Back from New York, that’s another post though. I noticed a bit of an alarming trend. One person I know filed for bankruptcy, another is in the process of filing.

Situation 1: Guy now in his 40s lived a life beyond his means for years, buying furniture, going on vacations to tropical places, leased 3 cars, was upside down in one of the car he owned at one point by close to $10k. He was engaged for a while then things went south. He incurred some ~$6k legal fees because his ex-fiancee made some false statements about him, requiring legal counsel. Out of nowhere he dropped a bomb on me that he has $25k in credit card debt and plans to file before he moves to California. He never really asked for my advice about money, instead doing his own thing, was spending money on a pack a day of cigarettes. I don’t think he has a retirement account either, seems to have a bleak viewpoint on the future.

Situation 2: Guy never met a debt he didn’t like. Used to brag about putting everything on his credit cards to earn points. Leased a Hyundai Genesis for $900/mo, was negligent with his previous car, got in multiple accidents, ended up cracking the transmission. He left Texas to move to a place where the rent for a 1br is almost 3x what it was in the Dallas area. Goes to restaurants and orders expensive bottles of wine. Bought a digital camera that was over $3k in the middle of this. Went on cruises, got unlimited drink packages, best seats on the ship. Paid for an expensive trip to Alaska. 10s of $1000s in medical debt over the years. Credit was in poor shape. Had to borrow money from friends to be able to pay his rent each month. Unwilling to take any of my financial advice to heart. I don’t know all the details but do know it was a Chapter 13. The way he phrased it to me, he still owes the money but just isn’t paying interest. He sorta looked down on my for depriving myself of certain things in order to accelerate the debt payoff efforts.

It’s not my place to judge others but still think it could’ve been handled differently. Their debt / life, not mine…

Onto a current snapshot since it’s been a while….
401k – $35,557 – the market has been very volatile the past few months.
Roth IRA – $148
Total Retirement: $35,705
Emergency  Fund: $1,000 – it did take me over a year to even put that money aside.life..

Credit Cards = Still $0.00
NMAC 1.9% Auto Loan: $17,695 – 2 1/2 months ago it was $20,605. Still shooting for double payments each month ($1082/mo).

My car will be needing new tires in the next 3 months or so. I probably could push it until the Fall, but the current Continental ProContact TX set is getting noisy. On a rainy day coming around a corner, they definitely lost their grip. Getting close to 30k miles, which is hard to believe.

My lease is coming up for renewal, the amount is $844/month, $26 more per month than what I currently pay. Some folks would do anything to have rent that cheap. I would like to upgrade to a nicer place, maybe buy a house at some point. However… $500/mo of additional rent is not appealing to me at all. Why rent for $1300/mo unless it’s a really fancy house. Most of these places are 1br or studio apartments.

Noticed condensation in my passenger side headlight this weekend. 2 weeks away from owning it for 2 years old and still under warranty. Guy at the service center said it still looked brand new. Before you think I’m making a big deal out of nothing, it’s possible this problem could get worse. Water + electrical current is not good, especially in the event of major rainfall. We had some heavy rainfall in Dallas two weeks ago and likely will get a few more until it starts getting a lot warmer. Here are two pictures of the headlight assembly.

Priced new, one would run over $600.

A few weeks ago I tried to replace my in-cabin microfilter. The left is the dirty one and the right is the replacement that got stuck.. I spent an hour trying to pull out with a screwdriver, almost cutting up my fingers while on my back before sunset. Thankfully O’Reillys had a replacement for about $20.

It’s official, each of the last 3 cars I’ve owned has been totaled. I found the 2008 Altima, which I owned for 6 years on a salvage site. I owned the car for 6 years and spent $2300 on upgrading the audio system. At the time it seemed like *so* much money. Now I think about other things that could’ve been done with the money. Or how much interest I would have saved putting that toward the student loan instead.

This is what the car looked like in November 2017:

versus when I had it stowed safely away in a garage. On the bright side I got about $9k for it at trade-in.

As much as I love cars, I was skimming through old pictures I had and realized I valued the people and experiences in my life more. It’s been an interesting 6 3/4 years in Dallas. I have pictures of place I travelled to, temp housing, first apartment, first house, my current apartment, cruises, places I’ve travelled. Friends who moved away or went crazy.  I’d like to make new memories with someone. Seems like a dream from where I stand today. Online it’s usually no response, no mutual attraction, or just chatting with no intention of meeting.

