Debt and Investing
I’ve been reading a book by The Motley Fool and one point is made time and again, we should not be investing if we’re carrying debt (mainly credit card debt). Now, I can understand this logic but it is so hard for me to accept that we’ll have to wait another 6 months to start investing if we follow this logic. I’m not suggesting that we put all our cash into stock investments while paying minimums on the credit cards, but I would like to be tackling both objectives because of the long term benefits I see for investing.
Now, maybe we should just spend the next few month kicking some serious debt behind — more than what is already being accomplished. Maybe I’ll just pick a few stocks and play the hypothetical stock market game of tracking how they do — however, their success or failure in the short-term is of little interest because it is the long term value that I am interested in. The partner currently pays about $1,000 above the min. payment required on credit cards and we’re making some honest progress. I would like to see that number wiped out along with my student loans, but I’m not sure I’m comfortable with starting retirement/investment planning until they (credit cards, student loans are not high on my list right now) are.
Warning: Tangent
In other news, due to housing progress I had to pull almost everything out of my savings account for paying closing costs and down payment. While I knew this was going to happen, I’m all out of sorts realizing that the money I’ve been saving for the last few months is now gone. And, to make it worse, I had to write a gift money check to the partner and actually put it in his account (ack!).
His credit qualifies us for a good mortgage and so he is getting the financing on his own (my credit is shot right now) and so he needs funds to make it happen. It really freaks me out to (1) taken it out of savings, and (2) have given over and beyond my control. So, I think we need to get cracking on the joint finances thing because I’m going to be a wreck at the idea that my money is no long in my control. For the record, we’re not married yet and I still feel like it is my money.
I’ve suggested that we walk over to the courthouse and just file the legal paperwork stating we’re married and I’ll feel much better — which makes me think I’ve got some unexpected issues cropping up about this combination of love and money. I think we’ll talk about it this weekend and go ahead and merge finances since he now has a large chunk of mine — the “we” thing isn’t an issue, I just don’t feel that we’ve got join custody of our finances and, because of that, letting go of some of my cash feels very scary all of a sudden (plus the “oh my god, we’re signing on for a huge debt” freaking out that happens with buying a house).