I Had a Revelation

...from reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad. It is this:

The Poor acquire liabilities.
The Rich acquire assets.

Think about this. If you get it, it should blow your mind.

I've also come to believe with every fiber of my being the following statement:

It doesn't matter how much money you make. It matters how much money you keep.

$2300 "Saved"

So we only paid $1700 for the plain white wrapper, leaving us $2300 from our budget of $4K. I can actually breathe a little easier now. With the leftover funds we'll take care of some essential and even a couple of fun things on the car that need taking care of. A huge chunk of the rest will go to the Visa card, whose 1.9% APR is expiring this month so that's timely indeed. And then we still have some funds leftover to play with, which is why I'm breathing a little easier--things are not so tight right now and it hasn't been that way in a long, long time. We also got our stimulus check last night, right on time just as the KGB I mean IRS promised, and a big bulk of that's going to the Visa card as well. The rest will go into savings so we are firmly back to Step 2 of Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps, where we'll remain for the next 1 1/2-2 years. But at least it's all on low, low interest!!!

Plan For Getting A New (Used) Car ASAP

The only thing within my power is to do the following: use one of the checks from my Discover card with a promotional APR of 1.9% until April 2009 (and initial 3% fee) to do so. I've told S we can do not a penny over $4000 for a used car. That will make my monthly payments around $150, perhaps a little more or less. By April 2009 S should definitely have a job!!! By then the whole amount should be close to paid off, even with the other credit card charges, which are as follows:

DISCLAIMER/REMINDER: Roughly 99.9% of the below charges are LEGAL FEES due to the custody battle.

Visa #1: $3300 @ 1.9% APR until June 23, 2008. I am going to fork over as much extra as possible this month (IRS Stimulus, Summer Job $, assorted extras) and when the APR expires on this month the balance should be closer to a nicer $500-600.

Visa #2: $4500 @ 0% APR until May 2009. Paying the minimum on this b/c, once again, S should definitely be employed by the time this promotional APR runs out.

Visa #3: $5360 @ 0% APR until September 2008. Some of the funds from Visa #2 will be used to pay a bunch on this account in September. Right now the funds are in an ING online savings account earning interest until then.

MasterCard: $8300 @ 6.9% APR until the balance is paid off. That's about the best deal you can get, even better than some banks will loan at.

So a Discover Card check charge will be, including the 3% fee, $4120. Although actually, I'm going to have to do closer to $5500, bringing the new Discover Card balance to $5665. This is b/c there are even more legal fees coming up, including mediation, additional payments to our lawyer, and a payment to the amicus attorney. Once again, 1.9% APR until 4/09 is about the best deal I'm gonna get.

The other night I said to someone that the custody battle is the worst thing that's ever happened to me. Financially AND otherwise, that is the God-honest truth.