So I have a friend… He is very intelligent and works as a software engineer. In the last 12 months he relocated to Seattle from Dallas to accept a job with a similar salary to the one here but much higher expenses.

1. Rent – Dallas it was around $1200/mo for a nice 2 bedroom place. Seattle in a neighborhood he considers a huge downgrade, the rent is $2400/mo. He wants to upgrade to a $3k/mo apartment.
2. Salary – I don’t know the exact number, I’m guessing it’s around $80k/year.
3. Insurance – He has multiple accidents on his record. His Hyundai coupe was financed for around $35k and he had negative equity on the car that he traded in and needed some major repair work on before. He had an umbrella policy but recently his provide dropped him because they deemed him too high risk.
4. Total debt – His number was around $80k and a big chunk of that is medical debt, credit card debt and I’m sure some of his rent that he put on the card to get points. My friend is a good person but also likes to live a fancy lifestyle. In April he sounded serious about getting the total amount down. He considered bankruptcy at one point before some other friends put together a financial budget for him. Say $80k at 20%/yr. Not factoring in principal payments that is $16k in interest.
5. Retirement – He’s taken out 401k loans / stopped contributing to pay off debts. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that in his late 20s, there is close to $0 in retirement.
6. Auto debt – So his Genesis coupe needed new shocks, he couldn’t get the factory ones for his car. Those would probably run around $800 with parts and labor included. He needed to get some expensive racing ones that wound be a total installed cost of about $2k. Due to his poor credit / high interest rate, negative equity and extremely high mileage, he was upside down about $6k on his car. He took it in for service and discovered his transmission was cracked. Cracked means it’s only a matter of time before there is some type of catastrophic failure. With the accidents and 72k on the powertrain I’m pretty sure a warranty would not cover it… The trim pieces have also been flying off the car probably because of the automatic car washes he was taking it to at least once a week… So what does he do?He leased a car with a base price of $55k, a 5.0L Hyundai Genesis v8 sedan. Sure the thing is a beast but his payment is $900. Over 36 months he pays $32,400. That is factoring in $8k he got for the trade-in, tax and maintenance. Suddenly the $541 / $32,460 after 60 months for a car I get to keep doesn’t seem nearly as bad.  I want to slap my head sometimes. My friends don’t know about this blog, nor do they ask for my feedback on anything related to money. I’m not perfect but I have a few accomplishments under my belt.

Looks can be deceiving…

I’m a millennial and I never had avocado toast nor do I drink $4 coffees. However I urge you to read the blog post by Ramit Sethi – LOL at this avocado toast advice from a millionaire.

Original: Millionaire to Millennials: Stop Buying Avocado Toast If You Want to Buy a Home http://time.com/money/4778942/avocados-millennials-home-buying/

Freely spending on avocados — the pricey, popular superfruit beloved by young people — may be one of the reasons why some young people can’t afford a house, according to Australian millionaire and property mogul Tim Gurner.

“When I was trying to buy my first home, I wasn’t buying smashed avocado for $19 and four coffees at $4 each,” Gurner told the Australian news show 60 Minutes.

I’m lacking the mental focus / time / energy to write a well thought out post so happy reading. 😛

https://soundcloud.com/beyonddebtfreeg/debtfree-32-episode-1

My rambling about money and life. 😛 Episode 0 got 14 listens lol…. 😛

I’ve been in my apartment complex since December 2014. My neighbors are friendly, the grounds are well-kept, maintenance is fairly receptive, and the location is great for my job / social circle.

Currently my rent is about $843/mo. I consider this on the lower end of the spectrum for what passes as safe and livable.

Just because someone lives in a fancier apartment is no guarantee of increased safety. or higher living standards. The below image was posted to Facebook by a friend and happened just last week in Plano. In the comments a guy said his bike was stolen out of his garage of another place, when his rent was the highest of his entire life. In the “ghetto” he never had such problems. Bad things can happen anywhere.

Poor guy whose rims were stolen

Let’s say a starter home here in the North Dallas area goes for $150k.

20% Down: $30k
10% Closing costs: $15k
Taxes per year 3%: $4500
Fixed Mortgage Rate: 3.5% 15yr mtg = $858/mo * 12=$10,296
Fixed Mortgage Rate: 4.2% 30yr mtg = 590/mo * 12=$7,080
So for the first year costs would be approximately $60k and about $15k per year after that assuming no maintenance costs. Some say put 2% aside for maintenance. That adds an additional $3k/yr. Also say $200/mo for HOA. That’s about $20k/yr for a house. For a 30 yr mortgage: about $58k the first year and $14k/yr after that.

