new car, silver, or dent in college loan?

[cubical]

RMB is really hard to get in high numbers but 1500 should be a cake walk

Other than the Bank of China in NYC, where do you get it? I know Peter Schiff is opening an international bank where you can buy RMB, but that is not up yet.

 

[squarepusher]

Zippy's right... you can't default on your student loans... get those paid off.

for now ...

 

[AFPVet]

for now ...

Lets hope that our country can get squared away before the FEMA camps (e.g. prisons for debtors, political prisoners, Christians....) are in place.

 

[AceNZ]

Another vote for paying down your student loans. It's one less hammer the gov has to hit you over the head with. If you look around, there are stories of people who accidentally miss student loan payments and get hit with penalties so large that they will never be able to pay them off; basically, indentured servitude. Good thing to avoid if you can.

 

[psi2941]

Other than the Bank of China in NYC, where do you get it? I know Peter Schiff is opening an international bank where you can buy RMB, but that is not up yet.

i was at the airport in "south korea" and they had rmb. so assumed they had it all around the airports.

EDIT: if thats not possible then just convert to the next best thing hong kong dollar

 

[Zimobog]

Why would you spend so much money on a car? There are plenty of rides for $500.
Get some silver if you don't already have some and try to pay down your debts.

 

[Zippyjuan]

if the interest is fixed, then don't pay off the student loans (you be insane to pay it off). your monthly payment is really low plus student loans have added protection if you loose your job, student loans can be suspended under "hardship" and then you can sign up for the income based repayment program. (so its a no brainier)

if its not fixed, its your call. (1 major factor would be based on your job being civil servant 10 year vs 25 year) i would still side with not paying it off because of the added protection of income based repayment and plus if you loose your job, you can have the payment suspended and not effect your credit score.


as for silver, by like 1,500 of silver and 1,500 of RMB

You can get payments suspended under certain conditions (depending on the loan and its terms) but during the time payments are suspended, interest is still acruing meaning the balance due will be rising. If you negotiate lower payments (again, it will depend on the loan if you can even do that too), the payments you make may not be enough to reduce the principal so that too would lead to a bigger loan balance.

As for buying RMB- I would not. It is a controlled currency- its exchange rate with the dollar is basically fixed so it will be impossible for it to apreciate much against the dollar. Add in costs of conversion -use dollars to buy the RMB and later to sell the RMB for dollars again) and it will be extremely hard to make profits that way. Just my thoughts on that.

 

[Blueskies]

So much bad advice on this forum, I should make a sticky..

DO NOT PAY OFF YOUR STUDENT LOANS ASAP

You have a low interest rate, and its an ideal form of debt.

Now, if you said, "I have 3k of credit card debt with 20% APR" then yes, pay that off immediately.

But that isn't the case for you.

Either get a new vehicle, or invest the money.

If you are confident that your present vehicle will run decently for some time, then invest it. If you think the thing is about to start breaking down, then go for a new one. When a vehicle starts to go, the repair bills can stack up like crazy--I know, I've been there.

But as someone said before, do you really need a truck? Do you use it in your work, or is a big part of your recreation (hunting, fishing, what have you)? If the answer is no, then I would highly recommend not getting one. Trucks are the most expensive vehicles over their lifetimes, generally speaking.

 

[Maximus]

Pay off your loan as quickly as possible

 

[erowe1]

In your financial situation you shouldn't even be considering buying a new car. So scratch that off your list.

Of the other two options it really depends what your preferences are. I personally would make a priority of getting that loan off my back. But that's me.

If you're convinced that there will be significant inflation in the near future, then buying pms would be a better investment than paying off your debt. I would just personally prefer the lower risk option of getting out of debt before doing that.

 

[pacelli]

I'd vote for 1500 on the loans and the other 1500 for emergency fund. If/when the transmission blows out, then think about using that 1500 for a downpayment on another inexpensive used car, plus whatever the junked car will scrap for. You don't need a new truck or the high interest rate it comes with...

Keep your job at all costs unless you intend on dropping out of the system completely.

 

[heavenlyboy34]

I say student loans too.

