Gonna take some time out and give a shot out to the people who have inspired me on this journey.

1. Joe at No More Harvard Debt. Joe is close to my own age, also has an MBA and got sick and tired of being stuck in debt. He started in August 2011 and finished in 7 months.
2. Pete at Mr. Money Mustache – He showed that retirement is attainable by the age of 30. He lived below his means and put more of his income into retirement / investments than really anyone else. The idea that I could have enough to retire by my early 40s is appealing to me. Plus his forum and following keep the motivation going.
3. Patrick Combs – He inspired me to reach for more out of life and not lest the past dictate my future. His Good Think blog motivated me to go to college. The story Man 1 Bank 0 also was appealing as someone who used to work in the banking industry.
4. Early Retirement Forums – A little intimidating at times since everyone’s income seems to be more than double mine… but some of the stories people have posted are inspiring. Not to mention feedback on how I’m doing.
5. Listen Money Matters – Originally two guys from my neck of the woods (northeast NY) who have a no nonsense approach to money and investing. They inspired me to get a Betterment account and do steady contributions into my Roth IRA. After 2009 I got spooked and thought never again.
6. Dave Ramsey – As a gay man who is not in alignment with any one religion, the idea of listening to advice given by an Evangelical Christian seems unlikely. Agree or disagree with him, Dave has a track record that works. I cut back my consumption since it’s repetitive. Sometimes people with a big mountain to climb need the repetition though.
7. Suze Orman – Love her, hate her. She’s become famous by telling people to clean their act up.
8. Rick Edelman – Ric Edelman offers a unique perspective as a financial advisor. His firm has billions of assets under management. Unlike many of the other experts he has a keen eye on exponential technology and the latest developments in the industry.
9. Ramit Sethi of I Will Teach You to Be Rich – I have automated my finances and am amazed at the successes of people taking his courses. I haven’t grown a pair of balls yet in that area, but I still have a vision of what’s possible.
10. Me – I’ve made a lot of progress and will continue to make a lot. I’m very anxious to have the student loan debt gone. This month I almost  refinanced my student loan through Earnest. Despite a $200 lower minimum monthly payment, the  .43% higher interest rate, negative effect of taking a new loan out on my credit and extended my payments longer than the end of 2016 were not.

Heading to New York for a week this month. Decided I needed a break. Including interest I have paid over $13k toward my student loan balance in the past year.

Some updates:

• I bought an iPad Mini 2 for $199 plus tax. Best deal I could get over the last 5 years.
• Paid $280 to fly to New York to see my friends and family. I haven’t been there since June of 2014, almost 18 months ago.
• Paid $208 for a week long car rental. My folks were generous enough to give me $90 toward it. They also weren’t up for driving and dealing with traffic to and from the airport.
• Paid an extra $100 in principal to Navient last week.
• Did a massive cleanup of my apartment. My computer hardware is no longer in my dining room and it feels quite liberating. Not to mention throwing things away that I no longer use…
• Clothes shopping – Spent close to $200 on some new clothes and a pair of shoes. After some pretty steep discounts. Feet have literally been in pain for weeks.
• Looked through my paperwork and realized that by waiting on full amount of the WARN settlement money to come in the mail rather than working through a letter from a lawyer I missed out on about $400. Verdict is still out on getting back lost wages.

There have been even more changes at my company. New VPs, managers, new C-level executives, rumors of more layoffs. Guy I worked with pretty closely is also no longer at my company. I would talk to him at least 2-3 times a week. All of a sudden, boom. Still unsure about whether I will be promoted. Think I need to take things into my own hands regarding my destiny. My leaders are nice and knowledgable but their sense of urgency for me is simply not there. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me…

That said….

Investing in myself is the only way I am going to get anywhere. I go back and forth about how exactly to pursue that. Think programming makes sense as a next step. Or at the very least something more technical than what I am doing now.

This post was not my best moment, but I’m submitting it anyway.
Month 43 snapshot.

Navient – $13,898.75 @ 4.25%
NMAC – $12,571.66 @ 0%
Credit Card: $1,509 @ 11.99%
Total Debt: $27,979.41

401k – $10,803.59 ($8,088.48 vested)
Roth IRA – $3,562.49
Total Retirement: $14,366.08

• Some updates:
• $695 referenced in my last post
• $43 in Chase reward points
• Sold my Tesla stock and bought 3 more shares of AAPL
• Yelled at a Verizon rep since their automatic payment system didn’t work for 3 months in a row. I had late fees and a big nearly $300 bill.
• Close to $500 car insurance bill coming up next month.
• Considering Invisalign. My Dental insurance would cover half but the rest I’d be responsible for out of pocket. Could be up to $3k I figure broken down into 12 monthly payments. I did pay $4k for braces back in 2008 but that was to fix some very severe problems. I basically need to get my teeth shifted and put in a permanent retainer if I expect to keep the gap from coming back.
• Finally got enough in my HSA that I could expense my $300 dermatologist visit.

