TAH
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This is how it is in OR, and sadly in Anchorage, AK (You would think people in AK would know how to drive in snow, but they don't)
Micah Wotring - Weathering Winter
- Thread starter micah wotring
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Poka_Doodle
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Yeah.
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micah wotring
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Good grief! Been a while! Anyway, I gotta run now but I'll try to fix up a nice little update for y'all tomorrow! 
Pastor Dave
Herd Master
This doesn't have anything to do with herds @micah wotring, but once you are out of school, before you get into debt, pay yourself when you get paid, earn some money, etc, etc. Start putting some money away for retirement or your future at least.
Don't think you have to have a million to live on to retire. Save enough that you can live off the interest or dividends it earns.
Also, don't buy on credit if you don't have to. Other than a mortgage on a house, try not to compile debt. I understand lots of farmers will buy seed and the year's supplies, machinery upgrades and pay off after harvest. But, if you can buy the used car/truck and earn more so you can buy outright a nicer one next time. Buy a fixer upper or small house and fix it and live in it or flip it til you get the upgrade you want.
Try to stay away from credit cards.
Manage your debt and save up an emergency fund, have good insurance, live in your means. Save up as you go along. These things should take you a long way in life. I think a class in every high school should be mandatory to graduate for managing incomes, etc. I wish I had heard this stuff at an earlier age. A lot of this comes from teachings of Dave Ramsey if you want to dig deeper.
Don't think you have to have a million to live on to retire. Save enough that you can live off the interest or dividends it earns.
Also, don't buy on credit if you don't have to. Other than a mortgage on a house, try not to compile debt. I understand lots of farmers will buy seed and the year's supplies, machinery upgrades and pay off after harvest. But, if you can buy the used car/truck and earn more so you can buy outright a nicer one next time. Buy a fixer upper or small house and fix it and live in it or flip it til you get the upgrade you want.
Try to stay away from credit cards.
Manage your debt and save up an emergency fund, have good insurance, live in your means. Save up as you go along. These things should take you a long way in life. I think a class in every high school should be mandatory to graduate for managing incomes, etc. I wish I had heard this stuff at an earlier age. A lot of this comes from teachings of Dave Ramsey if you want to dig deeper.
farmerjan
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Ah yes, Dave Ramsey. Mostly very good advice. Everything you have said Pastor Dave. We have done it a little differently with the farming, but could pay off all our debt tomorrow if we sold out... not counting the mortgages, or selling the properties.
We do finance our fertilizer, seed, even cattle purchases....but all those get paid yearly except the cattle and we seldom have financed for more than 2 years. Now we mostly can buy any cattle in cash as we go but in the beginning, and to buy out a friend, had to finance. Still the sales of the calves will pay for the payments. And we also sell hay and do some custom farming for a couple of people. We do buy a new discbine mower every 5 years as they start to cost some serious repair and replacement of parts; and we can still get a good price for the one we are turning in. But realize we are using it on A LOT of hay ground (400-600 acres) when the average farmer does 50 - 100 acres a year total (that's multiple cuttings total).
The principles still apply. Our newest truck is a 2000 as is my car. Most are 1990's and older, and my little p.u. is a '95.
We have a couple of "new" tractors that are 20 years old, and my little Farmall H is from the 1940's or 50's. (yeah, like 60+ years old)
Don't buy a new vehicle, they lose too much off the lot. And ANYTHING that you buy, MAINTAIN IT. Grease and oil are cheap.
We do finance our fertilizer, seed, even cattle purchases....but all those get paid yearly except the cattle and we seldom have financed for more than 2 years. Now we mostly can buy any cattle in cash as we go but in the beginning, and to buy out a friend, had to finance. Still the sales of the calves will pay for the payments. And we also sell hay and do some custom farming for a couple of people. We do buy a new discbine mower every 5 years as they start to cost some serious repair and replacement of parts; and we can still get a good price for the one we are turning in. But realize we are using it on A LOT of hay ground (400-600 acres) when the average farmer does 50 - 100 acres a year total (that's multiple cuttings total).
The principles still apply. Our newest truck is a 2000 as is my car. Most are 1990's and older, and my little p.u. is a '95.
We have a couple of "new" tractors that are 20 years old, and my little Farmall H is from the 1940's or 50's. (yeah, like 60+ years old)
Don't buy a new vehicle, they lose too much off the lot. And ANYTHING that you buy, MAINTAIN IT. Grease and oil are cheap.
Bruce
Herd Master
ME TOO!!!!!!! I just do NOT understand why every HS in this nation does not have a Person Finance class that is mandatory for graduation. I asked the principal at the HS my girls went to about that and was told they did have one the kids can take as an elective. Who give a rat's patootie if you read Shakespeare in HS if you don't have the slightest idea how to invest for the future, how to create and stick to a budget, how to balance a checkbook, that the ATM doesn't know that you have outstanding checks which will now bounce because you took out cash the ATM "said" you have, what the heck it means to lease an apartment, etc. Sure some kids have parents that can answer those questions but a lot don't. You will NEED knowledge of personal finance pretty much every day of your life, it is highly unlikely you will need to know squat about the writings of Shakespeare (1 example of course). Nothing wrong with a broad based education but a foundation in the NEED TO KNOW and WILL USE OFTEN should be a minimum when you walk off with your diploma.
I disagree with this one in the following circumstance: If you keep your vehicles until they can't reasonably be fixed any more, don't shy away from buying new if the new vehicles have features you want that aren't in older vehicles. You don't care what the depreciation is when the first tire hits the public road because you won't be selling it for 15 years anyway. Now if you CAN find those things in a 3 year old vehicle, it should be cheaper to buy. But figure out the $/year of ownership because the 3 Y/O vehicle is going to need maintenance sooner. But if you can afford to buy it for cash, you'll be able to save up for those repairs instead of paying interest on a loan or lease.
NH homesteader
Herd Master
Hey we should start a new thread called "I wish someone told me when I was young..." yup agree on the finance class for HS kids.
I wish someone made me calculate just how long it would take me to pay off all these student loans they love to hand out.
I wish someone made me calculate just how long it would take me to pay off all these student loans they love to hand out.
Bruce
Herd Master
Heck no!! Then you wouldn't take them out
I bet they also don't tell you that you can't get rid of them through bankruptcy like you can most debt.
farmerjan
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Bruce, I can see what you are saying about the new vehicle, BUT, there is no way I can sit here and say that buying the 1984 4x4 ford ranger for $500 and then putting $1,000 into a rebuild of the engine was not still a much better investment than a newer one that will not go where this one will. I bought 1 new vehicle, 1979 F-150 pickup, $3100, and drove it til it died. Insurance back then was still too much on a new vehicle. Today, noway is a 25,00-50,000 truck justified.
Nowadays, the new vehicles require a rocket scientist to diagnose and fix anything that goes wrong. They are made out of more plastic than metal, and at the costs today, there is no way I would ever buy anything new. Same with the vehicles we use on the farm for trailer pulling, feeding etc. We can fix and rebuild most stuff earlier than the mid 1990's. The one truck that is 2000 seems to spend more time getting diagnostics than running....all stupid little stuff.
Nowadays, the new vehicles require a rocket scientist to diagnose and fix anything that goes wrong. They are made out of more plastic than metal, and at the costs today, there is no way I would ever buy anything new. Same with the vehicles we use on the farm for trailer pulling, feeding etc. We can fix and rebuild most stuff earlier than the mid 1990's. The one truck that is 2000 seems to spend more time getting diagnostics than running....all stupid little stuff.
NH homesteader
Herd Master
Gotta go with @farmerjan on this one.
