Debt (Was: How much is a FICO score worth?)

On Fri, 16 May 2008 14:22:49 -0500, "abby" <abbybrown@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
wrote:


>My only concern is that we haven't had a loan since 
>1995 which I paid off in a few months.  We are planning on buying 
>a winter home when my wife retires in four years.  With a clean 
>history is the FICO useful now?  Ever?

The thread "How much is a credit score (FICO) worth" has presented a
lot of good information.  But since this is a financial planning
newsgroup, I thought I'd inject an opinion/comment.

An overriding objective of good personal finance is to live within
one's means.  By that I mean that there are no unpaid balances at the
end of a month - everything is current.

I mention this just in case someone thinks that because of our
emphasis on FICO scores, it is acceptable to have debt.  For the
record, we can make exceptions for younger folks who haven't had time
to pay off their home mortgage.  Beyond that, no.

I realize that some folks will say that their investments are earning
more than their debt and they don't want to pay off their
indebtedness.  To them I respond if they cannot BOTH invest and be
debt free, then they are not living within their means.

That's admittedly tough.  But then that's why there are so few
multi-millionaires.




-HW "Skip" Weldon
 Columbia, SC

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