This month I did double payments.

8/7: 453
8/4: 452.76

Brought the total balance down to 37,989.74. Psychologically I wanted to get this thing under 38k. At the beginning of the year in Month 9 I had 42057 in total debt. Still not backing down, $1k a month is the plan and once I have enough saved even more will be going toward the loan.

Have a trip coming to New York in September for a wedding. That alone was 307.78, my bf will be paying for luggage as we are taking a discounted airline that basically nickels and dimes you for every single thing.

Stopping my Roth IRA contributions for the moment. Invested a couple hundred in a highly volatile stock, which could end up being a brilliant decision down the road or could blow up miserably. 401k is taking off where that was, with the benefit of more diversification, less fees, matching if the company continues to offer it after 3 years and a higher monthly contribution of 274 vs 200.

More to come soon.. 🙂

A Good & Bad Days

Easiest way to explain this is probably to go in chronological order. I preface this story with the fact that I was flying to Philadelphia for a job interview.

Thursday / Friday

I work during the day and leave at about 4 to come home for purposes of getting last minute packing completed, walking the dog and briefly tidy up the house. Right before I leave, my friend asks me what’s on the floor and I tell him a hairball. I think little of it as I’ve seen it before.

Friend picks me up from the airport around 4:45, I have one carry-on bag, a messenger bag. We arrive at the airport before with time to spare. Initial scheduled departure time 7:25 PM. American Airlines has a series of delays and I don’t end up leaving until 10:45pm Central Time. During this time I have several conversations with a recruiter about what will happen should the flight get cancelled. Would the company be reimbursed and if I do need to reschedule for the next day should I even bother as my landing time would be significantly delayed. The key figures at the company would not be available and it would be just a waste for all parties involved.

Flight lands at PHL Airport 3:01am and my interview starts at 8:30. My limo driver was a super nice guy who talked about the meaning of service both in his current day job as well as for his daughter. He knows a lot of people who work at the company and speaks very highly of them. In all his time driving people around he says not one of them had anything bad to say about the owner. I appreciate the heads up information, but am also cranky as heck and would’ve preferred to sleep in the Lincoln Town Car instead. Even at over 315k miles, the car rode like a dream.

I get to the hotel, an older man at the front desks asks who I am, gives me a card and tells me about the complimentary breakfast. Come 4:45AM I get to my room, complete with a king-sized bed, free wi-fi and granite countertops. Brush my teeth, set my iPhone Clock Alarm and wake up at 7:00. Recruiter was hopeful I could sleep in a couple hours, but everything stayed on. I iron the extremely wrinkled suit, dress shirt and slacks.

Meet with several executive in the company, they are all very approachable and had several questions about my background. I also asked them questions to get a better understanding of what some of their short and longer term goals were. Two things I did notice right off the bat. Not one minority (as a black man I like to see at least one other person of ‘color’) other than the cleaning people and most of the people there were older. By older I mean what would be my parents age or older. It’s great that a company retains its talent for long periods of time, but it can be a bit intimidating when the gap is soooo huge. The slightly updated 1970s vintage headquarters did not impress me and felt more like a makeshift office than something completed. Our rented office in Dallas looks 10x better than it. I was treated to lunch, then met with a realtor.

The realtor was probably the youngest guy I met, I would put him at early 40s. He showed me a couple different properties in the suburbs as well as they numerous places to go shopping. The only place that really wowed me was on the higher end of our price range. A good 70k more than our current home, though it was complete with modern furnishings, energy efficient and brand-spanking new. The only problem is the place couldn’t be built until October. I would have to use their lender to top it off. Something about the area didn’t click with me. Maybe the lack of a night life, the key highlight of the area being some of the shopping spots like Wal-Mart, WaWa and Pep Boys. I get a thrill from variety and this place didn’t really do it for me. He was kind enough to take me to the Verizon store for a phone charger and allowed me to use his corporate discount.

Kind of awkward timing, but while meeting with the realtor, I get a call from a place I interviewed with weeks before and they made me an offer right back in the Dallas area. The offer was very competitive and more than I ever made before. A few hours later in the day I get another offer from the company I interviewed for. Not horrible but 24% less than my other offer. Two offers in one day, that has never happened to me before. I’m used to going through an entire interview process and not getting any offers.

