Two coworkers discussing car payments, lamenting the high costs, etc. Coworker A finishes the conversation by telling coworker B that as soon as his current car is paid off he will be upgrading to a pickup truck.
This is like... the very DEFINITION of not getting the point.
And yeah, I agree that cars are overpriced and commuting is expensive and sucky. Which is why you buy a cheap compact car, maintain it well so it keeps running, and commute as little as possible (either by living close to work or by negotiating partial work-from-home arrangements), thus mitigating the cost. That's ADDRESSING the point.
During a conversation with a co-worker, we were discussing credit utilization as it relates to one's credit score.
CW1: Yea credit utilization is a major part of your credit score, mine went down when I paid off some credit card debt. Whats your limit?
Me: I have 14,000 in credit over a few different cards, but I don't carry a balance.
CW1: I've got a 40,000 limit with a 14,000 dollar balance.
Me: (!!!...) Oh... was that before you paid it down?
CW1: No, after.
Holy cow. Thats like the cost of a new car, at credit card interest rates.
*headdesk* OMFG. I can't even. 14K at credit card rates. WTF.
... Between my husband and I, we have 2 lines of credit and 2 credit cards. If we maxed everything out, we'd have over 80K worth of debt that we're approved for, no questions asked. We use... well, right now, about 2K, which is standard monthly expenses that go on the credit card and get paid off. The rest is free and clear.
And to be clear: I have no idea WHY we're approved for this much, because we'd be so screwed if we ever dug ourselves into that much debt. Thank god we have common sense.
I would have to be arsed to actually add it all up. I've got over $35K in credit cards just with Chase. My wife has something similar. I have 4 other credit card issuers. Probably $200k or something silly like that. Everything paid off in full every month, of course.
One of my co-workers just didn't get it about what I pay in interest. $0. He carries a balance for some stupid reason - he's got plenty of cash coming in, more than I do. He does like his toys. Anyway, he's all insistent that I tell him my rate because he's all proud he only pays like 10%. Wouldn't accept it that my rate is $0, because I pay it off every month. "Yeah, but what's your RATE?"
Champ, it's $0. They lend me money for free. Just pay it off every month.
"Yeah, but what's your RATE?"
Actually, they pay me to loan me money. My "Rate" would be somewhere between -2% and -5%, since that's my cash back depending on the category.