LogFAQs > #970927766

Jaguar34 posted...

Ok I'm actually contributing. My house burned down and like an idiot I used the insurance money to support my family rather than build a new home (this was in 2014). I had 60K in student debt and worked a crap job. I purposefully default on the private loans and settled. I ended up paying 45% of the principal value back to the lender in 17 months. I'm now making my first real attempt to build my home since it burned down. Using the first quarter of 2023 to completely get out of debt then I'm gonna start building a home by developing plans.

CreditUnionCredit Card - $4921.27
BigBankCreditCard - $220
HugeInterestCreditCard - $366.29
CreditLine for Braces - $2363.00
AmazonPrimeStoreCard - $91.93
PotentialHomeLenderLineOfCredit - $2096.91
StudentLoans - $2400

$12459.40 total. I get my biggest paycheck of the year on Friday (about $6,500) and it's all going toward debt elimination. Probably gonna try for an avalanche rather than a snowball. I've made plans to quit alcohol and not eat meat between Monday and Friday. Hopefully, taxes serve as a booster rocket rather than a speed bump. I worked two jobs for 26 weeks last year and four jobs total so my income is gonna be all over the place.

What I really need help with is methods of acquiring stock. Almost 1K went to my 401K this pay period and I feel like I'd rather put that toward stocks rather than something I can't touch until I'm in my 60s

Sounds like youre doing the right thing, being realistic and open with your finances, and looking to have a plan and stick to it. Id say just keep doing what youre doing.

I know you asked in an earlier post, re: my debt situation, where did things go wrong. What I didnt post was the other side of the equation, which are assets. So although I have $800k in debt, Theres $1.5M in assets to cover that.

In all transparency - Im an accountant, so Ive handled the books of publicly traded companies that have assets in the billions, so for me it was natural to run my personal books like a business, essentially.

That said, its taken me 20+ years to build up those personal assets. Retirement accounts, real estate, stocks, etc. It definitely doesnt happen overnight. With that, getting into a 401k is a great start. My 401k has been by far the most useful asset Ive contributed to through time. Ive been able to take loans from it and make withdrawals, so dont get scared by you cant touch the money until youre 60 necessarily.