Maybe I’m just overly cautious in my years. Don’t want to pick the wrong guy, or take a chance on one who has no interest in dating or getting to know each other. Then again there were quite a few who were and I let them fall through the cracks. I could write a book with all the stories. I’m tired though, chatting with mostly 20 somethings feels like a waste of time.

So I was watching an interview with Carl of 1500days.com and started thinking. At my current rate how much will I have assuming everything stays consistent. Odds are they won’t, the Roth IRA contribution limits will be raised, and ideally I will earn enough to be ineligible at some point. I’ll turn 60 in the year 2043. I don’t foresee myself working that long, it’s 26 years away. On the reverse side, god willing I’d like to live well past 80 and 20 years of retiring in the traditional sense seems like hell.

Looking back to 26 years ago… I was in 2nd grade, lived downstairs in my grandmother’s home, dad was on dialysis / collecting SSI, mom worked at a nursing home, the car she drove was an 97hp 1987 Nissan Stanza. The car would shake over 50mph and kind of scary on the highway, but she did keep it for almost 10 years. We had a Brother Word Processor with a monochrome display and a floppy disk for software / data saves. I thought that was the coolest thing ever. No home computer, I only heard about the information superhighway on TV. George HW Bush was still president, Batman Returns made its debut. I wouldn’t start part time working until 7 years later at the amazing wage of $5.15/hr, my first check was a whopping $80 net.

In what I would consider a comfortable level of saving and taking current 2018 laws into account. I wouldn’t hit 6 figures until 2021, quarter mil 2024, half mil 2029, full mil 2035. That number is *bullshit* though. I’ll go into why after the table.

1. I didn’t include any employer match into account. In most companies that would be 3-5%. That adds at least $2k/year to the total.
2. Inflation – Our dollars are going to be worth way less in the future so more retirement will be needed.
3. I will have investments outside of retirement accounts. Once the car is paid off, conservatively I could save an additional $10k/yr. Let’s assume that loan is completely gone by 2020.
   

   Year	Investments
   1/1/20	$        10,000
   1/1/21	$   20,800.00
   1/1/22	$   32,464.00
   1/1/23	$   45,061.12
   1/1/24	$   58,666.01
   1/1/25	$   73,359.29
   1/1/26	$   89,228.03
   1/1/27	$ 106,366.28
   1/1/28	$ 124,875.58
   1/1/29	$ 144,865.62
   1/1/30	$ 166,454.87
   1/1/31	$ 189,771.26
   1/1/32	$ 214,952.97
   1/1/33	$ 242,149.20
   1/1/34	$ 271,521.14
   1/1/35	$ 303,242.83
   1/1/36	$ 337,502.26
   1/1/37	$ 374,502.44
   1/1/38	$ 414,462.63
   1/1/39	$ 457,619.64
   1/1/40	$ 504,229.21
   1/1/41	$ 554,567.55
   1/1/42	$ 608,932.96
   1/1/43	$ 667,647.59

4. So taking the above chart into account while still being able to live a comfortable life, if I were to stick at the contributions, get the same 8% growth, and be in good enough health to work, that would be me at a combined total of $2.79MM.
5. If I ever pursue the business option, I could potentially contribute to a SEP IRA which could be up to $55k per year. Of course I’d need to have a business, ample sales / profits to justify it… but fun to think about.
6. Passive income. Rental properties, cash flow businesses, online stores. An extra $10k /yr could make a huge difference.

The main point I’m trying to get across…. If you’re in your 20s invest! If you’re in your 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s… invest. The quality of life you have may very well depend on it.

Three words – retirement, retirement, retirement.
Math was never my strongest subject, but it’s been said Albert Einstein referred to compounding as the 8th wonder of the world.

At age 30 I started making a livable wage, where I’d be able to pay all my bills, and operate independently without the need for a roomate, or any outside assistance. I took advantage of my company 401k using a mix of pre-tax and post-tax dollars. Fast forward to today….

Almost 5 years later I have $35k in my retirement. $35k is more than the average American family (https://www.cnbc.com/2016/09/12/heres-how-much-the-average-american-family-has-saved-for-retirement.html) in the 32-37 age range. Considering I’m not a family and it’s just me I’m doing alright. However alright isn’t enough.

It’s 2018. My earnings are the highest they have ever been in my entire life. With income cometh taxes. As a single income person in an apartment, no kids, having graduated college a decade ago, the amount of government services I use is far lower than other groups. Without giving away my salary, if I didn’t contribute anything to retirement I’d have to pay uncle sam the equivalent of *411* hours worth of work. *10* weeks of work just for taxes and I don’t even own a home. Not on my watch.

