Looks like compared to the SavorOne the only benefit is 4% vs 3% on food/entertainment/streaming. So, if you're spending over 9500/yr on that category it would be worth it. Of course, I might just get it for the signup bonus and then cancel it before the fee renews.
It's too bad that Costco doesn't categorize as Grocery, or else this would be a no brainer. That being said, I'm trying to see if groceries + take out/eat out will be enough to at least break even.
We use the Chase Sapphire card and it's been more than worth the yearly $95 fee. We also spend a lot on eating out and are able to put most of our travel expenses from work on the card. We usually end up with around $700 - $1,000 at the end of the year.
I just got an Amex platinum and am still trying to figure out if it's worth it. I was leaning towards "no" since I don't currently travel much, but they keep adding more free stuff. So maybe?
Looks like compared to the SavorOne the only benefit is 4% vs 3% on food/entertainment/streaming. So, if you're spending over 9500/yr on that category it would be worth it. Of course, I might just get it for the signup bonus and then cancel it before the fee renews.
Yeah, I was looking at the same card for the same reason.
I've already got a 3% restaurant and 2% groceries card (and a 3% groceries technically but it's a giant PITA that has to be paid off from a specific checking account so I don't use it), and while I probably do use that card for more than 9500 a year, I figured it wasn't worth the effort of juggling yet another card, this time with an annual fee.
In other news, with home valuation increases, I now own more than half of our house, using the lowest of Zillow/redfin valuation (which have like a 10% range - it's weird how far off they are from one another)
This is why I really don't like Roth IRAs too. Every dollar you contribute to your Roth is essentially taxed at your top marginal rate, whereas with tax-deferred retirement accounts your bucket starts empty and you get to withdraw through all the low tax-brackets before you hit the higher ones.
As a counterpoint, however, there's the situation where your current top marginal tax rate is lower than your predicted top marginal tax rate during retirement. This probably doesn't apply for most people, but heavy savers (myself, for example) may have enough in SSI and retirement withdrawals to hit a higher rate than where we're at today. Another complication is that if you have the same income in retirement as you do today, you are likely not going to be able to get the same deductions you're currently using (mortgage interest is a likely one as most people buy houses pre-retirement).
There's also the larger macroeconomic issue that tax rates are the lowest we've ever seen, and it's more likely that we'll see them increase over the next 10-40 years than stay level or decrease. With that calculation in mind, it'd be advantageous to pay the comparatively lower rate today to avoid the future predicted increase, especially for those around the 22-24% bracket thresholds that are most likely to be affected. If you can use pre-tax deductions to drop into the 15% bracket, for example, why not use a Roth?
Darklyre on
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SixCaches Tweets in the mainframe cyberhexRegistered Userregular
I just got an Amex platinum and am still trying to figure out if it's worth it. I was leaning towards "no" since I don't currently travel much, but they keep adding more free stuff. So maybe?
Mine is my primary card but I get a lot of use out of the lounge access, airline change fee reimbursement, and Uber credits.
They upped the fee this year to an even more ridiculous level, though.
I just got an Amex platinum and am still trying to figure out if it's worth it. I was leaning towards "no" since I don't currently travel much, but they keep adding more free stuff. So maybe?
Mine is my primary card but I get a lot of use out of the lounge access, airline change fee reimbursement, and Uber credits.
They upped the fee this year to an even more ridiculous level, though.
I preferred the sapphire reserve (which I cancelled early in the pandemic). I still don't really get the best way to redeem my Amex points. I like the 10% back on groceries I get right now and I've used gotten credits for uber/paypal/airlines. The credits for digital content, equinox and precheck/global entry/clear I almost certainly won't use. Hotel credit I will probably use at some point? So, it's a mixed bag. For both cards, I have a much harder time using as much now that I have kids and travel less.
In other news, with home valuation increases, I now own more than half of our house, using the lowest of Zillow/redfin valuation (which have like a 10% range - it's weird how far off they are from one another)
I was looking at the same, and I think with new valuations we would be at like 2/3 paid off. Is there something useful I can do with this, besides just being glad I'm not buying a house right now?
"I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."
In other news, with home valuation increases, I now own more than half of our house, using the lowest of Zillow/redfin valuation (which have like a 10% range - it's weird how far off they are from one another)
I was looking at the same, and I think with new valuations we would be at like 2/3 paid off. Is there something useful I can do with this, besides just being glad I'm not buying a house right now?
