Excitement

Yesterday I bought a car.

A Toyota Rav 4.

I pick it up next week.

I am beyond excited.

Planning is Key

Last night, I cancelled my flights to America that I had booked for May. I did have to pay a cancellation fee but still get back most of my $3500. I did some number crunching and it looked as if I was going to have to pay a lot of my trip on credit, which I did not want to do. I was also a little nervous about going over there by myself. Thus, I cancelled and will continue saving to hopefully go over in 2012 or 2013.

In other news, I took the Volkswagen Tiguan for a test drive yesterday. Not only did I not really like it but I decided that it was a lot more than I wanted to pay for a car. I am still going to get a new car because I know my car is not going to last me very long. I was 19 when I bought it and I didn't have a lot of money, so it is a cheap car. It already sounds very tinny so I think I will start to have problems with it and I don't want that. I would much rather buy a reliable brand (like Toyota) that, though they of course have problems, is more likely to last for the 10-15 years I want to keep it. There is no way my car will last that long. And I do not want to wait until it starts to have issues because I want to take advantage of a decent trade in.

I have started researching property, with the hopes of buying an investment property at the end of 2011 or in 2012. I think I'll buy in Canberra as that is where I eventually want to end up in around ten years. Buying now will allow me to utilise renters for the next tens years, helping to pay down that mortgage.

So that's what is happening in my financial world! What's happening in yours?

And how are you planning to pay for this new car?

I am about to refinance my house.

Now before everyone freaks out, this is definitely something I have thought about and to me, this is a no brainer.

When I first bought my house, I was a few months shy of qualifying for a company home loan. Unfortunately, because I had found the house I wanted at the price I wanted, I couldn't afford to wait. However, I now qualify for this company home loan which is with one of the big four banks of Australia. Not only do I get this loan at a significantly lower interest rate, but my company will also pay approximately $220 a month onto my mortgage. There is no catch. It is purely and simply free money. What is even better is that the longer I work at my company, the more that increases. And I get it for the life of the loan.

Told you it was a no brainer.

I have been having some issues with my car lately. Now there is nothing wrong with the car per se (it's still under warranty after all), they are more issues I am having personally. I don't feel particularly safe in it and I know in a couple years (probably when the warranty runs out), I will start to have problems with it.

Thus, I have decided that when I refinance, I will borrow some extra money and purchase a new car.

Again, don't freak out!

I am currently earning roughly $600 extra a month and this will continue for the next few years. By placing this extra money directly onto my loan, I will essentially have the car paid off in 4.5 years. Thus I will not be accruing an exorbitant amount of interest on it. Not to mention that extra $220 paid straight onto my loan.

I have thought long and hard about this and believe it is the right decision for me. I am buying a 4WD (I believe Americans call them SUVs), albeit a small one. This will allow me to have the car for 10-15 years as it is of a size that will not require me to upgrade if I have children. I am buying from reliable brands which I know will last me a long time.

So, overall, I am happy with my decision to do this and so, so excited! I appreciate your feedback, even if you do not agree with what I am doing.

New Cars

So I am tossing up between buying a Subaru Forrester and a Volkswagen Tiguan. Cannot decide which. Although, I did discover that due to my employer, I can get a $3000 discount on Volkswagen. Hard to say no to that!

New Car

I am seriously toying with buying a new car. I have almost completely decided to in fact buy one. The reason I haven't posted for so long is because I thought everyone on here (you are out there right?) would disapprove of my decision, so I avoided it.

But yes, it's out there now. Thoughts?