After ignoring Wall Street, let’s get on with our life one blog at a time … by Julie Klingler
I came about this rule of thumb when researching car buying strategies, the 20/4/10 rule. You put down 20% of the cars total price, only finance for 4 years (Suze Orman suggests financing only for 3 years) and your monthly car payment shouldn’t exceed 10% of your income. Have you ever heard a car salesman tell you this rule?
It got me thinking about the mortgage crisis and the irresponsibility of lenders (and borrowers for that matter) creating mortgages way over homebuyer’s heads and home values crashing. We have learned a hard lesson and tighter sanctions on borrowing have been created. It can be nearly impossible for a family to buy a home, but responsible and wise, nonetheless.
Now I realize a car isn’t a fraction of the financial commitment a house may cost. However as car salesmen, what responsibility do they have in ensuring me, as a consumer, that I am making the wisest financial decision I can make? Why don’t they ask what I can afford, evaluate my debt-to-income ratio, and provide me a list of cars that fit my assessment?
You can argue that as an adult consumer, I have a responsibility to make my own financial decisions and understand my own limits. However, the mortgage crisis and the average consumer credit card balance have taught us a valuable lesson – we are easily persuaded by bright and shiny objects. Those bright and shiny objects include bright and shiny cars with car salesman willing to over promise and under deliver.
You owe it to yourself to do your homework, be diligent and disciplined with your purchases, and avoid bright and shiny objects. Unfortunately, you may be the only one with your best interest in mind.
After ignoring Wall Street, let’s get on with our life one blog at a time … by Julie Klingler
There are many interpretations of what Shel Silverstein was meaning when he depicted the small boy and his relationship with a tree in The Giving Tree. As he grows, he takes and takes from the tree for his selfish needs and the tree wanting to make the boy happy, gives apples, branches, the trunk, and everything it has to appease the boy.
However, once the boy is an old man and just wants a place to sit, he finds the tree’s old stump a perfect resting place. I started to consider the stump as our own retirement plans. It’s difficult to foresee the future or imagine that all we may be looking for is a place to rest our tired bodies. Nevertheless, building a stump that is stable and sturdy and will stand the test of time is more important than ever.
The man seems fragile and frail and it’s unfortunate that he’s only got a stump to sit on – I wonder if he would have built a better financial plan and stayed the course, would he have a more comfortable resting place?
I doubt Silverstein was thinking retirement planning when he wrote this book but it makes you wonder.
“I don’t need very much now,” said the boy,
“just a quiet placed to site and rest. I am very tired.”
“Well,” said the tree, straightening herself up as much as she could,
“well, an old stump is good for sitting and resting. Come, Boy, sit down.
Sit down and rest.” – Shel Silverstein, The Giving Tree
After ignoring Wall Street, let’s get on with our life one blog at a time … by Julie Klingler
Have you ever created your perfect day? Do you know what your perfect day might look like, have you lived it?
Every 6 months or so, I create my perfect day – sometimes it’s in my mind, sometimes I get to live pieces of it, but I choose it, describe it, and tell people about it. Therapeutic in nature, being able to describe your wants and desires in one day can tell you a lot about yourself, how much you’ve changed, and frankly, if are you even close to living out this perfect day. Living in fantasyland isn’t helpful or productive for most. However, living far from your fantasyland can be destructive and create unhappiness.
The day can start early in the morning for some or after a lazy morning for others. I like to choose the weather – always summer for me, designate the time I wake, and exactly who I spend the day with and for how long. Remember, in a perfect day you get full control. Don’t forget to include the meals you’ll eat that day. I always pick my favorite foods.
I’m a dreamer. I like to live on Fantasy Island, but I’m also a realist. I try and live out pieces of my perfect day every day whether it’s go to the gym, walk the dog, or step outside when the sun is shining. I make sure my perfect day isn’t that far off from my reality. Otherwise, I’m not living a life I’m choosing but rather one chosen for me and I can’t think of a worse perfect day.
After ignoring Wall Street, let’s get on with our life one blog at a time … by Julie Klingler
We could all use a gut check from time to time. MSN posted an article last week that had me wondering if we as consumers were still practicing caution amidst uncertain times and during the summer, NPR reported an alarming statistic, 64% of Americans couldn’t pay for a $1000 emergency if it occurred right now in their lives.
Times have been tough and with that come decreases in emergency funds, college plans, and retirement accounts. However, when things start to look positive on any economic front, these funds don’t always get replaced and sometimes we lose our way when a monetary increase occurs. It’s time to refocus and get back to the basics.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, our impatient nation needs to be realistic and practice down to earth savings: build an emergency fund that can take care of our families and be honest with the financial plan we’ve set for ourselves – stay on the retirement track and continue to pay down debt.
Be patient, steadfast, and refocus America. We’ve got a long way to go.
After ignoring Wall Street, let’s get on with our life one blog at a time … by Julie Klingler
Yes, that’s right, I said “snowing” down – it’s my version of slowing down due to the great snowfall we are receiving here in the Pacific Northwest.
There is nothing like 8 inches of the white stuff to wipe away to-do lists, deadlines, and should-do lists, nothing seems to matter when driving is treacherous and the roads are littered with abandoned cars.
It’s a nice time to reflect on the deadlines we put on ourselves, the importance we put on things just not that important, and the obligations that we really don’t have to keep.
Snowfall has a way of forcing our busy lives to slow down, focus on what’s important, and enjoy the company of those we love – sled down the local hill with your children, walk to the store rather than drive, and make cocoa in the afternoon just because.
Stay warm and be safe out there.