Here's another interest-saving tip that a lot of people don't know about: some banks will let you make your mortgage payment in two installments per month instead of one. We've been doing this since we bought our house in 2001 and will end up paying off our 15 year mortgage in just 12 years.
I am really glad you put in the postscript. I have seen a lot of thes pay off your mortgage faster ideas, and to me, at the end of the day, hey all smell like the idea of having more taxes withheld from your paycheck so you can get more next April. It feels good in April, but it doesn't make much financial sense.
This is what i was going to write.
The pay-off-a-little-more-each-month fallacy has been around for a long time. The deal is that the numbers are big, so they are really impressive.
Yes. It builds equity faster. (But it's just converting your cash from a flexible form of equity into a less flexible form.)
Yes. You pay less interest over time. (But you lose opportunity to invest).
Yes, you pay off your house sooner. (How many of us will live in our house for 20+ years though?)
The right way to look at this is to consider the alternative uses of the extra money you would be putting into the equity.
For example, a 6% loan has an after tax 4% rate. Instead of putting the money into your house, why not put it into a SP500 index fund? It will get you 8% over time (5.33% after taxes). So by putting $1000 into your house, you lose $13.33 each year. Put it into the IRA that you haven't been funding and it looks even more attractive, because it is tax-deferred.
Alternatively, maybe ou take that round the world trip that you have always wanted to do, or invest in a good personal trainer to enhance your health. You can't put a value on those, but in any case, the pay off your mortgage faster idea is only for people who do not otherwise have the discipline to save in other ways.
It's kind of like the people who advocate extra withholding from their paycheck so they get more back in April.
I'm a deal junkie. I decied in the end to go with...none of them. I know, ironic right? Buy your post grounded me to the very reason I write for WB. The DVD theater system is obviously nothing special. I rarely use a blender. THe woofer, although cool and cheap, would probably be relegated to the garage in a few months. My wife already has a 250GB hard drive and myself a 100GB. So, by the time those are full, a 1 terabyte drive will probably be about $100. And Lowes is doing a BOGO today on tools, so I can get a saw and drill for a cool savings. I need the saw, but would prefer to go with a brand I trust. Anyway, thanks to all who helped me out. Cool stuff guys.
I have a hard time resisting deals... but really it's not a deal if you spend $10 to save $50 on something you don't need. It's also not a deal if you're expecting good quality (dvd system) and end up with sub par performance. KitchenAid and LaCie are great brands (two of my personal favorites actually) so if you need those items, you'll get a great deal on a quality product you will use. But if you have no need for another hard drive or don't really have a clue what to do with a hand blender, don't bother.
If the metal is stretched much at all then this won't work.
When a panel is dented it very often is also stretched so that even when you push the metal back to where it should be it will be to full (have to much area) and wont be straight.
To actually fix a damage in the metal (metal finishing) the metal often is shrunk, which is usually done by heating with a gas torch and then hammering excess metal back in to a small area and then quickly cooling with water, also it can be done with electricity.
Anyway both methods require the paint to be removed.
So I think that these methods will only work on very shallow dents that were made with very little force.
This is either a spoof (most likely, otherwise that clown would be writhing in pain), or these guys are a bunch of retards. The pigment is in the subcutaneous tissue. If you sand down into the subq, you trade a giant ugly scar for a tatoo.
Can't speak much for the 'tronics, but anything KitchenAid will hold up well as long as you're not using it in an industrial kitchen (i assume you are not). Cheap Tools (Power and Other Wise) are good for cheap work. Except fot the frequency of use there is not much difference between tools at home and tools on the job. When you are deling with tools there is more at stake than your wallet safety and reliability should be the biggest concerns. Look for a good deal on Great tools ( I have Always preferred Makita and DeWalt) not a great deal on OK tools. KYLE
I have to agree with Tim on the fact that a quality name does have to be taken into consideration. So for me, the saw and the DVD system would be out, but the sub-woofer and blender would be in. Good names and dirt cheap prices.
The hard drive is kind of a conundrum. I also have the 250 from La Cie and love it. When it got it, it was on a similar bargrain basement sale at Best Buy. I the noise is an issue for you then I'd guess it's a no-go. FOr me, though, I'd jump on it (several in fact!) and sell them to local business to hold routine weekly or nightly back-ups. Plus one for myself, of course...
I wouldn't touch that saw with a 10 foot pole. It may end up working fine, but with tools like that you're better off with a "name" brand for quality. Even a cheap Delta would be better than that one.
