My accountant buddy says the reason grocery stores encouage you to get cash back with your credit card or check purchases is so they don't have to pay to have the bank count it.
The cost of an auto loan is also expected to rise, dimming one of the brightest spots in the economy. One recent analysis predicted a 1 percent increase in interest rates could slow car sales by more than 3 percent.
So spending the money to fix the car was worth it after all. Good to know.
Good luck. I've been enabling my 99 Mustang for five or six years now, and generally I'd say it's been a win. (Note: I am one of those people who basically regards a car as transportation. I tend to drive them until they die. Mostly. Ignore the RX-7 and the 951.)
I've always figured that a repair that was less than 20% of the price of a new-ish used car was worth it, as long as the repairs are only about once a year. The thing is, though, technology. My 99 doesn't have ETC, or side airbags, or any of the other useful features that have cropped up over the years. As my reflexes slow, I think about this stuff more.
Hmm. I'm babbling. Chances are, your repair was a good idea, whatever the Fed discount rate turns out to be.
Serious unasked advice: TRY to pay cash for your cars. Even if you get a decent credit union loan — NOTHING depreciates faster than cars. With a high-percentage loan, you're underwater before you get off the lot.
At this point, you say "Thanks, Dad" and click on.
The whole reason the Feds want to raise rates is so that they actually have the ability to lower them at some point in the future if the geniuses on Wall Street break the economy again. Right now, thanks to Greenspan wasting that valuable tool during the Bush years to create the illusion of a growing economy, the Fed has no arrows in the quiver.
Edit Interenst, svp
It's pronounced like intéressant ?
sigh…
Internist?
Thanks to the beloved Overlords for the edit.
So now banks will have to find some new excuse for paying zero-point-zero interest on deposits. Thanks, Obama!
In fact charging interest on [ some large cash deposits. ]
My accountant buddy says the reason grocery stores encouage you to get cash back with your credit card or check purchases is so they don't have to pay to have the bank count it.
So spending the money to fix the car was worth it after all. Good to know.
Any Boglehead will tell you the car you have is always the best car financially. Sociological consequences are another story.
Good luck. I've been enabling my 99 Mustang for five or six years now, and generally I'd say it's been a win. (Note: I am one of those people who basically regards a car as transportation. I tend to drive them until they die. Mostly. Ignore the RX-7 and the 951.)
I've always figured that a repair that was less than 20% of the price of a new-ish used car was worth it, as long as the repairs are only about once a year. The thing is, though, technology. My 99 doesn't have ETC, or side airbags, or any of the other useful features that have cropped up over the years. As my reflexes slow, I think about this stuff more.
Hmm. I'm babbling. Chances are, your repair was a good idea, whatever the Fed discount rate turns out to be.
Serious unasked advice: TRY to pay cash for your cars. Even if you get a decent credit union loan — NOTHING depreciates faster than cars. With a high-percentage loan, you're underwater before you get off the lot.
At this point, you say "Thanks, Dad" and click on.
The whole reason the Feds want to raise rates is so that they actually have the ability to lower them at some point in the future if the geniuses on Wall Street break the economy again. Right now, thanks to Greenspan wasting that valuable tool during the Bush years to create the illusion of a growing economy, the Fed has no arrows in the quiver.