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?