Money on Alex Laird

Investment vs. Loan Payoff

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0000

A few weeks back, I was contemplating various ways Jess and I could possibly payoff school debt sooner rather than later. I had a spreadsheet detailing my current Loan Payment Plan, but I was more than willing to knock months off the bottom of that plan, if at all possible. So I mulled over several schemes for paying them off sooner: embezzlement, bank robbery, pirated movie sales. The usual. But none of these options gave me complete confidence that they were bullet proof.

Paying Off Your Loans

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Author’s Note

To prevent uneasiness, I should disclose that the attached sample spreadsheet (link provided at the bottom of the post) contains fictional data as an example/starting point for you to understand how the spreadsheet works so you can more easily use it yourself. These are not my (nor anyone else’s) loans or account numbers. Do not worry :)!

Everybody has debt. And, I assume, we all want to pay it off. But how quickly should we pay it off? Did you know that on a $100,000 home mortgage at 12.0% interest, increasing your monthly payment by only $100 (from $1,100 to $1,200) will save you nearly $50,000 of interest paid over the course of the loan? Now do I have your attention?

The End of an Era for NASA

Sat, 09 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0000

STS-135: The Final (Shuttle) Launch

This morning marked the beginning of the end of an era. I say the beginning of the end because the era does not conclusively close until next week, when the Space Shuttle Atlantis returns safely to the Earth.

The beginning of the end happened at 11:29 A.M. EST as Atlantis’ rocket engines propelled the 4.5 million pound vehicle off the pad and, in eight and a half minutes, out of the Earth’s atmosphere, into space, and up to a speed of 17,320 mph. (For the astute reader, you’ll note that this means it must be traveling at over 4.81 miles per second as it left the Earth’s atmosphere.)