Buying a Car

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Purchasing a car, buying a house, and funding college are three of life’s great expenses. In this month’s newsletter I want to focus on the financial aspects of your automobile and what you should consider when making that purchase. Enjoy these four resources:

  • Read: A sunk cost is a past cost that you cannot recover. The sunk cost fallacy is convincing you that you can’t give up because of all the time and money you’ve already spent. This fallacy has relevance for vehicular cost, maintenance, and replacement. Read more here in Economics 101: Sunk Cost Fallacy.
    Additional Read: Financial Mentor has a great article and calculating tool to figure out how much your car is actually costing you.
  • Listen: Should you fix the car or buy a new one? In this podcast, White Coat Investor discusses the best responses to your current car situation. For example: if it’s going to cost more to fix it than the car is worth, get whatever you can for it and consider it totaled. 
  • Watch: When is buying a car better than leasing? Almost always! This brief video explains why and includes examples in the written article.

If you find the information provided valuable, please pass this email along to your family and friends! Better yet, recommend them to subscribe to this monthly newsletter by signing up on our website!

You can click on the links below to access this month’s resources. Thanks for reading, listening, and watching!

Resources for Comprehensive Financial Planning

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Bona Fide Finance has exciting news to share this month! We now have a resource page available to use as a reference as needed. It’s creatively called the Resources page (original, I know!); we have numerous links to all the major subjects of personal finance. Within each subcategory you will find a number of links to other blogs, articles, websites, books, interviews, etc., all with the aim to help you be as informed as possible regarding these topics. Take a gander when you have a moment; we hope you are able to put it to good use. Enjoy!

  • Investments: Mutual funds, asset allocation, fixed income instruments, annuities, socially responsible investing, trivia
  • Taxes: Payroll tools, online tax preparation, 1031 exchanges, state tax rates
  • Budgeting: Software, debt management, managing money, saving and spending, credit cards, financial spreadsheets
  • Student Loans
  • Behavioral Finance
  • Insurance: Life, disability, health, auto, long term care, home, umbrella liability, trip, pet
  • Estate Planning: Trusts, executor, legal documents, ethical will, digital lockbox
  • Home Ownership: Mortgages, insurance, determining your home’s basis, reverse mortgages, homestead exemption
  • Car Buying
  • Retirement: Early retirement, retirement accounts and contributions, retirement calculators, social security
  • Lifestyle Design
  • Financial Independence

If you find the information provided valuable, please pass this email along to your family and friends! Better yet, recommend them to subscribe to this monthly newsletter by signing up on our website!

Tips On Financial Investing, Vehicles, and Your Paycheck

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This month, I’d like to highlight the following resources on investing, vehicles, and your paycheck cycle:

  • Read: Have you ever wondered what the benefit is of having a financial advisor for your investments, especially if you’re a do-it-yourselfer? This Vanguard client brief explains how financial advisors create value for investors.
  • Listen: Car leasing is the most expensive way to operate a vehicle. Car leasing is the cheapest way to operate a new vehicle. Both of those statements are true. In this podcast, Joshua Sheats explains why, and he explains how to get out of a lease if you have one.
  • Watch: Did you know that 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck? In this short video, Jesse Mecham provides several litmus tests for gauging which side of that percentage you fall into.

If you’re interested in meeting with me about any of these or other financial questions, let’s set up a time to talk!