No, I don't think paying off a 6% loan is the best place to invest your money. If you invested in a fund that matched the S&P over the past 25 years (approximately 10% return), you should have over $125,000 rather than $48,500. There are some tax implications that I am not considering though: home loan interest is deductible; capital gains that pass through mutual funds are taxable making ETF funds more attractive but you can get index funds in both I would think; or you could have put the money in an IRA with no tax implications (for a while). The best part about investing is that you have liquidity (money to take a vacation or help you through a period of unemployment) rather than having to sell your house or taking out a home equity loan to access that money.
You can use the Future Value function in Excel to figure out the future value of a stream of payments. Here's the formula I used to answer the question =FV(10%/12,295,100,0,0) or 10% interest divided by the number of months in a year, the number of months in 24 years, 7 months, the dollar payment amount, the value of your investment now (0), and the payment is made at the end of the month (Excel places this value at 0)
There are some pay-off-your-mortgage-fast products out there now and I am planning on covering all the nuances to those programs in future articles and then discuss why paying off early isn't necessarily a great idea.
Totally with you the slip thing, but disagree that a slip showing is uncouth. When dressed otherwise stylishly, a little lace showing at the hem is an incredibly feminine touch, especially with contrast, e.g. black skirt, white slip. A slip without slits should be used as this really does look like an accident. Also, the sight of a slip showing is a great way to get your man turned on, believe me!
Hi,
here in germany a computer magazine (Computer Bild 1/2007) tested 16 USB Hard Drives and also the 500gb LaCie Hard Drive Porsche which landed on the to 8th place. Here are the facts:
+ Very fast (Read/Write 31,24/26,29 Megabyte/second) (fatest drive in test)
- Very loud (Idle/Read - 2,0/2,1 sone) because of built-in fan (loudest drive in test)
- Defect after drop test
Here's another interest-saving tip that a lot of people don't know about: some banks will let you make your mortgage payment in two installments per month instead of one. We've been doing this since we bought our house in 2001 and will end up paying off our 15 year mortgage in just 12 years.
be wise - save your bread. or better yet, give some away - free.
Take a look at Karl's mortgage calculator - http://www.drcalculator.com/mortgage/ - to get a picture of the effect of increasing repayments.
Julie,
I am really glad you put in the postscript. I have seen a lot of thes pay off your mortgage faster ideas, and to me, at the end of the day, hey all smell like the idea of having more taxes withheld from your paycheck so you can get more next April. It feels good in April, but it doesn't make much financial sense.
This is what i was going to write.
The pay-off-a-little-more-each-month fallacy has been around for a long time. The deal is that the numbers are big, so they are really impressive.
Yes. It builds equity faster. (But it's just converting your cash from a flexible form of equity into a less flexible form.)
Yes. You pay less interest over time. (But you lose opportunity to invest).
Yes, you pay off your house sooner. (How many of us will live in our house for 20+ years though?)
The right way to look at this is to consider the alternative uses of the extra money you would be putting into the equity.
For example, a 6% loan has an after tax 4% rate. Instead of putting the money into your house, why not put it into a SP500 index fund? It will get you 8% over time (5.33% after taxes). So by putting $1000 into your house, you lose $13.33 each year. Put it into the IRA that you haven't been funding and it looks even more attractive, because it is tax-deferred.
Alternatively, maybe ou take that round the world trip that you have always wanted to do, or invest in a good personal trainer to enhance your health. You can't put a value on those, but in any case, the pay off your mortgage faster idea is only for people who do not otherwise have the discipline to save in other ways.
It's kind of like the people who advocate extra withholding from their paycheck so they get more back in April.
I'm a deal junkie. I decied in the end to go with...none of them. I know, ironic right? Buy your post grounded me to the very reason I write for WB. The DVD theater system is obviously nothing special. I rarely use a blender. THe woofer, although cool and cheap, would probably be relegated to the garage in a few months. My wife already has a 250GB hard drive and myself a 100GB. So, by the time those are full, a 1 terabyte drive will probably be about $100. And Lowes is doing a BOGO today on tools, so I can get a saw and drill for a cool savings. I need the saw, but would prefer to go with a brand I trust. Anyway, thanks to all who helped me out. Cool stuff guys.
I have a hard time resisting deals... but really it's not a deal if you spend $10 to save $50 on something you don't need. It's also not a deal if you're expecting good quality (dvd system) and end up with sub par performance. KitchenAid and LaCie are great brands (two of my personal favorites actually) so if you need those items, you'll get a great deal on a quality product you will use. But if you have no need for another hard drive or don't really have a clue what to do with a hand blender, don't bother.
