dilemma: should I get the RS-1 even though I'm in debt
Apr 17, 2006 at 2:01 PM Post #46 of 64
Good headphones get you through times of no money better than money gets you through times of no headphones. Same can be said of LSD, IMHO.
 
Apr 17, 2006 at 2:12 PM Post #47 of 64
Have you actually tried the Grado's?

I can imagine a couple of things happening -

- You get the Grado's, then realize you can't listen to them half the time anyways because they're open and they disturb your roomate, or you can't hear your music over other noise.

- You get them and realize the sound isn't nearly worth $600, and now you have substandard headphones and you're still in debt. (I bought high-end headphones only to be dissapointed myself, although they weren't Grado's)

- You buy them, *THEN* find out you need an amp to use them, leaving you with a pair of headphones that's useless until you spend even more money.

- You buy them, *THEN* find out you need an amp for them to sound good, leaving you with a sub-par pair of headphones until you spend even more money.

I don't know what headphones you have now, but if I were you and I didn't have any headphones, I would consider buying a more midrange pair of Grado's with that check. I imagine you could get a nice pair for $200, and still pay the loaner back $400.
 
Apr 17, 2006 at 2:34 PM Post #48 of 64
Well, looking back, you make around $500/month. Heres a nice little time table:
0 Months- $600 of debt paid off
1 Month- Debt paid off, $100 in hand
2 Months- Debt paid off, $600 for RS-1's
3 Months- Debt paid off, $1100 for RS-1's and Amp

So you have to wait a maximum of 3 months for debt to be paid off, and to get RS-1's. Thats assuming that you only use the salary for headphones (another folly, you should invest some of it somewhere else where it will accumulate interest. Mutual funds are a good place to start). Remember: DEBT IS BAD, SAVING IS GOOD.
-g
 
Apr 17, 2006 at 2:50 PM Post #49 of 64
I remember when I was a student and in similar situations, saving up money always looks so much easier than it is. I suspect you are uncertain, because you have a doubt on whether you can save the money up as easily as you hope. Ok I know this is going to be hard but, what would the person who lent you the money say if they found out that you bought $600 headphones and then it turned out you couldn't pay them back the full amount by the end of summer? If you don't already own some decent headphones, you might not even really notice how much better an RS1 is from the SR60 or some of the great $150-200 headphones that exist out there.

I know this might ruffle some feathers, but the ultra-expensive headphones are created for people with more money than they know what to do with, not college students. They are great headphones, but you can get amazing sound for $200. I have a lot of phones in my collection and despite having K1000s and Stax Lamdbas, I still love sitting in the back garden with either my SR60s or KCS75s listening on my portable. Heck there are even times when I'll put on the SR60s or KCS75s in the house just so that if I decide I want to get up and move around that I can and won't have to interrupt the music.

My suggestion is take the $600 and pay off part of the loan now. This will give you a really good feeling both in yourself and in the trust of the person who loaned you the money. Take the next $200 you save and buy some excellent headphones (HD580, K501, K601, SR225), or buy some SR60s for $70 or some Koss Porta Pro for $50. You can always resell them here latter. Then save up the next $400 and pay off the rest of the loan. If you are still finding that saving money is really easy, before you know it you will have saved up another $400, and with the reselling of your $200 headphones/amplifier, you have now payed off both your debt and own RS1s. If the saving is harder than you expected, at least you've paid back part of the money and have some excellent headphones. A decent compromise with some fall-back options.

Jessica
 
Apr 17, 2006 at 3:36 PM Post #50 of 64
If it's money you owe to an actual person (rather than a credit card or bank) it would be best to pay it off now. You really don't want them to find out that you could have payed them off sooner, and wood headphones are hard to miss. If it's a credit card, paying it off in smaller installments is reccomended (even if you do have all the cash at once) because you want to build good credit at a younger age.