  Prior to the Verizon incident I was planning to go back to New York and visit my family. Now I don’t feel like I have enough cash leftover to do so. That combined with other bills coming up make it almost impossible to travel without running up a huge credit card bill. My folks are house poor and don’t have extra money to visit me or pay for me to fly up there.  So 2015 looks to be a year where I will do zero traveling to get myself out of this mess of student loan debt.

I could drive to a nearby city, go site-seeing, drink and things like that… but I am still single,  don’t have any close friends or a love interest who I think would be interested. F*ck, not even one person has come by to hang out with me (that wasn’t a date / more than a ‘date’) at my apt since I moved here 11 months ago. Being lonely so often sucks. I get lots of interest on the dating apps, but rarely do things lead anywhere. I try to treat every new day as a new opportunity. The months of trying to get to know people has definitely worn down on soul. Being alone is even worse. I stayed home from work today due to how I felt and man that was horrible. Pretty much just binge watched tv shows…

Getting rid of these student loans has been a marathon, not a sprint. I’ve made so much progress, but have been stressed. I considered refinancing with SoFi or Earnest, but my rate would go up. My minimum required payment would go down, but I have little desire to drag this process out even more.

Thanksgiving coming up. Reminded of my deceased father, grandmother. I saw my ex for the first time on Black Friday 5 years ago. Rest of my family is 1500 miles away. No extra money to travel. Friends situation is 2/10, basically I only get invited to things because of my ex…. Dating life in the crapper. This post is kind of a bummer,  just being real. Tomorrow is a new day. I’m grateful for the things I do have, but it sucks to be alone all the time.

Many months ago I spoke about a past employer of mine. After a few weeks of employment at the company, said employer bounced my last paycheck and didn’t pay me for the final week or so that I worked there.

Well, there was one recent development. I received a portion of the funds that were to come to me as part of the WARN Act. Pre-tax, it came to an amount of $695.  The original amount was supposed to be over $2000 so I’m a bit disappointed. Still technically owed $1188 for the bounced paycheck. No word on that yet. Every bit helps me get closer to my goal.

What did I do with the cash? I bought an iPad! No I’m kidding. It’s being applied to my credit card. Goal is to  break the cycle of half my paycheck going to the credit card every two weeks so I have greater cashflow.

Hi All,

Still here, chiseling away at this debt over these last few years. Down to just over $14k on the student loans. Sticking to my goal of having them paid off next year. When I write these posts it’s usually after a long day of work and exercise, right before bed. So they’re brief and as well thought out as some of the personal finance bloggers I read about.

Navient Month 42 Update – $14,391.78

Car is at $12,851, 0% as I’ve mentioned before. One of my peers bought a new car, a Mazda 3 hatchback, top of the line trim level. His car is sick. I did better with my financing, trade-in and negotiation. On the flip side he kept his old vehicle for about 15 years instead of me after 6 1/2, currently on my 4th car in that timeframe. So maybe I’m the less bright one in this equation… 😉

NMAC Loan October 5 2015 – $12,851.03

Moving onto retirement. My 401k at work continues to grow, almost at $10k… The stock market had a good day so numbers are up for now. I keep investing, never wavering. Even if it takes me a little longer to pay down debt. I’m too old to delay. My plan is 401k up to the match, max out Roth IRA if I have the available cash flow. Anything above and beyond that I might do an HSA and invest that. Assessing the pros and cons on that one. I’m thinking a low fee Vanguard Index Fund. Maybe some VHDYX (Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund Investor Shares). I can make great investment choices, it’s getting the money for them that is the challenging part.

Based on what I’ve read a big part of the growth in the market over time comes from dividends. Even my little Betterment account. This month, presumably from quarterly yields I got $14.46 in dividends. Last month it was $3.14. August was $0.46, July $14.42.

401k snapshot October 5, 2015 – $9,912.85

I switched my Betterment asset allocation over to 100% stocks, from a 90% stocks / 10% bonds allocation previously. When Janet Yellen made remarks about interest rates rising this year it kind of sealed the deal.I’m staying in the market long enough to where staying in bonds doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

Betterment Roth IRA Snapshot October 5, 2015 – $2,672.27

My other Roth IRA account is at $659. Ignoring it for now…

TD Ameritrade Roth IRA – October 5, 2015

Last but not least… I am very close to having a zero credit card balance again. While my higher income friends go on fancy vacations, expensive restaurants and spend beyond their means I’ve had to humble myself quite a bit to stay on target. I wanted to fly and see my family in New York but this student loan and CC debt is just crippling. I can’t in good conscience continue letting loans that started 14 years ago still be outstanding.

