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If you listen to Dave Ramsey may be more common than you think. Anyone can spend beyond their means & run up credit card debt. Data shows credit card debt is at record levels.
Anyone can get a new car with a loan. If the "average" car runs $40k or more get into trouble. Buy more car/truck than you can afford.
Another group may be doctors, lawyers, other "professionals" running up six figure student loan debt. Now the freeze period is over. Time to start paying for those loans. Time for interest to begin accrual again. May depend how much debt while still a undergrad student. Then the job prospects depending on the degree aren't that good. Not even talking about the expensive private college/university.
So yes, the OP isn't much different from other people. The bad part is getting money from sister. Could beparent instead of sibling.
The wonderful thing is that Op is making getting his/her sibling paid back a priority. The Op has integrity and good character and is appreciative of the sister's help. In this particular situation getting money from the sister has worked out well.
Keep up the great work. Imagine when this debt is paid off if you keep this motivation up and save 30k in investment vehicles a year. Obviously I’m sure you’ll need to take a step back from working so much once the debt is paid off but take that same motivation to make more money.
I did a little day trading during the Dot.Com days, I made some money, lost some, ended up 2k ahead, but I never borrowed money to invest.
In the early crypto days, I invested some extra money in Crypto, LiteCoin was my choice of crypto, I brought in somewhere around $30 a coin and bailed at around $200, I dabbled a little after that, but in the end also made around 3k. The market volatility was too risky in my opinion. I probably could have made a lot more, but I was going thru a divorce at the time and had limited funds to play with.
I avoid debt like the plague. I have two cars, both paid off. I left my Hyundai Elantra outside my garage one night a few weeks ago and someone stole it. The police found it in a cemetery 4:30am the next morning. They probably would have wrecked it, but it was near empty, had maybe 30 miles range left, they it ran outa gas before any damage was done. Got the car back by 10am that morning, it runs fine, at least fine as it is going to with 215k miles on it. I replaced the rear passenger window they broke and put the ignition switch back together with duct tape. Anyway getting to the point, the Wife wants to get a new car to replace it, we looked at Toyota Rav4, but I can't see getting a new car with a car loan when the car still runs fine, I'll keep driving it till it doesn't work anymore, but I do keep it in the garage every night now. I am saving up the money to pay cash for the replacement car though.
5) Line of Credit = $12,000 ($738 @ 17.24% and $11,262 @ 15.49%)
6) Credit Card 5 = $15,501 @ 0% until 4/24 and then 29.99%
7) Credit Card 6 = $5,359 @ 21.99%
8) Credit Card 7 = $5,239 @ 19.24%
9) Loan 1 = $19,998 @ 9.9%
10) Loan 2 = $17,606 @ 15.99%
11) 401k loan =14,528 @ 1.5%
12) 401k loan 2 =8,068 @ 3.1250%
Total Debt = $134,593
Monthly payments = $2,525 (not including 401k payment)
Monthly interest = $1,324 (not including 401k interest)
SUNDAY 3/12/23 UPDATE
Quote:
1) My Loan 1 = $20,000 @ 15.99%
2) Her Credit Card 1 = $22,660 @ 0% until April 2024
3) Her Credit Card 2 = $12,200 @ 0% until November 2023
4) My Credit Card 1 = $2,619 @ 19.49%
5) My Credit Card 2 = $20,000 @ 2.9% until December 2024
6) Her Cash Loan = $28,000 @ 0%
7) My 401k loan 1 = $13,856 @ 1.5%
8) My 401k loan 2 = $7,763 @ 3.1250%
Total Debt = $127,098
WEDNESDAY 6/7/23 UPDATE
Quote:
1) My Loan 1 = $19,701 @ 9.99%
2) Her Credit Card 1 = $21,760 @ 0% until April 2024
3) Her Credit Card 2 = $5,600 @ 0% until November 2023
4) My Credit Card 1 = $2,513 @ 19.49%
5) My Credit Card 2 = $19,276 @ 2.9% until December 2024
6) Her Cash Loan = $26,500 @ 0%
7) My 401k loan 1 = $12,774 @ 1.5%
8) My 401k loan 2 = $7,394 @ 3.1250%
Total Debt = $115,518
SUNDAY 9/3/23 UPDATE
Quote:
1) My Loan 1 = $18,938 @ 9.99%
2) Her Credit Card 1 = $18,860 @ 0% until April 2024
3) Her Credit Card 2 = $0 --- PAID OFF IN JULY 2023 ($12,200 paid off in 4 months)
4) My Credit Card 1 = $2,260 @ 19.49%
5) My Credit Card 2 = $18,215 @ 2.9% until December 2024
6) Her Cash Loan = $25,000 @ 0%
7) My 401k loan 1 = $11,824 @ 1.5%
8) My 401k loan 2 = $6,961 @ 3.1250%
Total Debt = $102,058
Quick recap:
1) I'm no longer working 3 jobs. It got to the point where I was so exhausted and the people that worked at the restaurant I was working at were so unbelievably lazy that I was tired of picking up their slack that I ended up finally quitting. I quit on October 1st. I'm still at my primary job as well as my one day a week Sunday job. I was able to pick up a few more hours at my second job so now my Sundays consist of working a 13-14 hour shift instead of only a 10 hour shift. The physical and mental relief was and still is definitely worth losing the extra paycheck from the restaurant. I'm never going back there!
