Last week’s video about how to get out of debt was well received, but there were a few questions people had about paying off loans.
Most importantly, why should getting out of debt be your number one priority? In addition, we answer the questions:
1. What if I’m upside down on my car loan?
2. Would you stop investing while you paid debt?
3. What about debt consolidation loans?
I first discovered Mercedes-Benz diesels on our trip to Europe and fell in love. On that trip I found out that the Mercedes w123 engine is considered to be one of the most reliable engines ever manufactured.
Fast forward 2 years and for some reason I start looking for one again. Well…we bought one. It’s a 1979 Mercedes 300CD, diesel (non-turbo).
My initial plan was to sell the Prius and drive the Mercedes to further extend the longevity of our transportation. But since I got such a good deal, we may end up just fixing it up and re-selling it for a profit.
Over the past two weeks I’ve moved all of my Dad’s tools into the new shop, bought a Grizzly G1023SL 10″ table saw for $450 bucks, and somewhat restored my 10″ Craftsman drill press.
I built two work benches along the walls and recessed the Dewalt 12″ miter saw and DeWalt 10″ Power Shop radial arm saw into the top.
I’m very happy with the progress so far. Next, I need to build tool holders to hang all of my hand tools on the wall!
How would we get out of debt if we woke up one day with student loans and a credit card balance? By taking extreme measures to cut spending and earn extra income.
We discuss everything from cutting up our (hypothetical) credit cards to selling our excess furniture and gadgets on craigslist. Although it’s easy to stand on the sidelines and say “that’s what I would do,” we hope this is a help to someone out there.
Thinking about taking your first cruise vacation? Even if you book a cheap cruise, there are still a few hidden costs that you might not expect.
For example, most people don’t expect free alcohol, but soda isn’t free either. Add $6.50 per day for unlimited soda. What about tips and gratuities, and internet? We’ll talk about these and many more!
We?ve just returned from a 7 day vacation on the biggest cruise ship in the world, the ?Allure of the Seas.? Many people wonder if it?s worth the extra money, if it?s too crowded, and what makes this ship so special. We have answers to all those questions and many more.
We talk about the advantages and disadvantages of vacationing on a floating city at sea. As diamond members of Royal Caribbean?s crown and anchor, we?ve been on many different classes, itineraries, and cruise lines. Oasis and Allure of the Seas are amazing, but are they our favorite cruise ship?
How to use mint.com’s “trends” feature to analyze your spending and fix your finances! We are only looking for problem areas in our budget this video, not tackling creating a budget from scratch.
Next week we’ll start outlining sample budgets depending on where you are at financially. It was too much to fit in one video.
We also share a couple of quick tips for calculating how much your savings could be worth in 10 years:
Mr. Money Mustache Article https://goo.gl/H54L0e
Monthly Expenses: MULTIPLY by 173
Weekly Expenses: MULTIPLY by 752
Before we can begin to talk about budgeting or investing, we need to get an idea for where you’re at financially. The easiest way to do that is to start tracking your spending for a month.
You can do that by hand, but there are websites and software that will do it for you. We use https://mint.com. We have been using it trouble free for over 5 years. It’s tracked and categorized almost 6500 transactions!
While we’re waiting for data to accumulate, you can calculate your net worth to see where you stand financially.
NOTE: If you are a viewer outside of USA, you can purchase a program called “You Need A Budget” (YNAB) that makes manual expense tracking easy.
Our most requested video topic is basic personal finance. In this new video series we want to cover the fundamentals of managing your money with simple explanations that anyone can understand.
Topics will include:
Budgeting
Credit Cards
Living Below Your Means
Getting Out Of Debt
Emergency Funds
Insurance (Health and Life)
Taxes
And many others!
Let us know if the comments which topics you’d like covered so we can add it to the list!
Tonight we’re going to talk about why we’re different than most people. But not in the way you might expect… We have many generous people in our lives who are helping us accelerate our early retirement plans. Let’s talk about them.
LIVE! Tuesday March 17th at 8:30PM EST