Lockdown extended to more areas of Karachi; over 60 ...

ubmitted 2 hours ago byryanvango
Hey guys, new to this sub so sorry if this has been answered or isn't covered here. This will be long, so bear with me. I have a somewhat different approach it seems to my personal finances that I don't see an issue with but others might. One of my biggest concerns is the seemingly insurmountable debt everyone seems to be in. Some crazy figure like $47,000 debt for the average household? that seems insane to me. I know this covers things like mortgage, car payments, credit cards etc. but still, why get in that situation? I decided a while ago I don't want any debt, but I don't know if that idea is even possible today. Basic rundown of my current state is as follows; Right now I am in the military and am about to get out. I have a meager salary (let's say about $30,000 a year in money straight to me) and about $2500 of student loan debt that I make minimal payments on. I do intend to just write them a check in the coming months to just wipe that out entirely. The military covers my housing which would be an extra $2000 a month on to my salary that I don't count because it won't always be there. I intend to get out this year. I own both of my cars outright which are a 2001 ford explorer, and a 92' camry. I paid $2000 for the explorer and $600 for the camry. its not luxury by any stretch but they work well. I actually also own a jeep cherokee I paid $3000 for, but it doesn't work at the moment and I'll basically be giving it away because it'll cost too much time and money to get everything straightened out how it needs to be before I leave here. my goal when I get out is to have enough saved up to hold me over for a while. I do have a trip planned right after, but once that is done I am trying to position myself to have about $15,000 saved up to hold me over until I either go to school (gi bill will pay my rent, and I can work part time) or get a job somewhere. My trip will last 6 months and cost about 10,000 (not dipping in to the 15K savings) for me and my wife. we intend to spend a lot of that time soul-searching and working out a few ideas we've had in the last 2 years to be self-sufficient that haven't been possible while I'm stationed in Hawaii. These ideas range from internet based companies to small eateries to inventions I've come up with (one of which is marketable to the military), retail products or licensing, even 3 cellphone apps I'm designing right now (have a programmer friend who is a 30% partner and gives me creative control). I know they're not all possible or smart, but we're both young and want to give it a shot on our own while we can afford to make mistakes. Ok so my real question comes down to whether or not its possible to do the things I'm talking about or even live a normal life without getting in to debt. We have a credit card for small incidentals that only has a $300 limit so we can't overspend on it. Other than that, I don't want any loans or creditors. I'm ok buying $1000 cars that work, I'm ok renting a house instead of buying while I build up the savings to actually buy. Or even building one myself. Some of my ideas are things like buying a couple acres of land somewhere cheap and slowly building my own house on my land. There's even plans online for 1 man to fell his own trees and build a log cabin in a matter of a couple months. I don't think I'll go that extreme but my point is there are other ways to go. Even buying foreclosures for $15,000-$30,000 wouldn't be that hard after a couple years of saving. I also feel like not going to the bank for a loan when I want something makes me be more strategic with the money I have now, and makes me work harder to have an idea succeed. If I can make the money for a house outright in 5 years and never need a loan I'd be thrilled. the ultimate end-game would be to hopefully have a couple of our ideas take off, and be able to afford buying a nice car, a nice house, and live a stable life and build a nest-egg for our future children's college funds without worrying about owing the bank for any of it. So is this completely insane, or can it be done. do you have any tips to achieving something like this? (I have some money in stocks, military 401k, made some money on the silver boom, dabble in forex with small ~$100 investments). Or am I way off base and is getting a loan BETTER as some have suggested? I can't see how owing someone money rather than owning something outright would be a good thing, but maybe I'm missing something. Any input would be greatly appreciated. I will respond to all comments (that aren't outright insulting) and can offer more clarity on certain things if needed. Thanks for your time!

Hey guys, new to this sub so sorry if this has been answered or isn't covered here. This will be long, so bear with me. I have a somewhat different approach it seems to my personal finances that I don't see an issue with but others might. One of my biggest concerns is the seemingly insurmountable debt everyone seems to be in. Some crazy figure like $47,000 debt for the average household? that seems insane to me. I know this covers things like mortgage, car payments, credit cards etc. but still, why get in that situation? I decided a while ago I don't want any debt, but I don't know if that idea is even possible today. Basic rundown of my current state is as follows; Right now I am in the military and am about to get out. I have a meager salary (let's say about $30,000 a year in money straight to me) and about $2500 of student loan debt that I make minimal payments on. I do intend to just write them a check in the coming months to just wipe that out entirely. The military covers my housing which would be an extra $2000 a month on to my salary that I don't count because it won't always be there. I intend to get out this year. I own both of my cars outright which are a 2001 ford explorer, and a 92' camry. I paid $2000 for the explorer and $600 for the camry. its not luxury by any stretch but they work well. I actually also own a jeep cherokee I paid $3000 for, but it doesn't work at the moment and I'll basically be giving it away because it'll cost too much time and money to get everything straightened out how it needs to be before I leave here.
my goal when I get out is to have enough saved up to hold me over for a while. I do have a trip planned right after, but once that is done I am trying to position myself to have about $15,000 saved up to hold me over until I either go to school (gi bill will pay my rent, and I can work part time) or get a job somewhere. My trip will last 6 months and cost about 10,000 (not dipping in to the 15K savings) for me and my wife. we intend to spend a lot of that time soul-searching and working out a few ideas we've had in the last 2 years to be self-sufficient that haven't been possible while I'm stationed in Hawaii. These ideas range from internet based companies to small eateries to inventions I've come up with (one of which is marketable to the military), retail products or licensing, even 3 cellphone apps I'm designing right now (have a programmer friend who is a 30% partner and gives me creative control). I know they're not all possible or smart, but we're both young and want to give it a shot on our own while we can afford to make mistakes.
Ok so my real question comes down to whether or not its possible to do the things I'm talking about or even live a normal life without getting in to debt. We have a credit card for small incidentals that only has a $300 limit so we can't overspend on it. Other than that, I don't want any loans or creditors. I'm ok buying $1000 cars that work, I'm ok renting a house instead of buying while I build up the savings to actually buy. Or even building one myself. Some of my ideas are things like buying a couple acres of land somewhere cheap and slowly building my own house on my land. There's even plans online for 1 man to fell his own trees and build a log cabin in a matter of a couple months. I don't think I'll go that extreme but my point is there are other ways to go. Even buying foreclosures for $15,000-$30,000 wouldn't be that hard after a couple years of saving.
I also feel like not going to the bank for a loan when I want something makes me be more strategic with the money I have now, and makes me work harder to have an idea succeed. If I can make the money for a house outright in 5 years and never need a loan I'd be thrilled. the ultimate end-game would be to hopefully have a couple of our ideas take off, and be able to afford buying a nice car, a nice house, and live a stable life and build a nest-egg for our future children's college funds without worrying about owing the bank for any of it.
So is this completely insane, or can it be done. do you have any tips to achieving something like this? (I have some money in stocks, military 401k, made some money on the silver boom, dabble in forex with small ~$100 investments). Or am I way off base and is getting a loan BETTER as some have suggested? I can't see how owing someone money rather than owning something outright would be a good thing, but maybe I'm missing something.
Any input would be greatly appreciated. I will respond to all comments (that aren't outright insulting) and can offer more clarity on certain things if needed. Thanks for your time!