Paid off a thing. Financial museings inside.

"shop-teacher" (shop-teacher)
10/14/2020 at 22:05 • Filed to: adulting

I received the title to Mrs. Shop Teacher’s CX-5 in the mail today. Keen eyes will note the date of purchase , and likely think less of me for financing a new car for six years. Whatever though. We put enough down that we were never upside down on the loan. The interest rate, while not zero, was very low. When you’re raising a family solely on the salary of a middle school shop teacher, sometimes the financial situation is less than ideal.

The car still has under 16k miles on it. We plan to keep it for at least another decade. Longer is definitely not out of the question. Even in a normal year, she drives under 3k miles a year. Since COVID hit, she’s used exactly one tank of gas.

I’m probably going to put tires on it soon, just due to age. The stock Toyos are crap anyways.

My truck is really showing its age these days, between the rust and the quirks it’s developed. Overall it is still a good and reliable machine. I don’t plan to ever sell it, but I’d like to go at least three years before taking on a payment for something else to daily.

My student loan is almost paid off as well. It wasn’t very big, and the interest was very low, so I never bothered to try and pay it off early. It will be nice to be this of that payment too, just this side of being 40 years old.

Now to tackle the credit card debt ... Again (if I’m honest). I’ve made some progress on that. I’ll be able to make some more now that the car payment is off my back. Thankfully my credit is good, so my interest rates are reasonable.

I’ve often said I’ve done plenty of dumb things financially, but I’ve never missed a payment.

DISCUSSION (42)

RPM esq. > shop-teacher
10/14/2020 at 22:11

Nice work! You may get comments from the “never finance anything” brigade but a low interest rate and math that means you were never upside down seems plenty responsible to me.

shop-teacher > RPM esq.
10/14/2020 at 22:14

Thanks! It may not have been the absolute most responsible thing to do, but it was far from reckless.

flatisflat > shop-teacher
10/14/2020 at 22:16

Sounds like you and the mrs. have gone about it all rather responsibly; no real room for critique so far as I can tell. Kudos!

shop-teacher > flatisflat
10/14/2020 at 22:17

Thanks!

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > shop-teacher
10/14/2020 at 22:19

Congrats! There’s few things that feel better than holding the title to your car in your hand.

RPM esq. > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind
10/14/2020 at 22:29

The only problem with that is that once it’s in my hand I have to remember where I put it when it comes time to sell the damn thing.

dogisbadob > shop-teacher
10/14/2020 at 22:32

congrats on paying off the car !

shop-teacher > dogisbadob
10/14/2020 at 22:35

Thanks!

shop-teacher > RPM esq.
10/14/2020 at 22:35

Fireproof box!

shop-teacher > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind
10/14/2020 at 22:36

Thank you. It is a nice feeling :)

Longtime Lurker > shop-teacher
10/14/2020 at 22:36

No car payment feels pretty good.

OPPOsaurus WRX > shop-teacher
10/14/2020 at 22:47

i have some money on a CC. We may soon be taking out a home equity loan to pay for a new addition, pool liner and I was thinking erase the CC. The equity loan will be interest free for 10 yrs and all of the above should hopefully come in at $50k or so. I dunno if its a good idea ot get the CC involved in that or not.

RPM esq. > shop-teacher
10/14/2020 at 22:47

I own a fireproof safe. Since the last time I moved, there is nothing in it except the keys to it, I’m pretty sure . You can talk to my ex about that.

AdverseMartyr > shop-teacher
10/14/2020 at 22:49

If you aren’t making some dumb decisions in life, then your life is most likely pretty boring. Some dumb decisions are only dumb in hindsight which means you took a risk. Risk makes life interesting.

DAWRX - The Herb Strikes Back > shop-teacher
10/14/2020 at 22:55

Good job man! Honestly if you treat it right you’d probably be able to keep it until at least 2030, if you’re so inclined lol

Honestly personally I don’t want to buy a car ever again. The whole process sucks and they stack the deck against you so much, so unless you go into it a total asshole, you’re gonna feel like you got ripped off. At least that’s how it feels to me.

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > shop-teacher
10/14/2020 at 23:02

I am very grateful that no state in the country has created such a thing as a title for a motor vehicle. All the paperwork we have is the annual registration documents... that’s it. If you sell the car you simply let the state know it’s not yours anymore (new owner does the paperwork) and if you scrap it, you cancel the rego and pocket the refund...

shop-teacher > RPM esq.
10/14/2020 at 23:09

Lol, sounds like there is a story to that.

PyroHoltz f@h Oppo 261120 > shop-teacher
10/14/2020 at 23:14

Well done! W e had the same thing happen a few weeks ago after a 84 mo low rate loan. Starting a family with a new car loan sometimes requires a long duration payoff and also glad we weren’t upside down.

Nothing > shop-teacher
10/14/2020 at 23:19

Congrats! I know it was awesome when we paid off the Jeep last summer. I hope the 4Runner makes it that far, but if my job goes away next month, it may be a smarter decision to sell it, especially given our low annual driving mileage. I have pretty healthy equity in the 4Runner, so it wouldn’t be the worst thing to have to deal with. Who am I kidding, getting laid off would be a convenient excuse to swap vehicles.

We did refi our house today, though. 2.25%

shop-teacher > DAWRX - The Herb Strikes Back
10/14/2020 at 23:20

Thanks! 2030 is definitely a possibility. We’ll just see how it ages. It’s a very nice vehicle.

