Champ Kind

What a mess.

An extra $400 a year? No thanks, I'll just keep paying cash and avoid the hassle. I think we'll be fine.

JQP posted it on his Facebook page yesterday. Lots of commentary but speculation only.

If you're earning enough interest to fund a car loan, are you not also paying tax on the earnings?

I don't consider a vehicle an "asset". It's just a mode of transportation. I don't expect anything I own for that purpose at this point in my life to go up in value. Are you saying that financing makes it any better? In that situation, I'm continuing to pay for something that is losing value *as* I'm paying for it, interest or not. My assertion that it's not "mine" until I no longer owe anything on it still makes sense to me. Besides that, as far as investing in anything else that appreciates, we have a set percentage that we put away for retirement. We've also set realistic expectations as to what those contributions will look like at various phases of life starting at age 55 based on some (very) conservative rates of return. I'm not worried that paying cash for a good deal on a car is negatively affecting our portfolio, or even our ability to plan a vacation in the short term.

Hope you didn't pay for it. Figured the nerds you keep company with could just have it beamed directly to your computers from the United States of Space.

Fair enough. I think points 2 and 3 in JarheadBoom's post last month make it a little easier to understand: Those components have at least already been produced by Boeing though (200ER, 300F, 400ER). I know it's the first time they are being used together on one airframe, but it still doesn't seem like it should have taken as long as it has. The avionics and mil-specific components/upgrades are a probably a bear, so like I said, I can understand some delay on that account. Still seems like a long time either way.

Just called Sky Warrior Inc in Pensacola, and they are wide open after mid-Feb 2015 so far.

I probably did "lose" money by executing a debt-free budget. Like I said in my post, I'm okay with that considering the opportunity cost of time to keep track of expenses spread across multiple cards with the amounts/period of time constraints as Gravedigger described. We have been doing just fine--that couple hundred, even a few thousand, that we "missed out" on by not using credit cards doesn't affect our lives because we weren't counting on credit card companies to supplement our income to begin with. Didn't mean to sound like I was equating multiple credit cards with a lot of debt. What I have seen a lot of though is fellow officers living outside of their means as I described (too big a house/mortgage, car payments, student loans, vacations, etc). And those same people use multiple credit cards, as you guys are describing. As for the airport lounge perks...again, given the alternative, I'll soak up the cost of my own beers at the airport and avoid dealing with AMEX and the rest of them. No hard feelings toward them, just a choice we make, and like I said in my post earlier, I like keeping things simple. Besides....probably best I don't get too melty faced before a flight. Edit: I didn't address the exact thing you quoted, which was the purchasing of the cars. We buy pre-owned vehicles so as not to take the instant hit in devaluation inherent with a brand new car. I researched the hell out of the year/make/models/trim for those vehicles (as Gravedigger pointed out), I figured out my bottom-line price (below retail), and then offered that amount and no lower. I found the negotiating to be easier when you tell them outright you aren't interested in financing, we are either going to cut a check or walk to the other dealership that has the same vehicle we want and see if they are interested. Trust me, I didn't lose money on those deals. As far as the 0% financing deal goes... I don't fully own that car until it is paid off, regardless of interest. If I was financing it, I'd want to have that money put aside somewhere to pay it off in the event I experienced a loss of income. If I have that money put aside, I might as well just pay for it in cash and skip the financing tomfoolery. I know, the "loss of income" concept is probably remote, but it is also not unheard of, and it makes for a pretty worry-free life when you own your vehicles outright.

But then how would I have time to check BODN?

It's not just ten minutes of your time though, is it? Unless you are using these cards for one-time purchases, you still have to devote time to picking what card you are going to spend on what purchases at set locations, and then make sure you stay within your budget in making those purchases, then pay off the balance on the card(s) to ensure you don't pay interest. Again, that takes time. Question for you guys that use multiple cards every month... do you ever carry a positive balance on them? Maybe this is the way my mind works, but if I had a card that I only used for groceries, I could maybe make sense out of it by making an automatic monthly payment to that card of what my monthly grocery budget would be, and then just make sure I don't spend over that amount. Even that added effort isn't worth the $30-40 I'd make in the 5% cash back, but it's the only way I could make sense of it. As it stands now, we take out cash every week, and of that cash we have a set amount we spend per week on groceries (among other things). When that money is gone, it's gone. No overspending, no credit balances. It's not that we were ever undisciplined in our spending, but it simply prevents it from happening in the first place.