Long story short unless my income hits $100k+ I probably won’t be buying a house anytime soon. At 33 I think it would be more of a burden than anything else. Aggressive ramp-up of my retirement in these coming years. Soon as the credit card is gone I think I can comfortably set aside over $1000-1500 more a month toward it than I do today. Bedtime… zzzz

Updated the table again with April actual numbers. I came up short by about $309. $110 of that was my car alignment. $107 was my fitness watch. $40 were tolls. I almost never take the tollway but was running late to work / social gatherings a few times. It’s not the end of the world though.

Frontier finally sent me a credit for the service I cancelled in December. It was $75.74. Some might use that for a nice dinner out, but for me that money went toward my AT&T Wireless bill for the month.

May will be a better month, but the important piece is I’m tracking everything. I was over $10k in February and have been chipping away.

It’s been a while since I spoke about retirement. So here we go…
401k: $25,279.79
Roth IRA: $907.15
Total Retirement: $26,186.94

Debts:
Car Loan @ 1.9%: $25,174.07
Credit Card: $8,595.70
iPhone 7 Plus Installments: $666.99 / $869.99
Total Debt: $34,436.76

I think $2k/mo is the most I feel comfortable paying on credit cards without being stressed out about having anything leftover. Thankfully this is short term and not forever. I don’t know 401k + Roth combined.

Also am getting the urge to travel more on the cheap. After Mexico and one NY trip that may be it for 2017. Starting 2018 I’d like to make that 4 times a year. We’ll see.

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, something I frequently  remind myself of is to have gratitude. Even when things may not be perfect *yet* there still is a whole lot to be thankful for. Why do I have gratitude today?

1. Officially getting a promotion in the next 2 weeks. Fancier title and more money are both pretty big wins in my book.
2. So I bought a new car a year ago. My payments total $32,460. My payoff as of today 4/22/17 is $25,164.91. That means 19% done. With my compensation increases, I’m essentially basically covering the entire car payment. If I get bonuses that will go above and beyond. I remember years ago struggling just to pay a $349/mo payment and almost 6% interest on top of that.
3. Along with point #2 I am comparing my pay when I was in New York vs where I am today. My net is over 250 higher%. That’s not including a 401k match or what I contribute. Leaving the banking industry was probably the best thing I ever could have done for my career.
4. I’m making progress. Instead of 1600/mo toward credit cards I think I can pull $2k/mo. It’s a short term thing fortunately.
5. Friends – Glad to have people around who are supporting my efforts to grow and become healthier.
6. Health – My dad was on dialysis at my age and had other health issues which severely limited his options to do much. I am fortunate enough not to deal with any of that. I’m overweight (working on that), have minor stuff like asthma but that’s it. One of my aunts has emphysema, requiring the use of an oxygen tank. My grandmother also struggled for years with the same thing. It’s so easy to take good health for granted, but I try not to.

The last point is… on life – Each day is an opportunity to see more of the world, meet great people and grow as an individual. Hopefully meet a special guy someday. Overall I feel happy and relatively free to go where I want and spend time with who I want. I count my blessings everyday in a world where bad things happen to good people everyday. To be miserable and angry all the time is a horrible way to live. No one truly knows what the future holds, but I will try my best to make it a great one.

This all is starting to feel like Deja Vu and not in a good way. Let’s give you an update.

1. Switched my upcoming 401k contributions from a Roth back to the traditional. Still want to get the match but cut back my immediate tax liability to apply money toward debt.
2. Booked my trip to Mexico. Total round trip is $189.95. I got a credit from my New York trip cancellation back in November.
3. Booked a room for said Mexico trip in Puerto Vallarta through Expedia. It was $691.18, less taxes it’s $586.47 and getting 10% of that back through EBates. I also get 1% back from the credit card I used. Supposed to be splitting it with a friend. My estimated cost is 346-5.86-6.91 or $333.23 for three nights.
4. Got $162 back from credit card company for a defective Fitbit Charge HR. The only catch is I had to buy a replacement item after I filed the claim. The new watch I got was $269. I can still sell the one I bought a few months ago I estimate for between $80 and $120. Or I could give to my mom who is trying to exercise more and stay healthier.
   
   
5. Went to a ranch/cabin early this month with friends. My contribution was $100 and I had to buy gas to get there and back. Went through about a full tank. I also gambled at Winstar and spent a whopping $11. I didn’t want to spend the $5 fee at the ATM especially if I was going to lose the money anyway.
   
   

   

   

    

6. Replaced the air filter and in-cabin microfilter in my car. The parts were $27.37. Both filters took less than 30 minutes to replace. A friend went to the same dealer to have them do it and paid almost $200 with labor included. Screw that, you don’t even need tools!

   

7. Requested a disbursement of funds from my HSA to my checking account. Since I put it on my card I might as well use it to pay off the credit cards sooner. $200.
8. Car payments are almost 20% done. Currently owe about $25,200. I do want to speed it up at some point but now I’m all tapped out.

