general. Yes I agree there are stupid people who do not know how to manage money. But it doesn't help having our Congress people say why give them a stimulus check there is no guarantee they will spend it, some will just pay down debt. Is that statement stupid or what. I cannot believe the idiots running our govt. They estimate every American owes what is it now. About 200,000 a piece...BS...my share Harry Reid will pay it. Or nancy pelosi, get my share from their dumb asses they been in charge for 2 years. I say, prep but pay your bills. Don't be a free loader. consider a loan, at least your debt will be locked in, when they start raising interest rates on credit cards you will be glad you locked in at 8 or 9pct. Because although it's not as bad as the Jimmy Carter years, it will soon be worse. The misery index is on it's way. p.s. Barney frank is an idiot. He is not even qualified to run a house of prostitution. |
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Any consumer debt is bad. Get out. Should be prep #1. Being debt free should be the number one concern. I used to think that having guns, ammo, a nice veggie garden was being prepared. Both of my vehicles have bug out bags and I have plenty of preps to last for some time. I recently lost my job andI have $65,000 worth of debt. Credit card companies are jacking me around even though I have never missed a payment. I will not be a burden to family, but I am scared. I will never have any debt again once I clear my current load. Right now, primary concern is feed the family and take care of one debt at a time. It is easy to prep little bits at a time and still take care of your debt. Nobody saw this global financial mess coming. Kind of hard to prep with bankruptcy, liens, or bad credit... |
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Great point, if/when there is SHTF (mass unemployment/hyper-inflation)property taxes will be raised in kind, and unless things are bad enough to where a tax revolt will gain traction youre screwed if you cant pay. As for myself I never really got into too much debt, and I have recently woke up to find myself in the "debt is evil" camp. I have a CC which I use to obtain the reward points and pay off every paycheck. I have received $750 in Visa gift cards with my points thus far and paid no interest at all. Its nice for the bank to pay ME to use credit for a change, but many cant or wont discipline themselves in this fashion. I also refi'd my truck, I cut off a year and upped my payments $100 a month and am on track to pay it off by the end of the year with double or triple payments each month. Being debt free will give someone a lot of freedom, but if you have fixed rate debt sometimes your capital is better served buying preps as some have said. Im military so I will have an income stream for the foreseeable future but I just want that flexibility. You might have income but how much? Done think just because your in the military you will have the money to pay things off! Stop and think if the military gets any money taken away where are you going to see it come out of? Your pay check there not going to cut other funding they will cut your pay check. You get payed like shit in the military trust me I know 2002-2006 U.S.M.C. With the value of the dollar a WWII E-3 made more money then a E-3 today. Don't trust the military will do anything for you. |
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In sixty days I'm about to have a large lump sum payment. Enough to clear every bit of debt and then some.
At the same time, my paychecks stop. Whether or not I have found a new job by then will determine whether or not I use that money to eliminate my debt load, or I use it to fund a 12 month survival fund. Another X-factor is my VA disability rating. If it's high enough, that will be enough money to live on. Once the payments are wiped out (save the mortgage), I have a pretty low monthly requirement. Either route, I should be OK for a while. |
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Quoted: Any consumer debt is bad. Get out. Should be prep #1. Being debt free should be the number one concern. I used to think that having guns, ammo, a nice veggie garden was being prepared. Both of my vehicles have bug out bags and I have plenty of preps to last for some time. I recently lost my job andI have $65,000 worth of debt. Credit card companies are jacking me around even though I have never missed a payment. I will not be a burden to family, but I am scared. I will never have any debt again once I clear my current load. Right now, primary concern is feed the family and take care of one debt at a time. It is easy to prep little bits at a time and still take care of your debt. Nobody saw this global financial mess coming. Kind of hard to prep with bankruptcy, liens, or bad credit... Sorry to hear about the job. Keep a roof over your head, the lights on and food and transportation first.......creditors 2nd. If you can find him check out dave ramsay on the radio......hes the reason im out of debt now. WHen you get back to work, if youll work his plan exactly like he says youll get out. |
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Great point, if/when there is SHTF (mass unemployment/hyper-inflation)property taxes will be raised in kind, and unless things are bad enough to where a tax revolt will gain traction youre screwed if you cant pay. As for myself I never really got into too much debt, and I have recently woke up to find myself in the "debt is evil" camp. I have a CC which I use to obtain the reward points and pay off every paycheck. I have received $750 in Visa gift cards with my points thus far and paid no interest at all. Its nice for the bank to pay ME to use credit for a change, but many cant or wont discipline themselves in this fashion. I also refi'd my truck, I cut off a year and upped my payments $100 a month and am on track to pay it off by the end of the year with double or triple payments each month. Being debt free will give someone a lot of freedom, but if you have fixed rate debt sometimes your capital is better served buying preps as some have said. Im military so I will have an income stream for the foreseeable future but I just want that flexibility. You might have income but how much? Done think just because your in the military you will have the money to pay things off! Stop and think if the military gets any money taken away where are you going to see it come out of? Your pay check there not going to cut other funding they will cut your pay check. You get payed like shit in the military trust me I know 2002-2006 U.S.M.C. With the value of the dollar a WWII E-3 made more money then a E-3 today. Don't trust the military will do anything for you. and think about the RIF that occured right after the 1st gulf war. |
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800 per month....!!!! Good God I hope you live in a 5000 sq ft house. I pay less than that for a year Not quite! It's a little over 3900 sq. ft., but I'm "blessed" to live in a county (Fairfax County, VA) in which our local politicos have been increasing both property taxes and spending steadily for the last 20 years. Unless things get really bad, I'm outta' here in a little over 2 years (son is a junior in HS - when he's off to college, my wife and I are moving out of this place!). |
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To the OP. When you say "something's brewing" are you saying that because you have some kind of info given to you from a source you cannot name that is reliable and connected, or do you just have a "feeling?" GR  This is what I've been asking way back on page one... but I have yet to see anything answering this question. As far as debt, I have about 65k total (including mortgage) and plan to have that paid off in 3-5 years depending on what other expenses come up in that time. |
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Guys look at it like this.
