Credit Cards, financial things, etc.

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Originally Posted by Opaque

You should.

This kids life is going to be so much easier for such a simple thing being done. The really important things is that his parents actually taught him what his credit score means, why he has it and how to properly use it.

He will never be fucked over by the credit given to him, unlike icarusfall's friends; who were probably fucking morons.

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Yup, I plan to teach my little girl all about building good credit and not spending more than her means. Won't be easy but I'll do my best. But building up good credit at a young age can't be a bad thing unless she blows it all on barbie.

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Originally Posted by Nomi

I've put a few thousand on my card and paid it all off almost instantaneously

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not that it matters now, but at some point, you're going to have to get over this. if you have large balances in the future at some point, and an 0% apr card for say a year, it's actually the wrong move to pay that off in full immediately because you can take that money and earn whatever the market offers you...usually at least 4-5% in a conservative money market and a lot more if you get fancier.

i have a shitload of federal school loan debt, but at a low <3% rate. it would be flat out stupid of me to pay that loan down now because i can easily earn more than that on the open market.

point is, don't be irrationally afraid of debt. it's a good practice when you are young and have no business hauling around frivolous debt, but sometimes it's necessary and even good. you may need to go to grad school to maximize your earning potential and you may need to take out what could amount to "frightening" loans to do so but that doesn't mean it's the wrong move.

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Originally Posted by kingoffighters

Yup, I plan to teach my little girl all about building good credit and not spending more than her means.

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this is where your assumption is terribly wrong.

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Originally Posted by Rich

Wait until about a week before your payment is due to pay off the entire previous month's debt imo. You get 3 weeks of free accrued interest on the money in the account it was sitting in before payment, asusming it's in an interest bearing account.

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My bank accounts are pretty... not good. I have a standard checking without any rewards, but no overdraft charges (2 or 3 freebies a year, I've only overdrafted once) and a savings account with pretty horrible interest (2%?). Right now I have NO extra money and about 2k that sits in savings unless I need it, I don't keep much in my checking account ($100 at a time or so). So yeah, I make some interest on the savings account, but it isn't shit. That money sticks around until I need to live off of it this summer, which is why I haven't bothered looking into other investment options. A short term CD would work I suppose, but shit comes up a lot, so I wouldn't like having my money somewhere else at this point. I'm in a stable situation where I won't ever need to put bills on my credit card, but I don't have much going for me investment-wise. Just my savings account and a $2k mutual fund my father set up for me as a child. Planning on leaving that there until after I graduate.

Alright, so, TNL advice thus far: charge often and pay it off in full by the end of the month, so I don't accumulate any interest to pay. Stick to 1 or 2 cards. Don't be dumb.

So far, I've got all of those covered. This is nice to know that I've been doing it mostly right, I feel a lot better about them now. I just grew up knowing that my family was in massive debts so I always saw credit cards as the embodiment of evil, but still necessary for credit. I'm way too paranoid and uptight to go blow money at stores for shit I don't need so I think I'll be fine.

Thanks guys. It's nice having all this consolidated into one thread as opposed to the little exchanges from other Sound Off topics.

And Dyne, suck a dick. My credit and spending habits are so much better than ANY of my male friends. Psh, gender assumptions :P

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Originally Posted by Dyne

this is where your assumption is terribly wrong.

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My wife is amazingly frugal. I believe it is her personality since her sister is the complete opposite.

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Originally Posted by Nomi

2k that sits in savings unless I need it

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get this in at least a money market account STAT

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also, carrying big balances hurts your credit score when you are carrying them but to my knowledge once you pay them off/down it has no lasting negative effects (and may be a slight plus). late/missed payments however will follow you around for years.

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Originally Posted by burgundy

not that it matters now, but at some point, you're going to have to get over this. if you have large balances in the future at some point, and an 0% apr card for say a year, it's actually the wrong move to pay that off in full immediately because you can take that money and earn whatever the market offers you...usually at least 4-5% in a conservative money market and a lot more if you get fancier.

i have a shitload of federal school loan debt, but at a low <3% rate. it would be flat out stupid of me to pay that loan down now because i can easily earn more than that on the open market.

point is, don't be irrationally afraid of debt. it's a good practice when you are young and have no business hauling around frivolous debt, but sometimes it's necessary and even good. you may need to go to grad school to maximize your earning potential and you may need to take out what could amount to "frightening" loans to do so but that doesn't mean it's the wrong move.

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This is a good point. Really, I'm just starting to learn about all of this. My parents were colossal fuckups and obviously had nothing positive to teach me other than scare tactics about debt. I have a federal unsubsidized loan, which will be at or less than $6k by graduation in 2-2.5 years, but I haven't made any payments on it. I acknowledge that grad school will be necessary but at this point I won't be going immediately after undergrad.

Loans scare the piss out of me, that's all I know. I've been really conservative about what I need to borrow and have gotten by so far on working shitty jobs a lot and keeping my scholarship intact. It's something I'll realistically need to get over as I realize debt is a necessary part of living in this country, haha.

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get this in at least a money market account STAT

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I don't know shit about investing. This is money I will need 100% access to in early May. Is there any point moving it now? It's money I saved up from various jobs, and I'm saving it to live off of this summer when I'm in Columbus, so I can avoid putting rent and groceries on credit that I can't pay off. This is not 'free money' and I tend to transfer bits and pieces of it to and from savings on a monthly basis. I figured a savings account was the most flexible option for me right now.

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Originally Posted by kingoffighters

My wife is amazingly frugal. I believe it is her personality since her sister is the complete opposite.

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it will skip a generation. :devil:

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Originally Posted by Nomi

Alright, so, TNL advice thus far: charge often and pay it off in full by the end of the month, so I don't accumulate any interest to pay. Stick to 1 or 2 cards. Don't be dumb.

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You're missing one important thing: live within your means. if you can't afford it, don't buy it. I guess that might fall in the "Don't be dumb" part, but just thought I'd reiterate.

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Originally Posted by Dyne

it will skip a generation. :devil:

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Originally Posted by Nomi

And Dyne, suck a dick.

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