Kinda had one of those aha moments. How much no car payment would mean to my amount of free cashflow. That and no credit card payment would be over a 50% raise considering how aggressive I am. 50 friggen percent! Fuggetaboutit. Stay hungry, stay foolish and enjoy life.

I planned to make this a quick update, but it’s been so long since I’ve shared updates with you. Let’s start in reverse chronological order

1. Two weeks ago Igot hit with my final hospital bill. At $1,638 it sucks but it’s  liberating to know what no more bills will be coming through. A you can tell from reading the blog, I’m big on seeing progress.This chart show how things will pan out with my current plan of paying $800 per paycheck on these debts.
   
   Some of my friends were shocked that I put it on my card or didn’t try to settle.
2. Got a raise and that makes me happy. Been stepping up to the plate and taking on more responsibilities. Every morning I take a men’s multivitamin, vitamin D, probiotic and Neuro-Peak brain function supplement. I credit the brain function pill and some dietary changes to making me feel like a much better person. Not to say that I don’t still hit roadblocks from time to time, but it’s all a lot less of a struggle than it used to be. I literally just felt mentally fried / burned out all the time.
3. Got a bonus. It was a fraction of last years but still something. That went right to my credit card. I’m grateful for getting something. Some others at my company have either been laid off or offered a voluntary early retirement package.
4. I shipped my $149.95 Fitbit Charge HR to my credit card’s extended warranty protection program. The device’s band had an issue with bubbling and the credit card expanded my warranty to 3 years. I got two replacements and all 3 had the same problem. I also tried to fix them with no success. In the meantime, went the Garmin route and bought a Vivoactive for $150. Really hoping to get my money back and putting it back on the card.
   
5. Through usage of my credit card’s price protection program I got a $75 check for my MacBook Pro computer purchase. That brings the computer cost down to $2,074. If I bought it from Apple, with sales tax and a higher starting price it would have been $2,597. The old 3 year old machine brought in $835 and eBay fees were about $80.
   
6. Booked a flight to Mexico for my friends wedding. The total round trip thanks to my cancelled New York trip was $189.95. Still need to figure out the cost for the hotel stay. With food and drinks included, I think it will come out to around $645. Friends are staying an extra day (additional $215) but I’m trying to do this trip on the cheap. Every week I put aside $50 so even if I do use my credit card I can pay it off immediately.
7. Bought a Microsoft Office 365 subscription ($74.61) for a year. Apple Numbers sucks. Everything I want to do with it just feels backwards. Too many clicks…
8. I cut the cord, but did buy a cable modem ($90) and a router ($86). The router built into the modem gave me half the speed of what I was paying for so I got an Asus one to compliment it. My monthly bill is only $41.45/mo from $105 when I had tv. I miss cable tv at times yes but I have youtube, netflix and streaming. I’d rather keep the $760+ in my pocket. 😀
9. Started reading this great book by Aaron Cleary called The Black Man’s Guide Out of Poverty. Best $3.49 I’ve ever spent. His writings resonated with my youth and observations both of extended family and peers. Fortunately my upbringing in a middle class suburb insulated me from some of the pitfalls. Along with family that really wanted me to succeed in life. Being gay insulated me from some others, namely a role in becoming a young parent. Early on I viewed celebrities and entertainers as role models. Growing older, my realization was a disconnect exists between me and them. Their success is the result of hard work, athletic prowess, mainstream appeal, looks, and defying statistical probability. Aka I was fucked if I didn’t get an education.My greatest takeaway from the book so far is on defeatism. Between people in ghettos, media / music industry brainwashing, government assistance programs that do more harm than good. Defeat reared its ugly hear quite a few times in my life, but I bounced back and am stronger today.
   

Time to sleep. zzzzz. Keep chipping away at your debts, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

First and foremost I’m grateful. Grateful for being able to stand upright each day and do things that I love. Grateful for having a job that offers insurance at a hefty discount. Grateful I didn’t go to a facility not covered and end up with much higher out of pocket costs.

I will say however that these recent health events have not been cheap. Without insurance the combined total would be $50k. Insurance covered $9,073 and my out of pocket responsibility is $7,118. The most recent claim, originally $22,474 came in and was pending for an entire week. Several nervous breakdowns later I saw how much I owed and was relieved. Thought it was going to be another thousand dollars.

After paying $13k in student loan payments last year, the last thing I wanted to think about was owning someone else money. To anyone else trying to relate, image feeling like a slave for 8 years and once you get your papers to become a “free” man, you are thrown back into slavery until your debt obligation has been furnished.

The biggest thing now is to cut my expenses and keep fighting the good fight….