Let me put it this way:

How hard would it be for you to save $7,500?

How hard would it be for you to get $7,500 in credit?

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I have more savings than I probably should, but I would get twitchy without it, because I had it drilled in to my head early and often that that was how things were done.

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How hard would it be for you to save $7,500?

How hard would it be for you to get $7,500 in credit?

I understand the argument in terms of how important it is to have good credit for exactly this reason, but I guess I'm confused at why--once you have good credit--having cash on hand wouldn't be better than getting stuck with an interest payment. Because even if my savings is only earning 1% while it's sitting there, isn't that better than paying 5% (on the low end) for credit debt?

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FUCK MY BOSS

sighhh...

Scene: 6:00, Friday Night

Boss: Trudy, can you stay a little late?

Trudy: Sure

Scene: 8:55, Friday Fucking Night

Boss: So, was this makeup time, or overtime?

Trudy: It was overtime

Boss: Really? How can it be overtime when you're absent so much?

Trudy: I was very sick for two days in the beginning of January. I have not been out since then.

Boss: Really?

Trudy: Really. I can show you the chart.

Boss: Oh. It must just seem like it because you're late all the time.

Trudy: I haven't been late since my review in November.* I can show you that chart too. I can be a real pain about these charts.

Boss: Fine, well, I really need to get going. Bye.

FUCK MY FUCKING BOSS, FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK

Sighhhhh... I will go to HR on Monday. We will talk about this AGAIN. "Either I need hazzard pay to work for a difficult partner or you need to move me to a sane individual". And then I call my recruiter.

No. No. Then I go perform at Caroline's. Hee. See, that's the part that matters, you know?

Friday, btw, was on five hours sleep because I'd been out until midnight (and couldn't sleep until three) recording my voiceover reel for two hours and rehearsing the Caroline's show for three. Oh, and I hit on a hottie -- by flyering him for the Caroline's show. Seriously? Best way to flirt with a guy EVER.

:: oh so casual:: "Oh yeah, I'm performing at one of New York's premier comedy venues Monday. You should come." ::flip card over:: "Oh lookie-here, I put my phone number on the back in case you need to check anything" ::Captain Jack smile::

SLY LITTLE SMILE BACK OH YES OH YES OH YES HE DID

Fuck my boss. Seriously.

* Please note. I hadn't been late particularly often BEFORE my review in November. Or absent. And HR would not back me up on this. In my review I LITERALLY said "oh, well lets get the attendance sheet and check" And incompetent HR bitch LITERALLY said "well, just make it clear to her that you're there"

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Let me put it this way:

How hard would it be for you to save $7,500?

How hard would it be for you to get $7,500 in credit?

If I needed to be able to use it tomorrow?

I'm not arguing the overall point, really - in fact, I need to take a look at these things myself, because I could stand to throw some savings at my credit cards right now myself. But I feel like there's a floor here that's not accounted for, where savings do function as a better emergency net for people who aren't in a strong starting position.

(And, actually, I personally don't have near that amount of available credit, assuming all my sources had zero balances.)

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having cash on hand wouldn't be better than getting stuck with an interest payment. Because even if my savings is only earning 1% while it's sitting there, isn't that better than paying 5% (on the low end) for credit debt?

I think we're not distinguishing enough here between available credit and than credit card debt. I.e., David's friend's point is that you did exactly the right thing, sacrificing savings to open up credit.

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How hard would it be for you to save $7,500?

How hard would it be for you to get $7,500 in credit?

I think it is missing a factor - one more question if you will - how easy will it be to repay the 7, 500? and what is the impact of paying back the 7,500 on your future life?

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I have more savings than I probably should, but I would get twitchy without it, because I had it drilled in to my head early and often that that was how things were done.

I have the rough draft on his rather iconoclastic finances book if you want to see him address this issue. The thing is, finance is all just logic and numbers. But how people deal with finance is very emotional. I can't say what will make you comfortable about how you handle your money, but I can lay out his (pretty logical) argument for how things are actually quantified.

FWIW, Gary's was ranked as the top money manager in the country by Fortune magazine about 10 years ago. He's a physics major, and he's brilliant and understands how finance works. He left Wall St. and his net worth is in the millions.

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I'm going to take the wild guess that your average financial advisor has sufficient ready cash laying around in his checking account to take care of the odd four figure car accident or vet bill.

And that most non-six-or-seven-figure people would pull this from their savings account if they could rather than pay credit card interest on it for a few months.

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I'll just run some of his paragraphs. Be warned his tone is occasionally obnoxious because he thinks conventional financial advice is STOOPID. But I think his argument is sound, or at least worth considering....

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