So after a lot of back and forth between paying my last debt off at 1.9%, vs 20% of my salary in taxes I decided to amp up the retirement, raising my contribution total from 6% to 20%. That lowers my burden to 328 hours or ~8 weeks. Yes I will owe taxes later on in life, but presumably come retirement I will be in a lower tax bracket. Also betting that social insecurity won’t be around.

Will I be taking home less money than before? Absolutely. However without $2k/mo I was paying on credit cards I’ll still have more disposable income vs even 2 months ago. I even might be able to double up on car payments, but taking things one step at a time…

Speaking of car payments I made my first principal only payment this week, $100. That puts me at $19,980.57 as of 2/24/18. 1.9% is only $380/yr in interest. Some folks pay more than that on a credit card in one month.

Last but not least I’m learning to enjoy life more. Money is important but you can’t let it stress you out. Especially after reaching huge milestones…. A few examples of mine:

1999 – Started my first job at $5.15/hr
2001 – Finished HS
2003 – Finished Associates Degree
2005 – Finished Bachelors Degree
2008 – Finished MBA
2011 – Left Long Island for Dallas
2012 – Got job in current industry
2013 – Got a raise, then got better paying job in industry, started a 401k
2016 – Paid off student loans
2017 – Got a promotion, incurred $7k+ in medical debt
2018 – Medical debt gone, new job, maximizing 401k contributions for the first time in my life

Still want to travel and experience life more. The money stuff should just be a footnote. A couple nice things are cool, just don’t get obsessed with them. Don’t do stupid things like being invested solely in bitcoin, or a single stock with no diversification.

Beyond that, I’m working on my environment, overall stress levels and health. My best friend who is also my ex moved away with his husband to Massachusetts. I’m still looking for a relationship after almost 39 months of being single. Seems like folks are getting engaged or married left and right on social media. I’m lucky if I get a second date. Emotionally I’m a bit beat down. Horrible track record dating-wise, but this isn’t really the right venue. Keep fighting the good fight. ❤

Hey guys and gals. I’ve been quiet for a while. Life, new job, and some temporary frustration as my credit card balance went up, not down. It’s time to provide an update. November 2016 I went to the emergency room with insurance, had lots of testing, some surgery, stayed two nights and ended up with roughly $3500 of bills. Then in January I went back to the hospital to have my appendix removed laparoscopically. Instead of dealing with a constant barrage of hospital bills coming in the mail, or risking something going to collections, Put it on a 0% credit card, offer ended January 2018, so it was a race to get everything paid off before then.

$7,128.96 of bills leftover after hitting my insurance deductibles. I was fortunate enough to have a healthy income but still had to make some sacrifices. I also chose to buy some high ticket items like my 15″ MacBook Pro Touch Bar, 4k Samsung TV, a new tailored suit. trip to Puerto Vallarta (one of my cheapest trips ever coincidentally) to see friends who were getting married.

What Didn’t I Do? I chose not to go on a cruise or trip to Europe with friends, didn’t go to any three $$$ sign restaurants on Yelp, kept my iPhone 7+ instead of getting an 8 or X, didn’t upgrade my Asus QHD monitor to 4k, didn’t fly to New York to see family over the holidays.

How do I feel? Pretty darn good. It’s like a weight off my shoulders. I still have the car payment to worry about. I’m also working on my actual weight, bought a bluetooth scale from Target about 2 weeks ago.

NMAC Car Payment Balance February 3, 2018

I still can’t decide how early to pay the car off. I technically could do it in a year, but is it that important to me? Could I downsize and still be happy? Emergency fund and experiences are also important. Plus there is the potential to move. The apartment is quiet and covers my necessities at this point. However a 38 minute commute each way + 10 min walk from the parking garage to the office is a little bit taxing. If I could drop that by 20 minutes I’d get more sleep and stress levels would be a bit lower. Decisions…

Several weeks ago I spent $1,492 at Men’s Warehouse. That is more than I pay for clothes in *two* years. Why? Without giving away too many details, this is a company where apparence matters. In 2013, 30 pounds light I bought a suit, and it doesn’t really fit me properly today. With a gal friend’s assistance I decided to get a new suit, this one in gray vs my standard safe black look.

I’m slowly phasing out the clothes in my closet that have felt kind of frumpy / old mannish. When your guy friends ask you where you bought clothes from and it’s clearance, or at a low priced online only retailer, you start to get a little self conscious…. Plus I’m a Leo (we like to be a little more flashy) and gay (previous point ^2), so those two things make me less willing to stick with older cheaper clothes that are falling apart. Funny story I ripped a pair of old khakis I had last week. Clothes that fit matter….

