ARE YOU A SAVER OR A SPENDER ?

If you know to the nickel how much money is in your wallet or purse at this moment,keep track of exactly how much you spend and where you spend it, buy only clothing that doesn't need to be dry-cleaned, and eat pasta three times a week to stretch yourfood dollars, you're probably a saver.If, on the other hand, you simply must eat at that little bistro with the great wine selection twice a week, can't imagine life without your $140 Nikes, haven't a clue as towhere you might have spent that $50 you stashed in your wallet Saturday morning,and haven't had your Visa paid off for more than a year, chances are you're a spender.

Your return on your savings and investments can be calculated pre-tax and aftertax. After tax obviously means after you pay income tax on the earnings; however,this figure can be difficult to determine since we allhave different tax rates. Thus,unless specified otherwise, are assumed to be after tax figures.

As always, the key is to faithfully pay the reduced amount that you negotiate.
Now you're moving into the area of secured loans. This is a little trickier because something exists that a creditor can take away from you. If you start missing car payments, the creditor can and will repossess the car.

One of the biggest problems is that, if your car is repossessed (or even if you give it back), you still have to pay the defciency balance when the car is sold. The defciency balance is the difference between what you still owe on the loan and what the creditor can get for the car. So you could be without a car and still have an outstanding debt. Two major reasons explain why creditors will more than likely be willing to work with you when it comes to a car loan. First, most people realize that a car is a necessity, and the creditor realizes that if you can't get to work, you won't ever repay the loan.

Second, a car loses its value pretty quickly, and creditors know that it probably won't sell for much. And if you can't pay the loan, creditors know that you probably won't be able to pay the deficiency balance, but they charge it anyway. By doing so, they can get something from the settlement of your property if you declare bankruptcy.

Again, the key to avoiding this problem is to talk to the creditor. In this case, you may be talking to a bank or an auto loan company. Talk to a supervisor or loan offcer. Explain your financial problems and ask for an extension. Generally, the loan company will allow you to go one, two, or even three months without making a payment, although they'll charge you additional interest on those payments and add both the payments and the extra interest to the end of your current contract.

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