Comments on: Personal Balance Sheet, November 2008 ($180,926, +6.5%)

By: RLZ

RLZ — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 03:01:49 +0000

Congrats on becoming debt free in December! It’s an awesome feeling.

Quick question – Do you ever have any trouble collecting on any of your receivables or have to write any of them off? Given the current economy, I was just wondering if you’ve ever struggled with this.

By: CJ

CJ — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 18:57:22 +0000

Ah, that makes a lot more sense then. It looks like you are close to becoming debt free anyways. Congratulations on that. I’m finally down to only having a little less than $100,000 left on my house and no other debts. It feels great. I’m hoping to be 100% debt free in about 5 years.

By: Miss M

Miss M — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 20:28:08 +0000

You had a good month overall, I did my usual savings and investments and still lost money for the month. Oh well, all this pain has to pay off some day. I still haven’t paid off my student loan completely even though I have money in the bank, I guess it’s psychological. The money in the bank is more important to me than paying off that debt.

By: Flexo

Flexo — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 20:10:10 +0000

CJ: Until 2007, the interest rate I was earning on savings was greater than the interest rate I was paying on the loans, even after tax. In that case it made more sense to pay the minimum each month while I let my money earn interesting in the bank. At the end of 2007 and throughout 2008, savings interest rates sank while my student loan rate stayed the same, so I accelerated my payoff plan. I didn’t pay it all off right away because I wanted to keep cash available for possible use as a house down payment.

By: That One Caveman

That One Caveman — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 19:45:13 +0000

We’re still working to pay off my wife’s student loans, but we just paid off the car last month. With how that felt, I can only imagine how much better paying off a huge student debt feels. That will really go a long way toward increasing your cash flow. Congrats on becoming debt free – I can only look forward to that long in the distant future.

By: CJ

CJ — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 19:34:11 +0000

I have a quick question. If you have that type of cash in the bank, why didn’t you pay off your student loans a long time ago? For instance, it looks like that in November 2006, you would have had enough cash in the bank to pay off your student loan and car loan and still have $6,000 left in the bank. Any particular reason why you chose not to do that?

By: Flexo

Flexo — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 18:35:19 +0000

PT: There was a time, many years ago, when I couldn’t keep up with my payments. That didn’t “feel” bad until I realized what it was doing to my finances. It will be a relief to leave $1,000 or more a month into savings rather than direct that money to pay off a loan, as I have doing this year at an accelerated rate to pay off the loan by the end of the year.

Velvet: I have about 30 years until retirement as well. As every month passes, I’m getting closer to having a more non-traditional primary “career,” so retirement may mean something quite different for me by the time it rolls around.

By: velvet jones

velvet jones — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 18:03:42 +0000

My retirement savings have gone down, but that’s the status quo for almost everyone. My cash position is pretty good. I have no debt so I just continue to save as much as possible. In my opinion, right now it’s more important to me to have enough cash on hand than worry about the rise and fall of my stock. I’m still contributing towards my retirement at the same levels I always have and will continue to do so, but since I’m about 30 years away from retiring, I’m not all that concerned. I’m more interested in making sure I have enough money to live with the turmoil we’re in now. :)

By: PT

PT — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 17:33:33 +0000

Must feel great to be rid of the student loans. 18K in 2 years! Wow. You killed that thing.

This month was another bad one for me on the long-term savings (401k took a beating). But debt is still going down, and cash savings going up.