You can get out of PMI or use it to refinance, but that's it.
In other news, with home valuation increases, I now own more than half of our house, using the lowest of Zillow/redfin valuation (which have like a 10% range - it's weird how far off they are from one another)
I was looking at the same, and I think with new valuations we would be at like 2/3 paid off. Is there something useful I can do with this, besides just being glad I'm not buying a house right now?
With rates so low you could refinance and take out additional equity to:
Pay off other debt with higher interest rates. Or honestly just throw it into a brokerage account and stick it in an index fund.
Like if you pull out 50k in equity right now at say 3% it will cost you $210 a month for the next 30 years(or about 75,600 in total repayments). 50k at 8% a year(S&P historic average is 10%) compounded annually is 500k after 30 years(less 20% cap gains).
Even if you pull $250 a month from the fund to cover the payment(and taxes on the withdrawal), at the end of 30 years you'd have 165k in the fund.
This is why I really don't like Roth IRAs too. Every dollar you contribute to your Roth is essentially taxed at your top marginal rate, whereas with tax-deferred retirement accounts your bucket starts empty and you get to withdraw through all the low tax-brackets before you hit the higher ones.
As a counterpoint, however, there's the situation where your current top marginal tax rate is lower than your predicted top marginal tax rate during retirement. This probably doesn't apply for most people, but heavy savers (myself, for example) may have enough in SSI and retirement withdrawals to hit a higher rate than where we're at today. Another complication is that if you have the same income in retirement as you do today, you are likely not going to be able to get the same deductions you're currently using (mortgage interest is a likely one as most people buy houses pre-retirement).
There's also the larger macroeconomic issue that tax rates are the lowest we've ever seen, and it's more likely that we'll see them increase over the next 10-40 years than stay level or decrease. With that calculation in mind, it'd be advantageous to pay the comparatively lower rate today to avoid the future predicted increase, especially for those around the 22-24% bracket thresholds that are most likely to be affected. If you can use pre-tax deductions to drop into the 15% bracket, for example, why not use a Roth?
And that's your prerogative to believe that you'll be making more money in retirement than you are at the higher end of your earning years. As I said I disagree that that will be the case for 99.9% of folks out there though. I've already stated all my reasons in other posts (how progressive tax brackets work drawing retirement income through them, unlikelihood of Congress raising taxes significantly on lower and middle income brackets, etc). Financial planners love to sell doom and gloom about tax rates raising on everybody. Personally I don't see that happening, so I will happily take a tax break on what is almost certainly the highest tax rates I will ever pay.
I do think it's a bit of folly to plan for such a rich retirement, especially when it comes to relying on the generosity of social security. So I try to dissuade most from buying into the hype around Roths. Do your calculations change if the minimum benefit age changes to 70, or 75, how maybe even 80 based on increasing life expectancies and population?
Either way, I will only rely on what the math says and what my gut tells me about the likelihood of political futures. Currently, that's take the bird in hand, and don't rely on 6 in the bush.
In other news, with home valuation increases, I now own more than half of our house, using the lowest of Zillow/redfin valuation (which have like a 10% range - it's weird how far off they are from one another)
I was looking at the same, and I think with new valuations we would be at like 2/3 paid off. Is there something useful I can do with this, besides just being glad I'm not buying a house right now?
With rates so low you could refinance and take out additional equity to:
Pay off other debt with higher interest rates. Or honestly just throw it into a brokerage account and stick it in an index fund.
Like if you pull out 50k in equity right now at say 3% it will cost you $210 a month for the next 30 years(or about 75,600 in total repayments). 50k at 8% a year(S&P historic average is 10%) compounded annually is 500k after 30 years(less 20% cap gains).
Even if you pull $250 a month from the fund to cover the payment(and taxes on the withdrawal), at the end of 30 years you'd have 165k in the fund.
I can't really put a finger on why, but I feel really uncomfortable taking a loan to invest in the market even if it's theoretically historically safe.
In other news, with home valuation increases, I now own more than half of our house, using the lowest of Zillow/redfin valuation (which have like a 10% range - it's weird how far off they are from one another)
I was looking at the same, and I think with new valuations we would be at like 2/3 paid off. Is there something useful I can do with this, besides just being glad I'm not buying a house right now?
