Dave Head
Well, since he's only going to two-year school, I don't think he'll be much better off. In any case, you're forgetting I got a four-year degree in less than four years, and saved a year's worth of tuition, room and board, AND made an extra year of real-job money. If you take that gross yearly income and add it to the year of school expenses I didn't pay, it adds up to well over the cost of the loans I took.
The numbers just don't lie - I was financially better off doing it my way.
Most people do, because they don't have the self-discipline to live frugally once they get a real job. When you have your eyes on a goal, you can do just about anything. I don't know that I consider it "living low" - I just wasn't spending every last dime on a higher lifestyle. I don't think I missed anything those three years. Maybe I did - I seem to recall them as being pretty fun-filled, but I can't imagine how more stuff would have made them more fun.
Besides, I consider new cars to be a rip-off. Nothing depreciates faster, except computer equipment. Buying one on credit has got to be the dumbest thing ever.
My priority was a house of my own, not some rapidly-depreciating auto.
No, because there is such a thing as good debt and bad debt. Look it up - the terms exist out there...
Then they aren't very bright. They are already way upside down when the front tires get off the lot, they continue to be upside down for 3-4 years, all the while paying the finance company for the priviledge of driving something that keeps costing them heaps of dough.
Buying a 3 year old car with cash is the cheapest way to go. And there are always suckers who have to have a new car every three years, so there's no lack of supply.
If Cory makes a house down payment three years out of school, then I will consider his way to be decently chosen. But he won't - he'll throw money at his beaters, and pay someone else's mortgage for the next 10-15 years while he does that.
In the end, there's a simple reason folks have large debt loads - they don't live within their means, and they don't understand the impact of their purchasing decisions. I only have a mortgage now - and even that will be paid off ten years ahead of schedule. I don't "live low", either - but I also don't have every damn toy known to man. Nice house in a nice neighborhood, a paid-for speedy sport sedan, a paid-for not-so-speedy family hauler station wagon, some mountain bikes and a fast computer. Don't need plasma TVs, home theater, ATVs, jet skis, ski boat, RV, SUV, etc., etc., etc. poo, I barely have time to play with all my toys as it is! Living the good life doesn't necessarily mean getting into debt up to your eyeballs. It just takes discipline and self-control.
E.P.
