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| BUY ON TIME OR PAY CASH |
| Name | | | | | | | | Date |
| | | Cost of Borrowing |
| | 1. | Terms of the loan |
| | | a. Amount of the loan |
| | | b. Length of the loan (in years) |
| | | c. Monthly payment |
| | 2. | Total loan payments made |
| | | (monthly loan payment × length of loan in months) |
| | | $ - 0 | per month × | 0 | months | | | | $ - 0 | | | | | | YES |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | NO |
| | 3. | Less: Principal amount of the loan | | | | | | | $ - 0 |
| | 4. | Total interest paid over life of loan |
| | | (line 2 — 3) | | | | | | | $ - 0 | | | | | | 10% |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 15% |
| | 5. | Tax considerations: | | | | | | | | | | | | | 25% |
| | | • Is this a home equity loan (where interest expenses can | | | | | | | | | | | | | 28% |
| | | be deducted from taxes)? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | | | | | | | | | | | | | 33% |
| | | • Do you itemize deductions on your federal tax returns?. | | | | | | | | | | | | | 35% |
| | | • If you answered yes to BOTH questions, then proceed |
| | | to line 6; if you answered no to either one or both of |
| | | the questions, then proceed to line 8 and use line 4 as |
| | | the after-tax interest cost of the loan. |
| | 6. | What federal tax bracket are you in? |
| | | (use either 10, 15, 25, 28, 33, or 35%) |
| | 7. | Taxes saved due to interest deductions |
| | | (line 4 × tax rate, from line 6: | | | $ - 0 | × | 0% | | $ - 0 |
| | 8. | Total after-tax interest cost on the loan (line 4 - line 7) | | | | | | | $ - 0 |
| | | Cost of Paying Cash |
| | 9. | Annual interest earned on savings (annual rate of interest earned |
| | | on savings × amount of loan: | | | | % × | $ - 0 | | $ - 0 |
| | 10. | Annual after-tax interest earnings (line 9 × [1 - tax rate] |
| | | — e.g., 1 - 28% = 72%: | | $ - 0 | × | | %) | | $ - 0 |
| | 11. | Total after-tax interest earnings over life of loan |
| | | (line 10 × line 1b: | | $ - 0 | × | 0 | years) | | $ - 0 |
| | | Net Cost of Borrowing |
| | 12. | Difference in cost of borrowing vs. cost of paying cash |
| | | (line 8 minus line 11) | | | | | | | $ - 0 |
| | | BASIC DECISION RULE: | | Pay cash if line 12 is positive; borrow the money if line 12 is negative. |
| Note: For simplicity, compounding is ignored in calculating both the cost of interest and interest earnings. |