With rates so low you could refinance and take out additional equity to:
Pay off other debt with higher interest rates. Or honestly just throw it into a brokerage account and stick it in an index fund.
Like if you pull out 50k in equity right now at say 3% it will cost you $210 a month for the next 30 years(or about 75,600 in total repayments). 50k at 8% a year(S&P historic average is 10%) compounded annually is 500k after 30 years(less 20% cap gains).
Even if you pull $250 a month from the fund to cover the payment(and taxes on the withdrawal), at the end of 30 years you'd have 165k in the fund.
I can't really put a finger on why, but I feel really uncomfortable taking a loan to invest in the market even if it's theoretically historically safe.
And I'm sure that's why I'm not rich, but still.
I still have to fight the urge to pay extra towards principle on our re-fi'd mortgage because the rate is 2.875% and it's literally just not worth it to pay down early compared to doing literally anything else with the money but eat it. Depending on how my eventual annual review and COLA goes, I'll probably be making more money in real terms against that kind of a rate.
I've pretty much always been a Traditional man. The way I see it, there are two scenarios:
My tax rate is higher in my prime working years than in retirement. I just saved some money on taxes, I win!
My tax rate is higher in my retirement than it was in my prime working years. Holy fuck I got rich somehow, I win!
life's a game that you're bound to lose / like using a hammer to pound in screws
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
Re: credit card benefits, I've been using using the Costco card for gas, restaurants, and Costco (duh) and the Citi Double Cash card for everything else. That gives me 4% back on gas, 3% on hotels and restaurants, and 2% on everything else. No annual fees aside from the Costco membership I already had anyway. Cleared $1000 cash back last year and on track for even more this year.
Re: credit card benefits, I've been using using the Costco card for gas, restaurants, and Costco (duh) and the Citi Double Cash card for everything else. That gives me 4% back on gas, 3% on hotels and restaurants, and 2% on everything else. No annual fees aside from the Costco membership I already had anyway. Cleared $1000 cash back last year and on track for even more this year.
Yeah, if you can be responsible with it credit cards can really be worth it. Totally get not everyone handles credit cards well, but I've definitely used it to my advantage.
I use the Costco visa to pay for pretty much everything I can. My check is usually @ $300-500. I don't really shop a whole lot at the actual warehouse being a single guy and all, but the gas ( I have kind of a guzzler ) sundries and such means I don't have to shop as much. The trick is to pay it off every month.
Since we're talking costco memberships, maaaaaaybe look into their solar package if you're at all tempted in solar.
Costco is underwriting sunrun loans at 1.5% right now. We're getting it installed right now with a 20 year loan, so it's basically a) you get the massive tax writeoff (but the loan assumes you'll pay it back into the principal, so keep that in mind), b) you get a large costco gift card, c) the loan is at 1.5% which is basically free money because inflation, d) if you pay the $60 to go to executive membership you get an additional 2% on the purchase because of that.
If you don't mind saying, what did you get and what's the total cost?
Install is still in process. Just panels and an inverter, no battery (I didn't realize this, but those batteries, including Tesla's, don't actually drive enough amperage to run things like a/c - so you still get buffers on outages, but our utility has our lines buried already so we don't get the rolling blackouts like PG&E, so it seemed a lot less needed, and if we change our mind that can always be added later). Local utility doesn't allow the annual collection estimate to be over the annual usage average of the past year, so it's sized to that amount. Total cost pre-tax break was in the upper 20ks, with the tax break it dropped it to around 20k. So pre-gift card/extra costco cash back, we're looking at ~$100/mo payment (plus electric hookup fee to electrical company) which is less than our electric bill most months out of the year, so we come out slightly in the black over the course of the year, looks like, plus the value added to the home (which is admittedly a little bit of keeping-up-with-the-Jones's because all new construction in CA has solar).
We also get a roof leak warranty as part of the install, which is quite nice given the roof is over 20 years old at this point.
Is there a good way to estimate the length left on a loan based on amount still owed and how much the interest vs principal payments are?
if you google "amortization table excel" you can get the formula and just play with it until it matches what you're looking for
Allegedly a voice of reason.
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BrodyThe WatchThe First ShoreRegistered Userregular
2034, so I guess I'm just about the point where its starts swapping between paying more in interest than against the premium. Everyone keeps talking about refinancing, and my parents really want to push it, but with a 3.25% interest rate already, I don't know how much its really worth it when we could be mortgage free in another 13 years.
