Credit Crunch

[Cort Haus]

Mortgage, no credit card or other debts, still lots of savings despite some investments having being hit in crash. With no interest rates I might use most of savings to bite further into the mortgage capital.

I want to keep some saving liquid though, in case the job goes kaputski on the road ahead. As I work as a supplier of services to state education, there is a bit of a buffer before the brown stuff hits the whirly thing.

[Patroklos]

No credit card debt, car is payed off, no mortgage. I have about a year left on the student loan. I put 10% of my pay into the retirement fund before I ever see it. Half my take home goes straight into savings. One with a fixed awesome interest rate from USAA that stays that way as long as I keep enough cash there (I have no plans to remove it).

I am thinking about throwing part of my house savings into stocks now that I plan to go back to sea after this station, no reason to buy a house in the next 3 years.

[DanS]

Regarding solar panels, I would suggest waiting a year or two. Panel prices should fall substantially, as a shortage of a raw material -- polysilicon -- is solved.

[Arrian]

Regarding solar panels, I would suggest waiting a year or two. Panel prices should fall substantially, as a shortage of a raw material -- polysilicon -- is solved.

I'm going to look into it. Unless they knock my socks off, I'll wait. Likely result: wait.

-Arrian

[DanS]

I've heard that the feds are giving tax credits/deductions for solar installations. Don't know the details.

[Arrian]

They are. My mother sent me an article (WSJ? Can't remember) on it. IIRC, it was pretty significant.

-Arrian

[chequita guevara]

I keep reading Captn. Crunch for some reason.

[VetLegion]

Mortgage,

IIRC you bought just before the prices began to fall? Are you tempted to just give it back to the bank?

[Dauphin]

WHY pay off the mortgage? Rates are lower than they've ever been (for some at least).

My spare cash is going into accounts that are giving higher returns than the less than 3% I'm paying on my mortgage.

[MOBIUS]

WHY pay off the mortgage? Rates are lower than they've ever been (for some at least).

My spare cash is going into accounts that are giving higher returns than the less than 3% I'm paying on my mortgage.

(for some at least) - rub it in, why dontcha...

I am currently hostage to the vagaries of the standard variable rate. Being self-employed, I currently cannot get a replacement mortgage. So I paid a bit back to feel at least a bit happy about the fact that my mortgage has now dipped below six figures.

Still, the current rate is less than the fixed rate amount I was on that just expired.

Gold on the ever upwards, BTW.

[Dauphin]

(for some at least) - rub it in, why dontcha...

Hell yeah, else what's the point of divulging my economic situation?

[Cort Haus]

Hell yeah, else what's the point of divulging my economic situation?

Don't you work for those people who are supposed to have been keeping an eye on the City? :sherlock:

[Cort Haus]

No debt. A bit of savings. A small income and low living expenses.

Bought ~.9 hectares of land here on Bohol. .66 hectares outright, another ~.22 hectares sorta in limbo for now and so aren't being worked yet. Planting ~400 bananas to go with the ~100 that were already growing there naturally. Cost 45k pesos for the .66 hectares, and ~7.5k for the other 2 shares of ~.11 hectares each. Another 10k pesos for clearing, plowing, and planting so far. So P70k so far.

A banana plant will flower only once, after about a year, and then send up 1 or 2 shoots. A reasonably healthy banana plant will produce 20+ kg of bananas. Can be as much as 50 kg. Bananas sell for P15-P20 per kg here. (My brother, who works with a company that ships exotic fruits around the world is looking into the feasibility of shipping to other markets here in Asia.) Future father-in-law is working the land, and will get half the harvest. The other half will go towards putting my fiance's brothers and sisters through college. So (400*20*15)/2 = P60k... which over the next 10 or so years would be enough to cover the cost of school for 3 brothers and 2 sisters still to go to college.

The land should be able to support more bananas as well. Looking at banana groves around here, maybe 2-3 times as many. Plus the first year a cover crop can grow between the bananas before they're matured and sucking up all the sunlight.

Looking for (lots) more land to buy, especially if in a year it has worked out as figured above.

Great stuff Aeson Reminds me of your old threads on Civ strategic analysis.

[notyoueither]

I think this is a good start for him. He's got a banana resource.

[Ben Kenobi]

hmm.

No debts, car paid off. My expenses are about roughly 500 a month.

I'm not working full-time right now. I have a full time job coming up in about 2 months, and from there I'll be fine. I'm just making sure I have enough to bridge the gap. I have about 3 months savings left which isn't bad.