Creating Options

Last time around, I described how my mechanic bluntly suggested it is time to get rid of my 16 year old car, which is facing many, many expensive repairs.  So I have started down the road to finding my new wheels and it has not been a straight forward trip.

Ten days ago - knowing I was face a screaming busy work week - I logged on to my financial institution’s website to apply for a car loan.  Within minutes I received an email stating my application had been received and that I would get a response by the next business day.

That day quickly passed, as did the next one.  On the third business day, I called the institution’s call-centre to see if through some small clerical error they thought I had won the lotto and no longer needed the money.  The answer was worse: despite the confirmation email they had no record of my application.  They suggested I call my personal banker and begin the process again.

And so began two days of telephone tag.  To be fair, the banker always promptly returned my calls.  But, as anticipated, my week was screaming busy and I was rarely near a phone.  We finally connected yesterday and discussed a few options.  Today I headed downtown to sign the papers necessary to secure me a line of credit, enough to cover the difference between my savings and the cost of a car, at prime plus two percent.

I may never need to touch this pool of credit, but knowing it is there gives me options when I find the car I like.  It means I’m under no pressure to stick with any financing options offered by the dealer.

So, after ten days needed to do a two-day banking job, I’m ready to begin test-driving.

Jack

Money Coach’s response - Jack - may be too lat, but did you know VanCity Credit Union gives very favourable interest rates if you purchase a ‘green’ car?  Hybrids etc?

These guys are owned by travelocity, and give you the very-last-second travel steals.

Dreaming of surf and sun? Click the icon, and you may be on your way.

Kat — hoooorraaaayyy!   I totally celebrate with you.  I hope readers of your ‘financial diary’ will take encouragement.  Life has its tough moments, as you have laid out in earlier posts, and then, our efforts pay off.  Tip of the hat to you.

Celebrating success!

After a couple of months on hiatus, I’m almost ready to return to the world of blogging regularly. I’ve been busily working away at the current round of schooling and assignments while working full-time, among what feels like dozens of other things. The next blog will pick up the thread of what I did with my debt & RRSPs and how the dust has settled.

For this installment, I’d like to share some success! All of my schooling has been in aid of professional development. Four years ago I made a career change and it has been a continuous process of personal and professional development that has gotten me to the launching pad where I am able to not only work full-time in my chosen field, but also to begin to contract my services for facilitating/educating/motivating on a self-employed basis to help boost my income. The plan is to eventually work no more than 4 days a week, ideally 2 days/week for an employer, 2 days/week for myself, from my own home office.

Last week I landed my first contract to facilitate two workshops at a local college. It is exciting and tangible progress indeed! I’m being paid at my desired contracting rate, which is considerably more than I earn in my full-time work where my position is still advancing towards the ideal target and my salary is determined by an outside agency. My contract rate is what I anticipate I will earn when I am doing facilitation work exclusively, with all the requisite experience and education behind me. Naturally it will increase with time and experience.

For the first time I can truly taste my success because I have concrete results in front of me. Additionally, some other very exciting shifts have occurred recently to round out the vision I have for my future. All of these things are allowing me to feel the distinct reality of not merely what could be for me, but what I believe will be for me - financially and otherwise. What exactly are those things? Well, I will spark your imagination now and leave those until the next blog!

Jack - ouch!  My heart goes out to you.  Cars falling apart is frustrating, and indeed, no small expense.

A couple small thoughts that may provide a bit of encouragement:

1.  Life often delivers unexpected good stuff, too.  Let’s hope in your case, it happens sooner rather than later.  As in, the next month or two.  You may find Kat’s post, above, heartening.  It’s quite a turn around!
2.   Have you heard of auto brokers?  It’s a pretty new industry:  people do for autos, what mortgage brokers do for mortgages.  I know in the latter case, they honestly do save you a chunk of change, by getting the best deal for you (they have more clout than a mere homebuyer).  I imagine the same applies to auto brokers.  Contact me if you want a reference.

Fingers crossed for you.

It happens around now, every year. There’s been no long weekend for three months straight. Usually dreary weather. Midway through Sun Run 10K training, and it’s getting hard. And now, one blessed day, the sun comes out. There’s only one response, and it’s called Retail Therapy. Don’t laugh. You know exactly what I’m talking about here: the madness of a grossly-out-of-proportion-to-one’s-means spending spree. An antidote to boredom. Or loneliness. Or SADs (this is Vancouver, after all).

My worst was a ticket purchase … to England the next day … mere hours after a first fight with my then-boyfriend. Two weeks, £2,000 (that would be $8,000 Cdn.) later he and I made up, but boy was my lingerie budget seriously trashed. In fact, so was my whole financial picture.

Therein lies the rub. Retail Therapy, like any other binge, feels great in the moment, and awful the morning after. I’ve learned a few things in the years since England. For my fellow Retail Therapists, I offer the following counter strategies:

1. If I find something I must buy, I give myself permission to buy it in 24 hours (or a month, if it’s a ticket to Italy). This gives my sanity a fighting chance to change my mind. Frequently, the urge will pass in a day. If not, the purchase decision is at least better grounded, and it won’t wreak as much havoc, if any.

2. Address the underlying need. Dissatisfied with my home: Do I need the new couch from Liberty’s, or would re-arranging the furniture suffice? Feeling lethargic: Do I need a ski weekend in Whistler and a new snowboard, or would scheduling a few runs along the seawall work? Dumped egregiously by a boyfriend: Do I need to go to Cuba or … wait … yeah, in that case, Cuba. Definitely. *

3. I’ve figured out the times I will likely be vulnerable, and prepare in advance. Surprisingly, there are good strategies for handling boredom or breakups that don’t require huge cash. Friends, small celebratory actions, intellectual engagements – these and other ideas are high on fulfillment and easy on the budget.

I hope these help. If all else fails, at least, at least, choose a country with a favourable exchange rate. There are lots of them, you know. If only I’d gone to Mexico instead…

*Strike that from the record.

Kat and Jack will return shortly, but meantime, check out the up-close-and-personal blogs by a recent college grad in B.C., Give Me Back My Five Bucks, and a couple in Ontario, late twenties and $58K in debt, who have said, “Debt Be Gone!”