All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Looking forward to seeing it!

In some states there is also "Education in Lieu of Experience" to qualify for the real estate broker's exam. In California if you have a Bachelor's Degree you qualify to take the broker's exam if you take roughly 5 additional online courses. All the courses can be completed in a couple months if you hit the books hard. That assumes during your Bachelor's you took some combination of stats, accounting or finance.

Thanks. Some of it was good advice from friends years ago. Some of it I got from books along the way: Dave Ramsey, Robert Kiyosaki (Kiyosaki the part about not financing toys), Tim Ferris (if you're discipline, work the credit card companies and get free flights by paying your bal in full every month).

It's all true. That is why I felt qualified to type it up. The numbers I did not change at all in my example are the ratios, the number of credit cards open, the combined total credit limit on all "revolving" debt , and my fico score.

I hope it helps others. That and "credit repair" agencies kind of bug me for some reason. I am not sure exactly why. Though I do remember some credit repair people on this site who did add value with their posts.

The real repair is in changing one's habit and perception. That should only take about six months.

I went from "defaulting on a student loan" to a 770 Fico in under three years in the late 90s.

It takes a little time. You have to establish credit history. But if you follow the advice in this thread and start slowly you can have a great fico score in two to three years.

You can have a high "debt to credit" ratio. As long as the type of debt composing the majority of the "debt to credit" ratio is "mortgage" debt and maybe some "installment" debt (student loan debt and such). However, not "revolving" debt. Credit cards are considered "revolving" credit lines. You want to keep the balances (debt) and "debt to credit" ratio very low on credit cards.

The magic number of total credit cards to open appears to be 4 or 5. Do not get more. A good combined credit limit for all your credit cards is around 30K. Only use one. Pay it off in full at the end of every month. You will get free flights and pay no loan costs. It's all about building good habits. Use the other 4 cards once a year to keep the status of those cards "active".

You can have a fico score of 815 with parameters similar to this on your credit report:

Total Open Accounts: 8
Total Balance: $300,000
Total Credit Limit: $352,000
Total Debt to Credit Ratio: 85.23%
Total Monthly Payment Amount $1800.00

However the "debt to credit" ratio on the "revolving" credit in this example is extremely low. (.12% of say 30k).
The "debt to credit" ratio for "revolving" credit will show up as 0% on your credit report when it's that low.

The "mortgage" or "installment" "debt to credit" ratio can be high and not impact your score much:

Mortgage Accounts ( property loans, HELOCS, etc..): 3
Balances 250K
Credit Limit: 270K

Debt to credit ratio: 92.5%

Installment loan amounts on student loans and cars are hopefully lower as well as their ratios. But they can be high and not hurt as much. But revolving debt has to be low.

If you're really reading this site a lot you are probably not financing anything that goes down in value, like a car or toys.

Start slow with the type of credit card recommended in this thread. Add on a few more cards over the next couple years. Carry very low debt balances on that type of debt. Keep your first credit card open forever to lengthen your credit history.

Good luck!

I just took a look. I agree. Great site J Scott. Very educational.

There are a lot of people talking about how "gold is at a top". I believe that is not how tops work. My belief (and money is on) the premise that we are at a top when everyone is talking about how "gold will keep going up." The signs in front of coin shops will lean more towards: "we sell gold" instead of "we buy gold"

Plus all the crazies who think the world is going to end in December 2012 are going to drive up the price :). Though I am not quite sure how gold will protect against that.

Oil seems to be coming down a bit. I would like to see that reflect at the pump soon.

2007 BMW 328i. Bought used. Paid in full (Dave Ramsey style). 20K Miles. Still under free service warranty.

Ditto on everything Marc said minus the phone call with Tim W. Though I've enjoyed an In N Out burger with Tim on more than one occasion.

A couple Robert Kiyosaki books got my wheels turning as well on a motivational level.

I am with you, Bienes -

On one hand I am excited. I've been averaging 45% a year return in the commodities space since Mar. 09. But on the other hand is it really just purchasing power of the dollar losing value? Luckily at the moment I am not driving much and I eat more chicken than beef.

Hats off to the "tough crowd." That is why this site rocks. This is a real community that shares it's experience from being in the trenches.

I agree with the others. I like some of the post. But the way you're going about it here is going to garner a "tough" response, and it elucidates that you have not spent much time here checking things out before posting.