"I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."
2034, so I guess I'm just about the point where its starts swapping between paying more in interest than against the premium. Everyone keeps talking about refinancing, and my parents really want to push it, but with a 3.25% interest rate already, I don't know how much its really worth it when we could be mortgage free in another 13 years.
you could possibly do better on a 15 year loan if you have stellar credit but i dunno that you're going to make a huge change if you're already that close to paying it off
2034, so I guess I'm just about the point where its starts swapping between paying more in interest than against the premium. Everyone keeps talking about refinancing, and my parents really want to push it, but with a 3.25% interest rate already, I don't know how much its really worth it when we could be mortgage free in another 13 years.
You could possibly get down to ~2% for a 15 year, and have lower monthly payments or just keep paying your same amount as extra to principle and get it down to less than 13 years. But it all depends on your details.
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BrodyThe WatchThe First ShoreRegistered Userregular
2034, so I guess I'm just about the point where its starts swapping between paying more in interest than against the premium. Everyone keeps talking about refinancing, and my parents really want to push it, but with a 3.25% interest rate already, I don't know how much its really worth it when we could be mortgage free in another 13 years.
You could possibly get down to ~2% for a 15 year, and have lower monthly payments or just keep paying your same amount as extra to principle and get it down to less than 13 years. But it all depends on your details.
Yeah. We have great credit. It's one of those things where I should probably find a financial professional to talk to things about.
"I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."
Our mortgage was at right around 3.675% I think. I didn't think we could get it much lower; we bought this house in 2012.
We refinanced last year with Rocket Mortgage and got it down to 2.875% for.... I think 20 years?
My biggest concern was getting out of Wells Fargo. If we could keep our payments close to the same, we were going to move forward with it.
@Brody it's worth knowing that if you have multiple mortgage related credit checks in -- I want to say 60 days -- it all counts as one hard hit against your credit report. So it's worth doing a little legwork to see what you can find. Start local if you can. Credit unions should be able to offer you competitive rates. Check "loan sites" like Rocket and SoFi (I'm pretty sure SoFi recently moved into the mortgage space and not just student loans), and a couple of others. Avoid large banks unless you have accounts there and you're happy with the way they handle things. (Example: Capital One, TDBank). I'd avoid Chase or BoA unless you have accounts there so it's easier to manage the loan.
What's funny is right after we signed the refinance paperwork, a local bank sent us a mailer with a rate that would have beat our interest rate; but it wasn't enough of a difference to bother continuing to negotiate.
Also if you don't have the lump cash, you can get the closing costs included in the refinance loan.
2034, so I guess I'm just about the point where its starts swapping between paying more in interest than against the premium. Everyone keeps talking about refinancing, and my parents really want to push it, but with a 3.25% interest rate already, I don't know how much its really worth it when we could be mortgage free in another 13 years.
With that little time left on the loan, you definitely need to do some calculations. If you haven't done a refi before, you might not be aware of how much they actually cost. Typically a refi will cost about $5-9k. Often mortgage brokers are pretty shifty about explaining the full costs or try to explain how you won't be paying that since it can be folded into the new loan. But they usually never fully explain that that is all added cost of the whole refi process. Either way that's what it will cost, so at the very least your savings will have to exceed your origination costs+fees of that $5-9k to even break even.
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BrodyThe WatchThe First ShoreRegistered Userregular
2034, so I guess I'm just about the point where its starts swapping between paying more in interest than against the premium. Everyone keeps talking about refinancing, and my parents really want to push it, but with a 3.25% interest rate already, I don't know how much its really worth it when we could be mortgage free in another 13 years.
With that little time left on the loan, you definitely need to do some calculations. If you haven't done a refi before, you might not be aware of how much they actually cost. Typically a refi will cost about $5-9k. Often mortgage brokers are pretty shifty about explaining the full costs or try to explain how you won't be paying that since it can be folded into the new loan. But they usually never fully explain that that is all added cost of the whole refi process. Either way that's what it will cost, so at the very least your savings will have to exceed your origination costs+fees of that $5-9k to even break even.
Sure. Normally I'd just not even be thinking about it, but also the house is worth 3-4x what is left in the mortgage.
"I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."
