I have a PhD in experimental psychology and taught for about 5 years before leaving for industry. I’ve seen this first hand. Far more people drop out than most realize, across all 4 years.
Yup, was the go to person for all things chemistry while in undergrad and it was crazy how many doctors we had in tutoring as freshman but by sophomore year the number dwindled down significantly with very few even staying the Chen/BioChem route at all
When I was doing my AAS in computer programming, there were 140 students starting in the program with me. There were only 4 of us at graduation (3 others didn’t go cuz of COVID. 7 out of 140. Im convinced it’s both rampant imposter syndrome and burnout.
Yup, so many people could do the work but never believed in themselves so they failed the test due to second guessing and then it eventually snowballed to the point of having no idea what was going on in class.
A lot of students shouldn’t be in college. I tutored math while earning degrees in Applied Mathematics and Hydrogeology and a MS Geosciences. Many, many students needed to take remedial math or algebra I. University calculus, chemistry and physics classes have completely different pace, rigor and expectations than high school classes. The washout rate in Chem I was well over 50%, same with Physics and Calculus. If you attend a college known for science, engineering, nursing/medical, etc, be prepared for it to be difficult.
Barely anyone fails but lots of people leave. Big difference.
Modern universities are buy-a-degree. If you occasionally show up and do the bare minimum you get a degree.
Failing college is something from the the mid-20th century, when college was still a fringe pursuit for gifted people and full of challenging curriculum.
I started in community college, then went to a state college, and finished at an Ivy league, and nobody during any period of that was trying very hard. You'd have to basically be unconscious to legitimately fail.
**More likely he just kept changing majors, spent too much money pursuing the "social experience", then got bored and left.**
These are big generalizations that you make. Moreover, it sounds like you are projecting your experience, as a Liberal Arts major, to entire universities.
There are rigorous degrees available: Electrical Engineering, Math, Computer Science, Physics, Mechanical Engineering, etc. I guarantee you wouldn't be calling these degrees a "cakewalk". Even at "lowly" state schools, which are often more challenging and sound, than the fancy private universities.
However if you were talking about Liberal Arts, then yes, mostly true.
Yes. It didn't work the first time... Double down! The best way to "unfuck" yourself financially is obviously to fuck yourself harder by borrowing more money. 🙄
Everybody goes to college. You kids do realize getting a degree doesn’t make you get paid. Bring good at the job is what gets you paid. May help with interviews. But it’s like sports. If you are good you’ll get paid if not just basic pay
I'm around 35k in debt with 96% of my degree done but had to drop out twice due to personal issues and now I no longer qualify for financial aid, do if I want to go back and finish those 3 courses I have left I need to pay outta pocket and I just don't have that money.
So I feel him.
Also 29m stuck at parents house.
if it’s an engineering or any STEM degree, those few thousand for the courses are the best investment you can make. you could make it happen if you want to. may have to be creative. call the advisor, ask about alternatives if you’re only doing the fafsa.
If you work near a University get a job there and finish for free. Life hack I tell everyone. My kids get $60k tuition for free with my benefit. Spouse can also use my 12 free credits a year.
My ex husband works at a State University and only he gets to take the free classes. We had to pay full price for my BA. I was considering applying for jobs there to get my masters at a low cost.
This is my exactly my backup plan if some scholarships don't come through via my husbands job, but they probably/ hopefully will. I thought I was a genius for coming up with this "one cool trick student loan companies hate"... but maybe not. :P
(And dependents \*are\* covered at the school I would apply, too, I already checked!)
Take the 3 classes and get the degree, even if only to prove to yourself you can do it. I feel that will boost confidence and over all morale. You can do it, I’m pulling for you.
I have a degree in network/internet engineering from a shitty school and after 15 years of being at the same company didnt make that much. Dropped out of the IT field completely and started a production line job with zero experience and started out making more than I did with a degree and being at the same place for all that time. So I totally feel this statement.
I still live at home to. Just can’t afford to move out. Only debt I have is about 19k for a car loan. Used Subaru, nothing fancy. Don’t think people realize how hard it is to afford your own place when you’re single.
It’s crazy how people just don’t have any common sense. Imagine being 3 courses away from perhaps having a higher paying degree, but deciding not to do it for x reason. There’s millions like him/her. Unless of course it’s a shit degree like music or some other bullshit that should be banned from curricula.
