Debt and horses?

[TWH_Girl]

We have a mortgage (11 more years to go!), two small car payments, and I board two horses. I paid cash for all of my horses and we do pay off our cc every month. No student loans or other debt going on. My husband is pretty good with managing our finances and for the most part, we just don’t do it or buy it if we can’t pay for it in full up front. I would exclude cars or homes from that, but that would hold true for pretty much all other purchases. Trailer is 10 yrs old and we paid that in full too. We save in 401k, HSA, and our savings account every month as well.

CC debt is the hardest IMO. You end up paying a very long time for things that are long gone. We try not to use it. Actually, we don’t even use a debit card anymore after so many theft issues. So we are cash, check or credit. Old fashioned maybe but liberating at the same time.

[ElementFarm]

I have lots of debt: Mortgage on farm. Cars, horse trailer, and tractor payments. Some credit card/loan debt. I have 10 horses and a strict budget that I do my best to stick to. I know what interest rates are on various accounts, and pay those most aggressively.

Luckily I have a steady job and my budget/pay-off plan should see me at just mortgage, trailer, and a credit card in 5-6 years. In the meantime, I am abstaining from weekly lessons, rated horse showing, and any kind of family vacation.

It is what it is. I hate being in debt, but a lot of the debt is from buying/establishing the horse farm, and I’d rather deal with that now while I have a steady job. In 6 years, when my career will take a dramatic change (to who knows what), I want to have the farm where it needs to be, and have minimal payments to handle with a smaller paycheck.

[Empressive_Award]

I was debt free until I bought a house 2 years ago, and thus I also have renovation debt. I saved $100k in my house budget by buying a slightly older, smaller home (since it was just me at the time) that needed new appliances and floors, so it kept my mortgage payment low, especially for the DC Metro area. No car loans, no trailer loans, no student debt as I paid for my education as I went while working full time. I have about $20k in total debt aside from the mortgage that is a combination of major vehicle repairs, and major house repairs. I have a plan for 2019 to knock out 50% of it, if not more, and with my SO helping out with the household expenses that opens up room in my budget to pay things off faster.

I’m lucky enough for the moment to make a decent salary to be able to spend little on the side on my riding ($400/board 5 minutes from my house where I can ride year round, and $50/lesson here and there). Also lucky to not have any major medical issues with the horse and our only maintenance is shoes every 6-8 weeks and routine vaccines… fingers crossed it stays that way.

I have 1 horse I board, I take lessons 1-2 times a month if my budget allows, and currently only show locally during the season so I save money there as well.

Its almost impossible to be in your 20s or 30s and be debt free unfortantely, unless you are lucky and start with a family fortune!

[TWH_Girl]

Great to hear how people manage horses and other financial obligations. Sounds like a lot of us are pretty disciplined about things! I agree debt is not bad as long as it’s not a black hole you find yourself in…

[ChestnutArabianMare]

I have a mortgage and several thousand dollars in student loans that are rapidly being paid off… otherwise no debt! I board and I take lessons a couple of times per month. I just weathered two months of being off work and some medical/surgical bills without accruing any medical debt… that’s why there’s such a thing as savings accounts!

[LockeMeadows]

I believe most Americans are in debt. At one point, I had our farm mortgage, a car payment, credit card debt and about 15 personal horses. It happens. Ironically, almost all of that is paid off and I only have one horse.

My credit got trashed during my divorce and just recently, it hit 820. I pay off my credit cards every month, have a line of credit, and two small loans that I keep open just to help bump my credit.

Young Locke Meadows says “buy the horse”. Older, frugal Locke Meadows says “pay off your debt, get your credit squared away, THEN buy the horse”.

It really helps one of my best friends worships Dave Ramsey and has drilled into my head some of those principals. I never have been this financially secure, but it feels good.

[Palm_Beach]

When you carry a lot of debt, and also have the responsibility of many mouths to feed, you really are one bad stroke of luck away from catastrophe. Illness, accident, unexpected loss of job, etc. It sounds like everyone has made their situation work, but I would not encourage OP to jump into horse ownership without first getting finances squared away. I personally have low tolerance for financial risk, and the times in my life where money was really tight left me sick to my stomach, stressed, unable to sleep, etc. Some people handle it better than me, but I just like a bit of a financial cushion.