Debt with varible rate is bad. Debt with fixed rate is better. If SHTF no one is going to come calling for their $$ any time soon. It woudl be better to have preps and debt than no preps and be debt free. If you can balance both then great but for the rest of the nation. Do what you have to. Those bill collectors can kiss my ass when it comes down to my familys health. And during tough times a judge is not going to ring you out to the creditors either. They are not that stupid. Also another thing to cinsider is debt back by the US vs private party. There are pros and cons to both. At any rate throw in a little hyperinflation and all your fixed rate stuff will get paid off super fast. All your variable rate stuff will kick your ass. It would be better to have preps at the current rate than try to buy them during a hyperinflated economy. Not to mention if you pay them off under hyperinflation at a fixed rate. It would be pennies on the dollar and good business since. |
| I wouldnt say we debt free but we credit card free. We cut ours up last year and consolidated our debt. The only cards we have are debit cards, emergency cash reserve and my gov't travel card which is locked up. We got most of our debt with our new house, finishing the upstairs, but we have a very strict budget that we go buy. |
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You might have income but how much? Done think just because your in the military you will have the money to pay things off! Stop and think if the military gets any money taken away where are you going to see it come out of? Your pay check there not going to cut other funding they will cut your pay check. You get payed like shit in the military trust me I know 2002-2006 U.S.M.C. With the value of the dollar a WWII E-3 made more money then a E-3 today. Don't trust the military will do anything for you. Im not really worried. Ill have an income from the mil until my 1 loan (vehicle) reaches full maturity, and barring hyperinflation in the next 18 months Im not worried about it at all. I currently SAVE IN HAND 2/3's of my pay and I live quite well so I dont know where you are getting the shitty pay deal, my paygrade is E6 however not E3, I took home about $50K after taxes last year thats not too shabby to me when I dont have to worry about health care or other expensive things and also utilize the co-misery/NEX. I got a 3.9% raise in Jan too 
And the Navy at least is cutting corners already, they have stopped sending ships to the shipyards (except carriers of course) for long repairs, slashed SRBs, and recently cut down ship underway time to 1 or 2 weeks a month which is significant when sometimes you just float out there for a month or two at a time for workups. Im also in a 'critical" specialty that is pretty undermanned right now so I feel pretty safe where Im at. Not saying it cant happen to me but things will get a lot worse before I worry. I have savings built up so I can get by for at least a year if I do get RIF'd too. For me the main motivation for being debt free is that I can be more flexible in finding a job. If I have an overhead of less than $1K/mo for all my needs, I wont have to worry about finding a well paying job right away, whereas if I have car payment, CC bills, etc I will have to work probably 2 jobs. |
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Guys look at it like this. Debt with varible rate is bad. Debt with fixed rate is better. If SHTF no one is going to come calling for their $$ any time soon. It woudl be better to have preps and debt than no preps and be debt free. If you can balance both then great but for the rest of the nation. Do what you have to. Those bill collectors can kiss my ass when it comes down to my familys health. And during tough times a judge is not going to ring you out to the creditors either. They are not that stupid. Also another thing to cinsider is debt back by the US vs private party. There are pros and cons to both. At any rate throw in a little hyperinflation and all your fixed rate stuff will get paid off super fast. All your variable rate stuff will kick your ass. It would be better to have preps at the current rate than try to buy them during a hyperinflated economy. Not to mention if you pay them off under hyperinflation at a fixed rate. It would be pennies on the dollar and good business since. I agree Fister...I posted this same idea / philosophy in a thread several months ago and got nothing but negative replies...heh looks like as the situation gets worse people start to change thier opinions. Dont kill yourself paying off fixed rate debt when you could spreading that money out to make payments and buy preps. The cost of preps will NOT go down...only the potential to go up from here and become harder to get. Your fixed rate debt will always be there waiting for you
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p.s. Barney frank is an idiot. He is not even qualified to run a house of prostitution. Wasn't he the guy that had a homosexual prostitution ring being run out of his house? I would not bet the farm on this theory that hyperinflation is coming. In the 30s, there was tremendous deflation. Debtors got screwed - even those with fixed rates. While the possibility of deflation may seem remote right now with the Fed's loose money policy, keep in mind that (1) the easy money policy could suddenly change if the US needs to protect the dollar and (2) while we have seen a lot of asset and commodity deflation in the past year, I have noticed that consumer goods prices are also starting to drop. It is hard to tell what is going on with the economy right now, but I would not say hyperinflation is a sure bet over deflation. In general it is probably better to have fixed rate debts over variable ones, but the best answer is still neither. |
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800 per month....!!!! Good God I hope you live in a 5000 sq ft house. I pay less than that for a year Not quite! It's a little over 3900 sq. ft., but I'm "blessed" to live in a county (Fairfax County, VA) in which our local politicos have been increasing both property taxes and spending steadily for the last 20 years. Unless things get really bad, I'm outta' here in a little over 2 years (son is a junior in HS - when he's off to college, my wife and I are moving out of this place!). You have my sympathy, I used to live around DC |