I used AutoMatch Tom’s methods to buy it, and it went pretty well. If you haven’t read his stuff, the short version of it is email every dealer withi n the range you’re willing to drive to, asking for an itemized out the door quote for the exact vehicle you want. The ones who won’t do that, you don’t want to deal with anyways. The ones that will, you can quickly see who is willing to deal and who isn’t.

I had two dealers who were within a couple hundred bucks of each other. I went with the closer of the two. They were very easy to deal with. The finance guy tried to bend me over, but I just said, "Lol, no!" To the $7,200 worth of "protection" he tried to sell me.

shop-teacher > Nothing
10/14/2020 at 23:21

2.25!!!! Dayum! I was happy to get 3.68 last year.

And yeah, you'll totally use it as an excuse to switch vehicles. I'm onto you ;)

shop-teacher > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media
10/14/2020 at 23:22

Eh, it's really not that big of a deal IMO.

shop-teacher > OPPOsaurus WRX
10/14/2020 at 23:26

I don’t have an opinion on that, not one that means anything anyways. The reason I have CC debt, is I chose that over a home equity line to redo the kitchen. Probably wasn’t the smartest move, but I wanted it to be short-term debt, instead of long-t erm.

Miiiight have also not wanted to do paperwork.

My goal is to never pull money out of the house, and get it paid off by the time my daughters are out of school.

shop-teacher > PyroHoltz f@h Oppo 261120
10/14/2020 at 23:27

Thanks! That's great that you came out the other side too :)

shop-teacher > Longtime Lurker
10/14/2020 at 23:27

Yeah, it really does.

shop-teacher > AdverseMartyr
10/14/2020 at 23:28

Nothing > shop-teacher
10/14/2020 at 23:38

I was stunned! When i first looked into it, the rate was 2.625, then we got 2.25, and that was without paying any points.

shop-teacher > Nothing
10/14/2020 at 23:39

Niiiiiiiiice

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > shop-teacher
10/15/2020 at 00:28

Congrats!

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > shop-teacher
10/15/2020 at 00:40

I have two opinions:

1) if the vehicle can be afforded and is enjoyed for beyond the span of the loan , it’s not a bad purchase

2) the lower the interest rate, the less judgement I cast on duration of loan. Month to month budgeting is real

Spasoje > shop-teacher
10/15/2020 at 00:50

Nothing at all dumb about using the credit system! You’ve not only paid off the car, but you’ve boosted your credit history with that . Never know when that’ll come in handy

Kiltedpadre > Nothing
10/15/2020 at 06:18

We did the same. We were only a year into our 30yr and refinanced to a 15yr. Interest rates are so ridiculously low that our payment only went up by about a hundred dollars while cutting the term in half.

shop-teacher > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
10/15/2020 at 06:57

Both good points. Thank you.

shop-teacher > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
10/15/2020 at 07:00

Thanks!

Mercedes Streeter > shop-teacher
10/15/2020 at 09:03

Congrats!!!

Honestly, I feel there’s no shame in doing a long loan if you do it right, and you did it right. My 2016 smart was financed at 0% for 5 years. It should be paid off by the end of next year. Sadly, depreciation is running right behind the payments so I’m neither underwater nor do I have equity. Stupid smart and their closing up shop in the US...

My finances have been better than ever in 2020 (COVID was a weird blessing) and in less than two weeks I’m getting a massive kick in salary as well. Not to mention, that house is no longer kicking my butt. I used to think those “you have to have an emergency fund” people were crazy... now I’ve joined them!

LimitedTimeOnly @ opposite-lock.com > shop-teacher
10/15/2020 at 10:29

I just paid off my GTI after a bit over 4 years in a 5 year loan. The rate was so low (0.9%) that it made no sense to pay it off quickly, but once the loan balance got so low I couldn’t help myself. Overall, if you had a super low rate, it was sensible to not pay off your Mazda too quickly from a cashflow standpoint. Good job.

By contrast, I am being very aggressive with the Outback loan, because at 3.09% I am not happy with the interest I’m paying. It’s still cheap-ish, but I don’t like it. It is actually less than my 2010 mortgage rate, but I hated my refi experience, don’t want to do it again, and just plan to be aggressive with that payment once the Outback is done. Being debt-free is a weird idea that might actually be in my future.

I still remember when I was a kid and people spoke about getting “good” mortgage rates in the low teens. Yikes!

TrickJos > shop-teacher
10/15/2020 at 10:33

Nice. I bought my Camaro on a six year loan. It’s paid off, in like new condition, and it’s not going anywhere ever. My GTI is on a six year loan. I plan to keep it at least ten years. I don’t really see a problem with a longish loan if you plan to keep the car and the interest rate is good.

Now, using a long loan to just barely be able to make payments on a car, that’s probably not wise.

Tapas > shop-teacher
10/15/2020 at 11:11

That’s awesome!

shop-teacher > LimitedTimeOnly @ opposite-lock.com
10/15/2020 at 11:59

Yeah, even when I finished grad school, and was looking at buying a condo. A “good” rate was 7-9%. Fortunately that was 2006, and the bubble had gotten so big, I couldn’t afford to buy anything. I watched the world burn from the safety of a nice cheap apartment. We bought our house in 2010. I sucked it up and refinanced last year.

shop-teacher > Mercedes Streeter
10/15/2020 at 12:00

Closing up shop or not, Smarts are worth roughly their weight in toilet paper ;)

I’m glad to hear things are going so well for you!

shop-teacher > TrickJos
10/15/2020 at 12:01

Yes, it was simply to put cash flow in a good spot. There has never been a, “Crap, how am I going to make this payment?” moment.

shop-teacher > Tapas
10/15/2020 at 12:02

Thanks!