Loans

[Jackalope]

To many younger consumers only care what the monthly payment will be instead of the total cost of the loan over its life.

No one teaches the younger consumers or borrowers how to calculate the cost of money.

Reminds me of this.

 

[hickslawns]

Somewhat off topic question... If you guys are only making one payment and then paying it off, why are you even bothering with financing? Does that improve your credit score? I was always under the assumption that paying things off quickly didn't help, but instead hurt, your credit score. Am I mistaken?

Frank is correct. I was kidding. When I said I financed it, I meant "I" financed it. It was an 02 Toyota. Not a 12' Toyota. Lol. Not having a vehicle payment the last 3.5yrs helped too.

 

[giles]

To many younger consumers only care what the monthly payment will be instead of the total cost of the loan over its life.

No one teaches the younger consumers or borrowers how to calculate the cost of money.

Not to be a dick here, but who's fault is that? My kids will know. That's also the point of this thread. (Insert J's "the more you know")

 

[MK111]

Not to be a dick here, but who's fault is that? My kids will know. That's also the point of this thread. (Insert J's "the more you know")

Who is at fault? It solely falls on the shoulder of each and every kid coming of legal borrowing age. For the most part the younger generation wants everything right now and just charge it and make payments. The lower the monthly payment the more they can buy and have another lower payment. Everything works just fine until a illness or job loss happens then the tower starts to fall.
Credit Unions are big on credit education. But I feel it only helps 10-20% and the other 80% fall into the trap of 'I deserve it because I work hard' then they fall into the credit charging trap.
As for myself it took me 53 yrs of married life to get here. Most younger generation isn't going to wait very long to have everything.
Some people never learn and just want more of more and just piss everything away as fast as they can to be 'a fuzzy and warm feeling'.
Everyone has to make their own decisions. Either it's good or bad and live with the results later in life.

I know a guy who has his future purchases planned long in advance when a past purchase is finally paid off. Then he buys the next worthless idea and plans for the next one. Never ends.

 

[CJD3]

Giles- it's a given that parents have a multitude of subjects to instill in their children's lives, money being one of them.
To expand on my statement above would be that there has been an erosion of core life subjects that school systems across this country have been abandoned from wood and metal shop to the class girls took about cooking...
Domestic skills our grandfathers performed around the house from something as simple as sharpening a lawnmower blade to basic home and auto maitence are now all but forgotten skills or paid for. Young women can't shop for a weeks worth of groceries let alone cook a big family dinner on a holiday.

The basic ability to use and balance a checkbook are lost on most kids. They would rather log onto their bank and see the balance, now knowing to even allow for a lower amount because of pending transactions.

I use to do a 1.5-2 hour class for 12 th graders covering checkbooks, savings accounts and getting a basic credit card.
I bet 95% could have cared less. They dident care about
Annual fees or the cost of money charged as a interest rate... just the payment.

The dumbing down of America has been going on for some time now.
( sorry mike- I know it's not your fault. Your a good man)

 

["J"]

I did a general business class in 9th grade that taught me more then anyone I knew about life and financial advice .....

 

[giles]

Thanks for that Jim! I was pretty sure that's what you are talking about. I take pride in showing my kids everything you listed. All the way down to the grocery list. We shop once a week at the grocery and once a month at Sams. Kids know that it has to be on the list or they do without. They also have to pick a meal to cook for us. Every the 8 year old. Enough about me though! Back to the backwards metric system.

 

[MK111]

Thanks for that Jim! I was pretty sure that's what you are talking about. I take pride in showing my kids everything you listed. All the way down to the grocery list. We shop once a week at the grocery and once a month at Sams. Kids know that it has to be on the list or they do without. They also have to pick a meal to cook for us. Every the 8 year old. Enough about me though! Back to the backwards metric system.

You are doing the right thing in a good way. Your kids when older and on their own will have a better chance of figuring out a good way to live.
I know older kids in their 20-30's that can't even make change. They hand the clerk a $20 bill and get a hand full of change back and no basic idea what they got back.
I know another gal that got married many years ago that couldn't even turn the stove on to boil water. Her mom taught her nothing. Her husband took his time to teacher to cook and she's a damn good cook now. My wife could cook, bake and sewed all 3 of our kids clothes until they went to school. The grand kids bring their sewing and mending to her now.

Like my John Wayne quote "Life is tough. It's even tougher when you are stupid".