Finances

I’m no financial wizard.

In fact, I’m not even a financial janitor.

I’m something on the order of “financial village idiot who smacks a brick against his head in exchange for scraps of food.”

So I have this stupid financial thing I want to do. I want to cash out some of my stock, and pay off my car loan.
It’s a foolish thing to do, because the car is depreciating (going down in value) and the stock is appreciating (going up in value) and it doesn’t make sense to exchange one for the other. It’s like trading a calf for dried up old beans that aren’t even magic.

However, there is a perception and emotional aspect to this. Every month, I make a large car payment. If the loan were paid off, I would feel better because:

a) I would have no debt other than my mortgage, and
b) I would have a pile of cash in my pocket every month that I would normally send away as a car payment.

I’m seriously contemplating it. I’d be using stock that could potentially be worth more in the future, but I’ll only be using a portion of my stock, and dammit, it would be nice to have some spare money each month, to invest, or y’know, go to Iceland with.

I might put a trigger on the stock, so it waits until the stock hits a certain price before selling. Right now the stock is under $25, but it’s been as high as $28. Maybe I’d set the trigger for $25.50 or $26. Typically summer is a bad time for the stock, though, so it might be a while until the trigger hits.

Sigh. I dunno. I know nothing when it comes to this crazy stocks and loans stuff.

Oh, also, I found out today that Staples now has vision insurance available, that could pay for a new pair of glasses every year. Of course, today is the day *after* the signup deadline. Damn! Though from what I hear, there might be a way to still do it. Have to find out, new glasses would definitely be worth $5/month. I wonder if it would cover part of Lasic surgery?