Wannaretire's Personal Finance Blog

Okay so I said before that I own a rental property that has a first mortagage and an equity line loan. I also have a first mortgage and an equity line on my primary residence. The interest rate on the equity line on my primary residence is at a lower rate and I can increase it to transfer the $12,000 from the equity line on the rental house over from the higher interest rate equity line.......following that???? Anyway the person that helped me at the bank said that I could now "lock in" a fixed rate on the equity line for the amount of money I own on it and anything additional that I borrow against it would be adjustable. The difference is that then it sort of becomes a regular loan which means I would be paying the principal and interest...not just the interest at the adjustable rate as before. So I'm trying to figure this out....the only reason why I shouldnt do it is if the rates decrease then I am at a "fixed" higher rate....but I could always refi. The only stipulation is that I keep the loan at least 2 more years.......But I'm not sure I have looked at every angle to this.........What am I missing?????

2 years ago we bought a rental property. We sort of got jacked around on the financing it seems. I believe the mortgage broker did a major bait and switch. Anyway it was one of those "creative financing" deals. In order to avoid PMI and not have to put 20% down, we do an 80/10/10 thing. We pulled the 10% down from an equity line on our own home. We took a 10% equity line on the new property along with the 80% mortgage. The equity line on the rental has an adjustable rate and I looked it up yesterday and it is currently at 11.25%! It is only $12,000 but I need to figure out how to do something else. I havent been able to find the rate on my equity line on my primary residence. Its not printed on the statement and I couldnt find it online. I may move it there if the rate is lower. I don't want to move it to a credit card because then there are no tax advantages there. I dont want to refinance because then I will be paying a higher rate on the 80% that I financed originally........

The ironic part of all of this is.....so many people that "pull their head out of the sand" like I am doing.....do so because they are in a vicious circle of credit card debt and past due bills resulting in bad credit.......We bought a vehicle last month and when our FICO scores were pulled.....it is very near the perfect mark.......so we must be doing something right!

In the process of deciding to finally take charge of my finances, I have been paying close attention to how my money is distributed. I realize that my 16DS is sponging alot of cash out of me. This kid is the kind of kid that until about 6 mos ago.....never asked for anything. I would have to drag him kicking and screaming 2 times a year to get new sneakers. His school clothes shopping happens in about 1 hr at 2 stores....a few outfits...he is set. He only occasionally asked for money to go to a movie or something with friends. BUT then the girlfriend came along. Now he wants to go out to movies, dinner, coffee etc...always needs money. I have always just handed him cash every now and then. We have never had a formal allowance situation. He has earned money on and off by mowing for neighbors, doing odd jobs etc. I'm sure that many of you would say...get that kid a job! He has been asking since he was 14 for permission for a part time job. We have always said no. Both my DH and I started working at age 14 and felt like we missed out on alot of stuff in HS because we worked so much. Also DS has slight learning disabilities that go something like this.....when he starts something new (hobby, girlfriend, job)...he hyper focuses on that and everything else falls by the wayside. So we know when he starts working and earning money....he will lose his focus on his grades. He is currently in all honors classes and next year he will be in Advanced Placement and Honors classes which position him better for college acceptance which is his goal. He maintains mostly A's a few B's. He is also in the marching band and Boy Scouts. He is only a few months away from attaining the rank of Eagle Scout which is the ultimate goal in Scouting. The last few months are very time intensive. So there are 5 more weeks of school. We think if he gets a summer job...the novelty will wear off by the time school starts and he will focus on his studies in addition to still working a few hours a week. There is currently a 0% unemployment rate in our town so he can get a job with no problem.

In the mean time I have read a book titled "Capitate your Kids". It is about teaching kids financial responsibility and it says to give your kids a flat amount of allowance once a month and tell them what it covers and dont give them any more for the rest of the month and they have to learn to budget etc. I'm considering doing that because at least the leaking in my budget will stop and there will be no negotiations or guilt. I have to get this figured out and working soon because I also have a 13DD that will be starting with the wants and needs soon!

Okay so I told you I was stuck in the 80's when it came to personal finance. DH and I have a credit card with a major brick and mortar bank that we have had since the mid 80's. We have had other credit cards come and go with introductory offers, or the one that DH applied for at a professional football game because it has the logo of "his" team on it.....Anyway........this old one, we just have kept hanging around and have used it on and off for major purchases and paid it off....or used it for our monthly billing for internet service. But in the past 2 years we have not charged on it or had a balance. (We don't even have the plastic....it was cut up and thrown away years ago) Last week I got a statement which was strange because we havent bought anything. There was a charge of $18 on it for the "annual fee". It was actually the turning point for me to get off the fence and get involved with our future finacial picture. My first thought was, pay the $18, cancel the account so we won't be charged that again next year. (yes we have been paying it annually since the mid 80's). I decided to go to the bank and talk to them to see if they would just waive the fee. The branch manager is the one that helped me and he looked to me to be about 15 years old. He initially thought that I had some sort of annual dues for a club or subscription that I was being charged for. No I explained...its an annual fee for this account. He said..we don't chargee annual fees. He called the home office and was educated about the archaic 1980's and old original accounts still had these. He was shocked that I had not done anything before now!!
He waived the fee, closed the account and reopened one that has rewards.

So now I have saved $18 that normally I would have just shrugged off and paid...

I have been reading about the $20 challenge in other blogs but I don't really know what that is.....sounds like I should start one with this money.

Wow. I have just discovered this site and personal finance blogs in the past few weeks and have spent way too many hours lurking. Decided it was time to jump in and just start somewhere.

I am stuck in the 80's when it comes to personal finance. I gave up my career to be a SAHM and soon my mind turned to mush.

DH and I would like to retire at an early age (55)....I know thats not early for some people but it sounds like a dream to us.

I intend to accomplish that with a combination of:

Earning more during the remaining working years

Saving more

Spending less

Investing/Managing what we already have.

Living Simply.....not minimalist...but we are getting off of the consumerism merry go round!

I'm very excited to finally be blogging and appreciate comments and advice