2016 is my year though. The burden of $41k of educational debt being gone once and for all. I struggled for so many years. Staying the path. It hurts like hell and has challenged my sanity at times but I’m not giving up.

650.41 – TDAmeritrade
2351.96 – Betterment
Total Roth IRA – $3,002.37

$9,361 -401k Snapshot  9/6/15
Total Retirement- $12,363.37

It’s the end of the world, the market just fell 1000 points, no wait it’s back up again, no it’s down again. Bear market, correction, blah blah blah. I read CNBC headlines that make it sound like the sky is falling and we’re on the brink of economic collapse. I’m not buying any of the end of the world philosophies into this and belief that investing in gold will save us all. As of now the market is still down vs where it was before. My Betterment account is down 7.4%. I pumped a little money into it when the market was down.

I invested $2,539 and it’s worth $2,352. No biggie though, I adopt a long term perspective of the market. I’m 32 now, not planning to take the money out tomorrow, 5 years or even 10 years from now. If the market is down over the long term that’s one thing, but with businesses growing as well as global populations that seems unlikely. During the mid 2000s I would wait for pundits in the financial markets to speak about trends in certain industry sectors. I idolized that lifestyle. Then I realized many of them are either overworked, borderline or straight up unethical or selling people things they don’t really need. Lifestyle creep is rampant with these types. I completed my MBA in June of 2008. Horrible time for a guy to graduate with a degree. Fast forward 5 years… Think I’m doing alright.

So August was kind of a crazy month… Where do I start…

• Someone on my team resigned. She started about 2 years before I did and I liked her. Very detail oriented and knowledgable.
• Day after she resigned, my boss was let go unexpectedly. I won’t go into reasons on here, but I don’t agree with the company’s decision.
• I got a raise. More money in my pocket. Basically net an extra $134 a month. Before brushing that off as nothing, my car payment is 280/mo. That’s 47%! Or another way of looking at basically my entire fuel budget for the month. Gas prices are around $2.00 again. I am really glad I didn’t buy the Lexus CT200H or Nissan Leaf I considered. Former has crappy 10.6 sec 0-60 acceleration and the latter batteries that don’t do well in the heat and awful resale value.
• I had two small cysts removed. One on my chest, one on my back. Doing great. they were about the size of a pencil eraser. The stitches weren’t fun. My skin hasn’t fully recovered but improves more and more each day. The procedure was $300 and the consultation was about $125. Also got a prescription I got for razor bumps which I’ve struggled with for about 20 years for $79.
• Net worth went positive – Thanks to the progress I’ve been making paying down the student loans, this is the first time my net worth has been positive maybe since buying my car a year ago. I’m now thinking of purchases more in terms of net worth and reaching financial goals and less can I afford it this moment. In 10 years I want to have at least $150k saved toward retirement. Ideally 200k. Can’t do that buying crap I don’ t need to impress people I don’t like.
• Credit card hit a bout $2100 balance. Basically every time I get paid now, half of my check is going toward it. I have been trying to cut back but certain expenses just don’t go away. Really a raise or better paying job feels like the only way to really stop the leaks.
• Busy at work – Basically I’ve never been this busy in my entire life at my company. Some weeks more stressful than others. I am trying to get promoted, but there’s only so long you can dangle a carrot in front of a person before they up and leave. If it’s still like this in December I’ll owe it to myself to seek employment elsewhere.

This month:

• Car maintenance. Tired rotated and balanced. $59.99, got Pennzoil Platinum Full Synthetic Oil $62.98, an inspection $25.50.  Bought an engine air filter for $18.80, installed it myself. The same with my in-cabin microfilter for $15. Both were quite dirty and I saved money over having the stealer do it. Also had an air bag sensor recall done. Car drives extremely smooth now, not that it didn’t before.

I’m thankful to have a job that has allowed me to make such huge progress on getting out of debt. I get the final installment of the home refinance money next month. Happy to have some semblance of closure on that part of my life. It’s bittersweet. Without the money from the house I might be behind track on getting the student loan paid off. It was a big financial investment on the other hand and stressful at times when $3-10k repairs were lurking at every corner.

Mr Money Mustache

One of the philosophies of Mr. Money Mustache is to live off half of your income and put the rest toward retirement. Then you will have enough saved for retirement after 17 years or something to that effect.
Today, paying off Navient will free up about $500 a month from my budget. That’s 15% of my take home pay. My car payment is 8%  of take-home. Housing is 23%. There is a small condo down the road from me and asking price is $89k. If I were to buy that and do a 30 year mortgage that’s a ridiculously cheap ($350) payment and $2k/yr 166/mo in taxes plus HoA. Granted the place is only like 872ft it’s the principle of it.