Also... what are you jumping from to get the RS1 again? I don't think it's a good idea to immediately head to the "top of the pack" for a headphone. You really won't be able to appreciate all its subtleties until you've spent a long time with something a little lower on the totem pole.
 
Apr 17, 2006 at 4:13 PM Post #51 of 64
Quote:

Originally Posted by Mercuttio
If it's a credit card, paying it off in smaller installments is reccomended (even if you do have all the cash at once) because you want to build good credit at a younger age.


No offence, but this is terrible advice. If you have a credit card, pay it off at the end of every month completely. Do not make the minimum payments or go into debt to the credit card company, you will get taken for a ride, and end up paying an insane amount more to the credit card company than you ever spent.
-g
 
Apr 17, 2006 at 4:23 PM Post #52 of 64
Quote:

Originally Posted by gsteinb88
No offence, but this is terrible advice. If you have a credit card, pay it off at the end of every month completely. Do not make the minimum payments or go into debt to the credit card company, you will get taken for a ride, and end up paying an insane amount more to the credit card company than you ever spent.
-g


No no, I'm not suggesting making ONLY minimum payments. That's suicide, you're losing SO much money that way. But paying it all off at once does not give you much of any chance to build credit for yourself. I'm talking about paying down a larger amount here. If you only use it a little each month, then yeah, pay it off completely every month.
 
Apr 17, 2006 at 4:32 PM Post #53 of 64
Quote:

Originally Posted by Mercuttio
No no, I'm not suggesting making ONLY minimum payments. That's suicide, you're losing SO much money that way. But paying it all off at once does not give you much of any chance to build credit for yourself. I'm talking about paying down a larger amount here. If you only use it a little each month, then yeah, pay it off completely every month.


That is still bad advice, they don't even know if you pay it off or not, that has no bearing on credit scores. What matters is your available credit, and your ratio of used to available. And it depends if you are getting a mortgage or other kind of credit whether having high available unused credit is considered a good or bad thing, but paying off slowly is not looked at as either good or bad by credit rating agencies.
 
Apr 17, 2006 at 4:36 PM Post #54 of 64
Get your paper now, get your toys later.
 
Apr 17, 2006 at 4:45 PM Post #55 of 64
Quote:

Originally Posted by franzdom
That is still bad advice, they don't even know if you pay it off or not, that has no bearing on credit scores. What matters is your available credit, and your ratio of used to available. And it depends if you are getting a mortgage or other kind of credit whether having high available unused credit is considered a good or bad thing, but paying off slowly is not looked at as either good or bad by credit rating agencies.


Hmm, maybe I'm not writing anything I've been told properly. I've never been very good at describing money. I probably should have just kept quiet about it.
 
Apr 17, 2006 at 4:48 PM Post #56 of 64
Quote:

Originally Posted by Mercuttio
Hmm, maybe I'm not writing anything I've been told properly. I've never been very good at describing money. I probably should have just kept quiet about it.


Rule of thumb:

Paying them back is good.
Not paying them back is bad.
 
Apr 17, 2006 at 4:50 PM Post #57 of 64
Quote:

Originally Posted by Purgatos
Rule of thumb:

Paying them back is good.
Not paying them back is bad.


Right. Regardless, I've made larger purchases on cards before, pay them back within a year, and my credit scores have improved.
 
Apr 17, 2006 at 4:55 PM Post #58 of 64
Right, if you can't pay it all at once then paying it back in little bits makes them happy because they know they're getting their money.

I don't think either way is better than the other for your credit rating.
 
Apr 17, 2006 at 4:58 PM Post #59 of 64
Quote:

Originally Posted by Purgatos
Right, if you can't pay it all at once then paying it back in little bits makes them happy because they know they're getting their money.

I don't think either way is better than the other for your credit rating.


There you go, that's what I was trying to go for above. Hmm, so that doesn't do too much eh? Guess I'll just do it all in larger chunks if I make any other large purchases.
 
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