Can I afford it?

[MiikeB]

I want to get a new monitor for my computer. Its 24" and on sale for $290 after tax/shipping.

I currently have a 22" and my SO has a 22". If we get it I would use the two 22"s and he would use the 24". We had been talking about this for awhile, and were gonna do it at xmas, but this deal seems good enough to pull the trigger now. One of my concerns is I didn't plan on having the full amount earmarked till xmas. Although I still have enough extra for it not to be a big deal. I also don't know how I feel about getting all the big presents before xmas, it just feels less meaningful.

To refresh some on my situation:

I am 21. Household income is 5800/mo after taxes. Total outgoing every month after spending money / bills is 4400. This is easily cut to 2500 though with no problem should need arise.

My debt is:

Mortgage (140k 1100/mo)
Car 1 (Balance 15k, 380/mo, 5.75%)
Car 2 (Balance 9k, 210/mo, 9% because its my SOs car and he has no credit history)
0% CC (balance $400, paying amount equal to have it paid off 4 months before promo ends)
0% CC (balance $450, paying amount equal to have it paid off 4 months before promo ends)
0% CC (balance $1650, paying amount equal to have it paid off 4 months before promo ends)
Student loan to parents at 0% interest forever (still in school and growing, currently at 6k I pay $400 a month)

Savings: 401k balance is about $950, ING account has $4100 and checking has a $1k buffer.

Should I make this purchase I along with other planned to buy already gifts I will still have a $500 surplus which will go in the ING account (still building EF up larger).

Both my and my SO job security is very high and our income is very diversifed between my job, his job and 2 tenants. Either of our jobs would support us should the need arise.


So I ask SavingAdvice readers, can I afford it?

[MYOM]

I say pay down the credit card debt first. Then, you can reward yourself with a new computer monitor if you want to.

If I cannot pay cash for my cars then I have not earned the right to have it. The only good debt is mortgage debt and education debt. All other debt is financial cancer.

Dan Clemons

[bjl584]

Is there really much of a difference between a 22" and a 24" monitor? An extra 2" doesn't seem worth the expense to me, but if you absolutely want it, then I would advise you to get rid of the CC debt first.

[creditcardfree]

The monitor seems more like a want than a true need. I would tell you to wait until you have less debt.

[Broken Arrow]

Wait, what? Soooo... you're worried about a computer monitor purchase?

And where in the world did you find a 24" for only $290? Off-brands are usually around $400, and brand names are $500. Or have the prices dropped recently?

Relative to your budget, this doesn't seem like a big deal to me. However, if you really want my advice, if you can put it off, then I would put it off. The reason why I say that isn't because you can't afford it. But it's because these prices will continue to drop. Sure, $290 is a great sale price right now, but as time goes by, that same $290 is going to become the regular price eventually. In fact, that's the reason why I've been putting off my monitor purchase. (I am currently using a 19" hand-me-down that's probably 10 years old or something.)

And yes, there may be a difference between the two sizes.... A 24" is most likely to have native HD resolution, whereas a 22" typically does not. That's the reason why I've been eyeing a 24" myself, because I'd like a monitor that can double as a 1080P HD TV. They are out there, and last I checked, they are about $400 to $500, depending on features and brand.

Edit: Ok, I found an off-brand for $280 before shipping. I guess the prices have been dropping!

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by MiikeB

I want to get a new monitor for my computer.

I currently have a 22"

My debt is:

Car 1 (Balance 15k, 380/mo, 5.75%)
Car 2 (Balance 9k, 210/mo, 9% because its my SOs car and he has no credit history)
0% CC (balance $400, paying amount equal to have it paid off 4 months before promo ends)
0% CC (balance $450, paying amount equal to have it paid off 4 months before promo ends)
0% CC (balance $1650, paying amount equal to have it paid off 4 months before promo ends)
Student loan to parents at 0% interest forever (still in school and growing, currently at 6k I pay $400 a month)

So I ask SavingAdvice readers, can I afford it?

NO, NO, NO. You cannot afford it.

If you actually NEEDED a new monitor because the one you had had died, I would go along with you replacing it with something modest (I've got a 17" at home and a 15" at work), but even then I wouldn't go for the 24". That's a luxury, plain and simple, and you can't afford it. You've already got $32,500 in debt and your student loan is growing.

Keep the monitor you have. It works. It doesn't need to be replaced.

[feh]

Before wondering if you can afford it, I suggest you ask yourself if you need it. Why spend $300 to go from a 22" to a 24"?

[kork13]

While I agree that it clearly isn't a need, the question is if it can be afforded. miike has their finances well under control, and they have a $1400 surplus beyond their monthly expenses. It seems to me that yes, of course it CAN be afforded. May not be the best thing to do with the money given that you have a monitor that works just fine, but to get it does not seem that it will significantly impact your finances.

How long have you been at your job? 401k balance is very low if you've been there for more than 6mo-1yr. You don't mention one, do you have a Roth IRA? It seems that if you have so much extra monthly income, you should be funneling a fair part of that into retirement savings, and paying down your auto debts.

[Broken Arrow]

Er yeah, I'm with kork here. They CAN afford it, but I do agree that it's a want not a need.

What about putting one of the monitors on eBay and see if you can't fetch a decent price? At least, you'll recover some losses from the upgrade.

Like I said before, while I do want a HD native monitor, I'm putting it off for as long as possible. I've been looking at it for at least 2 years now, and still haven't picked one up. But during those two years, incredible technological advances as well as impressive price drops have simultaneously occurred.

The best comes to those who wait?