2) I dipped into a taxable brokerage account this month and sold about $1500 worth of stock. Figured I'd just take that and chuck it onto my debt. I think next year I'm most likely going to dip into my 401k account and take a hardship withdrawal. I figure I can take out at least $10k and just chuck that straight onto my debt. I know its a bad idea to do so, but I just want to get rid of this debt as fast as possible. I figure I can build my 401k back up again once I'm debt free.
3) Just like I stated in my last post I did accrue some more debt. I've been using my credit card this year for purchases (some necessary and some unnecessary) and have racked about $8k back up. I'm currently in the process of doing a balance transfer and I've stopped using the credit card. Moving forward, I'm trying to limit my purchases to only necessary things. I'll include the balance transfer amount in the next quarterly update.
4) Plan is to have my sister's credit card ($6k remaining balance) paid off by March. She's allowing me to re-use her balance transfer offer so I plan on transferring My Loan 1 to reduce the 9.99% interest to 0% interest and attacking that next.
5) I've added up my income this year from all 3 jobs and I've grossed $107,000. First time I've ever hit $100k and over. Pretty cool for me. It just sucks that I have absolutely $0 to show for it but I know eventually, all my income will finally be mine!
That's about it I guess. I welcome any and all comments and criticisms! Can't wait until I no longer have to post updates in this thread. Slowly but surely!
SUNDAY 12/25/23 UPDATE
My Loan 1 = $17,999 @ 9.99%
2) Her Credit Card 1 = $6,000 @ 0% until April 2024
3) Her Credit Card 2 = $0 --- PAID OFF IN JULY 2023 ($12,200 paid off in 4 months)
4) My Credit Card 1 = $0 --- TRANSFERRED THE BALANCE TO MY CREDIT CARD 2
5) My Credit Card 2 = $18,933 @ 2.9% until December 2024
1) I'm no longer working 3 jobs. It got to the point where I was so exhausted and the people that worked at the restaurant I was working at were so unbelievably lazy that I was tired of picking up their slack that I ended up finally quitting. I quit on October 1st. I'm still at my primary job as well as my one day a week Sunday job. I was able to pick up a few more hours at my second job so now my Sundays consist of working a 13-14 hour shift instead of only a 10 hour shift. The physical and mental relief was and still is definitely worth losing the extra paycheck from the restaurant. I'm never going back there!
2) I dipped into a taxable brokerage account this month and sold about $1500 worth of stock. Figured I'd just take that and chuck it onto my debt. I think next year I'm most likely going to dip into my 401k account and take a hardship withdrawal. I figure I can take out at least $10k and just chuck that straight onto my debt. I know its a bad idea to do so, but I just want to get rid of this debt as fast as possible. I figure I can build my 401k back up again once I'm debt free.
3) Just like I stated in my last post I did accrue some more debt. I've been using my credit card this year for purchases (some necessary and some unnecessary) and have racked about $8k back up. I'm currently in the process of doing a balance transfer and I've stopped using the credit card. Moving forward, I'm trying to limit my purchases to only necessary things. I'll include the balance transfer amount in the next quarterly update.
4) Plan is to have my sister's credit card ($6k remaining balance) paid off by March. She's allowing me to re-use her balance transfer offer so I plan on transferring My Loan 1 to reduce the 9.99% interest to 0% interest and attacking that next.