What did this money get me?
1. 3 Dress Shirts
2. Brown leather belt
3. Dress shoes
4. Overcoat – this was an “extra from the suit purchase”
5. 2 pairs of fancy jeans
6. 3 ties – another extra from the dress shirt purchase
7. Tie clip
8. Pants hemmed for proper length
9. Suit

So yeah, I didn’t just pay for a suit. I think the value for what I was pretty darned high. Was it worth it?

Well I *did* get the job. It was more due to connections and my skills than the clothes I wore. Still, I will get a lot of use out of these clothes down the road.

Haven’t started but I’m super excited. Kinda funny in 2012 I applied at the *same* company for a position paying half as much. Was a bit heartbroken for not getting it but honestly I wasn’t ready. I may end up moving to an apartment closer to work as my commute time will increase to about 40 min from 30 now. Lease isn’t up until June 14th though…

My rent today is about $840/mo and the places more downtown are more like $1200/mo. In some I’d have to give up my washer / dryer both paid for in cash. Is it worth it to be in a more desirable area where my friends are located? The verdict is still out. I also am against paying a ton of money on rent in general. Time is also money though. If I can reduce commute time by 3-4 hours a week it adds up. I’ll be more refreshed / happier overall.

I could also save for a year and put a down payment on a townhouse. I keep waiting for the bubble to burst but it hasn’t happened yet, just as I have with cryptocurrency. Lots of choices… Isn’t that what life is all about though?

Note – This posting was made at the beginning of December 2017. Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday have all come and gone. One more month and the credit card balance will be *gone*. Kaput, sayonara, bye bye bye. I could make an argument the remaining balance isn’t even medical debt anymore. My shiny MacBook Pro purchase was $2k that went on this card so now I’m just paying for that, at a 0% interest rate for the next 56 days, or less.

No profound life changing events going on. I have been reading more about the power of discipline though. Trying to deal with stress better.

Still on the fence about what to do after the credit card balance is gone.  I’m thinking stashing away some rainy day cash might be a good idea. About $4500 would be good.

Current Debt:
Credit Card $1881.99 @ 0%
Cell Phone: $463.99 @ 0%
Nissan Loan: $21,624.33 @ 1.9%
Total Debt: $23,970.31

Current Retirement:
401K: $32,321.21
Roth IRA: $145.58
Total Retirement: $32,466.79

About to write another blog posting, some changes are coming down the pipe.

Hard to believe it’s November already. Like my credit card debt, 2017 will soon be over. As of early November my credit card balance is $3,501.35. That’s $972.12 down from last month with the $599 tv purchase included.

Speaking of the television, I opened up a claim since the price went down $50. That’s about an 8% change. Hopefully they don’t give me a hard time honoring it…

Car Loan: $22,141.80
Credit Card: $3501.35
AT&T Credit Card Loan: $492.99
Total Debt: $26,136.14

401k: $31,011.97
Roth IRA: $144.18
Total Retirement: $31,156.15

Cell Phone – $300
Car – $22k
Bike – $200
TV – $500
Computer – $1500
Total Assets (Estimated):  $24,500

Approximate Net Worth: $29,520

Have a friend who is considering bankruptcy. He lives a somewhat lavish lifestyle, $900/mo car lease, has to fly first class, expensive SLR camera originally around $2k, rent close to $2200/mo, student loans, and credit card debt of tens of thousands of dollars. He asked some mutual friends of ours for a personal loan of several $k and was going to be short on his rent a few months back. No idea if anyone lent him the money. I tried a few times to talk him into downsizing but it seems to fall on deaf ears.

About to head to work, keep fighting the good fight! 🙂

So a friend in New York posted a few pictures to Facebook. We dated briefly in 2007/8 but have remained friends since. The apartment he lived in for several years was engulfed in flames. He moved out a few weeks ago after things went south his now ex-partner…

I don’t own many worldly possessions at least in the grand scheme of life. The suspected cause is due to something electrical, but not truly known. Some say things happen for a reason. He’s pretty lucky though, this easily could have happened while he was at work with his dog in the home…

The father of a college friend of mine passed away 2 weeks ago. He was 74 years old and his son is a spitting image of him. Aside from that I don’t know much about the guy. My friend though is one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. He gets along with almost everybody and is really the kind of person you could not see for a decade and then continue like nothing happened.

I did a very *non* Debt Free Alpha thing the other week. I went to Best Buy, hoping to walk out with a 4k television. Yes, it’s additional debt that will slow down my progress but….

