How's Everyone Doing in LTL Right Now?

I agree that no debt is better than debt.

The question is - if debt is going to exist what is the cheapest and safest way to use debt?

If things went south and I was faced with not being able to pay a loan, I would much rather be dealing with default of a home loan than default of a car loan. Or needing to use credit card debt to necessary expenses.

As to "pay down the smallest loan first" - say you have a $5000 loan at 3% and a $10k loan at 10%. You have a $1000 to make an "extra" payment. If you pay down the $5k loan you're costing yourself $300 over the next year. Pay down high interest and high risk loans first.

 

Debt is only an issue to poor working stiffs.

If I owe the bank 100,000 dollars ive got a big problem. If I owe the bank 100,000,000 dollars, the bank has a big problem.

Besides, every MBA knows corporate America's wild profitability comes from collapsing companies with debt. Either intentionally or by proxy. Such as how we see companies not turning a profit for years and hemorrhaging unfathomable losses to seize the market by undercutting all profitable businesses. Ala hypercapitalism.

Companies with billions in market cap but have never made a penny in profit for their entire existence. Their whole mission statement
follows burying competition by taking a loss subsidized by private funding until all competition dies out trying to retain income. Then you price gouge everyone to recoup the billions lost.

Of course, none of this matters to us lowly truckers trying to buy a half million dollar single wide at 7% interest on a 60k/yr income. Other than the certainty that we will all work more, make less, and pay more for everything. Ah, the American dream. Brings a patriotic tear to my eye. I can hear the bald eagles saluting the flag as I type this.

 

Debt isn’t automatically a problem if you know how to leverage it to your advantage.

What frustrates me about the whole Dave Ramsey mindset is that it’s turned into a kind of cult of “all debt is bad,” instead of teaching people how to make borrowing work for them, even profitable.

 

EVERY SINGLE CORPORATION has debt......it's how you manage the debt is the secret.
When I ran I had a $45k credit card. Never had to ask permission, never had a problem.........because, I managed it.
Debt is like any other payable.......manage it

 

I'm really enjoying the responses from the OGs

 

How’s the Estes life?

 

I think my previous posts already admitted that on my end

 

Debt can be slavery - but there is a difference between debt, credit, and leverage.

Debt is what happens when a person or company spends more than they bring in.

Credit just smooths the cash flow. Your electric bill is credit because you're paying after usage, and up to 30 days after being invoiced.

Leverage is using debt to better your position. Maybe it's education debt, or to buy a reliable car/tools that will allow you to improve your income. Or maybe it's buying a house. Or a business opportunity that will both pay off the debt and provide you with income. There are dangers, but because it is debt with a purpose and a plan those dangers should be mitigated.

Ramsey says that using credit is bad and having debt is worse, but I guarantee you he is using both credit and debt. He talks about properly setting up accounts payable terms to manage his cash flow for Ramsey Solutions and while he paid "cash" for his corporate headquarters he immediately took out a loan until he could sell off the old headquarters.

 

power and it's delivery wasnt the issue. the truck just wasnt up to bumper pulling and managing that much weight while rolling down the interstate. going over bridges or anything that unsettled the truck was scary.

it sounds like you've made up your mind. try it out, let us know how it works. my model year purchase suggestion would start with a 19.