Yesterday’s testimony by Fed chair Ben Bernanke makes it clear that QE is here to stay for the foreseeable future. Rather than tilt at windmills, you need to accept this fact, and adjust accordingly.
Here are a few of the things that you should be doing in response to zero interest rate policy:
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• Refinance your home, locking in a 30 year fixed rate (if you can afford a 15 year fixed, do that). This is a no-brainer and the best way to take advantage of zero rates for most families.....
• Buy or Lease a new car. (Ben wants you to) assuming you can afford to.
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• Reduce/renegotiate any outstanding consumer debt. This is the worst sort of debt, used to pay for depreciating baubles. If you must, refinance it at lower rates.
Have you been shopping for an automobile recently?
If you want to understand the impact the Federal Reserve is having on the real economy, I suggest you do a little online homework and then go hit the auto dealers. You will be astonished at what you find.
Whether you are buying a car or leasing one, the financing component is a very large part of what is typically the 2nd largest purchase the average American family makes (homes being the largest).
Regular readers know I am fan of the automotive arts, from the $15k Fiat 500 to exotics that cost 50X as much. I always have a good sense of what’s available, what’s coming out, and their prices. One of my marketable few skills is the ability to figure out the ideal car for a person within 15 minutes of meeting them (its true).
Take this background, and add in my daily awareness of where interest rates are, and one would imagine that I would not be surprised at the cost of buying or leasing a new car today.
As it turns out, I was stunned at the bargains available across all price points.
Re: Plans for the weekend. Take advantage of cheap credit.
I have been paying off some debt since the financial crisis hit. Closed my cards, went to strictly debit and negotiated a plan with my creditors. But I'm thinking it's time to get a credit card again. So I think it's time to get a credit card again.
"We can establish your membership eligibility through either
National Military Family Association or Voices for America's Troops or the American Red Cross"
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March is American Red Cross Month. It's a time for community members and businesses to join the Red Cross movement and help carry out its lifesaving mission with a gift of time, money or blood.
So it's super cheap to join one of this organizations, I think I'm going to pick the Red Cross and then I can leverage that into 18 monts of 0% interest. The regular interest isn't a ripoff either it's 9.99% currently.
Re: Plans for the weekend. Take advantage of cheap credit.
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Originally Posted by KevinNYC
I have been paying off some debt since the financial crisis hit. Closed my cards, went to strictly debit and negotiated a plan with my creditors. But I'm thinking it's time to get a credit card again. So I think it's time to get a credit card again.
Re: Plans for the weekend. Take advantage of cheap credit.
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Originally Posted by raiderfan19
And this is absolutely awful for the economy
be that as it may. if you are in the market for a mortgage, you can save thousands on a $20 donation to the red cross.
I'll quote the blogger
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This is the entire purpose of QE/ZIRP. To stimulate the economy, move houses and cars and other financed goods. You might pay the cost for it in higher inflation (eventually) and much worse income if you live on a fixed income, but during the mean time, listen to what your Uncle Ben has been suggesting to you — go make some financed purchases.
Re: Plans for the weekend. Take advantage of cheap credit.
The problem is inflation is a very very bad thing. Some inflation is inevitable but the single most financially irresponsible thing this country has done in the last decade is keep interest rates this low this long.
And that being said everyone that needs a loan should absolutely go take advantage of it
Plans for the weekend. Take advantage of cheap credit.
