Interest rates

[JohanB 0]

What is the % tax taken from your salary, and what are the interest rates like on mortages, loans and car repayments, and I know you can easily see where your tax money is going to compared to SA, but do you consider the interest rates to be high or low, from an SA'er's point of view?

 

Johan

[Vlakvark 0]

Johan,

Here are the 2006 Federal Tax Rate Schedules: http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/article/0,,id=150856,00.html

 

State and local taxes vary somewhat throughout the country. Here is a link to the Illinois witholding tables: http://www.revenue.state.il.us/taxforms/Wi...ding/il700t.pdf

Just do a search for the state where you will live, and 'tax tables' or similar.

 

Interest rates on loans vary significantly based on your credit report. As a new immigrant, you can expect higher rates, anywhere from 7% - 13% is what I have heard. As you build up a credit history, and take new loans, these may drop. That depends of course on how well you manage your credit.

Yes, rates are low when compared to SA in terms of the percentage, but it is not that simple.

 

Before I came over, I created a spreadsheet with my SA budget on it. One column for SA income and expense figures, and one column representing the percentage of the total income next to each expense item.

Then I added a third column which used the current exchange rate, and added a formula that basically said "if I am to spend the same percentage of my income in the US on the same budget expense items, what would the dollar amount be for each item?"

That way, I got a rough idea of what I should be spending if things were to remain more or less the same in budget terms. It helped me a great deal knowing which city I was going to live in and what my income would be before I left SA.

Of course this is an oversimplification, but it at least gave me an idea. So if rent, or car payments, or groceries here worked out to be 3 times more than in SA.....it was a red light. Just an idea...

[boer 0]

Johan, my wife and I are both Realtors and I am also a Mortgage Broker.

If you want to contact me with specific questions, I might be able to answer it for you. You can also check out our website at http://www.TeamBeukes.com

My email: Johann[at]TeamBeukes.com

[JohanB 0]

Sjoe, ek dink dis iets wat ek eers oor sal worry wanneer ek geland het! Ek het die links bestudeer en ek lei nou aan information overload!

 

Oulike webwewe, Boerseun! En ja, Afrikaans is sterk oppad om eendag die tweedetaal in amerika te word, en sommer die eerstetaal in australië!!

 

JohanB

[Superkruz 104]

.......................... and what are the interest rates ..... loans, and I know you can easily see where your tax money is going to compared to SA, but do you consider the interest rates to be high or low, from an SA'er's point of view?

I guess the simple answer to this is "it depends" - just don't get a payday loan... as John Stewart explained on his show.