[MiikeB]

appreciate the responses. On my phone right now so can't type much but for those interested in the deal it's in dells 10 days of deals and expires today

[maat55]

Obviously, you could buy it, BUT, the reason you have debt is because you focus on stuff and not being debtfree. If I were you, I would payoff your debts first, then buy the monitor with cash as a reward.

There are hundreds of obsticles in the way of debtfreedom, you have to steer clear of them.

My answer to your question is, NO.

[GREENBACK]

I say no too. I've lived with a 15" dinosaur for 10 yrs.. I can upgrade whenever I choose but wouldn't dare do it until all outstanding debts were paid.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by kork13

While I agree that it clearly isn't a need, the question is if it can be afforded.

Don't you guys watch Suze Orman? Her "Can I Afford It?" segment isn't about whether or not the caller has the cash in hand. It is about if the proposed purchase is the appropriate use of that cash. OP has $26,500 in consumer debt (not counting student loans) and you think it's okay for her to go out and blow $300 on a computer monitor that she doesn't need? She CAN'T afford it because she is ignoring other more important financial priorities in order to buy this monitor. If she asked if it was okay to charge this monitor and add to her CC balance, would you still say it was okay? Holding onto the existing debt longer so that she can spend her money on the monitor is no different than buying the monitor on credit.

Originally Posted by maat55

Obviously, you could buy it, BUT, the reason you have debt is because you focus on stuff and not being debtfree. If I were you, I would payoff your debts first, then buy the monitor with cash as a reward.

My answer to your question is, NO.

Obviously, I agree.

[My English Castle]

I'm with Disney Steve. You don't need it, but you do NEED to pay down the CC or car loan. Wait until the monitor flickers or dies. Plus you need a bigger EF,, I think. Pay SO's car loan or take out a slighter smaller student loan. That all is gonna come crashing down on you sooner or later.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by My English Castle

Wait until the monitor flickers or dies.

When my monitor died, I asked around and found somebody at work who had replaced their still-working monitor to get a better one and they gave me the old one for free. So even if your monitor dies I wouldn't agree with spending $300 to replace it.

[kork13]

Originally Posted by disneysteve

Don't you guys watch Suze Orman?

hahaha actually, no... i did once, and found it rather painful. she seems kind of ... condescending (word choice?) ... toward her callers. Plus, I get better advice/hear better ideas here than I did watching her show. oh well, it's a matter of personal opinion.

Originally Posted by disneysteve

If she asked if it was okay to charge this monitor and add to her CC balance, would you still say it was okay?

actually, I would probably say "why put it on the credit card if you have cash in hand at the end of the month?" lol

I see and mostly agree with your point. The credit cards don't concern me (0%, on track to pay off before it changes), but the car loans certainly do need to be addressed, esp. that 9% one.

[Broken Arrow]

Originally Posted by My English Castle

Wait until the monitor flickers or dies.

Mine is already flickering. Has pretty horizontal stripes that fly across the screen when it boots up. Fortunately, they go away after a few minutes. So, in light of that, I can't justify the need for a new monitor yet.... I kinda want to, but I can't. It's just as well though. With Christmas coming up, I prefer to hold off until at least the second quarter of next year to pick one up. But hopefully, my monitor will hold up well past that.

[Johansen8]

Pay off your credit cards. It the long run you'll be doing yourself a good favor

[MiikeB]

Originally Posted by disneysteve

Don't you guys watch Suze Orman? Her "Can I Afford It?" segment isn't about whether or not the caller has the cash in hand. It is about if the proposed purchase is the appropriate use of that cash. OP has $26,500 in consumer debt (not counting student loans) and you think it's okay for her to go out and blow $300 on a computer monitor that she doesn't need? She CAN'T afford it because she is ignoring other more important financial priorities in order to buy this monitor. If she asked if it was okay to charge this monitor and add to her CC balance, would you still say it was okay? Holding onto the existing debt longer so that she can spend her money on the monitor is no different than buying the monitor on credit.


Obviously, I agree.

I don't appreciate being called a her and she!

Also, I appreciate all the advise given in this thread. I did go ahead and purchase the monitor. I will admit a large part of it was feeling pressure from my SO (he has been working with me hard to achieve our savings goals and I just did not want to say no to him again). The plus side is he agreed to use money we had been saving for him to get a new guitar to instead get a new monitor so I guess it is a wash in the end, he had been saving for one goal but decided to change it.

To the person who mentioned my 401k being very low, I have only been at the company a year and there matching is very low (1/4th of what I give up to 1.25% total) and the market has obviously hit it hard (not worried about that much though).

And to the comment of paying off the 9% car loan of my SO's: It does pain me to pay this much interest, I do not yet feel comfortable diverting all of OUR savings to that loan, as in the case of a breakup I could very well be SOL. Although I would like to think that would never happen, because we are not married I would have no legal ground to claim this back should our relationship end.

I absolutely disagree with those mentioning paying off the cc debt as it is 0% interest, however I do know that I should stop taking advantage of these offers for non essential items, no matter how tempting they may be.

Again, I appreciate all the advice and points made.

[Broken Arrow]

Hmm, well, now that you mentioned it, what's your "fun money" budget?

I think every budget is allowed to have one.

So, if this purchase is within that fun money limit, well, I don't see why not....

But I guess most of this is just academic now since the purchase has already been made.

You know, while I'm here, the one I am eyeing at is a Samsung Rose with a built-in digital TV tuner. Currently, they're still running at a premium price of $500, but considering that it's a native HD, the price seems reasonable enough....

Oh well, I'm still going to wait though. Maybe 2009.