Send My Conscience Home in a Taxi

Through a lucky set of circumstances, I am debt-free for the first time in, well, a long time.

There was a period in November of 2008 when I owned no money to anyone. One morning, I paid the last few bucks off a loan I had (acquired, as I recall, as part of a break-up from a certain fiancée) and my credit card (or cards, I can't remember) all had a zero balance.

And then, just as I was celebrating paying off all my debts, my car died of old age. And I ended up borrowing a whack of money from my mother to get a new(er) one. The afternoon of the day I paid off all my debts, I popped into a Subaru dealership and bought a car!

I also ran up a considerable amount of debt on a number of credit cards during my trip around the world in 2009 - which I basically paid for on three cards, plus the minuscule amount of money I had actually saved. Going overseas for two months isn't cheap, I can tell you. When I got back I rolled it all into one personal loan. My bank told me that they'd actually pre-approved me for a loan of $35,000 if I'd just sign here - credit crunch? What credit crunch? I said thanks but no thanks, I didn't need that much cash!!!

So end the end I owed a fair bit of money, some of it a soft loan from my mother, but a lot of it a real loan from a real bank. It wasn't a lot - less than half of what I earn in a year - but it still was something of a pain to be paying off. And still probably more than jedi_amara made in the last couple of years ;-)

Then, much to my surprise, I recently inherited a fairly nice sum. My grandmother's estate was finally settled - she died at 97 early in 2009. The surprise part came because my dad forgot to tell me I was inheriting anything other than a great antique clock. So when he handed me the first of two cheques, I was pleasantly surprised!

So, for the first time except for about four hours in 2008, I owe no money! The first time, technically, since I started acquiring a HECS debt in 1992 - although didn't become "real" till I got a full time job in 1999 and had to start paying it back. Paid that all off finally in 2006.

All my accounts are now in positive territory, and maybe I can saving properly for... something! Money is always good to have :-)

And I plan to visit my grandmothers grave soon with some flowers. Roses probably, she liked roses.

I'm pleased to report that as of this morning, I owe no money to anyone. No loans, no credit card debts, no HECS, no nothing. Not that I ever owed a whole lot (note lack of mortgage) but now I've worked it down to zero.

Technically I've been in debt since I enrolled in uni in 1992 and started racking up HECS debts. So we're talking about sixteen and a half years of money here!!!!! I should be so proud.

And... of course this state will last for maybe four days. My car died (see related post) so I've had to apply to the Mom bank for a loan. Still, at least it's off the books and the interest rate is great :-)

In fact, strictly speaking it lasted four hours. Fark!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I blame the financial crisis and indeed George Bush :-)

My mother recently got a new car, after twenty years of driving her old one. I remember when she bought it new... It was (is) a 1988 Subaru DL Station Wagon, which I learnt to drive in. And is about a year older than my otherwise identical vehicle, color and stickers aside!

She got herself a Toyota Yaris(whatever that is) and tried to trade in her Subaru.

Guess how much she was offered as a trade in on her car?
$100! Which means my car, being a little younger, is, in the eyes of car dealers, probably worth $110! That's less than I spent on it's last service! Gah! Ok, so, trade ins tend to be less than the market value of a car, but still, what an insult to Fuji the Wonder car. Why, the stickers alone would be worth more than that... Time I bought a bike... And/or a new car...

My mother's car is currently sitting in her back garden, while she works out what to do with it. Damn, it'd be worth more than that as scrap!

Fark it. They're already starting to talk about a Recession. Shite. Who'd have guess that extraordinary levels of household debt and a whole lot of dodgy loans in the US (and elsewhere) would lead to financial collapse. Who are these idiots who make this stupid decisions and take such huge risks with everyone's money?

And when US consumer confidence takes a nose dive the rest of the world will soon follow.

Fuck. I've lived through at least three of these things. The was the Nerds-only bubble collapse in 2000 that ended up trapping me in the same job for five years. Then the one in the early nineties - the recession we had to have. They always start out the same... Investors do stupid things... The stock market has a "major correction" (read: collapse) and then suddenly jobs become hard to find. American consumers spend less. China exports less. We can sell less coal. And eventually every sector is slightly fucked... *sigh* Well, I can always go back to Defence I suppose.

And at least I don't have a fucking mortgage. I hear mortgage defaults and personal bankruptcies are up 30% from last year. Fun.