How much do you really own?

[LookBehindYou]

Everything except the house, cable modem and dvr's. It was nice paying off the cars a couple years ago.

 

[Bignate603]

Tricky question. Most of the time it isn't worth it to have everything paid free and clear because the money could be producing more return than the interest on a loan costs me.

True, but try telling the OP that.

 

[IronWing]

Tricky question. Most of the time it isn't worth it to have everything paid free and clear because the money could be producing more return than the interest on a loan costs me.

How's that been working out for you lately?

 

[Red Squirrel]

Everything but the house.

 

[KK]

Everything in the house except the shit I bought since around the 20th of july. That should be paid off though by the beginning of september.

 

[dud]

Do you have a clear title to your car, truck, suv, home, boat,,,,,,,,?

If you walked through your home and said "that is paid for, and it belongs to me", how many items would be on the list?

I own all my cars/trucks, my house, everything. I have no debt whatsoever.

The answer to your question "How much do you really own?" is nothing. OP, when you die your executor/relatives will pick over whatever you own, keep what they can and sell the rest. Perhaps, if you are lucky, there will be a few boxes left over of your memories.

That is all that will remain ...

 

[OBLAMA2009]

my guess is that the economic situation has made people a lot smarter about avoiding debt

 

[Bignate603]

How's that been working out for you lately?

For me, quite well. Bought a house on a loan 2 years ago rather than waiting until I could buy it free and clear. Instantly got $8,000 from that (tax credit) and after a bit of cleaning up (it was a foreclosure) the house value is more than I paid so that's money made, a bit of sweat equity. On top of that, my monthly costs are far far cheaper than they were when I was renting a similar sized apartment.

For me, buying a house (the right house at the right time) is paying me far more than I'm paying in interest on the loan.

 

[foghorn67]

I own all my cars/trucks, my house, everything. I have no debt whatsoever.

The answer to your question "How much do you really own?" is nothing. OP, when you die your executor/relatives will pick over whatever you own, keep what they can and sell the rest. Perhaps, if you are lucky, there will be a few boxes left over of your memories.

That is all that will remain ...

fa duck?

 

[IronWing]

For me, quite well. Bought a house on a loan 2 years ago rather than waiting until I could buy it free and clear. Instantly got $8,000 from that (tax credit) and after a bit of cleaning up (it was a foreclosure) the house value is more than I paid so that's money made, a bit of sweat equity. On top of that, my monthly costs are far far cheaper than they were when I was renting a similar sized apartment.

For me, buying a house (the right house at the right time) is paying me far more than I'm paying in interest on the loan.

Glad it worked out for you. I went the opposite direction and pulled investments to pay off the house. Turned out to save me a small but nice chunk of change as the market paid less than the interest. All is settled up now so the savings are locked in.

 

[Bignate603]

Glad it worked out for you. I went the opposite direction and pulled investments to pay off the house. Turned out to save me a small but nice chunk of change as the market paid less than the interest. All is settled up now so the savings are locked in.

Different situations need different things, sometimes to use credit and sometimes to dig in to savings. The trick is to be able to tell the difference. For you, it worked out to use investments. For me, it worked out to use credit.

What annoys me is when people become polarized, saying that being debt free is ALWAYS better or using other people's money (credit) is ALWAYS better. Finances aren't so black and white, there are times and places for both.

 

[BabaBooey]

Everything I own is paid for,truck,house toys,etc...it's not high dollar stuff but it serves the purpose and is paid for.

Oh wait,my DSLR is on payments,still owe $400 on that....:sneaky:

 

[SlitheryDee]

Different situations need different things, sometimes to use credit and sometimes to dig in to savings. The trick is to be able to tell the difference. For you, it worked out to use investments. For me, it worked out to use credit.

What annoys me is when people become polarized, saying that being debt free is ALWAYS better or using other people's money (credit) is ALWAYS better. Finances aren't so black and white, there are times and places for both.

Honestly, I don't want to think about it that much. My decisions are based on my desire to have fewer payments to worry about each month as much as saving me money. A lot of people believe that saving a dime is worth enormous amounts of effort, but I just don't. I'll pay a lot more or earn a lot less if it simplifies my life considerably.

 

[JimmiG]

Everything except the apartment itself, which I rent. Also, not stuff like the stove, fridge etc., which are included in the rent.

 

[Kwatt]

You don't really "own" anything you can't carry in your hands at a dead run.


.

 

[Bignate603]

Honestly, I don't want to think about it that much. My decisions are based on my desire to have fewer payments to worry about each month as much as saving me money. A lot of people believe that saving a dime is worth enormous amounts of effort, but I just don't. I'll pay a lot more or earn a lot less if it simplifies my life considerably.

If you consider how much time it takes you to earn your money at your job you should be willing to spend some time to figure out if certain things can save you money, at least on the big things. Sometimes a few hours of thinking can make you come out thousands of dollars ahead, more so than if you spent those couple hours working at your job.

 

[SlitheryDee]

If you consider how much time it takes you to earn your money at your job you should be willing to spend some time to figure out if certain things can save you money, at least on the big things. Sometimes a few hours of thinking can make you come out thousands of dollars ahead, more so than if you spent those couple hours working at your job.

I always spend the time to consider the options. If it doesn't introduce too onerous a headache into my life in the future I'll even choose the option that saves me the most money. I suppose everyone makes the same evaluation though. The main difference being what they consider to be of greater importance. It seems that for a lot of people the most monetarily economical solution is the automatic choice every time, whether that option presents ongoing expenditures of time and effort or not.

I think this argument may not even be applicable in the context of this thread really. It's more relevant to activities like spending hours clipping coupons to save a few cents when you could have used that time to make a few dollars. Just an observation I've made.