<p>I paid off my car today… less than 2 years after I purchased it…</p>
<p>Yay for no more payments!</p>
<p>:):):)</p>
<p>w00t!! Well done, girl! Congratulations for closing out a major financial transaction (and establishing a good credit history in the process 
). Now you can take a spin in said vehicle and smile. Congrats.</p>
<p>YOU GO, GIRL!!!
Hey! I just paid off my THIRD set of braces yesterday!!! We can celebrate together! :)</p>
<p><em>stadium-style wave…</em></p>
<p>Congrats to Fendergirl and Bururah!!!</p>
<p>Woot!! Woot!! It always feels good to accomplish financial feats!!!</p>
<p>Yes! Now you can join the club of which DH and I are charter members: drive that sucker until it dies! Take care of it, love it, and drive it until there is no life left. No car payments for years! </p>
<p>A good thing. :D</p>
<p>Yay!!! Way to go!! Now, continue to take the payment amount and “pay yourself” in a high interest bearing internet bank savings account. If you want suggestions, PM me. I have 2 that I use, but one is more “user friendly”. If you continue saving this way, you’ll have no problem paying the million-dollar-a-year college tuition when you have kids and they are at that age!</p>
<p>Yay Fendergirl! So, you looking at houses now??</p>
<p>not quite yet. this ‘paying off the car two years early in one lump sum’ took up a lot of my savings! time to start again! next big purchase should be a house!</p>
<p>i’m just glad it’s paid for. I’m tired of seeing all that extra money go to interest!</p>
<p>Yes, it is a good day, Fendergirl! Congrats on your big accomplishment, and good luck with the house search, too!</p>
<p>I am also having a great day! My daughter just found out that she has been selected to join Phi Beta Kappa! Even though she never received an official letter (she is interning in NYC this semester and is having problems with mail delivery), a copy of her letter arrived at her parents’ house. We are soooooo proud of her!!!</p>
<p>Here’s to one great day!!!</p>
<p>Way to go fendergirl!!! If you are able to save enough to pre-pay your car by 2 years, you should start an IRA. Just take $25 a month, put it in a mutual fund IRA or if that makes you nervous, a money-market fund, and don’t touch it. Pay yourself every month… I started such a fund when I was in my first year of grad school, and though the market has gone way up and way down and back up, I have a really great retirement fund…Now that I am over the half-century mark, I look back at that painful $25 a month and am glad I started the habit back then. I have been making my kids put $5 a month in their saving since they were little. Now, if I could only get them to increase the amount :)</p>
<p>yeah, i know. my mom is always getting on me to start contributing to my retirement fund at work. I believe they match 50 cents to every dollar. I haven’t put any dollars in yet, but they have still given me some money! I’m not really sure how that works. Last time I checked i had a few hundred dollars in there without doing anything!</p>
<p>find out what the minimum amount you can contribute with each paycheck and do it. If it is payroll deducted, you won’t miss it. You can’t spend it if it doesn’t show up in your paycheck. And, if they are matching, the $$$ will add up much faster than you realize. Take advantage of whatever employer contributions offered. These day, such programs are getting rarer. Just do it!</p>
<p>LOL, Fendergirl, you already have an enviable credit score, now start piling that money into investments!!!</p>
<p>You can choose the amount you want to deduct in percentages. I believe the minimum is 1% and you can choose to do it pre-tax or post tax. There’s a calculator that shows how if you’re contributing 50 dollars pre tax it only is 37 out of your pay check (or something like that). I just haven’t came up with an amount yet. I’ve mainly been concentrating on saving up money to pay off my car.</p>
<p>I’ll admit, i don’t know much about investing. I swear i get a booklet in the mail every month or so from my company or from fidelity (they handle our benefits) on investing and i just file them away. One of these days i’ll pull them out and read over it :P</p>
<p>Keep us this saving and you’ll be able to buy your next car for cash!</p>
<p>Very impressive, especially when the press seems to focus on those who aren’t so fiscally responsible. </p>
<p>It is a good day, and you are rightfully proud of yourself!</p>
<p>ellemenope - i don’t even want to think about my next car. Honestly, if i had to go out right now and buy a car, I’d probably buy the exact same one I have now. I absolutely love it… and there aren’t any new cars out on the market that i am crazy about… HOWEVER, that being said, the new VW Eos that is coming out looks very very very nice… Maybe in 5 years or whenever my car no longer functions I will look into buying one of them… but who knows, maybe some new car will be out by then that I like even more… </p>
<p>I think i’m going to get my credit score next month because i’m curious to see what it is now that my car is paid off. I’ve checked each of the last two years and it’s gone up each time.</p>
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<p>You don’t have to THINK about your next car yet–just save for it…</p>