Questions

Does anyone have experience with mutual funds? What is a good one? Do you get eaten alive by expenses?

If you were paying down debt that has a 6% interest rate, would you pay it down completely before investing?

Would you cash out savings bonds to pay down debt?

Budgeting

Just wondering how everyone here keeps track of their expenses.

We've got an Excel spreadsheet where we estimates for incomes and expenses till December, so that each month we can see how much above/below budget we are. On the tabs of the worksheet we have savings lines where we can put some of the extra money so we can see how much we can pay on student loans, etc.

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I have been kind of busy...and have just been sitting back reading the comment-conversation a few posts down.

Since I'm wanting to keep this blog about money, so I'm not going to talk much about about the topics raised there, even though they were very interesting.

Sometimes people talk this time a year about tax-freedom day, which is the day supposed you pay off your taxes. It is found by taking (taxes divided by income) times 365. for most people it is around may. i wonder what would happen if we found our debt freedom day.

for us, since our debt is still in deferrment (though we are paying a bunch on it) we have no real debt freedom day. next year it will be around the end of January for minimum payments or most likely around march for the payments we will make.

i have heard that some mortgage companies will let you pay almost 40 percent of your income in debt payments. im imagine for a second, working until may for taxes and then from june to september for debt...how much money would be left after everyday expenses take the rest of the money.

americans now have a negative savings rate on average, which means we work from January 1 of one year to January 4th (or so) of the next year in order to live. at some point that catches up and we see the credit trouble we are having now.

any thoughts, complaints, etc?

Good questions...hopefully decent answers....

Religious: Why do we exist?

For all of these questions, I will be trying to avoid the blatantly Christian answer, but for this one I'm not sure if most Christians have a good answer to this. Presbyterians would say our purpose for existing is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. That one sounds pretty good to me. I can't think of any better reasons. I would say that one other reason is to love the rest of God's children as well.

Political: What does the Constitution of the United States mean to you?

In some ways I agree with Gaer since the Constitution means little anymore. I just watched "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" today actually. I wish our country was run a little more like Mr. Smith and a little less like Mr. Taylor would like.

Cultural: Is pornography demeaning or just another form of expression?

Demeaning for all involved. Long stories in my life....read "Pure Desire" by Ted Roberts if you ever get a chance. Great book by a former Navy fighter pilot who is a minister and runs marathons on the side....who talks about the controlling power of the "noose" of pornography.

Social: Do governments have an obligation to provide health care for citizens? 

Yes, if a man works at McDonalds for minimum wage and it shot by a robber, there is little chance he could afford major surgery if he did not have insurance. Now I think the bigger question is whether our government should provide health insurance or FREE health care for citizens. I have not thought through that one too much, but I have to say that insurance rates that are not part of a group are about ridiculous. I wonder what rates insurance companies would give if a state government set up a group of several million. Tennessee has CoverTN which is health insurance for those who work at small businesses and do not qualify for group insurance. The rate is $112.50 for a person our age per month. That is much better than non-group rates. TN pays a third of the cost, so it only costs us $75.00 per month per person.

Anyone else have answers to these good questions?

My answer and a new question.

I think parents should teach their children that they should save for college. I liked what my parents did by paying for three years of my college and letting me pay for one year. I wish I didn't have to pay for even that one year since I could have paid off my wife's student loan with that extra money. I don't know what I will want to do for our kids. I think the best thing would probably be to do some kind of no-interest loan with them. Teens who pay for their own college appreciate the education and experience more, I think. But I do not like the idea of paying someone interest on a loan, so I think a no-interest loan on part of the college cost, a gift on part, and saving on the part of the child for the rest would probably work.

What do you think would be the best topic for me to talk about next? What is the most relevant discussion for the roughly 18-35 year old age group to take part in about money?