Should I pay off my car loans?

[LivingAlmostLarge]

pay off cars.

[corn18]

pay off cars.

In work. Restricted stock vested yesterday. Sold it this morning. Moving money to NFCU tonight. 3 of 4 cars will be paid off by Friday evening. Last one will have to wait until my bonus check gets deposited. Not sure why my company still issues bonuses via paper checks. PITA.

[everyfrog]

This has been one of the more fascinating threads I've read on here and it's been awesome to read Tom and his progress! Way to go! Keep at it Tom!

[corn18]

I feel very fortunate to have stumbled my way onto these fora. The recommendation to read the book The Millionaire Next Door changed everything for us.

I am blessed in that I have enough income to fix the issues quickly and get back on track. Just now I set up a direct deposit into my and my DW's IRA's. That felt good. And my bonus was big enough to have some left over for my EF. And we have under spent the budget so far this year. Now it's up to us to stick to the plan.

[klarose]

BUDGET 12/1/13
AUTO FUEL 950.00
AUTO SERVICE 100.00
CLOTHES 600.00 - Why in the world are you spending $700 a month on clothes? My house spends less than that in an entire year. Are you wearing gold shirts?
DAD CLOTHES 100.00
HORSE 1000.00
DOGS / CATS / PIG 100.00
KIDS ALLOWANCE 100.00
KIDS ACTIVITIES 500.00 - What is this exactly? That is more than my house payment.
SCHOOL 100.00
FOOD 1400.00 - This can be cut down a lot! You could eat well for half that. I spend $300 on food and am still able to eat pretty much what I want.
DINING 700.00
GIFTS 0.00
VACATION 0.00
HEALTH / BEAUTY 400.00 - This is another big ticket item. What is it?
HOUSE 600.00
DRY CLEANING 125.00
RECREATION 50.00
ENTERTAINMENT 100.00
MEDICAL 200.00
MISC 1200.00
Total Disc 8325.00
MORTGAGE 2935.09
HOA 0.00
TELEPHONE 365.00 - Why is it this high? Around here even the most expensive plans are $70 a person.
CABLE 180.00 - Again, why so high?
ELECTRIC / GAS 340.00
WATER 120.00
RAIN SOFT 0.00
CAMPER STORAGE 0.00
LAWN 0.00
BRACES 0.00
AUTO INS 292.17
Delta AMEX 0.00
TARGET 0.00
NFCU VISA 0.00
USAA Mastercard 200.00
Nicky's LOC 0.00
Tom's LOC 0.00
KOHLS 0.00
NORDSTROM / JCP 0.00
MACY's 0.00
POTTERY BARN 0.00
APPLE 0.00
GE / BEST BUY 0.00
MDX LOAN 626.44 - 4 new cars, and a horse trailer...
TRUCK LOAN 234.62
EM CAR LOAN 454.13
LU CAR LOAN 464.01
HORSE TRAILER 227.83
Z4 0.00
LIFE INSURANCE 171.58
PLAY MONEY 0.00
SAVINGS 0.00
COLLEGE 0.00
IRA 0.00
FED TAX 0.00
STATE TAX 0.00
CITY TAX 0.00

TOTAL EXP 15080.85

Wow this thread just baffles me. I just can't even imagine spending that much money, or even getting that much money. My combined household income is around $35,000 and we are doing just fine... and saving!

I hope I am not coming across as rude. I am not trying to be. I just can not wrap my brain around these figures.

This is based off your first post. I realize you have been working hard on it for a while. This is just my initial response.

[klarose]

I feel very fortunate to have stumbled my way onto these fora. The recommendation to read the book The Millionaire Next Door changed everything for us.

I am blessed in that I have enough income to fix the issues quickly and get back on track. Just now I set up a direct deposit into my and my DW's IRA's. That felt good. And my bonus was big enough to have some left over for my EF. And we have under spent the budget so far this year. Now it's up to us to stick to the plan.

Sounds like you on the right track! Good job!

[corn18]

Update in case anyone is still following:

I now own 4 cars. Car payments are going towards IRA and extra mortgage payments. Only debt left is the mortgage. Life is good.

Tom

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Wow Tom! Does it drive different? I think it does. I can't wait to be payment free. It's sort of annoying to have payments. We will own our cars in 16 months if not sooner. UGH.

[HundredK]

Wow Tom - Jluke pointed me at your story and I can't even tell you what an inspiration you are. I'm in nearly the same boat you were in at the start (not quite as much income and not quite as much debt, but really darn close) and it's just so encouraging to have read about your journey. I'm really glad I found this site, even if I am too chicken or sensitive to fully dive into all my details.

Tom, do you have any recent updates?

[corn18]

I have no debt except the mortgage. I am saving 42% of my gross income. I have a plan to retire by 60, but that could go faster. Paid cash for my last car. Paying extra on the mortgage so it's paid off when I retire. Have enough saved to pay for all college for all kids. EF is fully funded. So is the car fund and some other funds for misc planned expenses. And all I had to do was cut spending back from ludicrous to reasonable (but definitely not frugal). We now live on my monthly pay from my job with some left over. That leaves my military pension and all bonuses for savings. Spending has gone down now that we are empty nesters. Net worth has gone from zero to well north of $500k and climbing fast. My pay has increased as I took on a President role at a struggling company.

Life is good.

[HundredK]

Completely incredible. I hope I can follow your amazing example. Feels like such a long road, and at times the boredom of it gets to me, of waiting to pay down things and having the patience to plan it all out while simultaneously feeling stupid for having gotten in a bad place to begin with. And I think it's hard for most people to understand having a higher income and making stupid decisions like I have. It's hard for me to understand too, but especially hard when others make it clear they don't. But stories like this make it seem worth waiting for.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Tom wow it's been almost 2 years to the day since you come on and started that thread.

How's it going? Changed the family tree?