I had to use the bond to bail out my city and now it seems to be no way to get out of the hole. I have had to go and it again and now have 2 of them. Is there a way to pay these darn thing off. I sure do hope so. Help me Please!!! I do not want to cheat I just want to know of some ways that might help me out. I have tried adjusting the tax rate up and down, have cut back on most all I can. I am in deep trouble and going in the hole.

Strategic Advice: Jerry Moore

TWO BONDS!!! Boy are you DEEP in debt. Chances are, you may never recover, but here's what I would suggest. Make sure disasters are turned off and then cut funding on all services except transportation to 10%. Then try tweaking your tax rate in the 7-9% range to see if you can get a positive cash flow. If you succeed, then let the city run overnight on autobudget with newspapers off to build up enough cash reserves to pay off the bonds.

Strategic Advice: Patrick Coston (patcoston@gmail.com)

My first three cities were financial disasters because I kept taking out bonds. I think I had up to twenty bonds out at one point with this one city! Finally I went bankrupt and the sims kicked me out of office.

My problem was that I tried to grow too fast. I suggest you never take out a bond. Be patient. Grow your city slowly. Make sure your city is making money before you try to expand.

If you have to take out a bond, try and wait until the interest rate drops. 8% is very high. 4% is very low.

Strategic Advice: Lee Vinson (leevinson@why.net) If you have to buy a bond (to replace a power plant, etc.) you have to pay the going interest rate, but keep an eye on the Fed Rate in the graphs window. When it goes below the rate you paid on the bond, purchase a new bond at the lower rate and pay off the old one. I had 2 bond out, one at 6% and one at 5%. The Fed Rate went down to 2% and so I bought 2 bonds at 3% and saved 500 bucks a year.