Credit is important, and using credit helps your credit score. If you don’t know the rules, you should look into them before you need to borrow money.
I’m not a believer in paying cash for a house, or paying it off early. The loan rates are so low I can easily make more of a return on the cash in the stock market, and have in the time I’ve owned my current house. And … I’m much more liquid if needed for smaller purchases.
I do buy used cars that I can pay off instead of new and let someone else take the majority of the depreciation. Unlike a house, cars are almost always depreciating. Also, if I do want to make a big purchase, like a house, I don’t have short term loans that count against what I could borrow.
I also use an airline mileage CC. Yes, there is a fee, but we’ve flown with miles at the last minute for years. Handy if you don’t know you are going to fly until the last minute and the companion fares aren’t bad either.
I was disappointed that I had to buy a new tractor, but considering there were basically zero reasonable priced used ones, new made sense.
I’m not a believer in paying cash for a house, or paying it off early. The loan rates are so low I can easily make more of a return on the cash in the stock market, and have in the time I’ve owned my current house. And … I’m much more liquid if needed for smaller purchases.
I do buy used cars that I can pay off instead of new and let someone else take the majority of the depreciation. Unlike a house, cars are almost always depreciating. Also, if I do want to make a big purchase, like a house, I don’t have short term loans that count against what I could borrow.
I also use an airline mileage CC. Yes, there is a fee, but we’ve flown with miles at the last minute for years. Handy if you don’t know you are going to fly until the last minute and the companion fares aren’t bad either.
I was disappointed that I had to buy a new tractor, but considering there were basically zero reasonable priced used ones, new made sense.