Guys, to each his own. I’m really glad that some of you have figured out ways to finagle reward point/miles using multiple credit cards. Someone reminded us earlier in the thread that there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and they are right. You are spending time to work the system and categorize your purchases on multiple different types of cards, taking the time to make sure you stay within some type of budget (I presume), and then paying off the cards every month. You are paying for those benefits in the form of time spent working the system. It’s obviously your right to criticize Dave Ramsey’s philosophies on money, debt, and credit. I am a pretty ardent follower of his, and I will be the first to admit that it is very “simple” (something for which he is constantly criticized). I have no problem admitting that a free flight every year, or a couple hundred bucks cash back is not worth the hassle to me. My household follows a zero-based budget. I’ve gotta tell you — it is a good feeling to know that when the dump truck full of money stops by the house on the 15th and end of month, we can do whatever we want with it, and it goes where we want it to go. We’re maxing out retirement accounts, fully funding a college fund (in addition to the GI Bill), and also budgeting for various yearly expenses (travel, gifts, etc). The only “bills” we have are a mortgage, utilities, cell phones, insurance and cable/internet. That’s it. Again, I will gladly sacrifice the relatively minuscule cash back/rewards for the time saved in having to track and pay off balances on multiple credit card accounts every month. As for some of your assertions that DR’s plan is only for those who lack self control, I respectfully disagree. In fact, I would say that it takes a great deal of self control to live debt free. You make it sound like living debt free is synonymous with an alcoholic needing to stay out of a bar…. simply not the case. JS nailed it in his post—statistically, you spend less if you use cash. If for no other reason, it’s easier to keep track of. I cannot tell you the number of people I have encountered in my career that are in loads of debt and don’t even realize it because it’s “normal”… It’s normal to have multiple credit cards, normal to have a $300K mortgage in a non-metro area outside an AFB, normal to have multiple car payments, normal to nurse your student loan debt… I can go on and on. It’s not that I am anti-credit cards, it’s more that I am against living outside of your means just because you think it’s normal. For the record, I haven’t had a car payment in almost 8 years and have paid cash for four decent cars in that time. I haven’t had a credit card (other than my required GTC) in 5 years. Had no problem in that time getting a mortgage, and even refinancing. Having credit just for the sake of maintaing a credit score is a self-licking ice cream cone. Flame away, fellas. Enjoy the points.

According to the internets, ITAF's KC-767 had its first flight May of 2005. JASDF KC-767Js reached IOC May of 2009. Plus, like Fuseplug said, the 767 airframe has been flying since the early 1980s. Not a tanker guy, but is a "first flight" for the KC-46 in Dec of 2014 really that big of an engineering feat?

Based on what you know about the new guy or has it gone so far downhill that nothing can turn it around?

According to the global it looks like he's coming from the Pentagon.

Anyone know him? Couldn't be any worse than Rhatigan....

Down 9.7%

Palace Chase?

..........?

I'll play. Whatever it takes.

No joke.

In my little slice of heaven, AADs are no longer being tracked for strats at the squadron level. That column has been replaced by PT score.

Did you swipe a card every month or did you give them your card number upon "moving in" to which they automatically charged every month? If it's the former, they should have copies of each payment on file.

One more indication that I'm not getting any younger. Thanks, Toro. And for the record, the 1206 got kicked back by the execs for acronyms that weren't approved at the NAF, and too much white space. You guys fly safe.

If you're going to run with jihadists, well, I hope you're wearing a helmet when you get rolled up because life is about to get tough. No sympathy. Waterboard away. And for those that say, "Oh no, they could do this to Americans"... If you're an AMCIT and get caught aiding these people, then I say you get a couple extra jugs of water because you grew up in the land of the free and should know better.