Red X Drive to Freedom

 

Almost Sportscar 1994

The WAVE-B Free Ride Project hit a major milestone. The Almost Sports Car's service to my family has ended. It has 194000 miles on it and it has served it's purpose. Now it is going to serve a college student who has no car but, needs one due to a loss of a transmission in an older car. The recap of the car is as follows:

$ 3400 cash to purchase in June 2013. This is 18 months which is 8 months past the initial plan of 10 months. The car is 21 years old so it is a little bit past it's prime. We saved $120 per month in gas price for a total of $2160 over the previous car (Ramsey Rover) The time with the 1994 Accord wasn't wasn't all economically rosy. I had to replace the computer after we decided to keep it past the 10 months. This with a ball joint and some other minor parts added about $1600 to the price of the car. Most of the parts were over a period of time so the costs were not that hard to absorb economically (just emotionally). There were some upgrades like new tires that included a full size spare and rim included with the after purchase costs.

The bottom line costs of the car was a out of pocket $5000. If I subtract the gas savings of $2160 and the what I sold it for ($2500) the net cost is $340. I had a couple of offers for the car at the same price I bought it for but, decided to sell it to a college student at a discount on the term of she has to set a budget that included a $1000 emergency fund. If I had sold it for what I purchased it for I would have effectively been paid to drive the car $560 for 18 months compared to my previous vehicle.

Air Conditioning - What does it Cost?

Recently I was thinking where can I get the most bang for my buck in saving money in the operation of my house. The best way to figure this out is to look at resources and see what needs are filled. The needs a house provides is shelter. Within that need are a bunch of supporting needs. There are functions that are done in a home which effect the operating costs.

Supporting needs:

• Heating / Cooling


• Electricity


• Storage


• Personal Hygiene


• Food Prep

Each one of these supporting needs can be broken down further to maximize savings. I'm only going to address the heating and cooling in this article. Again I'd like to start by seeing if I could use the 80/20 rule to find the most bang for the buck. Between space heating, space cooling, & water heating it is about 70% of the energy costs of the house.

(http://www.eia.gov/consumption/residential/index.cfm)

Bang for the Buck: Space Heating Path to Insulation

Insulation - Icicle Protection

Insulation is often overlooked when considering cutting your operating costs in a house. With the record cold weather in North America this week insulation should get a second look. When I grew up in New York insulation was expected in a house. Living in Georgia I realized good insulation was a matter of opinion.

The question of insulating a house in the south is a question of costs vs comfort. Is it worth the extra cost to insulate your house well when you can just put on warmer clothes for the limited cold spells experienced down south.

Using the 80/20 rule one may say the issue of heating in the cold can be more cost effective by spending minimal money on keeping your body warmer. The costs of warmer clothing is cheaper than re-insulating your house. Layering clothing is even cheaper because you use the clothes you have. Using more blankets at night keep you more comfortable and save you having to increase your heating bill. All this is nice but, added insulation is a more long term solution.

Actuarial Life Tables - Does It Matter?

Three Leg Stool:

Social Security, Savings, & Pension

I was reading the SSA Actuarial Life Table  and was wondering if this information was even useful. According to the table I was to live to 78.5 years and my wife was to last to 82 years. She is younger so she has the double jump on me.

There are many sides to this information to think about. The first is the information correct? The data here is compiled from all the people in the country. There are so many variables which can change the results. Family history, marital status, lifestyle all are factors which can change the outcome. Also there is the factor of the random act that ends your life before the age factor takes effect. (Example: getting hit by a truck walking across the street.)

Housing Costs - Not All Costs are Seen in the Purchase Price

How much house can you afford? More than any other purchase or expense in your life this effects the quality of your life. There are factors that aren't usually thought of when a house is purchased. The math of how many times your annual income you can afford is different based upon when you were born. In the 1970s there was a limit of two times your annual income was the most banks would finance (with 20% down of course)

 

Tent Housing - The Ultimate Starter Home

How to make money with Republic Wireless

Recently I switched my cell phone provider. for years I was with Verizon Wireless. The service was great for my area and the coverage is extensive. As I started to evaluate my choices I started to see a couple of trends. the 1st was data plans were being limited and the second was the costs for basic services was dropping.

 

One of the first Cell Phones

Invest in Yourself: Dollar Cost Averaging for the Long Haul

Most people don't have $10,000 to plop down on a stock or mutual fund investment at once. Putting a little bit of money down consistently to invest over the long term may be the best option. (It may be the only option.) Many people don't know the power of dollar cost averaging. The concept is simple but, because it is simple most people overlook it.

The general move of the stock market is up over the long term. If you buy now and keep the stock for a long time you should have a profit if the underlying company is profitable. This strategy is called buy and hold.

Of course the value of a stock usually goes up and down in the short term. The idea of dollar cost averaging is to buy a stock periodically over a long period of time based upon a set dollar to be spent rather then the number of stocks. It is an extension of the buy and hold, the difference is you are buying, holding and waiting a set period of time to buy again, repeat the buy, hold and wait, and repeat as long as you desire.

I have purchased stocks this way and set my period for once a month. I was able to spread the risk by buying stocks periodically. If the stock goes down in value you would purchase more stock and if the stock goes up in value you would purchase less stocks with the same dollar outlay. When the value of a share increases the shares you already own are more valuable. I wrote about purchasing individual stocks in one of my previous posts.

Example of Dollar Cost Averaging