That night It’s pouring down heavy rain, I walk to the nearby Mexican place to grab some enchiladas, head to bed finally and get a good night’s sleep for once.

Saturday:

I miss the cut-off for breakfast since my limo driver is 15 minutes early. I do fall asleep in the car and before I knew it I was at the airport early. Grab a big breakfast, plane takes off and lands on-time.  No issues. Friend picks me up, stop at another friend’s house, grab dog and get to relax for a bit.

One of our two cats has gotten progressively worse. She won’t eat or drink water. At this point I’ve grown concerned. I’ve seen her sick before but never this bad. I thought about the vet, but get very emotional about these kinds of things. I record video of the cat drinking water and show what she looks like. I put food up to her face and she just turned around and wouldn’t eat it. Her regular vet was closed and I really wasn’t sure what to do.

Sunday Night / Monday:

Spend the day cleaning up the house. Cat still isn’t eating or drinking. I get even more nervous. I pick my bf up from the airport at 1am Monday morning. I’m tired at that point but am trying to be supportive so I did it without complaining. He sees the cat and says immediately we need to go to the Animal Hospital. We go to a local place, me riding with her in the back seat. She was meowing a lot, I could tell there was something wrong with her. Temperature is low (~96°F), blood work done and given some subcutaneous fluids to put some nutrients in her body. They give us some appetite boosting medication. We leave the vet around 5 and come home.

I’ll spare the details, but less than 5 hours later next day we lost her.  Probably the most emotional day ever of our nearly 3 year relationship. I was powerless to do anything to make him feel better about what happened. I drove to the pet clinic place to pay out final respects. I wonder if I could’ve caught it sooner. I did try to feed her several times even putting her face right on top of the bowl and nothing. Try not to cry when I see pictures of her. Maybe she’s just a cat, but a cat that I’ve bonded with and looks the same as the one I grew up with from around birth to age 7. Below is a picture from almost 2 years ago when we first moved to Texas. I’m really going to miss Odie.

Monday Evening
Asked a question about compensation and ended up getting a bump over my original offering. 5% in the door without working I’m down with that. The last 6% I got from my current employer was only after nearly a year on a much smaller base. I’m focused on doing good work and maintaining excellence in everything I do. This development may allow me to actually stay true to my goal of having no more student loan debt by the age of 32. I plan to put $1k a month toward it, max my Roth IRA and do 401k up to the match. Have about $200 in my Roth now and really not sure how to invest it properly. Getting a 50%+ bump in salary, can’t complain even though parts of the job will be new to me. I call it a work in progress once I can figure all this stuff out. ..

At times, the money spent on my student loans seems like it’s been put in a giant black hole, never to be seen again. I went back and took a look at my transaction history.

My first student loan payment was made on November 6, 2007. Monthly payments at the time were 289.79, not the 452.76 I currently pay. So my payments are technically 56% higher than they were when starting this loan and my monthly income is close to the same. Closer to 93% more if you consider I’m paying $600/month now. That’s sort of insane.

I’ve paid a total of $18,170.48 in payments, 8002.31 of which went toward interest during that time. 10,168.17 toward the principal. Original Loan disbursement amount was 46,769.87. Current balance is 38,887.89. I’ve paid 7881.98 of the principal down. Quite frankly I’m tired of keeping these loans around. 

Putting the numbers all together one sheet makes things much clearer. I advise others to do the same. It raises awareness of actual cash outflow and the sense of urgency.

Paid nearly a $1000 down in a month. Percentage-wise only about 2.5%, but it’s better than the 452 I typically pay. It’s been a struggle not going to lie. I feel like the debt is the equivalent to modern-day slavery. Instead of a race of people oppressing us by denying what are now considered basic inalienable rights…as long as I have this debt I’m missing out on opportunities to invest and build up my overall net worth.

