virtual kickstart

Hi voigtstr,

I know exactly how you feel. My husband and I are very keen to invest but we are also trying to pay off debt and my sister is getting married in April and we have to travel to Europe for the wedding which is going to get us further into debt! We are being very diligent and every month we pay off a chunk and the end is in site in July but it has been very frustrating seeing all our “potential investing/savings” money go to servicing debt – we immigrated to Sydney, Australia in April last year with a back pack on our back and it has taken a bit of time and money to set ourselves up we are nearly there so hopefully we can start in the 3rd quarter of this year.

I have been getting Steve’s mails too and love reading them but find it hard to get excited when I can’t doing anything right now.

Simon I am quite interested to see your debt reducing strategy, I’ll send you a mail.

Things can only get better!

Sorry if this is a bit off topic but instead of posting a 3rd thread about Virtual kickstart I thought I would put it here.
Anyway,
Who noticed the size of that first vidio he wanted us to watch?
I watched about 1/4 (if that) of it and thought to myself “I better check how much this vid is is using up”… well when I saw 200MB I stoped straight away.
I would have really liked to watch the whole thing but at the expense of using up 1000MB and then some just a few days into the month?? I dont think so!
I would have been cut back to about 24kbps which would have been very very fustrating when downloading the rest of the info over the next 3 and 1/2 weks, add to that my normal internet activities (business and personal) and it would have been a nightmare[grrr].
And what about those people on plans that dont cut you back to below dial up speed, instead charging you per MB over your limit? are they in for a shock or what!
I think it might be a good idea to label the vidios with their size.

Now does everyone have those whoping 12000MB download limits that Start at about $70 a month? OR are you in the same boat as me?
Just for the record I would have changed my plan for the month so that I could have downloaded it had I known that this was going to be the case.
Dont get me wrong, I will still be watching, reading etc. all the matirial that is sent to me providing the files are not a ridculous size.

Mint Man[king]

PS: Steve, I dont suppose that I could buy that vid on DVD?

Hi voigtstr,
Here are my thoughts on dealing with bad debt and getting things together.

Perhaps the first thing I suggest should be to cut up the theft cards, nobody needs them, if you are intelligent enough to be disciplined with repayments you are intelligent enough never to need them.
Enough said about those evil cards.[evil4]

After paying all minimum payments on loans place what ever’s left that you can afford onto the loan of the highest interest.
It may not look like much is happening but the figure at the end of the spreadsheet will show the results are worth it.

Have you been to your home lender to see if you can incorporate those higher loans into it to get them down into home loan rates?

Once you have done all of the above lets work on paying down the loan/s faster.
The only way to do this is via extra payments.
You mentioned that you have $49K a year available, have you considered a second income to help pay down the loan faster?

Or to put it another way the secrete to becoming wealthy is to have multiple income streams.
Thus if one cuts out eg your job (just over broke) than you are cushioned by the other income streams until another income is located perhaps another (just over broke).

How does this sound income-
1. Job.
2. Second job.
3. Garage sale.
4. Side business in spare time.
5. Charge as an industry consultant.
6. Income return from investments, business, property, shares, options, stock etc.
7. Sell other peoples products or services whenever you can.
8. Loans to others (risky seek advice from legal professionals), perhaps better leave this one alone.

hope this helps Colin [cowboy2]
‘You don’t ‘pay the price’ for success – you enjoy the benefits of
success’ Richard Denny.

Your friend Colin,
Email [email protected]
Home 02 46531376.
Fax 0246531079
Mobile 0425201055 (best contact as always working).
For all your CLEANING and GARDENING work.

Credit cards are not evil, it’s the people who cannot manage them that are evil! I’ve NEVER paid 1c interest on any credit card I’ve owned in my entire life. I don’t NEED one, it just makes financially good sense to have one. I automatically have my card paid off on the due date before interest kicks in. I use my card to pay all my bills and buy only what I need (with the occasional exception), enjoy the 45 days interest free loan and also get rewarded for doing it via cinema tickets, gift vouchers etc. I’m sick and tired of people advising others to cut up their cards. I’m sure there are plenty of other people like me for whom credit cards have been nothing but financially beneficial. I pay no annual fee on the card and I also own 3 pretty impressive IPs. And by the way, I still consider myself intelligent. [biggrin]

voigtstr,

Don’t get disheartened and stay on track. Eventually you will get there. Then if you’re serious about building your wealth through investing, you won’t ever fall into the kind of debt trap again. Sure you’ll have debt but it’ll be the kind that is wealth producing such as IP mortgages. I cringe when I look back at some of the cash draining debts my partner and I have had over the years. But the funny thing is, once we started thinking about investing, researching and understanding the options we have become a lot smarter. For example:,
– Instead of a 5 year car loan or even a secured loan at home loan rates, you could take out a salary sacrificed novated lease. Hence, you’re paying the lease in pre-tax $ not after tax $ and you don’t have to pay GST. Of course you have to get your employer to agree to this but smart employers will realise this is a great “fringe benefit” that actually costs them nothing but might encourage good employees to stick around (If you’re paying all the expenses such as fuel, rego etc in most cases this will offset any FBT liability on the employers part).
– As for credit cards, l’d never say don’t have one because they are handy but pay it off before the interest kicks in. If you can’t, pay it off using a LOC at home loan interest rates.
There are plenty of other ways to save $ (some not strictly above board like claiming repairs on PPOR against an IP) and I’m sure others here will have some suggestions.

Flatout.

Have a thionk through your partnership – it makes financial sense for you to pay IO on the mortgage and direct all effort into killing nondeductible debt.

As a partnership you will be financially better off doing so.

Perhaps it needs to be discussed?

All the best

Simon Macks
Residential and Commercial Finance Broker
***NODOC @ 7.15% to 70% LVR***
[email protected]
0425 228 985

Comments may not be relevant to individual circumstances. If you intend making any investment, financial or taxation decision you should consult a professional adviser.

Hi All,

I love these forums, so many good opinions and you get to learn how others think. Like many others I think credit cards can be good and bad. In conjuction with a LOC they can be an effective debt reduction tool – so long as you are disciplined. Say you get paid $1000 per fortnight that goes in to a LOC, if you use your CC all month that $1000 is saving you interest.

But the only way to get ahead in the debt reduction game is to spend (much) less than you earn! I have seen cases similar to those Mortgage Hunter mentioned, they do the right thing by consolidating there debt and the go use there surplus funds to borrow more, some people will never get ahead.

I also agree with MH on his comment about your partnership, you’re obviously committed to each other enough to buy a home together so it you must be looking long term. It’s in both your best interests to reduce you personal debt so you can move on to bigger and better things, IMHO.

Cheers
Mike

3056 Please accept my apologies I didn’t intend to offend anyone.
However my opinion of those evil cards remains.
Having seen them seriously disadvantage many others my wife included.[angry2]

I would like the banks to be more disciplined and not lend more than the income earned in the 55-day interest free period.[baaa]

I would prefer if banks could not provide cards until our youth have been in the work force for at least a year so that they learn to budget with in their means first.[blink]

When we start to drive a car each of us must pass a test yet when it comes to financial matters we are tossed to the wolves.
Economics at school didn’t prepare me for the world outside.
Working for a market gardener after school and weekends definitely did this for me.[grad]

The art of living easily as to money is to pitch your scale of living one degree below your means.
Sir Henry Taylor
Never spend your money before you have it.
Thomas Jefferson (1743 – 1826)

Your friend Colin,
Email [email protected]
Home 02 46531376.
Fax 0246531079
Mobile 0425201055 (best contact as always working).
For all your CLEANING and GARDENING work.