[Guilherme]

@LockeMeadows

I believe most Americans are in debt. At one point, I had our farm mortgage, a car payment, credit card debt and about 15 personal horses. It happens. Ironically, almost all of that is paid off and I only have one horse.

My credit got trashed during my divorce and just recently, it hit 820. I pay off my credit cards every month, have a line of credit, and two small loans that I keep open just to help bump my credit.

Young Locke Meadows says “buy the horse”. Older, frugal Locke Meadows says “pay off your debt, get your credit squared away, THEN buy the horse”.

It really helps one of my best friends worships Dave Ramsey and has drilled into my head some of those principals. I never have been this financially secure, but it feels good.

Indeed!!!

Many of us who are a bit longer in the tooth have gone through “bad times” and “good times” and good times are definitely more fun. But the nature of times is not just dictated by DC and Wall Street, they are always directly and immediately affected by the people living those times. Wise personal decisions, while sometimes painful in the sense that we don’t get what we want, mean better times later. And sometimes you do everything right and still lose. No guarantees anywhere except death and taxes.

Horses are luxury goods. No one NEEDS a horse unless they are involved in a profession where a personal horse is required to make a living and I don’t know of too many of them anymore. In that they are like boats, airplanes, or motorcycles. If you NEED a personal one of those to do your job then God Bless You. But if you just want one because it’s “fun” then that’s OK if, but only if, you can do that AND take are of your OBLIGATIONS first.

Debt is a tool, like a hammer. Like a hammer, it can build or it can destroy. What it does is pretty much the business of the hand that wields it.

G.

[jumpermd]

I am the odd duck out here. 100% debt free with four horses and a donkey. We follow the Dave Ramsey program. I had one horse when I decided I was sick and tired of owing everyone, so we buckled down and paid off over 50K in debt in less than a year (we both worked multiple jobs during this time to bring in supplemental income).

Now in order to maintain this lifestyle, I don’t get to show the way I would want too. Sure I could go do every circuit under the sun and put it on a card, but I refuse to do so. Everything I do is paid for in cash at the time of service. I work my butt off to maintain this lifestyle. I refuse to let horses allow me to go into debt.

[TWH_Girl]

@jumpermd

I am the odd duck out here. 100% debt free with four horses and a donkey. We follow the Dave Ramsey program. I had one horse when I decided I was sick and tired of owing everyone, so we buckled down and paid off over 50K in debt in less than a year (we both worked multiple jobs during this time to bring in supplemental income).

Now in order to maintain this lifestyle, I don’t get to show the way I would want too. Sure I could go do every circuit under the sun and put it on a card, but I refuse to do so. Everything I do is paid for in cash at the time of service. I work my butt off to maintain this lifestyle. I refuse to let horses allow me to go into debt.

This is a fantastic approach. One not pervasive in our society because we are somehow under the impression we should have what we want, when we want it by however we can get it. This is how cc debt grows, and 2nd mortgages, and negative equity for car loans. “Buy the horse” is fine. BUY the horse- don’t finance it. Buy what you can afford, if you have to finance everything, than it needs some rethinking IMO.

[GoodTimes]

This thread is an eye opener for how many people are living beyond their means.

I have a mortgage and that’s it. I make extra payments every month that go straight to the principle. I have a credit card that get’s me cash back, it gets paid off every month. Money goes straight from my paycheque into two different types of retirement savings so I can’t spend it.

I worked my butt off from the time I was 14 and I managed to make it through an undergrad and a post grad debt free. I buy used vehicles that are in good working order, I don’t finance them.

I was lucky that my mom also rides so as a junior so we shared a horse. I was also lucky that she paid for enough lessons when I was very young that I had the skills to be sought after as a catch rider. Now I can buy cheaper young horses instead of expensive made ones.

My parents were able to retire in their 40’s and 50’s. I’ll take any financial advice I can get from them.

I own one horse. I take one lesson per week. I go to 2-3 rated shows per year. I board at a barn that isn’t very fancy, but the care and coaching is good. I braid and clip for extra cash during show season.

We bought a new couch during the black Friday sales. We bought one that was on sale and paid in full. It saddens me that there are so many people out there who think it makes sense to finance furniture.