Still under $39k is progress. I keep the original amount in the name of this blog for the very reason of reminding me how far I’ve come. On the principal amount I had about $1800 of interest last year. It may not sound like a not, but if you’re looking at 5400 worth of payments in a year roughly, the interest at this stage is about a 33% of that. Then with Income-Based Repayment all that interest for the last year got rolled back into the principal amount. So it’s like a vicious never-ending cycle.

Still on track to pay the $600/mo I’ve been paying and more as my budget allows. That still puts me close to 6 years (age 36) before it’s paid off. I’m not going down without a fight on this goal of being  out at 32 though. Fight, fight, fight! 😉

Often the moment I have extra cash in the bank comes some unexpected expenses. This weekend was a perfect example of that.

• Took my car into a local dealership I’ve gone to for 2 years for a couple of different jobs. Inspection, oil change, tire rotation, rotor resurfacing (due to longer break times / slight grinding coming to a sudden stop) and emissions system recall. My serpentine belt / drive belt needed replacement. Hasn’t been done since 2010 so I didn’t make a huge deal about it.

Drive Belt: 25.34. Labor 115.00 = 140.34
Rotor resurfacing: 100 per axel x 2: 200.00
Basic Oil Change (Conventional Oil): 34.95

Tire Rotation: 0.00 (they charged me 19.95 for this).

Texas State Inspection for One Year: 40.45.

Total = 455.69

Less 19.95, as they agreed I shouldn’t be charged to rotate my tires since I bought them there.

435.74. At least the car got washed. The experience is even more proof that I need to do things a-la-carte from now on from reputable service shops. The service advisor also said nothing to me about recall work not being done on account of an problem with their CONSULT system after talking with me twice on the phone and in-person. Not very professional if you ask me. I will be trying another dealer closer to me from now on. They also seemed to have an attitude when I asked about charges on the receipt after signing it.

Today I went to Target and spent 155 on various items. An outfit, food for the week so I don’t eat out for breakfast, lunch or dinner, dry and wet cat food, personal hygiene products, etc. I could easily spend $30 a day on food that I feel guilty about eating so I think the money spent was well worth it.

I closed my car door, applied pressure to the brake pedal and pushed the push-button start. No ignition start. Dash lights just flickered a bit. Called a friend to give me a jump. A good samaritan with a CJ-styled Jeep offered to give me a jump but couldn’t figure out to pop the hood open… My friend showed up about 30 seconds later. After 10 minutes I was good to go.

My Duralast Gold battery was originally purchased at Autozone April 2010 after my car wouldn’t start at a friend’s house when I had the heated seats turned on, but the engine off for 30 minutes. So about 27 months on the OEM Nissan battery died on me. Drove 5 min to Autozone today, explained the issue with my battery. They asked me to remove it myself in the excruciating heat and provided me tools. Not a big deal though, as I had to do it before. The DLG is good for 5 years under warranty. The employee at the desk said they could charge it if I waited for an hour. As far as I’m concerned charging isn’t a reliable way to deal with the problem. Last thing I want is to be stranded miles away from home with no one around to assist me, or unable to get anywhere at the worst possible moment. Picturing first day of the job or a late night trip out with friends. This is the third time I’ve been stranded with battery problems and my aftermarket stereo system isn’t helping with the added drain of sub, two amps, higher wattage batteries, etc.

Long story short. about 120 for the battery, less $65 pro-rated credit for the battery, so out of pocket about $85.

Looking at forums, one guy with a 2008 Nissan Altima just like mine managed to rack up 300k without any major problems other than a CVT replacement early on its mileage. I will be tired of my car long before then but it’s nice this thing could last me another 5 years with routine maintenance.

All of these expenses were paid on my debit card, in part due to the life insurance policy I cancelled out and received a cash surrender of $1k for. I used half of it to make an additional $500 student loan payment and the rest stayed in my checking / was eaten up by my car expenses. My 20-year term policy is almost done being setup, had a physical on Friday and the money was pulled from my account.

Emergency fund isn’t where I want it to be but I am doing what I can to accelerate the debt snowball.

