photo credit: themaxsons

So, I ended up selling the Vibe yesterday after just five days on the market. There were a lot of factors that helped me make the sell at a high resale value, some completely out of my control, but others resulting from choices that I made when I purchased the car (used) two years ago.

I’d like to share 10 lessons learned and factors to consider that will hopefully help you when it comes time for you to buy a vehicle that you may someday sell. If you’re not concerned about selling your vehicle down the road, these tips will also help you save money and avoid some common buyer pitfalls.

Before you Buy - 10 Things to Consider

Selling your car for an amount that you’re happy with starts before you purchase it. I’ll spare you the sermon on how may not really need a car in the first place. If you are going to purchase a car, here are some of the factors that you should consider when purchasing a vehicle if you want to save money, sell it for a high percentage of your purchase price, and sell it quickly:  Read the rest of this entry »

In a post last week, I asked the readers what vehicle they thought I should sell, a 2000 Pontiac Grand Am or a 2003 Pontiac Vibe. In full disclosure, I had made a decision prior to soliciting feedback, however, a little affirmation is always healthy. Not to mention, I thought it would be a great topic of discussion, and it turned out to be. Sometimes the best way to get others involved in discussion is to leave the mentor role behind.

The arguments for selling each car were solid and along the same lines with what I was thinking. Let’s take a look at what you all said:  Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: IM4T001

My wife and I have each been lucky enough to have our own vehicle for more than a decade (major age hint drop). Vehicles have become a part of our daily routine. Recent changes in our life have now offered us an opportunity to make the major move from two vehicles to one. We now live about two miles away from our jobs, we live 1 block from a major bus line that takes us to within a few blocks of them, and we don’t have any consistent commitments directly before or after work.

You could say that the combination of these factors has made it a no brainer, right? Not exactly. The thought of not always having my own personal vehicle to get me around in whatever situation I may need it for has been a little difficult to accept. It’s a convenience thing. I had become accustomed to the idea of always being a car owner, almost looking at ownership as a right or duty. What’s been even more difficult to decide is which one I should sell off! Read the rest of this entry »

U.S. Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, made headlines yesterday with some of his remarks about the U.S. economy while on a press tour in the U.K. These remarks were somewhat taken in stride with all of the panic lately on Wall Street, but if you look a little deeper, his messaging is somewhat alarming. Let’s take a look at some of his comments:

In my view, looking beyond the immediate market challenges of today, we need to create a resolution process that ensures the financial system can withstand the failure of a large, complex financial firm.

We already know that one of the largest investment banks, Bear Stearns, made a very quick collapse earlier this year and was sold for pennies on the dollar to what it had been valued at just months earlier. I don’t think Paulson is looking backwards here. It sounds like more of a warning about what is to come in the near future.

Paulson later goes on to say that the Fed should have emergency authority to intervene to limit undue market disruptions caused by the failure of non-depository financial institutions. Don’t forget, Paulson use to run one of the largest financial firms in the world, Goldman Sachs. He knows exactly what is going on within this industry and has warnings from industry insiders that more failures are coming in the near future.

Essentially, what Paulson is saying here is that the Fed should be able to financially support failing institutions by throwing money in their direction. Where is this money going to come from with the U.S. being trillions of dollars in debt and the dollar already weak against almost all other foreign currencies? He doesn’t get specific on these details, but when our government keeps printing money that it doesn’t have financial backing for, everyone suffers.

What’s also troubling with Paulson’s remarks is that this a major role in this man’s job is to help instill confidence in the U.S. economy. At this point, he’s basically saying all bets are off and we’re in for even more hurt and we need to act quickly or some very rich people are going to be out of a lot of money.

What can you do about it? Take a close look at the financial institutions where your money is sitting at right now. Look at the financial ratings of these institutions and their recent quarterly reports. Are they in good standing? Is there a possibility that they could fail? Banks and financial institutions only keep a small portion of their assets as actual cash. If they were to fail, the odds of you getting your money back are not good, despite any FDIC insurance. It’s better to be safe than sorry. Bank runs haven’t happened in the U.S. since the Great Depression, but that doesn’t mean history can’t repeat itself.

If you found this article helpful, you can subscribe to the 20somethingfinance RSS feed, or sign up for free email updates. You may also find the following articles of interest:

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photo credit: grahammclellan

Recent inflation is not exactly ground shattering news, I do realize. What is somewhat alarming are some of the stats behind this story. The fed has long used ‘core inflation’ as an indicator of how much more we are spending over time for the same materials. What ‘core inflation’ does not take into consideration are gas and energy prices as well as food prices, which have both exploded over the last year.

Lately, the Fed has started to talk about real inflation, including food and energy, because it’s simply been too alarming to ignore any longer. Let’s take a look at how we got into this mess and whether or not it’s here to stay. Read the rest of this entry »