2034, so I guess I'm just about the point where its starts swapping between paying more in interest than against the premium. Everyone keeps talking about refinancing, and my parents really want to push it, but with a 3.25% interest rate already, I don't know how much its really worth it when we could be mortgage free in another 13 years.
With that little time left on the loan, you definitely need to do some calculations. If you haven't done a refi before, you might not be aware of how much they actually cost. Typically a refi will cost about $5-9k. Often mortgage brokers are pretty shifty about explaining the full costs or try to explain how you won't be paying that since it can be folded into the new loan. But they usually never fully explain that that is all added cost of the whole refi process. Either way that's what it will cost, so at the very least your savings will have to exceed your origination costs+fees of that $5-9k to even break even.
Sure. Normally I'd just not even be thinking about it, but also the house is worth 3-4x what is left in the mortgage.
My credit union agreed to waive the appraisal on my refinance in December because the house's current value was so much more than the loan amount. That eliminated nearly half the total closing costs -- ended up being less than $1500 to get a 15-year loan at 2.375%.
Edit: they did charge $75 for someone to drive by and take a photo of the outside of the house to affirm it was still standing. :biggrin:
Hedgethorn on
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zepherinRussian warship, go fuck yourselfRegistered Userregular
2034, so I guess I'm just about the point where its starts swapping between paying more in interest than against the premium. Everyone keeps talking about refinancing, and my parents really want to push it, but with a 3.25% interest rate already, I don't know how much its really worth it when we could be mortgage free in another 13 years.
With that little time left on the loan, you definitely need to do some calculations. If you haven't done a refi before, you might not be aware of how much they actually cost. Typically a refi will cost about $5-9k. Often mortgage brokers are pretty shifty about explaining the full costs or try to explain how you won't be paying that since it can be folded into the new loan. But they usually never fully explain that that is all added cost of the whole refi process. Either way that's what it will cost, so at the very least your savings will have to exceed your origination costs+fees of that $5-9k to even break even.
Sure. Normally I'd just not even be thinking about it, but also the house is worth 3-4x what is left in the mortgage.
My credit union agreed to waive the appraisal on my refinance in December because the house's current value was so much more than the loan amount. That eliminated nearly half the total closing costs -- ended up being less than $1500 to get a 15-year loan at 2.375%.
Edit: they did charge $75 for someone to drive by and take a photo of the outside of the house to affirm it was still standing. :biggrin:
What if I told you they paid that person 10 dollars?
So I’m in a position where I can pay down a chunk of my credit card debit and want to do so in a way that maximizes any potential increase in my credit score. I have a few cards with high balances, and I’m wondering if it’s more impactful (with regards to score) to pay off/greatly reduce the balance of a single card or back multiple cards off their high balances? Does it even matter, as both routes reduce my overall credit utilization?
Navigating the credit system is difficult and I can’t get a clear answer out of Google. I’m going to be moving in the next 2 or so months and I’m trying to bolster my credit score in preparation for that.
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ChanusHarbinger of the Spicy Rooster ApocalypseThe Flames of a Thousand Collapsed StarsRegistered Userregular
the effect on your credit score for paying of a balance is minimal compared to the effect of reducing your debt ratio
pay down your highest interest rate balances first and then keep paying whatever your minimum payment was (or whatever you can afford) on what's left. rinse, repeat, once you've paid everything off, just keep using the cards and pay them off immediately
it's not worth trying to game the system for a few more points. anything over like 720 doesn't actually matter
the effect on your credit score for paying of a balance is minimal compared to the effect of reducing your debt ratio
pay down your highest interest rate balances first and then keep paying whatever your minimum payment was (or whatever you can afford) on what's left. rinse, repeat, once you've paid everything off, just keep using the cards and pay them off immediately
it's not worth trying to game the system for a few more points. anything over like 720 doesn't actually matter
I agree for the most part, but credit over 720 does matter. At least when I got my mortgage I was told that the magic number to get the best rates was an average of top 2 credit bureaus above 760.
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Yeah, I was looking at the same card for the same reason.
I've already got a 3% restaurant and 2% groceries card (and a 3% groceries technically but it's a giant PITA that has to be paid off from a specific checking account so I don't use it), and while I probably do use that card for more than 9500 a year, I figured it wasn't worth the effort of juggling yet another card, this time with an annual fee.
