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joyfulguy

Considering taking on some debt?

joyfulguy
13 years ago

If it's borrowing to pay your current costs of operation - my suggestion is that you forget that.

If you can't pay your way now ... how are you going to afford it in a few months' time ... along with paying interest on the loan ... plus paying the loan down?

If you're planning to buy something of ongoing value, e.g. a home, investments, saving for your kids's extended education, your retirement plan, etc., there may be some value in it. A car is somewhat questionable, especially if it's a new one, as they lose value so quickly.

We've become used to dealing with low interest rates in recent years, both personally and in terms of our governments' operations.

Not only has the U.S. government (and the Canadian) racked up huge increases in deficits in recent years, but their ongoing debt has grown huge, as well.

Their debt is not mainly in-country, either - the lenders are mainly foreign and, in the case of the U.S., largely in China. If you'd asked some of the traditionalists in the U.S. about 30 (40?) years ago, when they had little dealings with Communist China ...

... how they'd like to be hugely in debt to China, and it being their largest lender, what kind of an answer do you think that you'd have gotten?

With our governments (and we as people) sporting that kind of money management and credit history, how enthusiastic do you think their current lenders may be to receive requests for further loans?

Not only that ... it is well known that the U.S. has been printing money in large quantities recently. And it continues to do so.

That will result in the value of that currency deteriorating.

Consider this: if suddenly there were to be double the number of dollars floating around ... don't you figure that soon the loaf of bread that used to cost a dollar ...

... will be priced at $2.00?

If someone deep in debt ... and spending more than s/he's earning ... goes back to the bank for another loan ...

... don't you think that the bank is going to demand a larger interest rate, or tell the borrower to forget it - that they don't want to lend any more?

You may be interested in some letters that I got from my stockbroker a few years ago, when I had a loan with them.

__________________________

"May 12, 1980, To our clients, Margin interest rates ...

"Effective May 13, 1980 interest will be charged at the rate of 17 3/4% on Canadian fund debit balances and 19 1/2% on U.S. fund debit balances.

"The interest rate on credit balances on Canadian remains at 13.5% and in U.S. funds will change to 15 1/2%.

__________________________

If you are currently paying 3% or so ... how would you be able to manage were that rate to change to, say 6%?

Or supposing that it went to 10% - how would you like to be required to pay 1/10th of the face value of the loan annually ... and that just to pay the interest, before you reduced the amount of the loan by a single dollar?

My earnest suggestion is that you consider such prospects seriously before you consider taking on substantial debt, our current fiscal ituation being what it is.

ole joyful ... thankful to be, after several years of retirement and in good health, comfortably solvent

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