Great Loan Rate!!

Gdetrailer, 401k's are not mandatory? You were free not to invest in your company sponsored 401K. But you would lose any matches if they were part of the plan. As far as old accounts from former employers or if there was an ownership change are easily rolled over to a self directed IRA where YOU dictate the investment choices.

"Anytime you have MAJOR "Paper losses" which NEVER gain back it is a "crash""
Actually this would be called a bad investment. A crash is a sudden loss in value.

Gdetrailer wrote:

Lets see how the math "works"...$45K for "new" - $5.7K "used" = $39.3K difference..People who have a habit of borrowing excessively tend to FORGET ALL ABOUT THE INTEREST THEY MUST PAY IN....So in reality I have $39.3K MORE MONEY in my pocket by buying a used one and fixing it than if I bought a new off the lot one....
Credit used in a sparing way, only when NEEDED is your "best" policy..

Well, maybe not quite. I ran numbers on the $25,000, and came up with about $3500 in interest (5yr. 5%). After 5 years total cost at $28,500 thus you've saved $22,800; though your not taking into account how much the "new" rig is worth after 5 years. Maybe 1/2 at $12,500; then you've saved just over $10,000, which is probably the difference between camping in a used rig, and a new rig. You are correct that $10,000 in your account is more than not, but there is also value (not monetary) to a new rig vs. a used rig and different people choose differently. (to get to $20,000 interest you need a 10 year loan at 11.5% interest, which is extremely high these days, though maybe not unheard of, scary though!)

ScottG wrote:

michigansandzilla wrote:

ScottG wrote:

Oasisbob wrote:
I was taught it is always better to earn interest than to pay interest. Save up. It's just an RV

Your going to get some heat for that but I agree.
Never buy toys on time. Save a few bucks and buy something used but decent.
That strategy has served me well and now I'v retired at 50.
Just a suggestion - sorry for the hijack.

That's great. Good for you.
I paid $2,500 cash for my first and took out a ten year loan for the second. I'm happy with both decisions and it's really nobody else's decision anyway.

Thanks for the heads up about good rates. If you're going to do a loan, may as well be a good rate!

10 years?!!
No wonder your bitter.

I'm not bitter. That was sincere. Good for those that can do it.
Who said it's going to take 10 years to pay if off anyway? The longer the term, the less the interest (at least when we bought). If you get a lower rate loan for 10 years with no penalty to pay off early, and you've made a commitment to pay X more than the minimum payment, well that's not a bad plan entirely. Can save a bundle of interest if you double your payments. But, I'm no financial analyst.
Some of us aren't in our 40s yet and have kids. Saving for retirement and college funds can take priority over saving for a camper. It's oftentimes easier to make payments than save. If I save for 5 years to pay cash for the TT, my oldest will be off to college. Can't wait that long. Still have to get him to DC, Yellowstone, Arches, Grand Canyon..........


Honestly, if you're only worried about money, don't get the RV or travel at all. It's not cost effective and you spend more than you save. But, there's the clincher, you gain way more than you spend don't you?


I've actually found this thread, although being off topic, educational.
Just waiting for it to get closed now. ;)

ugh wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:

IndyCamp wrote:

dahkota wrote:

ScottG wrote:

Your going to get some heat for that but I agree.
Never buy toys on time. Save a few bucks and buy something used but decent.
That strategy has served me well and now I'v retired at 50.
Just a suggestion - sorry for the hijack.

Interesting. We always bought new, got loans most of the time. We made sure our retirement and investment accounts earned a higher % than our loan rates. Never saved money in a bank as the interest rates were crap. But we managed to retire at 47 with no debt. And we are not members of the 1%. I don't think we are member of the top 10%.

We have a loan on our current rig, which we full time in. We have more money in our retirement and investment accounts than we did when we left almost 1 year ago. Our accounts are making more money than our loan payments, the interest on the loan is tax deductible, and we don't have to worry about capital gains tax from selling assets.

Sometimes, borrowing money is cheaper than spending what you have.

Absolutely.

I never understood the "always pay cash" crowd.

If you can borrow money at 2.99%, but earn greater than that on your investments (not hard to do), why would you not take the loan and let your money work for you?

I think it's funny when people look at me sideways for buying new cars/trucks and financing them. I am financing them at 0.0%, or, at most, 1.9%. The interest I pay on 40K over three years at 1.9% is less than I would earn in interest by investing that 40K.

"Borrowing" at low interest rates while having majority of your assets "invested" works ONLY if the market never crashes or tanks.

Consider yourself "lucky".

I am not so "lucky" with "investments".. So far I have gone through not once, not twice but THREE TIMES in which the markets have crashed and tanked..

My 401Ks, IRAs have not as of yet FULLY recovered from these paper losses, they are really worth LESS than what I and my employers put into them.. My only saving grace is a handful of stocks I was able to purchase through a previous company discount plan during one of the "tanked" periods..

If it wasn't for those market crashes and the outrageous cost of medical insurance now days I could have been retired a few years ago..

