How You're Handling Finances During This Time

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

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@Anonymous wrote:

We still pay our credit cards in full.  Only change is that we were paying heavily towards my husbands student loan.   Now we are just putting that extra money into a separate account and just paying minimum.  We will pay off in a lump sum once we think the economy is back on track.  

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My wife got the letter that they were suspending payments and interest. She decided to put that money elsewhere in the meantime.

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

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@sccredit wrote:

Not much has changed.  I am self employed and luckily things have stayed steady.  Only real difference is that our overall spending is way down.  Total CC spend is down more than 50% so it leaves more $$ in the bank.  We aren't paying on DW's student loans so that is going into savings for now.  

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Has it changed your outlook on spending? 50% is significant and would give me pause. 

[CBrow]

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@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

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I decided to leave my auto loan open since I need an installment for credit mix. It's upside down by a few grand so I'm probably going to throw $5k at it and call it a day.

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Out of curiousity, what year Mazda did you finance? I know they depreciate, but I don't recall how fast. Also saw the 9.9% rate, so that may have a factor in it too.

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

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@CBrow wrote:

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@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

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I decided to leave my auto loan open since I need an installment for credit mix. It's upside down by a few grand so I'm probably going to throw $5k at it and call it a day.

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Out of curiousity, what year Mazda did you finance? I know they depreciate, but I don't recall how fast. Also saw the 9.9% rate, so that may have a factor in it too.

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2018 Mazda 3 GT hatch. MSRP was about $29k, loan was for $27k, car is currently worth about $18-19k, loan balance is about $20.5k. $0 down. I had intended to refinance, but never got around to it.

[CBrow]

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@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

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@CBrow wrote:

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@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

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I decided to leave my auto loan open since I need an installment for credit mix. It's upside down by a few grand so I'm probably going to throw $5k at it and call it a day.

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Out of curiousity, what year Mazda did you finance? I know they depreciate, but I don't recall how fast. Also saw the 9.9% rate, so that may have a factor in it too.

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2018 Mazda 3 GT hatch. MSRP was about $29k, loan was for $27k, car is currently worth about $18-19k, loan balance is about $20.5k. $0 down. I had intended to refinance, but never got around to it.

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Ahhh that answers it! I figured there might be a zero down in play. That depreciation is a little steep, but definitely not the worst I've seen. The 9.9% is still mind boggling. The finance guy in me is screaming run away lol.

[iced]

Spend-wise, my monthly's a little less because I'm not buying plane tickets and Lyft rides at present, but still dining out a ton (just via takeout/delivery) and with the 5x offer on Doordash by Chase I'm making up for no airfare purchases that way. Going to hit the $500 cap on CSR this weekend, and just got a FU that I'll put the next $500 worth of DoorDash on.

Investment-wise, I've been more active than usual. Between personal brokerage, HSA, and Roth 401k I've bought somewhere around $35,000 worth of stocks since late March when the big dip (so far) hit and glad I did - I'm already up around 15% just from that round, though I also bought about $25,000 in January/Feb that since tanked. I'm now getting prepped for the next dip. Goes without saying I'm selling nothing and this is all for the long-haul (and passive income via dividends). Perhaps the best outcome is my ESPP purchase period started after the pandemic hit, so I'm locked in at a bargain for the next year. I'm already looking at over a $100/share discount for the next year. That's going to be a major gain in about 5 years.

It's a bit uncouth to be dancing at a funeral, but truth be told this pandemic is doing me serious favors.

[Anonymous]

Not much has changed. I paid off my DCU card early just to get rid of the 30% utilization but that was only $300. Everything else is still being paid as scheduled. I owe Citi 4 more payments (0% doesn't expire until December) and Capital One 3 more payments (0% expires in October) before I am back to PIF so I am just sticking with that schedule. Spending a bit more on dry storage items. My grocery budget will probably double with my plans to turn my second closet into a pantry. I don't want to be caught unprepared again. 

Took my stimulus today and put $600 to max out DCU's $1K at 6.17%, put $100 in AOD, $100 in Langley, $300 in Alliant, and left $100 in 1stBank for now. If US Bank ever gets my name fixed the last $100 is going in there. Going to put $400 in my savings accounts next month to cap my $2K limit. Since Medicaid eligibility won't be impacted by the stimulus payments for a year, I feel safe putting $2K in the bank while the limit should be $3200. 

Everything else is the same since I already had been spending my life in my room long before this happened. 

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

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@CBrow wrote:

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@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

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@CBrow wrote:

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@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

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I decided to leave my auto loan open since I need an installment for credit mix. It's upside down by a few grand so I'm probably going to throw $5k at it and call it a day.

---

Out of curiousity, what year Mazda did you finance? I know they depreciate, but I don't recall how fast. Also saw the 9.9% rate, so that may have a factor in it too.

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2018 Mazda 3 GT hatch. MSRP was about $29k, loan was for $27k, car is currently worth about $18-19k, loan balance is about $20.5k. $0 down. I had intended to refinance, but never got around to it.

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Ahhh that answers it! I figured there might be a zero down in play. That depreciation is a little steep, but definitely not the worst I've seen. The 9.9% is still mind boggling. The finance guy in me is screaming run away lol.

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My auto 8 at the time was about 600, FICO8 was sub 600, so not too bad. Lol

[sccredit]

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@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

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@sccredit wrote:

Not much has changed.  I am self employed and luckily things have stayed steady.  Only real difference is that our overall spending is way down.  Total CC spend is down more than 50% so it leaves more $$ in the bank.  We aren't paying on DW's student loans so that is going into savings for now.  

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Has it changed your outlook on spending? 50% is significant and would give me pause. 

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Not really, just adds to savings for now.  All of our spending is pretty budgeted on a normal basis so this is all just bonus.  

[RSX]

agressive debt paydown over here -  was on a pretty serious plan for 2020 anyway - this is accelerating that so far

my Chase United used to get $1200-1400 of restaurant spend per month - now that is $350 for the last 2 months

groceries have gone up - but that makes sense - we are only ordering in once per week

i am hitting local breweries every Friday to support their businesses - and giving usually a 50-60% tip

i was supposed to be in Toronto this week/next week on a personal trip, so there is about $1500 i would have spent - avoided and i got all my points and the $130 back on the ticket i bought for the trip (100% returned)