Cars cost money to run but hopefully I don’t have to chalk any more money up other than an oil change for the next 12 months. Lastly, happy 4th of July to all my viewers in the states! 🙂

So this month has been particularly interesting. Interviewed with a company in Pennsylvania that I and my partner both probably won’t be working at. Just because it’s sort of out in the middle of nowhere and some of the neighborhoods there are very poverty-stricken. Also my experience of people in Philadelphia is not particularly positive. Maybe it’s just a bad batch, but they have mostly been impatient, impulsive and almost never accept the answer given to them.

Went on some other interviews with a local company. I applied under different leadership and went through so much disorganized chaos with two now-terminated members of their HR team. At the time I was bitter about it, but a good chunk of time has passed. Basically in wait and see mode. I’m not driven by the money, I want to build up my career and ultimately become more of an expert in my field. I believe this opportunity will be a successful one, but the cards are ultimately out of my hands right now.

My current company is tolerable, though it’s been so repetitive. My manager is around I’d say 25% of the time. He has been receptive to answering questions when I have them and handling issue that require management intervention. One of the guys who started close to 6 months after me and is six years younger than me took a job that pays a good 10-15k more that I earn. I don’t want his job though (direct sales over a telephone primarily aren’t my thing) and think my days there are numbered honestly.

I’m seeing more and more salespeople leave the company. Getting calls from advertisers asking for people who have been gone for weeks. Along with that, talking to salespeople who say I’m the 3rd or 4th person in my position to be handling the account. Maybe I should take it as a sign? Most of the people I work with have little passion for what they do and are looking elsewhere. The floor is run similar to a call center where we work out of a ticketing system and answer a support line so I can’t really blame them.

If I do get this job, the insurance isn’t the best. So am trying to get a Dermatologist appointment lined up beforehand.

On the low end, looking around 50k with bonus potential. A 40% increase not including the overtime I do on occasion. Basically a big part of my job will be turning business around for the company since it is a huge source of revenue for them. If I get the job, it will be putting more of my MBA Managerial Abilities. Particularly my communication skills and ability to manage technology reports.

One of my friends was recently let go from his job. The boss said he didn’t look happy and it was beginning to affect his work. He has been dealing with some vision issues so luckily his insurance kicked in and he got those addressed before getting canned. Without it, he might be blind in one eye or have to undergo some hefty medical bills to preserve his vision. The moral of the story is to not take good health and a minimal debt type of situation for granted.

James Gandolfini passed away recently from a heart attack. I watched The Sopranos, a tv series he made famous almost religiously every week during the early 2000s. He was worth an estimated $70 mil and was arguably one of the top actors of our generation. However it’s likely he neglected his health to a point where it got the better of him at 51. At the end of the day, the money isn’t everything.

On a health front, I’ve been in maintenance mode with my weight. Watching calories along with weights / cardio. Did 10 miles on my bike today. I have some obese friends and I’ve observed that a lot of what they consume is not conducive to weight loss at all. Massive amounts of alcohol, high carbohydrate items such as pasta and desserts loaded with sugar and calories. I’m really putting on my moderation is key hat. Let them do what they want, but my body is my temple. I want to stay on the path  of losing 2 pounds per week and their actions are completely out of sync with that mission.

Sallie Mae – Month 14

My next student loan payment is coming out in 3 days. I estimate my balance will be dropped down to 39825. This is monumental progress to me, since I graduated in 2008 my loan balance has been above the 40k marker.

Starting Tim Ferriss’s 4-Hour Body program. I’ve let myself go the past couple weeks, topping a whopping 222lb on the scales, at 5’9″ height. Frequent visits to McDonalds, Jimmy John’s deliveries to my desk and eating out. During the month of May I spent about $400 on food, most of it for me.

I’m getting impatient with some of of the progress I’ve been making. On both a professional level and a personal one. My company hired 7 recent college grads and I’m pretty sure they aren’t making much less than I am 8 years older, more work experience and the letters MBA. I need to accelerate the process of boosting earnings for my sanity’s sake. Have a preliminary interview with a company in 10 days. I really don’t want to move to Pennsylvania. If the offer is compelling enough though, we’ll see if my opinion is swayed  at all. Meanwhile the job market in Dallas is better than most. Florida could be another destination location. Lots of speculation right now though.

Still keeping credit card balances under control, got it up to $252, but all that will be paid off Monday.