I’ll reiterate that horses are luxury items. While I would struggle to sell my horse if something financially catastrophic happened, I definitely wouldn’t buy another one if I had credit card debt or was paying off significant loans. I consider a mortgage “good debt”, as long as it’s being paid off as quickly as possible. Renting as an alternative is just like flushing money down the toilet.

[TequilaMockingbird]

Debt is all about context. A better set of questions would be how many people own a horse but are not on track for retirement? How many own a horse but don’t have an emergency fund? How many spend more than 30% of their monthly income on their mortgage?

Most people who own a home in the US are going to have a mortgage unless they’ve owned the home for more than 15 years.You may get a better return by investing your extra cash than paying down a mortgage with a very low interest rate.

[candyappy]

@TheMoo

I think very few people have no debt. Good or bad. For me it has always boiled down to the debt/income ratio. I have about 30k in debt, the bulk of which is a new car. My income covers my living expenses (I rent), my bills and my horse.

I do try to live frugally. The amount of spending money I have is not as much as I would like but I am happy with what I have.

I have no debt as far as loans of any kind or credit card loans as we pay it off every month. Living expenses, property taxes etc… Depending on where you live it can be just as expensive as a loan.

I keep my 2 horses at home. If I had to board I may not be able to afford even 1.

[anicolle]

I have a trailer loan that will be paid off in a few months, no car loan as I own my car. Lots of crappy CC debt from trying to live by myself on a sad salary for a year while talking care of two horses. I’m too bull headed.

When I was jr I lived a rather privliged lifestyle and was able to show AA jumpers (this wasn’t long ago at all) my guardian died and it all went rock bottom, I moved states. Shipped the young horse I had with me, I was living at the barn I worked at and I worked my butt off and got paid well. Actually when I lost my guardian per my parents the horse had to go or else I’d be living on the streets. No joke. Still moving states was the best thing I could of done for myself. (The whole horse needing to go is probably the reason I hung on so tightly to the two I own right now)

Now im making half of what I ever made. I barely kept my head above water. I eventually met my SO who owns some nice land for horses, also makes 6x what I make a year but carries studden loans right now and truck payments.

Im no longer paying board for the horses or rent so I should be able to pay off all the CC quickly. I’m most excited about having my little two horse trailer paid off.

[stressgirl37]

I must be older than many here. Student loan paid off many years ago (not that big of a debt to begin with), No CC debt, no car (truck) loans (We keep the same vehicles for a long time), mortgage-yes, but on 1 of 2 houses and will hopefully be paid off in 7 years. I have my equines at home (1 horse and 2 donkeys).

[saddleup]

No mortgage, no car loans, no credit card debt. My biggest expense is my horse in full training, plus property tax and the IRS. I do have savings and a horse emergency fund. It took me years to figure out how to be disciplined about credit cards, but it’s liberating to not have that kind of debt.

[horsepoor]

I consider myself very lucky to have gone to a private $$ college and come out with only ~$8K in loans (long paid off). I believe my 4 years of tuition in total was less than the current one year of tuition now at my school! I can’t even fathom the debt that I hear about young people (and their parents) getting saddled with these days.

I suspect there is a lot more debt around us horse folk than is being talked about on this thread, as those mired in it are unlikely to post!

[saultgirl]

One year left on the car loan (interest was so low it wasn’t worth pulling money out of savings), then a mortgage.

We use our credit cards to pay everything, but we pay them out fully every month.

I have three horses.

[Calvincrowe]

I luckily had no college debt— dad died when I was a junior in HS, and SS payments plus savings and me working got me through. Now it’s mortgage, car and truck loans. Small CC debt that I’m hammering down with a pay increase this year. I have a small side hustle of boarding retirees alongside my own old jumper. This offsets my mare at the trainer and my lessons.

As another poster said, it’s less about debt and more about financial planning for present and future. Our mortgage will be gone in under 10 years, we have substantial retirement savings, plan big purchases carefully and do not live beyond our means. I’m already thinking about what job I’ll do when I retire— not going to live off savings/investments until I need too.

[bluepece2]

We have 3 horses, a mortgage in our house and on a rental apartment. Our cars are all owned outright and our CC are paid off automatically every month. I was extremely lucky and my parents covered what my scholarship didn’t cover at university.