sj3339sta
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Post by sj3339sta on Feb 24, 2011 10:59:39 GMT -5
If a family or person has credit card debt, should the priority be to pay off the debt or save money? Should they do both or just focus on paying off the debt? How do interest rates effect your opinion?
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Post by Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ on Feb 24, 2011 11:01:11 GMT -5
Not enough information to come to some sort of conclusion.
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schildi
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Post by schildi on Feb 24, 2011 11:05:09 GMT -5
Not enough information to come to some sort of conclusion. +1 |
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schildi
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Post by schildi on Feb 24, 2011 11:06:49 GMT -5
They should definitely save money, pay of the debt, do both or something else (other). There is no doubt.
There is simply not enough information here. Any of the choices you have given in the poll could apply.
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sj3339sta
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Post by sj3339sta on Feb 24, 2011 11:06:57 GMT -5
What other information do you need?
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schildi
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Post by schildi on Feb 24, 2011 11:09:40 GMT -5
What other information do you need? Everything  .... goals, income, debt, interest rates, special circumstances, age, kids, education, retirement plans, pensions, etc ... it all could influence the decision of what to do first. |
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wodehouse
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Post by wodehouse on Feb 24, 2011 11:10:57 GMT -5
well, it's like Liz (what's her name) 's article at MSN about "why you need $500 in the bank". So you need to save some amount of money for emergencies, while also concentrating on paying the debts.
What many people don't seem to realize is that bald tires, new brakes for car, washing machine repair, etc, aren't really "emergencies" but are predictable costs that come with owning machinery, houses, etc. Now there was no way I could predict my 'emergency' gall bladder operation last year, so that was an "emergency".
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Clever Username
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Post by Clever Username on Feb 24, 2011 11:16:36 GMT -5
As they say, the first step to filling in a hole is to stop digging.
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Firebird
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Post by Firebird on Feb 24, 2011 11:25:05 GMT -5
It really depends on whether you're drowning or not. The more trouble you are in, the fewer options you have.
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Small Biz Owner
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Post by Small Biz Owner on Feb 24, 2011 11:44:27 GMT -5
Best answer yet.
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Firebird
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Post by Firebird on Feb 24, 2011 11:51:39 GMT -5
Flattered, SmallBiz! ;D And on my birthday, too.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 24, 2011 11:52:43 GMT -5
Not enough information to come to some sort of conclusion.
I agree with above...
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Gardening Grandma
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Post by Gardening Grandma on Feb 24, 2011 12:01:08 GMT -5
If a family or person has credit card debt, should the priority be to pay off the debt or save money? Should they do both or just focus on paying off the debt? How do interest rates effect your opinion? Two things would affect my opinion. One is interest rates. The higher the rate (over 6%) the higher the priority of paying it off. The other factor would be whether I had an EF and how much it was. Not having any kind of EF puts one in the precarious position of having to use CC's in emergencies, thus digging themselves even deeper into debt. |
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motherto2
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Post by motherto2 on Feb 26, 2011 23:49:07 GMT -5
I think the question was really more of a general question, rather than particulars. IMHO you should save some and pay down debt at the same time. Before I got ahold of my finances, I finally realized that without having some money saved, I was in a way robbing Peter to pay Paul, but in a different way. I was trying to put alot on my cc each month trying to get it paid down, but then I didn't have money set aside for things like my HOA dues, auto maintenance, clothing, or all those other little things that cost you in life. So then I would end up charging things on my cc. And usually I'd spend more than I intended to. Crazy cycle. When I finally put some money aside and add to it each payday, I didn't have to worry about life's little uhoh's and could then concentrate on debt paydown.
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DVM gone riding
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Post by DVM gone riding on Feb 27, 2011 0:38:47 GMT -5
first you make a budget, then you save 1k then you pay off high interest rate CC then you save and pay off lower int rate CC, mortgage, SL, and reasonable rate car loans are a different kettle of fish and need a lot of consideration and info to decide what to do but shouldn't be paid off at the expensive of savings and retirment--in my opinion  |
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daylight
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Post by daylight on Feb 27, 2011 6:03:32 GMT -5
In case this is a general question, do both. Emergencies are not emergencies, they are stuff that you need money for and you don't when and why. You need to budget for that. Paying down debt will probably take more than a month and in that case you're more than likely to run into an "emergency", if you put that on cc, you're back to square one or close.
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