5) I've added up my income this year from all 3 jobs and I've grossed $107,000. First time I've ever hit $100k and over. Pretty cool for me. It just sucks that I have absolutely $0 to show for it but I know eventually, all my income will finally be mine!
That's about it I guess. I welcome any and all comments and criticisms! Can't wait until I no longer have to post updates in this thread. Slowly but surely!
SUNDAY 12/25/23 UPDATE
My Loan 1 = $17,999 @ 9.99%
2) Her Credit Card 1 = $6,000 @ 0% until April 2024
3) Her Credit Card 2 = $0 --- PAID OFF IN JULY 2023 ($12,200 paid off in 4 months)
4) My Credit Card 1 = $0 --- TRANSFERRED THE BALANCE TO MY CREDIT CARD 2
5) My Credit Card 2 = $18,933 @ 2.9% until December 2024
6) Her Cash Loan = $23,000 @ 0%
7) My 401k loan 1 = $10,734 @ 1.5%
8) My 401k loan 2 = $6,461 @ 3.1250%
Total Debt = $83,127
Overall, sounds like you're doing GREAT!
It sounds like quitting the restaurant job was probably a good move for your personal sanity. Financial success is like running a marathon, so it's good to take care of your mental and physical health while improving your finances.
Selling shares of stock in the taxable account also seems like a reasonable move. It's risky to have money in a brokerage account when you have so much debt.
But I do think there are some serious concerns:
--I AM SUPER WORRIED ABOUT YOU TAKING A 401K HARDSHIP WITHDRAWAL. YOU ADMIT YOU KNOW IT'S A BAD IDEA. People who are financially successful don't do things they know are bad financial moves. They. Just. Don't. Remember, this is like running a marathon and it sounds like you're trying to make it a sprint, which is not realistic.
It's ok if you don't pay off your debt as fast as you would like. You're doing it pretty quickly as it is. If you slow it down a little bit (emphasis on a little bit), you'll probably enjoy your life more.
I'm also worried about you running up more credit card debt. It looks like you've paid down a lot overall. But it just seems like you have this cycle of going to extremes with things. Like you ran up a lot of debt, paid it off, then ran it up again. I'm wondering if there's not some underlying mental health issue? Or just an underlying emotional issue where doing things at a steady rate and not getting yourself back into a big mess maybe seems boring to you? Some people seem to create a lot of ups and downs in their lives, often as a result of an unstable childhood.
Just food for thought.
Keep it up. Keep it steady. It's a marathon, not a sprint!
3) Just like I stated in my last post I did accrue some more debt. I've been using my credit card this year for purchases (some necessary and some unnecessary) and have racked about $8k back up.
I thought that might happen when you wrote in an earlier post that you'll never be in debt again.
You're not going to like this but it has to be said.
You're a debt addict.
Debt is addictive. Just like drugs, gambling, and alcohol.
The cycle repeats unless you get some counselling and understand the underlying cause of your desire to borrow money.
I would avoid taking that hardship loan on your 401K. If you have to do some pet sitting or lawn mowing or Uber driving I would do it. That way you can take the jobs that you want, when you want - some weeks you will do more than other weeks - that way you aren't constantly pounding yourself with hours.
You've already got 2 401K loans, I would be reluctant to take even more out.
I would avoid taking that hardship loan on your 401K. If you have to do some pet sitting or lawn mowing or Uber driving I would do it. That way you can take the jobs that you want, when you want - some weeks you will do more than other weeks - that way you aren't constantly pounding yourself with hours.
You've already got 2 401K loans, I would be reluctant to take even more out.
I would avoid taking that hardship loan on your 401K. If you have to do some pet sitting or lawn mowing or Uber driving I would do it. That way you can take the jobs that you want, when you want - some weeks you will do more than other weeks - that way you aren't constantly pounding yourself with hours.
You've already got 2 401K loans, I would be reluctant to take even more out.
I think this is sensible advice.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ncole1
Rent a room close enough to work that you can walk. In a house with multiple housemates. Sell the car. No eating out. You can make it happen!
One of the biggest things you can do to save money is get a roommate and share housing costs. I think most people (who aren’t in a relationship) would prefer to live by themselves, but as suggested by ncole1, if you can tolerate having a roomie, you should be able to put a lot more cash towards your debt.
Good Luck to you.
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December Update