1. Prior to this purchase…I used a 2010 32″ 720p LG TV in a 10’x10′ bedroom. While fitting for the time and my budget. That’s 7 years ago and I’ve been in this apartment for about 3. Years before that I didn’t have a TV of my own at all. It’s tiny for any type of movie watching, outside of my bedroom, particularly in the kitchen or dining room area.
2. I got a fairly good deal from Best Buy, $599.99 for a Samsung 49″ 4k HDR Class UN49MU7000FXZA. It’s not curved, but in 2014 a 1080p 48″ from Samsung was priced at $1,999! That’s almost 70% cheaper. I complained about the sales tax and they took it off the Chromecast 4k I also bought with the TV.
3. I rarely go to the movie theaters anymore. Yes for major titles like Star Wars – The Last Jedi I make exceptions to the rule, but I prefer to stay home with my own food,

I did manage to get a good deal on the TV. It was $599 for a 49″ Samsung 4k with HDR. Plus a Google Chromecast I got to help me stream online content from different sources. The screen is crystal clear, the audio fills up my living room even without one of those fancy sound bars. My living room finally feels like one.

I received a small, unexpected financial windfall yesterday. The company that laid me off in early 2012 finally settled its case with WARN Act settlement. My cut was $314. Not a huge sum of money but nice to finally get back what was owed to me.

I pulled my Roth IRA original investment out, about $1,001 transferred it to my checking account. There should be no tax implications, but I did contribute it to my HSA. After the transfer clears I will pay myself back to cover a chunk of my medical expenses that are currently on my credit card.

As my earnings go up, I’ve come to the realization that taxes suck. I’m going to take more steps to legally lessen my short term burdens there. The amount I’m paying is kind of insane.

Call me delusional but by 2019 I don’t want a car loan or any more debt anymore. Time to truly be debt free!! More to come…

He’s a tough guy, he still tries even if the odds are against him. Words to describe myself after completing a 46mile ride for raise funds for St. Jude’s Children Hospital.  On October 14, 2017 I completed my 4th bike rally in Trophy Club Texas. What originally emerged as a decision to  start biking around a larger area than my local roads has now turned into a bit of an annual ritual.

I grew up biking back in the 1980s, I of course had a tricycle and my dad taught me how to ride a bike with training wheels. In the 90s I hung out with friends, “competed” with them on who could go the fastest. Long Island suburbia at its finest. I rode to my High School a few times too since my transportation options after school were rather limited.

Why do I still bike? Well the first reason is because I like to challenge myself. Sure any person can say they do it recreationally, between pints of beer at the local craft brewery. It takes a different kind of man to push his body to the absolute limit. I don’t use that term lightly, I literally maxed out my heart rate for my age. 193 was my max and I stayed in what the pros refer to as Zone 5 (171-190 bpm) for 1 hour and 45 minutes. Zone 4 (152-170 bpm) for 2 hours and 33 minutes.

The second reason is my history. I don’t know when I’m gonna die, but I’m tired of seeing folks in the family die young due to varying health issues. It angers me and is really sad at the same time. Between a parent and a grandparent who didn’t make it to 50, and another grandparent who didn’t make it to 60… I’m just not wanting to be a statistic.

Lessons learned from this experience?

1.  I am way out of shape. Seems like each year I keep getting fatter and fatter. That’s not the way it should work. Going to make it an absolute must to eat better. Two support vehicles pulled over on the side of the road to see if I was doing okay. When a person weighs 245, heartrate is 186 off thebike while walking uphill in 90 degree weather… The body tends to move around more slowly.

2. It doesn’t really matter what others think. If you have a personal goal and it’s something you are committed to, in many instances you don’t need someone else’s permission. It’s your life, when you look back weeks, months, years, or decades you don’t want to have regrets about the things you could’ve done while still in your prime.

3. The equipment is only part of the story. My Windsor Wellington SL bike is nice, maybe not as light as I would want going up steep hills but it gets the job done. I saw guys with bikes from the 90s and folks 20-30 years older going way past me. It’s a reassuring feeling knowing others share a similar passion and still have the energy / strength to keep it going.

4. I like pushing myself. It sucks at the time but the feeling of accomplishment is a bit of a high. Everyone else makes excuses for why they go exercise or hit some weights.

How does biking equate to money? Simply put, personal sacrifices help get you closer to the finish line faster. Keep pedaling. Stop eating garbage. That’s that my plan is. 🙂

Lots of tranquility on these Texas roads

Biked solo but I did it. Surprised the zipper on my bib didn’t fly off.

Finished 46 miles of biking