Need Real Finance Advice?

Then stay FAR FAR AWAY from this thread!! :lol

Well, since I saw a comment on how everyone in Shift likes to give advice on $$, I figured why not start a thread on it…

Another related thread seemed to have a lot of stories on credit / debt etc so why not continue here?!

I can’t give “real” advice but I’ve had a couple of bad experiences and tried to learn from it so I can only go off that…

One memorable one, from college where I:

  • Applied for Amex Charge Card
  • Was too dumb to realize that charge card = pay in full at end of month
  • Used said card for dumb purchases (non-necessities)
  • Had no income to pay off bill
  • Experienced Collection Agency BS
  • Flushed my FICO (Credit) Score down toilet

So over the past few years I ended up doing the following:

  • Paid off bill$
  • Closed out unnecessary accounts
  • Took on secured loans to retain credit history when no one would give me a card
  • Stayed away from the APR monster

Now my FICO score is up by 200 pts, in the excellent category and I have what I feel is a good Debt to Income Ratio.

This is starting to sound like an annoying infomercial so I’m going to let the REAL CFAs** on Shift handle the rest of tha bizzznessss.

Discuss.

(** Certified Financial Anal probes)

buy a house young (bought when i was 22)
fix it up
stay out of debt
profit.

Smart man.

also, do not be afraid to use the banks money instead of your own.

stay away from Credit Cards BUT still always have 1 with a 5k limit just in case something in your home breaks. Also good one is start a high money market account with a 6 month term because in 3 to 5 years pending how much money you put in will pay your taxes each year.

Edit: Wayne being a part of this site for two months and reading MANY posts, conclusion you are very intelligent.

thanks man, i’m not really very smart, i just pretend real well.

i would not put ANY kind of home repair on a CC. A trick i do instead of depleting my savings is taking out a personal loan from like sefcu (christ i must’ve had and paid 10+ by now) and then pay it off fast as fuck. interest is a shit ton lower than cc, you build credit, and if you only make a few payments and then finish paying it off, you don’t pay much interest anyway. Plus the people at the bank love me. lol

Well I am just saying from what works for me, I dont use Credit Cards BUT have two just incase, One small use a month and paid off at the end of the month for FICO only. BUT I would rather use a CC card then take out more debt from a bank. I was a Mortgage Broker for many years I dont trust a bank for nothing. and the fact I dont have to worry about my taxes anymore is something I am glad to share with people who own a home and shit it even helps if you dont. HMMA work for me !!

FML

Im definetly hopping on the buy a house early bandwagon, buy something cheap and put at least 10% down at the minimum then fix it up and sell it a year or 2 down the road. You cant go wrong as long as you do your HW on the location and comps in the area.

10% no 20% yes better yourself Comps help for value BUT you also have to look at the economic development in the area and drivability from desired location…there is much more to it also BUT the basics will work

Id prefer to put 20% down but if I can put 10% down and get a fixed rate I can afford then Im ok with it, I just want to get into a house asap but dont want to be like the other morons that did the 0 down loans and assfucked the rest of the country. Im not getting into anything unless mortgage plus utilities and insurance/all other fees are no more than 25% of my monthly earnings.

Sounds like a good plan :thumb

well to be truthful when you put down 20% you should have at least 30% saved if you are struggling for 10%, I personally wouldnt jump into buying a home. The 0% down was great if you were an investor and could handle it. Now with your 25% its always going to be more than 25% man its just the way shit works unless your bankin

EDIT: if you would like to seriously talk more about getting yourself into a home I can offer you everything I know to help you free of cost because if there is nothing in it for me than I have nothing to gain from your success.

Closed out unnecessary accounts might not work for everyone, especially if you carry a balance on other accounts. That would increase the ratio of how much you owe to how much you can borrow.

lol never do a balance transfer unless a CC company offers you no interest on balance transfers otherwise you would just be screwing yourself

In year 5 of 6 of studying finance and real estate.

:thumbup

damnn 22? mad young… I wouldnt mind doing something like that though instead of wasting money on an apt.

+1… im a big fan of money markets

Just generally dumping money into a money market isnt necessarily a good idea for everyone, or every 22 yr old. There’s an optimal strategy for every person’s situation whether you want to be active with your investments or not.