Hello all, I just registered after totally falling in love with the blog a few days ago. I'm now working my way through the posts from the beginning, and naturally have started thinking about my own situation from a mustache perspective. (Still not getting the mustache thing, but they're awesome, so all right.)
My most pressing question about my own situation ($45k steady and reliable salary (and lots of room to grow), a few thousand in regular (ie low-interest) savings, a few (fewer) thousand in a five-year RSP and a 2-year GIC (Canadian), 24 years old, single, daily bike commuter, and renting) is this: is my zero-interest debt an equally hair-on-fire emergency compared to deep credit card debt with interest?
I (foolishly, I now realize) bought a brand-new 2013 Ford Focus hatchback last year at about $22,000, broken into $324 monthly payments for six years, with guaranteed no interest. I felt I could do this at the time because I could afford it easily (provided I keep my job, which is basically a sure-thing). And I still can afford these monthly expenses easily. It would be nice to not have them, of course, but still very manageable. Still, overall a foolish move, considering I don't even drive that much anyway.
I also have no other debt of any kind. I regularly clear my CC balance, and never let it go past a month with so much as a penny on it. I recently totally paid off my student loans as well (which was a big hit to the savings account at the time but I'm so glad I did it - especially after reading this blog).
I really feel like I want to get mustachian on my finances, and retire (or at least become a full-fledged SWAMI in the industry I love -- urban planning and design) at like 35-40. I'm not through reading the blog yet though, and my FI plan will need to be flushed out in greater detail soon. (I don't know anything about investing!!) For now: do I need to be gravely concerned about paying off my car even though it's building no interest and never will? Should I be throwing my few thousands in hard-earned savings at it already?
Thanks for any input everyone! I'm looking forward to becoming part of this little community. Now back to the blog! (Can you tell I love parenthesis?)