As a counterpoint, however, there's the situation where your current top marginal tax rate is lower than your predicted top marginal tax rate during retirement. This probably doesn't apply for most people, but heavy savers (myself, for example) may have enough in SSI and retirement withdrawals to hit a higher rate than where we're at today. Another complication is that if you have the same income in retirement as you do today, you are likely not going to be able to get the same deductions you're currently using (mortgage interest is a likely one as most people buy houses pre-retirement).
There's also the larger macroeconomic issue that tax rates are the lowest we've ever seen, and it's more likely that we'll see them increase over the next 10-40 years than stay level or decrease. With that calculation in mind, it'd be advantageous to pay the comparatively lower rate today to avoid the future predicted increase, especially for those around the 22-24% bracket thresholds that are most likely to be affected. If you can use pre-tax deductions to drop into the 15% bracket, for example, why not use a Roth?
Mine is my primary card but I get a lot of use out of the lounge access, airline change fee reimbursement, and Uber credits.
They upped the fee this year to an even more ridiculous level, though.
I preferred the sapphire reserve (which I cancelled early in the pandemic). I still don't really get the best way to redeem my Amex points. I like the 10% back on groceries I get right now and I've used gotten credits for uber/paypal/airlines. The credits for digital content, equinox and precheck/global entry/clear I almost certainly won't use. Hotel credit I will probably use at some point? So, it's a mixed bag. For both cards, I have a much harder time using as much now that I have kids and travel less.
I was looking at the same, and I think with new valuations we would be at like 2/3 paid off. Is there something useful I can do with this, besides just being glad I'm not buying a house right now?
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
You can get out of PMI or use it to refinance, but that's it.
With rates so low you could refinance and take out additional equity to:
Pay off other debt with higher interest rates. Or honestly just throw it into a brokerage account and stick it in an index fund.
Like if you pull out 50k in equity right now at say 3% it will cost you $210 a month for the next 30 years(or about 75,600 in total repayments). 50k at 8% a year(S&P historic average is 10%) compounded annually is 500k after 30 years(less 20% cap gains).
Even if you pull $250 a month from the fund to cover the payment(and taxes on the withdrawal), at the end of 30 years you'd have 165k in the fund.
It's not just SSI, but rather SSI plus retirement account withdrawals (since those count as income instead of capital gains).
And that's your prerogative to believe that you'll be making more money in retirement than you are at the higher end of your earning years. As I said I disagree that that will be the case for 99.9% of folks out there though. I've already stated all my reasons in other posts (how progressive tax brackets work drawing retirement income through them, unlikelihood of Congress raising taxes significantly on lower and middle income brackets, etc). Financial planners love to sell doom and gloom about tax rates raising on everybody. Personally I don't see that happening, so I will happily take a tax break on what is almost certainly the highest tax rates I will ever pay.
I do think it's a bit of folly to plan for such a rich retirement, especially when it comes to relying on the generosity of social security. So I try to dissuade most from buying into the hype around Roths. Do your calculations change if the minimum benefit age changes to 70, or 75, how maybe even 80 based on increasing life expectancies and population?
Either way, I will only rely on what the math says and what my gut tells me about the likelihood of political futures. Currently, that's take the bird in hand, and don't rely on 6 in the bush.
I can't really put a finger on why, but I feel really uncomfortable taking a loan to invest in the market even if it's theoretically historically safe.
And I'm sure that's why I'm not rich, but still.
I still have to fight the urge to pay extra towards principle on our re-fi'd mortgage because the rate is 2.875% and it's literally just not worth it to pay down early compared to doing literally anything else with the money but eat it. Depending on how my eventual annual review and COLA goes, I'll probably be making more money in real terms against that kind of a rate.
I've pretty much always been a Traditional man. The way I see it, there are two scenarios:
My tax rate is higher in my prime working years than in retirement. I just saved some money on taxes, I win!
My tax rate is higher in my retirement than it was in my prime working years. Holy fuck I got rich somehow, I win!
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
You can't give someone a pirate ship in one game, and then take it back in the next game. It's rude.
Yeah, if you can be responsible with it credit cards can really be worth it. Totally get not everyone handles credit cards well, but I've definitely used it to my advantage.
Costco is underwriting sunrun loans at 1.5% right now. We're getting it installed right now with a 20 year loan, so it's basically a) you get the massive tax writeoff (but the loan assumes you'll pay it back into the principal, so keep that in mind), b) you get a large costco gift card, c) the loan is at 1.5% which is basically free money because inflation, d) if you pay the $60 to go to executive membership you get an additional 2% on the purchase because of that.
