patrick.net

You should always be investing for capital appreciation while you are working.
The reason is to have capital to create income when you have no income from working.
You should be investing at the same time as paying your house or other debt because you want to get the benefit of the compounding effect.
Look at funds from Vanguard, T.Rowe Price, Fidelity.

Patrick had a bumper sticker that summed it up pretty well, debt = slavery. We've been debt free, again, for about six months now. And that was like a few hundred interest free to a hospital. But still, knowing I only have to cover my monthly expenses, and if they get too much, I can just move, feels good.

@Patrick if you still have those, could you send me one? I can provide you with an address.

GreaterNYCDude says

What are you guy's opinion on debt?

No one will EVER give you this opinion. You don't have to pay it. There are options to get out of it. THIS is why the morons that tell you do not invest in 401k/IRA are just that morons. No creditor can touch it. Dividends and invested income tax free. You don't lose your house.

You could rack up $500k in CC debt and never pay it. People don't understand the system. If you have $500k in the bank they WILL take it. A retirement fund is protected. If you BK with $1k in your checking account and $1M in retirement funds they restructure the debt or wipe it out because on paper you have $1k and the creditors will get shit. That's why there a cap on retirement investment. Outside of a total financial collapse, no one can touch it. You don't want a big savings account or checking account or CD. Max out 401k, Roths, HSA's. You're looking at $30k/pp a year. $60k/couple. After 5 years you can take money out of the Roth. HSA anytime as long as you have it document.

Debt isn't slavery. It's a tool. Learn how to use it is all I'll say. You don't have to repay it either. You won't go to jail unless you lie. This is why most people are poor. Too scared to take the risks.

I'll second this. If it's a big company, or someone who tried to screw you, fuck 'em. I once had TMobile insist I didn't return a phone and open a collection against me. Solution? I ordered a brand new iphone on some deal that didn't require any payment, then never paid for the phone or my plan. Sold the phone for $200. I once had ATT insist I return a router I purchased second hand. Of course I told them to fuck off, and got hit with a piddly $60 collection.

Also, if you order service and they don't know who you are, what can they do when you don't pay? Can't do shit...

NuttBoxer says

I'll second this. If it's a big company, or someone who tried to screw you, fuck 'em. I once had TMobile insist I didn't return a phone and open a collection against me

Yup. It's a contract to do business together. Yes it may ding your credit, but you usually can get out of that even. Everyone gets freaked out. Own a building. Tenant doesn't pay. For fucks sake you evict them. You'll never get the back rent. Might be harder to rent in the future for the tenant.

I think I've brought it up before. Had to short sale a building in Chicago personally. Good now, but I wanted to hang myself. I felt like a fucking failure. I was 25(ish) in 2008 when it started going south. Took 2 years and then the wife, well I got the wife pregnant and the thoughts of suicide went away. I'm not joking. I was close. Really rough patch in my life. NEVER let debt control you. You don't have to pay it.

In hindsight I was a fucking idiot for even thinking that over fucking debt. I did the math. BOA lost NOTHING on my short sale. It may have been a gain because of amortization. Banks guilt you into feeling bad. They don't operate if they don't loan. It's a fucking shit situation. I've grown beyond that and understand debt and bankruptcy much more. As long as you're not going to jail who gives a shit? Our current house was bought when we couldn't even get a loan. You figure shit out.

About to build a house with $100k with a gift. Mom "assumes" the loan (not really) that we'll still pay principle and interest on. She pays taxes and insurance. $600/mo for her, a cut of $600/mo for her. We pay $600/mo on principle and interest. She doesn't reset the tax rate and gets the senior exemption making her portion lower. $90K per year pension and no debt for her. She's substantially closer to us and my sister. Fucking best win win out of a long term shit show. She's locked in low and we get our responsible dream house with her help.

I'm fortunate as fuck. You have to think. You have to be trustworthy. These opportunities are out there for everyone. If shit really hits the fan I've got plans to buy property up with my mom and sister. I haven't failed anyone yet except myself and my wife early on in our days together. I think for some of you coastal guys it's going to get shitty. I've been there. You don't have to pay debt. That's all I'll say. Will it mess things up, yes. You'll figure it out if you're smart. I almost didn't. And that's why I get testy with some users here. Life lessons matter. I'm in the best place I could be currently and the landscape looks like shit. Find the positive.

NuttBoxer says

Patrick if you still have those, could you send me one? I can provide you with an address.

@NuttBoxer Sorry I gave them all away quite a while ago. Maybe I should order more, but the site is no longer really about debt.

True, but that statement goes to the heart of the corruption in this country, and every country that has a central bank. Still radically relevant.

NuttBoxer says

True, but that statement goes to the heart of the corruption in this country, and every country that has a central bank. Still radically relevant.

Not really. We don't have debtor prison. You don't have to pay it. Just don't bite off more than you can chew. Generally tax free too and you can pay yourself. Not a knock on you or Patrick, but I can make hundreds of thousands a year on debt. Stresses me out and we do fine otherwise.

