Dirty Dinar

I got some bad news on Tuesday. It’s going to destroy my saving goals and put me in debt. I’ve been agonizing over the issue but figured I should share and see if anyone has some good advice for me.

I’ve mentioned from my first post that my car is in my father’s name. I’ve been driving this car for the past four years. Although I am the one who drives it, and usually think of it as my car, the reality is that it’s his car. My father had originally purchased it to be our driver’s car and it was - for a year or so. But we had to let our driver go and that meant we had an extra car in our garage. It happened around the time I was looking for a car to buy and my father persuaded me to avoid taking on debt and use the car we already had.

Now my father wants to sell the car I drive. He took this decision for a number of reasons and he says it’s about time that I got my own car. This is where my emotions and logic start sending conflicting signals. I have KWD 968 saved up. Other than that amount, I haven’t got anything to pay towards a downpayment unless my father helps me out. I’m not sure how I feel about that. We’ve discussed using some of the money from the sale of the car towards my downpayment. It will be taken as an interest-free loan that I will have to repay. I will need to get financing in order to buy a car so any money would be a help even though the whole purpose of this whole blog thing is to quit depending on my parents and manage my own finances.

He’s willing to share his car (the one he uses daily, not the one he’s selling) until I save up enough money to make a downpayment. That means the second I reach my emergency fund goal that 3,000 is going to be spent on the car. Not only will I lose my emergency fund but I will also have to go into debt. The degree of debt will depend on what car I choose to buy. I’ve spent the past two days thinking about this and it’s made me realize a lot of things about myself that I wasn’t aware of.

1. I have an aversion to buying a second-hand car. I don’t like the idea of someone having used the car before me. That’s a general hangup I have about all things second-hand, whether it’s clothes or cars.
2. If I’m going into debt I would rather buy a car that’s from a reputable company and with great service.
3. I’m superficial when it comes to cars. I want to drive a car equal to the standard of what I’ve been driving all those years. I don’t want to downgrade. I would rather go into higher debt than buy an affordable Honda or Toyota. I know it’s crazy but I’m thinking if I do go into debt why not go into debt for a car that’s worth it? I’d rather have a car that I’ll appreciate and enjoy for years to come even if I will need to pay off the balance for 4 years.

I have to start visiting showrooms and see what type of car I can afford. Then I’ll have to figure out how much I will have available towards the downpayment and how much I’ll have to take out on a loan. The next step would be to talk to my bank or check out other financing options.

Since news broke out that the government was considering increasing salaries, the co-ops have raised the prices of goods. Buying the weekly groceries has been more expensive than ever before and some believe the government has no choice but to increase salaries.

The Kuwait Times reports:

Government officials recently disclosed that they had almost finalized the salary increases that would include all Kuwaiti employees in government and private sectors as well as all those who receive social aid and retired employees.

Looks like we’re going to be getting raises soon. This will probably be the last increase for a long time. Any guesses how much the increases will be for the varying sectors? Of course, my interests lie in knowing how much the private sector will be getting.