I OWN my home, put a large down payment on it, paid it off in 11 years.. The interest I DID NOT PAY since I paid it off early was reinvested in fully remodeling it, adding on a new living room/basement and even paid for a three and half stall garage too boot. I BORROWED NOTHING to make those changes, I paid CASH that I saved up from not paying a payment to a bank.

I have bought vehicles and PAID THEM OFF EARLY (5 yr loan and paid off in three yrs), and SAVED the money that WOULD HAVE gone to the bank as interest as a future down payment for the next ride..

While I do feel "cash is king", I use a MIX of saving up cash and being extremely picky about borrowing for no real reason..

To me, borrowing needlessly cuts into your buying power by saddling you with money sapping interest..

Anyone who thinks they are getting a "deal" by over extending themselves on credit is being foolish..

A RV is not a "needed" item, it is a WANTED ITEM so in my eyes I will not buy a RV on a loan.. If that means I buy a used one that IS what happens.. My current TT is a 1984 which I bought for $700 CASH, reconstructed it for about $5K CASH and have now used it for 7 camping seasons.. If I had bought a new TT I would have spent easily $25K PLUS an additional $20K OF INTEREST!!!! for a total of $45K!

Lets see how the math "works"

$45K for "new" - $5.7K "used" = $39.3K difference..

People who have a habit of borrowing excessively tend to FORGET ALL ABOUT THE INTEREST THEY MUST PAY IN. They typically do not count the interest cost as part of the purchase or ownership..

So in reality I have $39.3K MORE MONEY in my pocket by buying a used one and fixing it than if I bought a new off the lot one..

I have more buying power to save or buy other NEEDED ITEMS..

Credit used in a sparing way, only when NEEDED is your "best" policy..

For this statements. I am not so "lucky" with "investments".. So far I have gone through not once, not twice but THREE TIMES in which the markets have crashed and tanked..

You doing something wrong. The stocks never crashed! Yes, it tanked but it recovered about 1 to 2 years ago. I bet you sold your investment when it tanked instead of leaving it there and let it recover, bad move on your part. When stocks tank, I buy more stocks, not sell them.

Oh.. I "forgot".. The "PC" term is "market correction" :R

FYI. Stocks HAVE "crashed" not once but multiple times over the years..

Anytime you have MAJOR "Paper losses" which NEVER gain back it is a "crash"..

I have never SOLD any of my investments (most of them ARE in 401Ks and IRAs) so in a nutshell I have never officially lost money.. It is known as a PAPER LOSS.. In other words the investments ARE WORTH LESS THAN WHEN I BOUGHT THEM (some of these losses are 30 years ago and the "value" of them is much less than what they should or could be).

This is true about MANY folks who like myself never ever had the chance for "pensions" and were FORCED to buy into the whole 401K/IRA debacle in which NONE of your money is safe or guaranteed to be there EVER.. Thats right, 401Ks, IRAs, Roth IRAs is nothing more than a house of cards or a shell game.. You insert your hard earned money into investments that on the best days are shaky..

If I would not have been smart about not paying unneeded interest I would have only paid off my home a couple of years ago.. I would have paid TRIPLE the purchase price IN INTEREST. Instead I have been mortgage free for over 20 yrs and I HAVE put that money into other investments creating a much larger retirement in the process.

By smartly controlling how much interest paid towards loans I have been able to put more money into non 401K and NON IRA investments which are not subject to certain regulations..

Allows me to control my money..

Those investments are what I will be using to retire on..The mandated 401Ks are where I lost money, mainly because companies who setup the 401Ks offer very limited and POOR choices of investments in which you either cannot "sell or trade" investments or they only have ONE "investment" option. Because those mandated 401Ks lost value I left them in the old company plans.. Over the years they have regained some and I could at least get what I put in them and the company match but it is sort of like a "too little too late" type of thing.. Pulling them now really not going to make a lot of money if I moved them to a IRA in the next few years..

I paid banks much less in interest(in effect cheating the banks of earnings)by smartly paying off loans quickly, not running up credit card debt by NOT BUYING THINGS THAT ARE WANTS.

Save your money and pay cash...and while you're saving your money the price for the trailer keeps going up and up. Where's the savings?? RV loans are tax deductible if you have another home also. I couldn't care less if someone pays cash for everything...Maybe they just like to brag. Maybe they don't have much. Maybe nobody is impressed...I just feel you need to pay enough down so you will never be upside down in the loan in the event you need to liquidate. I have plenty of money to live on and want to have things I can enjoy without tying up my savings in them..thus I finance and pay them off. It works well for me. Wings has a special right now for new vehicles, not sure if it applies to new RVs, 1.99%. Tough to beat..

B.O.

lbrjet wrote:
2.99% is a good rate. Unfortunately every thread with this topic ALWAYS goes sideways.

Amen to that--this thread once again got hijacked! 2.99% is a great rate. I've posted this rate at the same credit union here in MN before (and that posting of course got hijacked just like this one). I used this advertised rate to get our state/county/city employee credit union here in MN to match the rate. I was then able to get the rate further reduced down to 2.49%.

