Buy Harley before investing?
Dear Dave,
We’re in our eighth week of Financial Peace University and we want a Harley. My wife has about got me talked into it. We’re about 13 months from having everything, including the house, paid off. Our emergency fund will be done in no time. After that, is it Okay to buy the Harley before going on to college planning and other investments that you suggest?
Chris
Jackson, Tenn.
Dear Chris,
After you’re debt free and have your full emergency fund, it’s fine to stop for a short while, save up quickly and buy the Harley. That’s the point at which I buy luxuries. You’ve done a good job working hard cleaning up the debt and putting savings in place…go reward yourself a little bit.
However, Harley’s have a mystique that they don’t go down in value. They do go down in value, just not as much as a lot of things do. Very few of the models actually go up in value as the legends out there suggest. So, even with a Harley, getting a two year old one isn’t a bad idea. A lot of Harley riders are pleasure riders, so you might find a two year old one sitting in a garage that’s hardly been cranked. And use some of those negotiating skills I talk about, such as buying with cash, where you don’t set out to hurt or beat up someone that you’re buying something from, but if you can find someone who doesn’t want something anymore and you do want it, you can get a deal.
Dave
Is putting personal debt on company credit card a crime?
Dear Dave,
I earn about $60,000 a year and have a family. My troubles seem to have started about five years ago when I stopped tithing and had this wonderful idea to get out of debt. Somebody suggested I transfer the balances from all of my credit cards with revolving credit to my American Express card. They also told me how I could do things like purchase airline tickets with my card and then cancel the tickets…essentially floating a loan until I got everything paid off. That plan kind of worked in the beginning, but then over time every little inconvenience got charged to the credit card.
To make matters worse, the credit card wasn’t even mine. It belongs to the company I work for. I’ve been able to hide this, but I’m afraid someone’s going to soon discover the $90,000 I’ve run up on this card. How much trouble am I in?
Bill
Jacksonville, Fl.
Dear Bill,
You are in a BUNCH of trouble! You’ve stolen your company’s credit card for personal use. You need to log off this site now and call a criminal attorney immediately and get representation. Then you need to call your pastor and go spend some time with him, because life’s about to get really, really tough.
This is called embezzlement.
I’m not an attorney, but I’m really afraid for you right now.
You’ll work your way through this, but it’s going to be a hard and long process. Whoever gave you the suggestion to do this gave you bad advice and following it wasn’t a good plan either. Under the advice of counsel and with spiritual leadership, you need to come clean on this as quickly as possible – no longer than two to three weeks out. You’d better take it to them. Then maybe you’ve got a chance of getting some mercy on working your way through this. With your income, it will take you a while – if they don’t fire you, and they probably will. What a mess. Make those two phone calls right now! You’re going to need some good people around you for support.
Dave
Disclaimer: Questioner’s identities have not been verified by Dave $ays column or this Website.
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