Interest working against you

My husband, Evan, loves to fish. It serves as his escape from his demanding job as a surgery resident at the hospital. I get this- we all need our escape or something that gives us that natural flow.
For a few years now, Evan has wanted a fishing boat. He has spent hours and hours reading about the hulls, the best engines, all the different makes, horsepower etc. etc....and finally was ready to purchase a boat- a beautiful 20 foot Angler bay boat became ours 2 weeks ago. Even I can't help it- she is wonderful!
To purchase this boat, we first sold our previous boat- a yamaha jet boat that we sold for $8,500. Using this as a dowpayment, our boat sold for $20,000 and we ended up financing about $12,000.
Now the financing- with the recession and my income not where it used to be, we wanted low payments. Evan came home and told me he was told by the boat dealer we could get a boat loan for 8%.
8%!! I about fell out of my chair, just 2 years ago a financed my car at 4% how can the rates be so high now?! Welcome to the result of the credit crisis. After inquiring at several banks and credit unions, I found that this 8% rate was on the low side for boat loans now. So when we received our note from the bank, I looked at the total interest that will be paid over the duration of the loan- $8,900!!! That is how banks stay rich, and consumers stay poor. You bet your butt we will be paying off this loan much faster than the set payment plan? How...increasing our monthly payment from $175 to at least $250 a month and making lump sums from extra cash flow each month.
Have you ever looked at how much interest you are paying on your loans and credit cards ( which the average rate on right now is 9.53%)? Pay attention, it can really open your eyes and help you save thousands in interest that you can have to save for retirement, where you can earn interest on your money, not someone else earning interest!

a sad day

I had a client call me today with some horrible news- his wife, Laura, had passed away at 46 years old. I was shocked, she had been in and out of the hospital the last year but I had no idea it was life threatening.
The first thing I did was check his accounts- yes I was 95% and I was then 100% relieved. In 2007, when I met these clients, the husband, Marshall, was the primary breadwinner and Laura did not work. Most of the time when the non-working spouse does not bring any monetary value to the household, he or she does not have life insurance.
I convinced them in 2007 to buy a policy on her "just in case"- to cover funeral expenses and give Marshall some time to take off to spend with his daugther and not have to worry about money for a while.
I'm glad I was able to give Marshall and their daughter this one thing in such a tragic time.
Life insurance is important, I hope this reminds everyone of that.

Laura was also a donor, so her passing allowed 5 people to have better lives through donations of her liver, skin and other organs.
RIP Laura