Natter 56: ...we need the writers.
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
Okay, I just emptied my savings to pay off a credit card. Someone tell me I did the right thing before I have heart palpitations, because this has been my only cushion in case of emergency for two years.
I've heard a financial advisor say that it's stupid to keep money in a savings account earning miniscule interest when you have credit card debt earning a greater interest. They way they put it, in effect, you're costing yourself money by allowing your debt to grow, when you could be curbing the growth or getitng rid of it entirely.
ETA: Not that I'm practicing what I preach. I could easily use some of the money in my house fund to pay down my CC debt, but I worry about getting the money back into that house fund, so I don't.
I'm feeling very very jangly and bad right now. So, I am reading The Happiness Project to feel better. She linked to Bembo's Zoo which is a cool flash site. You click on a letter. It gives you the name of a creature, then the letters rearrange themselves. So. Very. Cool.
And very happymaking.
I had a good day at the bookstore today. I had called in sick to both jobs on Thursday, so when I came in at 9:00 today, I got the feeling that they weren't too thrilled with me (even though I gave them about 8 hours notice). That changed pretty quickly when I starting selling membership cards.
For perspective, most other employees get 4-5 cards on a good 8-hour shift. I average 6-8, with my best ever day(s) the two times I sold 10. Today, I sold 14, a store record!
It's the little things that make me happy. I celebrated by picking up the last Deluxe Scrabble game on the half-off table ($17 for the turntable version).
I've heard a financial advisor say that it's stupid to keep money in a savings account earning miniscule interest when you have credit card debt earning a greater interest.
Yeah, that's an incredibly good point. I should get on that myself.
I've heard a financial advisor say that it's stupid to keep money in a savings account earning miniscule interest when you have credit card debt earning a greater interest.
Yeah, it's taken me a year to finally come around to that viewpoint, but it was time. My goal is to get the other card paid off in two years. Stupid money.
My friend Gary, who was a big wheel financial advisor on Wall Street at one point, thinks that Savings accounts are an outmoded concept in today's easy credit markets.
He could explain it better than I, but he felt like standard economic advice about maintaining a safety reserve of savings was more of an appeal to the psyche, than made financial sense.
Ideally, I want no credit card debt
and
savings. Bit of a pipe dream right now, but there you go.
Ideally, I want no credit card debt and savings. Bit of a pipe dream right now, but there you go.
I'm really not anything like an authority on finances, but my gut feeling is that in an era of easy credit, savings is almost an outmoded concept. It feels right based on a work ethic, but I don't really think it's finessing the system that exists.
Leveraging debt is a big part of the financial services industry. People want to believe that their hard work creates real money that exists in a real sense, but the way finance
actually
works doesn't depend on that.
In short: having a good credit rating is more valuable than actual savings.
I have a great credit rating. I would still rather have cash on hand to pay for an emergency expense than charge it and have to pay interest for months trying to pay it off.
You can have the best credit rating in the world, but if you lose your job and your furnace blows up, I'd think that savings could help keep you from falling deeper and deeper into a hole. Credit card debt has helped people not understand the dire financial situation that the were getting into the last few years (not all, but in general) and which many are finally starting to realize, as they use up their credit. And, there are some strong arguments that the debt of the country as a whole have significantly inhibited our willingness to stand up against injustice and for the best interests of our people (as opposed to corporations), both at home and abroad.
I think you and your friend have a good point, David, and I do use credit as well, but I think that there's real value to saving, and I think many, if not most, financial advisers would agree.