Buy a value add property and cash out refi. You could pay yourself tax free $200k no problem and someone else pays for it. You can do this with business too. Play the game, don't hate it. I regret not learning earlier. No one teaches it. I could easily have $20-30M right now. Wife and I fucked up. We were scared of debt.

Fact is you will lose at some point. No one makes 100% the right decision. If you want to be truly wealthy you NEED debt.

I have been considering debt. I had this conversation with a friend, who has some money coming in. In a system of fiat printing press money and inflation, debt can lock in assets that you pay for with increasingly value-less dollars, even with current interest rates. Money is shit, but the control of the asset with the money isn't, especially if the money is devaluing faster than the interest on the debt.

I have a natural aversion to debt, but in inflationary times, real assets are king.

I ran up a couple of credit cards a few years ago and I am procrastinating about paying them off.
I guess I will pay one down this year.
I just didn't want to spend any of my mutual funds to do it from a strange sense of greed.
At least I stopped using them a year or so ago.
It was funny in 2020 I was in Walmart with a girl and I had maxed it out and it didn't work; she flipped out "You're broke! You have no money!"
It was great, her tantrum said it all.

clambo says

It was funny in 2020 I was in Walmart with a girl and I had maxed it out and it didn't work; she flipped out "You're broke! You have no money!"
It was great, her tantrum said it all.

You mean she didn't love you for your true, inner self? How unusual for the fair sex.

GreaterNYCDude says

As much as I could try to invest in the market 1) I'm not that good, and 2) the market has more or less peaked, and I don't see another major bull market given that we are seeing the end of the "everything bubble". Once I own the house free and clear, then I'll have plenty of "play money" to invest or whatever and hopefully catch the next upswing

Open an account with https://personal1.vanguard.com/mmx-move-money/funding-method

If you want to be very cautious then invest long term (at least 5 years) in a Vanguard Lifestrategy Fund like a 60% bond/40% stock fund.

I look at it this way, your total percentage invested in stocks should generally be no more than 100 minus your age.

.

clambo says

I ran up a couple of credit cards a few years ago and I am procrastinating about paying them off.
I guess I will pay one down this year.

Pay them down dude. Debt is fine, but use it responsibly. We carry $10-50k of CC debt at any moment. If you're not paying it off your mutual funds are a negative return unless you have some insanely low interest rate on your CC's, unlikely.

Not trying to be a dick either. Never carry CC debt unless it's zero interest. A balance transfer fee here or there is fine, but you're likely paying 15% plus. Your mutual fund is likely not making that much, though I don't know. You've mentioned you're older than I am, so not trying to be some young punk douche nozzle. I play the CC game and make $8k easily a year off benefits and points. They have their benefits if responsible. I liken it to gambling or drinking. Both can be enjoyable or they can destroy you.

Point being, if your CC's aren't paying you, pay them off asap. Or if your assets are protected from BK you could go into fuck you mode and max them all out and stop paying them. If your mutual funds aren't in IRA/401k/HSA/Roth then I believe they can get at them in a BK situation. Not financial advice, just what I believe to be true.

My dad did it when he got terminal cancer. Still married, but decoupled finances from my mom and wiped out massive amounts of debt. So he personally filed BK. He was a fucker, but my mom has a $90k/yr pension and health care as a teacher and $1M tax free cash from other assets she sold off. One of the smartest financial moves I've seen and he was a dick. So that's saying something.

Mortgage at fixed 2% and CCs with 0% APR is the only debt I carry.

I know the math sometimes works for having debt, but I have a visceral aversion to paying any interest, ever.

I love having no debt at all. Haven't had any since my wife paid off the last $4K of my student loan just after we got married. I think the engineering degree justified taking on some debt, but nothing else in my life ever did.

Someone on this site years ago said "The important thing is that interest flows towards you rather than away from you."

The stock market worked out for me, though it's been up and down lately, over and over. I still don't have to work.

Having no debt has been a life goal for my wife and I. We started our life together $90k in the hole, and no house. We had jobs but not much money. We paid off all student debt, paid off an auto we no longer have, and bought two houses, and sold the first one. Now we have one auto loan and the house loan which is around 45-50% of the value. We could pay off the auto loan with cash but that interest rate is low, and emergency money is a good idea. We don’t keep credit card debt.

Currently funding almost $2k a month in education costs between wife who is finishing her PhD, and kids who are into club sports.
Wife works and makes six figures too tho, so we are aight.

Patrick says

Someone on this site years ago said "The important thing is that interest flows towards you rather than away from you."

Yep. Only my first car and first house were bought with debt. I paid of that first house as soon as I could (I was single with rent paying roommates, plus I made it a rental when I moved out). My next two residence houses were paid for in cash. I had no inherences and no rich wife, but by avoiding consumer debt I now have a very upscale house and well over $1 million in the bank. Granted, I am not in California, and I did use debt to buy rental properties over the last 3 decades. Even so, I paid off those rental homes as well (again, not California, where in the1990s I was able to pay low hundreds to buy a newer 3bed 2.5 bath 2 car detached with a 1/2-acre yard home.