Smart Money

[digitaldiscipline]

http://money.cnn.com/2007/05/21/pf/sharpe.moneymag/index.htm?postversion=2007052115

http://ririanproject.com/2007/04/06/22-useless-myths-that-can-cost-you-money/

ETA: Moneychimp's handy-dandy calculator for any number of financial tools.

Comments

[ladysoleil.livejournal.com]

Preach it, brother.

I am a big proponent of debunking Myth #12. If everybody who "can't afford to save money" just shut up and put a couple of bucks a day in a high-interest internet bank account they'd be freaking amazed at how much they rack up and how quickly. I was, that's for damn sure.

mmm. It's the end of the month. Can't wait for my ING direct interest to post. tasty tasty interest.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

the other thing, which wasn't touched on here, much to my disappointment, was the fact that nowhere does it say -anything- about trying to avoid debt, especially high-interest debt (ie: credit card balances).

you're never going to find a savings account, bond, or certificate that pays more than the 9.9% minimum you get charged for credit cards - that means that you'll save more money by paying that shit off ASAP instead of letting it outstrip your savings.

[from the tool at moneychimp.com]

Initial $1k @ 5% for 10 years (no add'l contributions) turns into $1629

That same $1k @ 10% over the same period turns into $2594

Congratulations, by not paying that thousand-dollar tax return towards a low-interest credit card balance, you've cost yourself a thousand dollars.

@ 15%, the ten-year balance is $4046
@ 20%, it's $6192

and for you poor bastards getting it up the ass from your creditors to the tune of 28.99%, the ten-year amount due on that initial thousand bucks is $9300

Don't mind my doom and gloom; I recently finished reading Anya Kamenetz' Generation Debt (it was one of the books I got from a [Bzz] Campaign), and the combination of student loan and credit card debt facing the average person our age is disgusting, even before you think about how social security, if it exists for us at all, is going to be pretty thoroughly raped before we get ever get there to collect.

[ladysoleil.livejournal.com]

Yes and no. I do take the slightly contrary viewpoint that cc debt should be paid after an emergency funds account gets established.

Otherwise, if something happens to your job, you'll just end up living on your credit cards and radically compounding your debt, which is a bad idea without income coming in to pay that off. That said, I think most of us can get by on a couple of grand stashed for a rainy day at our age, since most of our debt *should* be student loans which can be deferred in case of unemployment.

YMMV.