WHAT ARE YOU SAVING PER MONTH?

[imstillworkin]

I have some rental houses rented through the Section 8 program and it is the best way to guarantee you collect the rent every month. It pretty much only works if you have low income type of properties though because Section 8 has limits as to how much rent they will allow - for example around $800/mo for a 2 bedroom, around $1000/mo for a 3 bedroom. If you have higher income type of houses, the rent you would need would exceed their limits.

[nestealover2002]

Right now I'm not saving anything, unless saving for my trip to Ireland counts? I have saved almost $2,000 for travel in about 4-5 months. After I come back I plan on putting $100/month away for emergencies and sending the rest to pay off debt. I just read The Automatic Millionaire as well as David Bach's new book and they were helpful.

[mohammedabshaun]

@nestealover2002 Wow my friend what if something happens to you in Ireland or before, what cash do you have to fall back on.

[happygameshow]

3-5k per month but every 6-12 months I'll put about 20-30k down on my mortgage as a lump sum. Some goes to mutual funds. My goal is to just pay the house off in the next couple years then worry about what to do with the money that used to go to the mortgage.

[mohammedabshaun]

@happygameshow wow I like that, You wouldn't be available for a interview with you. I think this story needs to be heard on how you are actually doing this.

[happygameshow]

@mohammedabshaun It's not any kind of secret or anything I'm doing that other people aren't. I was very lucky to land an easy job in oil & gas so I can average a little over 100k a year. I have a roomate that helps with the mortgage and I own my vehicle. The only thing I owe on is my house. No other loans or credits.

[mohammedabshaun]

@happygameshow To you its nothing different but you are extremely focused and you know where you are going. Most people don't your story can help others.

[happygameshow]

@mohammedabshaun I don't know about being focused I just don't like owing money. My advice would be simple. If you can't pay for it with cash then you cant afford it. Even if you can afford it you have to think about things in the long run. Like you said a lot of people were ousted when the economy colapsed because they had things they couldnt afford. If you've ever seen "till debt do us part" you get a good idea of how people are digging themselves holes.

[DiceHunt]

@happygameshow So true, so true.  If you have the money that's "fine," but think more than twice as to whether or not you TRULY NEED it before you make that purchase, WITH CASH.

[imstillworkin]

@happygameshow It would be smarter to pay an extra 2-3k every month instead of a lump sum every 6-12 months. Think compounded interest.

[professorcurtis]

Excellent! Key points, fast deliveries and an exact and solid points! Great stuff, thanks! Nice shirt too!

[albc1964]

Part Two: I would love to read what Mohammedabshaun and others would have to say what I should ideally do. I would be responsible though for either taking the good advice or not taking the good advice resulting in having to deal with the consequences.

[bufforilla]

I believe collection agencies swap peoples debt obligations, write a certain amount off every year till thats no longer an option. Then they sell it to another agency and they do the same thing and it repeats itself. So depending on how long your outstanding debt obligation has been out there you might be able to pay the obligation off by far less than what they say you owe. Try to negotiate with them and see how far it goes.

[albc1964]

Second; I have high balance checking account, zero credit debt and cards, some debt collection accounts, a tiny size savings account. What should be my plan of of attack fiancially ? I am thinking about building my emergency savings along with seeing what is my best course of action dealing with the collection agencies. About the collection agencies: I have only two or three phone calls and one letter from each of them..they haven,t really bothered like I thought they would. Part One

[mohammedabshaun]

@albc1964 Start your bills from smallest to largest. The reason why is that once you start paying debt off you will become proud and start attacking it like crazy. Take your time do not become overwhelmed. You will get through it.

[mohammedabshaun]

@albc1964 you can do the negotiating yourself with the companies and then you don't have to pay anybody.

[albc1964]

Okay...first out many questions..... How does one get to know fiannce ? I heard from a world reknown motivation / business speaker Mr. Brian Tracy who states " If you don,t fully understand the investment ( stocks, futures, foreign stocks and cds, real estate etc )....don,t invest your money there...the investment would only cause you sleepless nights etc...so invest in something you can understand. ",,,,,,.... Is this statement a valid concern ?

[mohammedabshaun]

@albc1964 albc you have to first start by reading at least two financial books a month. Pretty soon just from that your behavior will start to change slowly.

[champc59]

im saving $240 a month, im gonna save move more.

[TheVikingNinja]

I wish it was easier to buy small amounts of stock. If it were, I'd probably be a successful trader right now. There's been a few times were I wanted to invest because I felt like certain stocks were good deals, buy I didn't have money to buy so many shares and ultimately they were good picks. I thought the market was going to have been down by now. Hard to figure out whats really going on.

[albc1964]

@@@ TheVikingNinga.... I have just read your comment; Do a Google search on the following DRIP OR Dividend Reinvestment Plan. I have read that this is one possible way to get into the the stock market without having pay a ton of expenses like broker commissons etc. Its been said that investments that requirement huge amounts of startup expenses are often not good investments. I could be wrong about this but anyways Good Fortune and Luck in your pursit of prosperity

[mohammedabshaun]

@TheVikingNinja go to sharebuilder you buy percentages of stock and you can start for as little as $100.00 per month.