Can I afford it?

[kork13]

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.

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]

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]

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.

[kork13]

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).

That was me causing problems about your 401k

Just because it's a "low" match, it's still a match! For every dollar up to 5% of your pay that you put into it, you make an AUTOMATIC 25%. Guaranteed! (how's that for a guaranteed return in today's market?) I don't get any match at all, but I'm still contributing. You get 1.25% of your salary for free, so take advantage of it! If you have the money available to you, it's always a good idea to put some of it toward retirement.

Also, the thing that people need to get out of their heads is investing for retirement based on the current market state. ALWAYS save for retirement, no matter what. If you need to change to a more conservative asset allocation for your own peace of mind, fine... but keep putting money away. You don't know what the market will be like when you retire--for all you know, it could be like today! So I'll repeat myself (for the ump-teenth time), contribute to your 401k! At least do it up to the 5% of your salary that your company will match to.

[disneysteve]

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

My apologies.

[segmond]

I don't see any difference between the 22" and 24", unless you work from home and it will improve productivity and save you some time, I say forget it.

[rizzmo]

I agree with steve you shouldn't have purchased the monitor. Looking at your financial picture as a whole, it doesn't seem like you two are all that concerned with getting out of debt.

[MiikeB]

I agree with steve you shouldn't have purchased the monitor. Looking at your financial picture as a whole, it doesn't seem like you two are all that concerned with getting out of debt.

To be honest I really am not that concerned with being "out of debt." Although it can be said that the cars are bad debt, I am not at all uncomfortable with this level of debt. I do intend to get these paid off early but am in no rush. My SO just got his car refinanced down to 7%, same term remaining and mine is at 6%.

All the 0% CC balances are things we needed when I bought the home such as washer/dryer, new fridge (the old one died after we moved in) etc. I do not feel like we at all have an overspending problem as we ALWAYS end our months with a surplus of atleast several hundred dollars.

I do not want to take new debt on, but I am very comfortable with my current position.

[TBH]

So I'll repeat myself (for the ump-teenth time), contribute to your 401k! At least do it up to the 5% of your salary that your company will match to.

I agree with you, kork, but remember that the OP is a 21-year-old student who has only been at his job for a year. Sounds to me like he is contributing enough to get the full match, and is ahead of most people who don't get jobs with 401ks until they are 22 or 23 and have finished college. My first job with a retirement plan didn't come until I was 25. I had a Roth starting at age 20, but my contributions were very sporadic until I got out of grad school.

So, yes, I also hope the OP is making those 401k contributions, but I also want to say good for him that he's already saving for retirement, knows exactly what his debt level is and is working on paying it off, and is being smart about paying his SO's debt at a reasonable pace instead of throwing everything he's got at it. Sounds like the relationship is pretty stable but he is young and as a same-sex couple they don't have the protection marriage provides in the event of a break-up.

[ActYourWage]

To be honest I really am not that concerned with being "out of debt." Although it can be said that the cars are bad debt, I am not at all uncomfortable with this level of debt. I do intend to get these paid off early but am in no rush. My SO just got his car refinanced down to 7%, same term remaining and mine is at 6%.

All the 0% CC balances are things we needed when I bought the home such as washer/dryer, new fridge (the old one died after we moved in) etc. I do not feel like we at all have an overspending problem as we ALWAYS end our months with a surplus of atleast several hundred dollars.

I do not want to take new debt on, but I am very comfortable with my current position.

Please don't ever become comfortable with debt.

[kork13]

I agree with you, kork, but remember that the OP is a 21-year-old student who has only been at his job for a year. Sounds to me like he is contributing enough to get the full match, and is ahead of most people who don't get jobs with 401ks until they are 22 or 23 and have finished college. My first job with a retirement plan didn't come until I was 25. I had a Roth starting at age 20, but my contributions were very sporadic until I got out of grad school.

Fair point, I only made mine because I understood his comments to say that he was disappointed with his employer's plan, so he wasn't putting much in. However, my assumption could easily be mistaken, so you're correct in your assessment there.... and of course, we all know what happens when you assume things...... (or does no one know that joke?)

[kork13]

Please don't ever become comfortable with debt.

I would have to disagree slightly.... It's not necessarily an awful thing to be comfortable with one's debt. To some (many?), that simply means that they accept the fact that the debt exists, and are working to reduce it as necessary. However, it's not something to be so uncomfortable with that you're constantly under the gun about it.

That said, I do agree with your point that people shouldn't be lackadaisical about taking on debt. I just don't think of debt as a "four letter word" (as was mentioned elsewhere) that must be feared and avoided at all costs...

[MiikeB]

Please don't ever become comfortable with debt.

As above poster mentioned, I am not haphazardly taking on debt. I am comfortable with it in terms of understanding the consequences of what debt I do have and I think long and hard before taking on any debt (except my car, which I admit was a mistake...I did think long about it but not very hard).