The Credit Professional Winter 2018 Dec_2018_magazine | Page 32

into a crisis. It won’t turn into a
fight. Instead, you have the
money to deal with it and life
will go on.
#8: You don’t need as big of a
house as you think you do.
Many newly married couples
start thinking quickly about
buying a big house to live in.
They have visions of some
well-marketed version of the
American dream that involves
the big beautiful house in the
perfect neighborhood with the
two and a half kids running
around in the yard.
The problem is that the
“dream” is expensive. The
bigger the house, the bigger
the bills. It means a bigger
mortgage. It means bigger
utility bills. It means more
insurance. It means higher
property taxes. It means higher
maintenance costs.
Another problem is that a big
house usually just winds up
being a bunch of storage space
for your stuff. Most people end
up using only a few rooms in
their house regularly—their
bedroom, the kitchen, their
primary bathroom, and maybe
the living room where the
television and/or computer is.
The rest end up being used for
storage or set aside for guests.
It’s more space to fill up with
stuff, and stuff is expensive.
Instead of dreaming about and
shopping for a huge house, go
small. Go really small. Look for
an inexpensive small home,
spend a little more to fix it up
the way you want, and keep
your bills low. You’ll find it
much easier to be able to afford
to do what you want in life.
#9: You don’t need as new
and shiny of a car as you
think you do.
The arguments made above in
favor of a smaller house also
apply to your cars. A shiny new
car is expensive. It means a
higher car payment. It means
higher insurance, too. Those
bills really add up.
In most situations, the best
bang for the buck in terms
of a car purchase is to buy a
late-model used car from a
reliable manufacturer, driving
it until problems begin to
mount, then replacing it with
another late-model used car
from a reliable manufacturer.
(I trust Consumer Reports when
it comes to identifying reliable
manufacturers and look at
Toyotas and Hondas first.)
This plan allows you to have
lower car payments when
you’re actually paying off the
car, then you have a few years
without a car payment. During
those years, put those “car
payments” into a savings
account so that when it’s time
to replace that car, you’ll have
enough cash to either make a
giant down payment or to pay
for the car in its entirety. Get
on that cycle and you’ll never
have a car loan again.
Establish this car-buying cycle
together and you’ll end up
putting aside a pretty small
amount each month into
savings and you’ll never have a
car payment again. You’ll also
have a reasonable insurance
bill to boot.
#10: Spend non-passive time
together as often as possible.
This final tip is all about the
feeding and care of a marriage.
The reality is that half of all
American marriages end in
divorce. That’s a painful
statistic, but it’s reality.
Another reality: divorce is
expensive. Lawyer bills, court
fees, rapid changes in lifestyle
and housing—those can be
very, very expensive.
One of the best financial moves
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The Credit Professional
31
December 2018