Ed Icionsub

It has been years since I have had to deal with the hassle of a car payment. I don’t like paying bills every month, especially when my income is so variable based on commissions. So paying cash for a car has always worked out best for me. Of course, thy are not brand new cars from a dealership – they are used cars that I find and decide to take a chance on and buy.

The problem with buying a used car is that you don’t know it’s history and you take a chance that there will be no serious repairs needed right away. After all the cars I’ve owned, I can say that none of them have been lemons but none of them have run trouble free forever, either.

Part of owning a car is deciding when the maintenance and repairs get to be too expensive to warrant keeping the car. I’m trying to make that decision right now on my Mazda. I just spent $2,000 on a rebuilt engine in January and don’t feel that I’ve gotten my money out of that yet. But now the brakes are acting up and the muffler is starting to rattle. So, I’m looking for repair estimates and trying to decide if I should get rid of the Mazda now or spend more money on it d try to make it last another year or two?

A bg part of cleaning out my car is gathering up all the loose change that is scattered about. I find everything from wheat pennies to silver dollars that have bounced  around in the car for months at a time. Last night there was over five bucks in change in just the ashtray.

Of course, I don’t smoke, so the car’s ashtray seems like a good place to toss the change when I pay for food at a drive through window. Somehow the change never stay in just the ashtray – there is change under the seat, change in the door wells, even loose change in the trunk. So today I will put someone to work sorting through all this loose change and rolling it up so I can take it t the bank.

I’d be willing to bet that most people expect a great Auto Warranty when they buy a new car from a dealership. After all, it is a huge money investment and most people are not comfortable taking a big risk when they have $20,000 or $30,000 or more on the line. So, what do people do when they buy a used car? Some used cars are running close to $20,000 – so where is the comfort zone in that kind of cash outlay?

When I bought the last dealership car, I told the salesman that I wanted a Car Warranty that gave me bumper to bumper protection for 3 years. I thought that was fair and was willing to pay extra for the peace of mind that my car was going to give me no problems. The only payment I wanted to deal with was the car note. I didn’t want to pay for any major car repairs while I was still paying on the note.

We ended up getting a great Extended Warranty that covered my car for any and everything that could possibly go wrong. The only trouble I’ve had with that car since I bought it 12 years ago is the transmission has now gone out. So it’s sitting in the driveway waiting on me to save up enough for a new tranny. After that, I expect to get another 12 years out of it.

People tend to volunteer for charities and non profit organizations when their own lives have been touched by the disease or situation the charity is trying to remedy. While I was on the Board of Directors of a medical non profit, I learned quite a bit about fund raising and managing money. Something new that I had never considered was a gold IRA as part of my own retirement plan.

Most people think that some conservative bonds and a few stocks or bank investments are all they need. After all, a banker is not going to tell you about IRA gold or other investment possibilities. A bank is going to tell you about bank investment vehicles so they can get your money.

The non profit that I worked with had a stock broker with a reputable national investment company work with us as a volunteer. His company actually required all their brokers to do volunteer work, as do all the music business labels. Each artist has to choose a charity that they are willing to support when they sign their contract with the label, and most of them will donate a small percent of the sales from an album or a show to that charity.

The stock broker served our non profit as Treasurer for 2 years and he is the one o told me about gold 401k plans. Thanks to him, I was able to get educated on investment alternatives and put some of his good ideas to use.

Just a reminder that taxes are not due this year until Monday, April 18. Usually we have to get things postmarked by April 15, but since the deadline falls on Friday, the kind and benevolent Government is giving us a couple extra days. In case we need help. Bless them.