Our credit union, Affinity Plus, allows anyone anywhere to be members for a $25 fee (membership is free to qualifying MN public employees and their family members). With good credit, they will match and beat any advertised rates out there.

geeze, ya'll do know that not every shoe fits every foot right? It's none of my business if you pay cash or finance. And in the grand scheme of things...it doesn't matter..at ... all.

Do what works for you and your family!

Thanks!

Jeremiah

Gdetrailer wrote:

IndyCamp wrote:

dahkota wrote:

ScottG wrote:

Your going to get some heat for that but I agree.
Never buy toys on time. Save a few bucks and buy something used but decent.
That strategy has served me well and now I'v retired at 50.
Just a suggestion - sorry for the hijack.

Interesting. We always bought new, got loans most of the time. We made sure our retirement and investment accounts earned a higher % than our loan rates. Never saved money in a bank as the interest rates were crap. But we managed to retire at 47 with no debt. And we are not members of the 1%. I don't think we are member of the top 10%.

We have a loan on our current rig, which we full time in. We have more money in our retirement and investment accounts than we did when we left almost 1 year ago. Our accounts are making more money than our loan payments, the interest on the loan is tax deductible, and we don't have to worry about capital gains tax from selling assets.

Sometimes, borrowing money is cheaper than spending what you have.

Absolutely.

I never understood the "always pay cash" crowd.

If you can borrow money at 2.99%, but earn greater than that on your investments (not hard to do), why would you not take the loan and let your money work for you?

I think it's funny when people look at me sideways for buying new cars/trucks and financing them. I am financing them at 0.0%, or, at most, 1.9%. The interest I pay on 40K over three years at 1.9% is less than I would earn in interest by investing that 40K.

"Borrowing" at low interest rates while having majority of your assets "invested" works ONLY if the market never crashes or tanks.

Consider yourself "lucky".

I am not so "lucky" with "investments".. So far I have gone through not once, not twice but THREE TIMES in which the markets have crashed and tanked..

My 401Ks, IRAs have not as of yet FULLY recovered from these paper losses, they are really worth LESS than what I and my employers put into them.. My only saving grace is a handful of stocks I was able to purchase through a previous company discount plan during one of the "tanked" periods..

If it wasn't for those market crashes and the outrageous cost of medical insurance now days I could have been retired a few years ago..

I OWN my home, put a large down payment on it, paid it off in 11 years.. The interest I DID NOT PAY since I paid it off early was reinvested in fully remodeling it, adding on a new living room/basement and even paid for a three and half stall garage too boot. I BORROWED NOTHING to make those changes, I paid CASH that I saved up from not paying a payment to a bank.

I have bought vehicles and PAID THEM OFF EARLY (5 yr loan and paid off in three yrs), and SAVED the money that WOULD HAVE gone to the bank as interest as a future down payment for the next ride..

While I do feel "cash is king", I use a MIX of saving up cash and being extremely picky about borrowing for no real reason..

To me, borrowing needlessly cuts into your buying power by saddling you with money sapping interest..

Anyone who thinks they are getting a "deal" by over extending themselves on credit is being foolish..

A RV is not a "needed" item, it is a WANTED ITEM so in my eyes I will not buy a RV on a loan.. If that means I buy a used one that IS what happens.. My current TT is a 1984 which I bought for $700 CASH, reconstructed it for about $5K CASH and have now used it for 7 camping seasons.. If I had bought a new TT I would have spent easily $25K PLUS an additional $20K OF INTEREST!!!! for a total of $45K!

Lets see how the math "works"

$45K for "new" - $5.7K "used" = $39.3K difference..

People who have a habit of borrowing excessively tend to FORGET ALL ABOUT THE INTEREST THEY MUST PAY IN. They typically do not count the interest cost as part of the purchase or ownership..

So in reality I have $39.3K MORE MONEY in my pocket by buying a used one and fixing it than if I bought a new off the lot one..

I have more buying power to save or buy other NEEDED ITEMS..

Credit used in a sparing way, only when NEEDED is your "best" policy..

For this statements. I am not so "lucky" with "investments".. So far I have gone through not once, not twice but THREE TIMES in which the markets have crashed and tanked..

You doing something wrong. The stocks never crashed! Yes, it tanked but it recovered about 1 to 2 years ago. I bet you sold your investment when it tanked instead of leaving it there and let it recover, bad move on your part. When stocks tank, I buy more stocks, not sell them.

2.99% is a good rate. Unfortunately every thread with this topic ALWAYS goes sideways.

We got a great rate at the time from a Credit union when we bought locally. It would have cost us twice as much to get the trailer cheaper at a wholesaler due to higher interest and longer terms. We could have written a check for it but as a small business owner I like to keep the cash liquid for when opportunities come. I can sign on the dotted line for most any personal loan, small businesses have a much harder time.

Funny thing is that had we written the check, we would have been screwed when the hail storm totaled the trailer this spring. Instead we got the trailer free and clear with a few dimples, plus a check. The money is still in the bank too.