Current Events > I'm making this the year I pay off my enormous debt.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Car - 17K
Student loans - 27-47K (all dependent on the supreme court)
Miscellaneous - 10K (don't ask)

The Supreme Court might throw a wrinkle in this plan, but I'm confident that I can still get a lot of it taken care of.

Objective 1 is the student loans since they will be eating into my paychecks. If all goes well, by the time I get my bonus in October, I will be able to pay off the last of my car. After that, I will pick off the little guys that make up the big guy in the last row.

There are some assumptions: 1. I get a nice raise this July and 2. I get a nice bonus. If those don't come true... the goal might be a little ambitious. This bonus I'm talking about is somewhere around 7-8k, which I plan on throwing at the car loan.

In the end, I just want to be a free man. You can't truly be free if you have debt.

PiOverlord posted...

Miscellaneous - 10K (don't ask)

I won't, but I'm open to hearing you out >.>

Pay the monthly minimum on all of them except the one with the highest interest rate. Any excess money going towards your debt should go to that one only until its paid off. Then go to the second highest interest one with excess money while paying the minimum on the other debt. Then on and on and on.

Hope you can take care of that. What's your job?

PiOverlord posted...

Miscellaneous - 10K (don't ask)

Oh I'm asking. And you could have avoided having me ask by not saying "don't ask".

Minimum payments. Invest any extra money you can. That'll grow faster than your debt interest in most cases.

PiOverlord posted...

You can't truly be free if you have debt.

Welp
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/0/8/AAb05zAAEGWw.jpg
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/0/9/AAb05zAAEGWx.jpg

So not doing that best user $200 giveaway then?

CE_gonna_CE posted...

Welp
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/0/8/AAb05zAAEGWw.jpg
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/0/9/AAb05zAAEGWx.jpg

Unless you can consolidate and refinance that, you might be screwed.

got a high paying job and paid off my credit cards and turned my 30k+ private student loan debt under 10k p fast

once the money's rolling in, as long as you have the discipline it's easy af to pay shit down

Starks posted...

Unless you can consolidate and refinance that, you might be screwed.

Its all good. Im paying a bit more in interest than Id like, but its not super excessive and most of the CC debt is 0%. Liquidating assets to pay off the debt would come at a far greater cost than just eating the interest.

i filed for bankruptcy 2 years ago and am just breaking out of the rebuilding stage.

my credit score on most of the scoring systems is around680-720. i got approved for a car loan in october, and, along with a couple subprime credit cards, got approved for my first non-subprime credit card from a credit union.

next up is an FHA loan

once i have enough income to afford everything...

My car will be paid off in the next 45 days. Then I'm planning to pay off a couple other debts this year... After that, it'll be about accelerating my savings and investments to grow my passive income.

i have a nice chunk of govt/public student loan debt, but i don't even think about it because it'll be 'forgiven' in several years and once the monthly payments resume they won't be much.

will also say there's an art to living with debt for people with reliable revenue streams or the ability to create new ones when old ones go down, but i haven't been brave enough to think that way just yet

--Zero- posted...

So not doing that best user $200 giveaway then?

Nah, I will. It's in my budget I made.

PiOverlord posted...

Nah, I will. It's in my budget I made.

smh why would you waste money giving it away to CEers?

CE_gonna_CE posted...

Its all good. Im paying a bit more in interest than Id like, but its not super excessive and most of the CC debt is 0%. Liquidating assets to pay off the debt would come at a far greater cost than just eating the interest.

How da fuq do you get a 0% interest on CC debt? Those things are like 20% normally. I hope it's not "0% for x months and then 19% thereafter", because you still will owe the 19% for the x months of whatever hasn't been paid off by then.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

Yeah, it was nice! I definitely didn't use it the way should have though.

I still believe 32k of my student loans is bogus, though. School lied to me.

Regardless, good luck with your debt. We just gotta focus and the big number will turn into a 0 eventually!

17K on a car?!? Holy crap!

Is it at least nice?

LeCh0nk posted...

How da fuq do you get a 0% interest on CC debt? Those things are like 20% normally. I hope it's not "0% for x months and then 19% thereafter", because you still will owe the 19% for the x months of whatever hasn't been paid off by then.

Thats exactly it. I run balance transfers from card to card, ranging from periods from 12 to 24 months. I always pay off the card in full before the promo expires so Im not stuck paying 20+%.

I do end up paying a fee on each transfer. Thats typically been 3-4% in the past, although nowadays theyre averaging closer to 5%.

CE_gonna_CE posted...

Welp
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/0/8/AAb05zAAEGWw.jpg
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/0/9/AAb05zAAEGWx.jpg

WTF dude

Where did you go wrong in life?

Jaguar34 posted...

17K on a car?!? Holy crap!

Is it at least nice?

It is a 2019 Elantra. Got it in November of 2021, so it was still relatively new. Had no job beforehand, so all I had was $1,000 to put down. Rest was financed through a bank loan.

Wanted a car with tech in it such as blindspot detection, gps, cameras, collision warning, and such.

CE_gonna_CE posted...

Thats exactly it. I run balance transfers from card to card, ranging from periods from 12 to 24 months. I always pay off the card in full before the promo expires so Im not stuck paying 20+%.

I do end up paying a fee on each transfer. Thats typically been 3-4% in the past, although nowadays theyre averaging closer to 5%.

How long has this been going on?

PiOverlord posted...

It is a 2019 Elantra. Got it in November of 2021, so it was still relatively new. Had no job beforehand, so all I had was $1,000 to put down. Rest was financed through a bank loan.

Wanted a car with tech in it such as blindspot detection, gps, cameras, collision warning, and such.

I see. 17K is worth it in that case.

I drive a 2003 Ford Ranger. I work from home so a vehicle isn't huge for me right now as I'm also getting out of debt.

Trying to avoid 10K on my first family-sized vehicle but it doesn't look like its happening

it sucks. when they got bent to conservatives. they don't want to help anyone at or below working middle class or women.
likely won't get cancelled debt.

PiOverlord posted...

How long has this been going on?

So Ive got a spreadsheet going back to 2018 where Ive been tracking everything in detail across multiple cards, so lets say 5 years roughly.

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

Not happening for me.

Owe
24k on a personal loan (needed a new roof and hvac...)
7k on a credit card.
13k in student debt (hoping 10k gets forgiven, would really help)
308k mortgage

352k in total. 44 if I don't count the mortgage. I make 65k / year.

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.

Thanks for the insight. Just like you said I was looking at one side of it.

And yes, many people have mentioned that the 401K can be very useful in the home buying process. I appreciate your insight because this is often a lonely journey

Jaguar34 posted...

Thanks for the insight. Just like you said I was looking at one side of it.

And yes, many people have mentioned that the 401K can be very useful in the home buying process. I appreciate your insight because this is often a lonely journey

Absolutely. And yeah, my last pull was using a CARES act withdrawal in 2020 to get the down payment for my current house. Ive since repaid 2/3 of that back and will be repaying the rest this year.

In most cases, taking from your 401k isnt going to be the best approach and youre probably best off trying to just set it, forget about it, and never touch it as much as possible. But if youre using it to purchase income generating or other appreciating assets, that changes the game a bit since youre really just reshuffling your asset portfolio.

Whats dangerous is taking it out for luxuries, non-appreciating assets (cars, etc) or other one time expenses.