mike cap

Greg,

I wire transfered all my funds to Liberia. Heard things are going quite well there now. Could you forward the contact info for your Nigerian connection.? Would love to get a piece of that $100m too.

Ciao

Terry Adams

Hey Greg, I turned down the last Nigeria offer because it was only 10% of $20 million, and he wanted some "fees" up front. Now I am tempted by your deal. Could be the end of all my debt. :-)

Greg Fishman

I am sure you guys will be hearing from them soon, I forwarded your email addresses. Have your checks ready and let your bank know you expect a rather large deposit soon. I think I am actually going to visit them in the next few weeks. I hear Nigeria is a great vacation spot and the people are so friendly and honest.

OldGuy

Great stuff guys! And I did not work too hard for this equity. I purchased
a condo last year and it has gone up in value a 100K in a year. And
I dont see and end to its increasing in value. So I though
I would use the tax deductable way for this car. any number of way to do
this- 401k whatever but this seemed the most convienient.
thanks guys, and I thought it was the ambassador to Mexico?
OG

STLPCA

Greg/Mike/Terry
You guys are the lowest. Here I was ready to take advantage of those lucky windfalls, which I thought were only offered to me, and you aced me out without so much as an "I'm sorry." And I thought we were friends. Shame on you.

Oh yeah, DC, who says lawyers aren't good with money? I've never had any trouble getting rid of mine ... especially since buying the P car.

mike cap

OG,

As I recall you mentioned the condo is in the mountains? I think a "ski in - ski out" vacation for all your Rennlist buddies is in order. You're getting all this great advise (well, most of it, anyway), that's the least you could do. My K2's are ready....

It's great that an extra 100k of equity ended up in your lap. Congrats. The HE line is a great way to buy the TT. 401(k) loan is the worst - avoid at all costs.

Let us know when you get your ride and post pictures.

Best of luck.

Greg Fishman

Dan,
Don't get upset, there are lots of opportunities in that area. I did think about trying to take advantage of everyone that comes my way but I thought that would be greedy. What friendly, generous people those guys are! Don't despair, we can be partners in the next thing that we hear about. Before you know it we will have enough money to buy our own Caribbean island, the Nigerians know of some for sale, cheap!

DC from Cape Cod

My apologies....I meant that many people at the tops of their professions are dealing with work that is so specialized that they aren't able to concentrate on the more mundane details of life.

I have the utmost respect for people that burn cash on their P-cars.....<grin>.

OldGuy

Mike,
it is in the mnts. mammoth mountain. only 400" of snow
a year! 180 miles from my house here is the cool desert
110 degrees with T-Storms! Kind of a long way from NY though
OG

TMH

Mike,

Tell us why you say this regarding the 401(k) loan. I have not had to tap into either avenue yet, but I had always kind of thought that the 401(k) loan might be interesting - Paying the interest to yourself and all. No, not tax deductible, but there seem to be some hidden gremlins in there that you know about and I don't.

Thanks,
Tom

Greg Fishman

In a down market like we have had a 401k loan might not be a bad idea. You are paying yourself interest and maintaining the value in the acct. vs. losing market share. In an up market just the opposite.

If you have to leave the company that could be an issue since you have to pay it back within a short period of time or make a withdraw from the rest of the 401k (with penalties) to pay the loan.

mike cap

OG:
Mammoth Mountain!! Sweet !! Skied there many times in college (UC Santa Barbara) and actually talked my (then) girlfriend into marrying me there on a ski trip. That was 1980 and I believe there was wine and a sauna involved. Still married, she's got the Honda Pilot and I'm driving a Chevy Blazer. What's wrong with this picture? Name the date and we'll make the trip.... I remember the 10' high snow channels you had to walk through to get around.

Tom:
People think that paying interest to yourself is the cat's pajamas, but you can't deduct the interest like you can with a HE line and, more importantly, you'll lose the investment opportunity while the money is tied up in the asset you bought. Don't do it. Go HE line instead.

TMH

Mike,

Thanks for the info on that 401(k) stuff.

UCSB Class of '80, huh? I don't recall now, but I graduated from there in either '80 or '81 in Aquatic Bio. You apparently went East for ski vacations, I went West (or actually South, due to the orientation of the coastline in SB) to the Channel Islands for my vacations under the water.

I kind of liked it there, and stayed in SB until about 6 years ago. Don't know when you left or if you have been back, but I hear that things have changed significantly. Hooked up to the California Water Project, ended development restrictions, etc. I think that I got out just in time.

Had some great times in SB, but you can never go home again.

Thanks again,
Tom

JasonF

DC is right about certain professions and money management skills. In a former life I was a tax attorney, but now run a hedge fund. Many of our limited partners are doctors and lawyers, and although they may be at the top of their respective fields, some have a hard time managing money. Unfortunately, they get into trouble when they fail to admit that they need help and get poor advice from unscrupulous financial advisors, or when they leverage their assets to extreme levels to maintain a lifestyle.

The Wall St. Journal had an excellent column yesterday on the merits of carrying a mortgage vs. paying it off. The gist of it was that even after the tax deduction, you have interest costs that are not recoverable. Of course, when you pay off a mortgage, you lose the opportunity to invest the money elsewhere, as Mike Cap put it so well. I guess there are trade-offs to everything we do!

Although there are merits to the argument that you shouldn't take money out of an appreciating asset (a home) to buy a depreciating asset (a car) you gotta have some fun in your life, and for that reason, I wouldn't hesitate to do what OldGuy will do.

DC from Cape Cod

You can't take it with you. Make sure your family is protected and then have a blast!