Install is still in process. Just panels and an inverter, no battery (I didn't realize this, but those batteries, including Tesla's, don't actually drive enough amperage to run things like a/c - so you still get buffers on outages, but our utility has our lines buried already so we don't get the rolling blackouts like PG&E, so it seemed a lot less needed, and if we change our mind that can always be added later). Local utility doesn't allow the annual collection estimate to be over the annual usage average of the past year, so it's sized to that amount. Total cost pre-tax break was in the upper 20ks, with the tax break it dropped it to around 20k. So pre-gift card/extra costco cash back, we're looking at ~$100/mo payment (plus electric hookup fee to electrical company) which is less than our electric bill most months out of the year, so we come out slightly in the black over the course of the year, looks like, plus the value added to the home (which is admittedly a little bit of keeping-up-with-the-Jones's because all new construction in CA has solar).
We also get a roof leak warranty as part of the install, which is quite nice given the roof is over 20 years old at this point.
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
If you just want to get close, use an online loan calculator and change the terms until you're close to the monthly pay out. Try a site like Bankrate
if you google "amortization table excel" you can get the formula and just play with it until it matches what you're looking for
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
you could possibly do better on a 15 year loan if you have stellar credit but i dunno that you're going to make a huge change if you're already that close to paying it off
You could possibly get down to ~2% for a 15 year, and have lower monthly payments or just keep paying your same amount as extra to principle and get it down to less than 13 years. But it all depends on your details.
Yeah. We have great credit. It's one of those things where I should probably find a financial professional to talk to things about.
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
We refinanced last year with Rocket Mortgage and got it down to 2.875% for.... I think 20 years?
My biggest concern was getting out of Wells Fargo. If we could keep our payments close to the same, we were going to move forward with it.
@Brody it's worth knowing that if you have multiple mortgage related credit checks in -- I want to say 60 days -- it all counts as one hard hit against your credit report. So it's worth doing a little legwork to see what you can find. Start local if you can. Credit unions should be able to offer you competitive rates. Check "loan sites" like Rocket and SoFi (I'm pretty sure SoFi recently moved into the mortgage space and not just student loans), and a couple of others. Avoid large banks unless you have accounts there and you're happy with the way they handle things. (Example: Capital One, TDBank). I'd avoid Chase or BoA unless you have accounts there so it's easier to manage the loan.
What's funny is right after we signed the refinance paperwork, a local bank sent us a mailer with a rate that would have beat our interest rate; but it wasn't enough of a difference to bother continuing to negotiate.
Also if you don't have the lump cash, you can get the closing costs included in the refinance loan.
With that little time left on the loan, you definitely need to do some calculations. If you haven't done a refi before, you might not be aware of how much they actually cost. Typically a refi will cost about $5-9k. Often mortgage brokers are pretty shifty about explaining the full costs or try to explain how you won't be paying that since it can be folded into the new loan. But they usually never fully explain that that is all added cost of the whole refi process. Either way that's what it will cost, so at the very least your savings will have to exceed your origination costs+fees of that $5-9k to even break even.
Sure. Normally I'd just not even be thinking about it, but also the house is worth 3-4x what is left in the mortgage.
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
My credit union agreed to waive the appraisal on my refinance in December because the house's current value was so much more than the loan amount. That eliminated nearly half the total closing costs -- ended up being less than $1500 to get a 15-year loan at 2.375%.
Edit: they did charge $75 for someone to drive by and take a photo of the outside of the house to affirm it was still standing. :biggrin:
What if I told you they paid that person 10 dollars?
It got pretty close. We had to disclose some other info (age of mechanicals, some other stuff) but that was about it.
Navigating the credit system is difficult and I can’t get a clear answer out of Google. I’m going to be moving in the next 2 or so months and I’m trying to bolster my credit score in preparation for that.
pay down your highest interest rate balances first and then keep paying whatever your minimum payment was (or whatever you can afford) on what's left. rinse, repeat, once you've paid everything off, just keep using the cards and pay them off immediately
it's not worth trying to game the system for a few more points. anything over like 720 doesn't actually matter
I agree for the most part, but credit over 720 does matter. At least when I got my mortgage I was told that the magic number to get the best rates was an average of top 2 credit bureaus above 760.