 

[Zippyjuan]

The key with deciding to pay extra on the loan or keep making regular payments depends on what sort of return you think you can get by putting the money someplace else (again, i would say if you don't have any emergency fund, just hold onto it anyways) vs the interest rate you are paying on the loan. If it is five percent and you think you can get say seven percent (after all costs and taxes on returns) on another investment, then it makes sense to go with the investment. If your student loan is say ten percent and you can reasonably expect a five percent return an an investment, then the money should go to the debt. Me, I like the idea of being debt free- that means that all the money I get (yes, after taxes!) is mine. I don't owe it to anybody else. I have been paying extra on my mortgage and will have it gone in the next two years- less than half the usual 30 year period. After that, I will have significantly more money every month I can use for other things I may choose to spend it on.

You don't have to do all or none with the money- you can save some, spend some, buy some metals with some. However you like.

 

[nbhadja]

Wouldn't it be better investing it in silver in a few months when the price hopefully temporarily drops?

It would make more sense to wait and put off your student loans for as long as possible. For once use inflation on YOUR SIDE. Paying off your student loans only gets easier and easier as inflation hits.

Remember they don't adjust the loan for inflation- we at least that's what I think I never had a loan before.

 

[libertybrewcity]

school loans...if you happen to be unemployed they could take everything

 

[Justinfrom1776]

Student Loan!

I would recommend paying down your loan. I'm sure the interest is fairly low if there is any at all, but any money you can keep out of the pockets of the evil bankers is a +. That's just my 2 cents, I am not a financial advisor or anything.

 

[psi2941]

You can get payments suspended under certain conditions (depending on the loan and its terms) but during the time payments are suspended, interest is still acruing meaning the balance due will be rising. If you negotiate lower payments (again, it will depend on the loan if you can even do that too), the payments you make may not be enough to reduce the principal so that too would lead to a bigger loan balance.


As for buying RMB- I would not. It is a controlled currency- its exchange rate with the dollar is basically fixed so it will be impossible for it to apreciate much against the dollar. Add in costs of conversion -use dollars to buy the RMB and later to sell the RMB for dollars again) and it will be extremely hard to make profits that way. Just my thoughts on that.

THIS ONLY APPLIES TO STANFORD LOANS. IF HE HAS PRIVATE LOANS HIS SCREWED
yes but there are two factors in play, 1. inflation and 2. the 10 year protection. the loan of the student loan is forgiven no matter what the balance is after 10 years or 25 years depending on the classification of your job.

@ so at current rates, if he gets married and signs up for the income based program, he might come out ahead. but at current rate and being single he makes way to much money according to the government.

as for RMB, yes for now its hard now but i think RMB will be the real big winner. it doesn't have to be RMB there are so much other countries. the RMB was meant for his emergency fund.

 

[Hunter Gatherer]

Thank you all for your valuable input. I have made a decion. I'm going to purchase more silver. I believe the pos will rise signifegalintly in the next few years. I will continue to pay off my Stanford loan paying the monthly minimum until silver gets to 50 frns, then I'll focus on my loan.

Edit: I'm a bad speller.

 

[Zippyjuan]

Edit: I'm a bad speller.

Maybe you need to pay for more schooling and learn then? Lol.

Be aware that silver can go up or down. There is a thread on here someplace which predicted "$120 silver in the next 90 days- this summer!" and as of today, it is down 16% since then (April 15th I think it started). Figure in your costs to buy and sell the silver too in calculating any returns. If you pay 5% to buy and 5% to sell, you need it to go up by 10% just to break even (just examples- I don't know what sort of margins you will be paying).

 

[headhawg7]

if the interest is fixed, then don't pay off the student loans (you be insane to pay it off). your monthly payment is really low plus student loans have added protection if you loose your job, student loans can be suspended under "hardship" and then you can sign up for the income based repayment program. (so its a no brainier)

if its not fixed, its your call. (1 major factor would be based on your job being civil servant 10 year vs 25 year) i would still side with not paying it off because of the added protection of income based repayment and plus if you loose your job, you can have the payment suspended and not effect your credit score.


as for silver, by like 1,500 of silver and 1,500 of RMB

Wouldn't it be better investing it in silver in a few months when the price hopefully temporarily drops?

It would make more sense to wait and put off your student loans for as long as possible. For once use inflation on YOUR SIDE. Paying off your student loans only gets easier and easier as inflation hits.

Remember they don't adjust the loan for inflation- we at least that's what I think I never had a loan before.

I agree with both of these above threads concerning the student loans. Inflation benefits debtors.