Get Ready

Help Support CattleToday:

My grandparents and parents didn't go into debt for anything unless it could be paid off in 2yrs or less. My dad always preached put 20% into saving, 20% to yourself, and the last 60% for monthly bills etc. At the end of the month if you have anything left that should also go to savings. Rewind and do it all over again.
20-20-60 is Fantastic Advice

But fear of debt can cause risk paralysis leading to lost opportunity.
Both parents were teenagers in the '30s and like the majority of those who saw the hard times of the great depression feared debt. That fear twice cost them great opportunities when neighboring farms came up for sale in the '50s and '60s, but they feared pulling the trigger on long term investment debt.
 
Good to see you posting again :)

You know what's scary? People are spending a greater portion of their disposable income today to service debt at 3% interest than they did in the 80's at 20%, just because everyone has SO MUCH MORE DEBT and wages haven't kept up with inflation at all
Thank you. I couldn't log in for the longest time. Now I am back in with my same historical name and password.

I don't mind debt as long as it pencils out into profit. It would be hard to imagine 20% interest penciling in to my current scenarios.
 
20-20-60 is Fantastic Advice

But fear of debt can cause risk paralysis leading to lost opportunity.
Both parents were teenagers in the '30s and like the majority of those who saw the hard times of the great depression feared debt. That fear twice cost them great opportunities when neighboring farms came up for sale in the '50s and '60s, but they feared pulling the trigger on long term investment debt.
That's true if that's what you need. Did your parents need the farms? Were they down in the dumps because they didn't buy the farms, or did they have a good life anyway?
 
Hero, that's the right attitude for sure.

Just because a farm is worth a lot more now than it was back then, that doesn't mean that it would have "paid" or "been wise" to have bought it back then. The added debt on a farm in the 60's, when coupled with the lower yields of the times, and the lower prices, may have just been able to service the interest enough to keep the banker at bay. A 15 year loan in the mid 60's would likely have ended up having to be refinanced in the late 70's to early 80's... would that kind of interest at that point have sunk the whole works? Would life have been "more stressful"? We could run these kind of "what if" scenarios all day long, but in the end, NONE of it is really going to matter much. We're not put here for the sole purpose of "gathering wealth".......... we're supposed to have a longer term "soul purpose"............... and what we do while we're here is really supposed to be just a means to accomplish that.

As for leaving "a legacy", or passing on "a large inheritance", how many of those have you seen where a lifetime of very hard work, getting by on little and making do without, smart business decisions and fortunate timing were quickly squandered by the next generation that got it handed to them? They weren't the ones that had to do all that hard work to build up that "nest egg"... so not only did they not "appreciate" the value of it, they had NO CLUE as to how to manage in order to maintain it. They hadn't had to put in the "hard work" that it took to achieve it.

Anything that you have is only valued as much as the recognized effort that it took to achieve it. THAT is what determines the "value" of a dollar (how tightly we hold it before letting it go)... the effort and difficulty it took to achieve that dollar (and I don't only mean to imply ONLY sweat and physical effort... just the fact of recognizing just how difficult it can be to "grow dollars", and how easily that can be thwarted by just a few stupid choices or lapses in frugality, is critical "work" as well). Give someone a dollar (think government checks, and I'll include the government welfare checks that we get from the FSA programs), and those dollars typically have a greatly diminished value in the eyes of the recipient.... People automatically want to run right out and buy that 72" TV or the 100 thousand dollar truck that was mentioned above, or that "shiny new tractor or combine" they drive by every time they go to town. If you have to work for it though, it's no longer nearly so much like "free money". When money is flowing in freely without much effort, it will also be spent freely, without much thought or concern for future need, unless the "hard work" of actually LEARNING these important lessons has been done. When money is difficult to achieve (there's the learning), it also will be spent much more wisely and frugally, and much more of it will be "saved for a rainy day", and more scrutiny will be applied to investing it wisely so it will continue to work for you on its own.
 
Heck my cows will be going through the salebarn before the last shovel of dirt lands on me.
My legacy will be a realtor sign on the place as the hearse goes by.
 
My father was born in 1932 and he mentioned numerous times how many farms/ranches he saw the banks take over the years. Even the ones that only missed one payment and had made arrangements to pay in full in a few months. Banks still foreclosed and then resold them to deals that had been done behind closed doors. Banks were just hedging their bets. One thing grandpa and my dad both preached. There are good loan decisions and bad ones (most bad), but NEVER put land up for collateral because then the banks have you.
My mother was born in 1929, she was ok with taking out loans as long as you could pay back out of them with your cattle as an example, she too always said never put land up as collateral.
 
It would surprise a lot of people
at millionaire next door.
"The bestselling The Millionaire Next Dooridentifies seven common traits that show up again and again among those who have accumulated wealth. Most of the truly wealthy in this country don't live in Beverly Hills or on Park Avenue-they live next door. "
p0gqtcs2kyu11.jpg
 
No that was when I learned to loathe bankers. It's ok it took me seven years haven't been in debt since.
I haven't had an account with a bank in over forty years, just too slimy for me.
But keep posting your opinion as I continue to read even though usually wrong.
The banker simply used your own vanity to get what he wanted all along. You paid the loan off and left. The bank employees all had a big laugh at your expense.
 
My father was born in 1932 and he mentioned numerous times how many farms/ranches he saw the banks take over the years. Even the ones that only missed one payment and had made arrangements to pay in full in a few months. Banks still foreclosed and then resold them to deals that had been done behind closed doors. Banks were just hedging their bets. One thing grandpa and my dad both preached. There are good loan decisions and bad ones (most bad), but NEVER put land up for collateral because then the banks have you.
Those that lost their property for non payment always have a sob story of how the bank stole their property.
 
The banker simply used your own vanity to get what he wanted all along. You paid the loan off and left. The bank employees all had a big laugh at your expense.
I didn't pay the sorry banker off! I never missed a payment . Kept the payment up on the burnt up property. Took almost four months to settle with the insurance company. The insurance company did!
They recalled the loan that had never had a late payment.
Is was simple they wanted that 7% money to lend at 16%.
I hired a lawyer, he said the bank had to right to recall the loan. That's when I said thanks for the education , I said should have known look at Judas he was the banker.
That just shows you how sorry a banker is.
 
As
I didn't pay the sorry banker off! I never missed a payment . Kept the payment up on the burnt up property. Took almost four months to settle with the insurance company. The insurance company did!
They recalled the loan that had never had a late payment.
Is was simple they wanted that 7% money to lend at 16%.
I hired a lawyer, he said the bank had to right to recall the loan. That's when I said thanks for the education , I said should have known look at Judas he was the banker.
That just shows you how sorry a banker is.
As I said, the bank used your vanity to get paid off. They didn't care who wrote the check. They had a loan with most of the collateral missing. They won, got a low rate loan off the books and you probably removed some high interest money. Insurance check should have been made payable to them and you. Bank played it by the book and did absolutely nothing wrong in spite of you wanting them too.
 

Latest posts

Top