Cheap tools scare me.
sometimes in life what appears to be too good to be true is really just a typo waiting for some hype.
If the metal is stretched much at all then this won't work.
When a panel is dented it very often is also stretched so that even when you push the metal back to where it should be it will be to full (have to much area) and wont be straight.
To actually fix a damage in the metal (metal finishing) the metal often is shrunk, which is usually done by heating with a gas torch and then hammering excess metal back in to a small area and then quickly cooling with water, also it can be done with electricity.
Anyway both methods require the paint to be removed.
So I think that these methods will only work on very shallow dents that were made with very little force.
I planned to buy the hand blender this eve. Ah well. Thanks for all the good advice folks.
Amen to that..
I feel you bro... I feel you
Agreed on the saw. And they might be a better deal if it wasn't for the interchange fee...
This is either a spoof (most likely, otherwise that clown would be writhing in pain), or these guys are a bunch of retards. The pigment is in the subcutaneous tissue. If you sand down into the subq, you trade a giant ugly scar for a tatoo.
The hand blender just went up to $44.00
Can't speak much for the 'tronics, but anything KitchenAid will hold up well as long as you're not using it in an industrial kitchen (i assume you are not). Cheap Tools (Power and Other Wise) are good for cheap work. Except fot the frequency of use there is not much difference between tools at home and tools on the job. When you are deling with tools there is more at stake than your wallet safety and reliability should be the biggest concerns. Look for a good deal on Great tools ( I have Always preferred Makita and DeWalt) not a great deal on OK tools. KYLE
I have to agree with Tim on the fact that a quality name does have to be taken into consideration. So for me, the saw and the DVD system would be out, but the sub-woofer and blender would be in. Good names and dirt cheap prices.
The hard drive is kind of a conundrum. I also have the 250 from La Cie and love it. When it got it, it was on a similar bargrain basement sale at Best Buy. I the noise is an issue for you then I'd guess it's a no-go. FOr me, though, I'd jump on it (several in fact!) and sell them to local business to hold routine weekly or nightly back-ups. Plus one for myself, of course...
I wouldn't touch that saw with a 10 foot pole. It may end up working fine, but with tools like that you're better off with a "name" brand for quality. Even a cheap Delta would be better than that one.
No, I don't think paying off a 6% loan is the best place to invest your money. If you invested in a fund that matched the S&P over the past 25 years (approximately 10% return), you should have over $125,000 rather than $48,500. There are some tax implications that I am not considering though: home loan interest is deductible; capital gains that pass through mutual funds are taxable making ETF funds more attractive but you can get index funds in both I would think; or you could have put the money in an IRA with no tax implications (for a while). The best part about investing is that you have liquidity (money to take a vacation or help you through a period of unemployment) rather than having to sell your house or taking out a home equity loan to access that money.
You can use the Future Value function in Excel to figure out the future value of a stream of payments. Here's the formula I used to answer the question =FV(10%/12,295,100,0,0) or 10% interest divided by the number of months in a year, the number of months in 24 years, 7 months, the dollar payment amount, the value of your investment now (0), and the payment is made at the end of the month (Excel places this value at 0)
There are some pay-off-your-mortgage-fast products out there now and I am planning on covering all the nuances to those programs in future articles and then discuss why paying off early isn't necessarily a great idea.
Totally with you the slip thing, but disagree that a slip showing is uncouth. When dressed otherwise stylishly, a little lace showing at the hem is an incredibly feminine touch, especially with contrast, e.g. black skirt, white slip. A slip without slits should be used as this really does look like an accident. Also, the sight of a slip showing is a great way to get your man turned on, believe me!
It's kind of a pleasant surprise when it finally arrives. By then, you've forgotten you even asked for it. :)
it has both good and bad points. Certainly don't want a noisy drive. I'll have to think about that one.
Hi,
here in germany a computer magazine (Computer Bild 1/2007) tested 16 USB Hard Drives and also the 500gb LaCie Hard Drive Porsche which landed on the to 8th place. Here are the facts:
+ Very fast (Read/Write 31,24/26,29 Megabyte/second) (fatest drive in test)
- Very loud (Idle/Read - 2,0/2,1 sone) because of built-in fan (loudest drive in test)
- Defect after drop test
I use the LaCie Porsche drive (albeit only 250GB) and it works great. I have also ordered stuff from B&H and have never had a problem.
Per this analysis, by investing $100 per month in my house, I can net approximately $48,500 in the space of 24 years 7 months.
What would $100 per month in an indexed fund return over that same period?
yay! i love coupons
boo it takes 4-6 weeks