40 Months – Jeez has it really been that long? Sheesh. At least my hair isn’t turning gray yet. 😛

Currently owe $15,402.70 to Navient @4.25%.
Been allocating more money in the emergency fund. $600 there.
Credit card balance is ~$1900. Plan to have it paid off by the time the next bill is due.
401k balance is at $9516.
Owe $13,409 to NMAC at 0%.

This is a period where I have to just stick to my plan. Have had a few temptations but succumbing to them will not end up well for me. Been some big changes at my job but I did get a raise. Double the percentage I got last year so that’s a good thing.

Got my next to last check from the townhouse refinance. $1k left to go. This one is going straight into my emergency fund. My ex just bought a new house for close to $275k. I’m not jealous, he can certainly afford it on his income w/ a 30 year note. The townhouse we lived in together is in the process of being sold. Sad in a way, but this is also the start of a new chapter for him. Mostly good memories in the house. He wasn’t interested in the huge amount of repair work for a house that isn’t his dream home. I can’t blame him though, $15k+ in work needed between the driveway, cracks in the wall, possible foundation work, plumbing, air conditioner out. Better to get rid of it now than live in a house you’re lukewarm about with all that work is going on.

Still thinking about when / if I will buy a home again. At 150k, 20% down would be $30k. Plus I’d want to have 6-12 months of expenses set aside. If I do it the right way it looks like that’s still 4 years away. Maybe my numbers are off. Will save that for another post… 😛

I’m sleepy so short post this time around.

It’s crazy to think that I’ve been at this for 39 Months.

Navient Month 39 Update

Broke $2k in my Betterment account finally:

Betterment 07/06/2015

This month I came to the realization of two things:
1) I can save a good chunk of money taking lunch with me to work
2) I don’t want to trade my car in, the used car market is not very appealing. I had honestly been considering a used Honda CR-Z for about $12k with only about 40k miles and a ‘Lifetime” Powertrain warranty. I just hit 12k on this car and it still drives like new. There are a few small door dings that I plan to get fixed eventually. After finding red paint on my side panel and a few weeks ago on my driver’s side door, I decided to park away from the inconsiderate guy who drives a van with the bumper hanging halfway off his car.

Hitting 12k miles on my Nissan

Debts:
NMAC – Car Loan Payoff Amount: $13,689.14
Navient – $15,787.87
Credit Card: $1,357.57
Total Debt: $30,834.58

Retirement:
401k: $9,137
Betterment Roth IRA: $2007.40
Brokerage House Roth IRA: $738.45
Total Retirement: $11,882.85

I did have an unplanned expense with the car this month, again… A nail in my tire, right in a spot that wasn’t reparable. $195.38 for parts, labor and tax. I’m not sure if this was one of the tires that I got replaced back in November.

Nail in car tire

I did a staycation recently, probably the worst vacation experience since splitting with my ex. I got strep, the above nail in my tire. Chills, splitting headache. The following weeks were not very enjoyable either. More drama in the dating scene. The guy I liked I felt was starting to lose attraction to me. Combine that with an issue involving a $500 fine for a dog the owner said he could have at his condo, a $300 fine where they towed his car the last day he was there, time spent not paying rent because of being stubborn and it going down as an eviction on his record, corporate housing / being borderline homeless. Then a schedule that was opposite of mine. I had a little bit of heart but at the same time I’m not ready for someone I just met to move in with me.

Putting myself out there in the dating scene but I keeping my guard up until I find someone deserving of my time and affection. There is a guy I do like from a personality / physical standpoint…but he pays for half his mom’s rent, can barely pay his own bills and has a massive chunk of student loan debt. Interest is accruing and his job situation is kind of spotty. In 4 years I’d like to have enough money set aside to buy a home. His financial situation is dire and I don’t think that would happen. I hate to make everything about money but it was one of the reasons why my parents divorced, why I am paying student loans still after graduating 7 years ago… It’s important to get right.

I have a lot more to write including a bit of an intervention / beatdown with some of the FIRE (Financial Independence and Early Retirement) community. All my doing, I need someone to model after. Student ready, teacher present. At an interesting point though, my interest on the student loan is under $700 per year. That’s huge progress. When I first started this blog it was $1785. My temporary goal right now is to get rid of credit card debt and restore my (~$300) emergency fund. That may take 2 months. Putting aside a little each week and praying nothing major happens. It stresses me out and serves as a reminder life is a journey not a sprint…