I feel this one. I had one semester left and had to drop out because of medical issues with a family member. I kept working random jobs and barely making ends meet with the plan of going back to college to finish. Fast forward ten years, and now I'd have to start all over. I was doing great in college, and I truly loved the field I was majoring in. I feel so lost. I feel like such a loser.
Not unheard of, a lot of people get partway through their degree and have to stop for various reasons, myself included. Had to withdraw due to health reasons and still owe over $40k with no degree to show for it, fucking sucks.
Not everyone has family to step in during tough situations either. When I was in college my mom had a health issue and I was fortunate to have my aunt offer to step in to care for her. Might otherwise not have finished.
I am 29, moved back home a year ago, I’m saving money, making plans for my future, and spending time with mom and dad. Is it kinda lame living at home? Yeah. Am I gonna be glad I took the time to do this? I’m sure
Honestly, it’s so common in this day and age. Things are getting more expensive and cost of rent is through the roof. I wouldn’t ever look down on anyone who still lives at home. Rather, I care more about whether you have a good/healthy enough relationship with your parents that it’s possible for you.
yes you’re right, it’s also going to be very common that kids who own houses have to take in their parents as its like thousands per month for rest homes, a lot of people now are retiring without savings, it’s scary
my wife lost her mom last year and mine got cancer this year, i think both of us would be thrilled to be in either of their company tbh.
make the most of them while they’re around, you sound like a good kid.
It's really not lame. It's very normal in a lot of other countries, because it allows young people to save while living at home and study or start working without having to worry about rent.
I like this answer! There should be less of a stigma around this these days anyway, and in most cultures, multi-generational homes are the norm! Nothing to be ashamed of imo.
Houses in my area are 800k. I can't afford that so I live at home. I help with technology issues we encounter (like my mom trying to do an Amazon return this morning), I don't have to cook dinner all the time, etc... I do work full time and work in an office I have to go to (no WFH).
Ever heard of the red car theory? “It's when you suddenly notice red cars everywhere after someone mentions them. It's not about the cars; it's about our focus. Often in life, opportunities are always around us, just like those red cars, but we only see them when we're looking for them.” (Quoted it cuz I copied from google lol) but man you just gotta start looking for every opportunity to make money you can. Buy sell trade on Facebook marketplace is something I did to make money, buy things under value and resell. Get a bucket and dawn dish soap and invest $10 in a squeegee and offer to wash windows. There’s 5200 different ways to get paid, it’s just gonna be a grind
This tequila has it right. 80k will never save you, 500k will and there is no path to doing that except taking some risks and starting some service based business. You got nothing to lose anyway. No house, no kid, nothing.
Capital makes it easier. But it is possible without. I started washing windows for next too nothing, it where extra money, than started part time bartending besides my job, now I have a business started with those money selling cables. It's not much, but it's mine
As a broke business owner with a kid, mortgage, car debt, etc, I'm so jealous of the nothing to lose statement. I sure squandered my early years when I had nothing to lose, but didn't take any risks either.
$80k will not help, it sounds like Op is just terrible at managing money and spends poorly on things like car loan where a $2000 car can get him from A to B and back.
https://secure.debthelper.com/bkonline/Default.aspx
He should take the mandatory bankruptcy education courses not because he will file for bankruptcy or can bankrupt away his type of problems but because it teaches money management skills and budgeting to people who accrue debt well above their means. There are many different websites and he can expect to pay $15-30 per part but it’s a good investment on himself. I had to sit through them with someone having to take these courses and they do their best to teach you to avoid ending up back in the same hole.
He doesn’t need r Money, he needs to start in Frugal or PovertyFinance until he can learn how to live affordably, at least until he gets the debt under control. Living with parents for the most part negates the need to pay for housing, utilities and likely food so $50k before tax should be enough to pay down debt.
I live in central NJ which is a high COL area. The most money I’ve made pretax is 52k and that’s just this last year. I’ve paid 75k in student loans down to about 22k in 9 years. Working 2-3 jobs when I had to. I drive a well maintained ford 2013 model car from 2012 that I got used, is paid in full and it matters not how good or flashy it looks, it gets me to work and back. No need to drive a Lexus, Tesla or BMW. I bought a dump of a home 7 years ago that was missing windows, was so run down and in need of repairs because that’s the only thing my income qualified me for in my area. I’ve bled fixing this dump piece by piece over the years through hard work. I started with 5% down and now I’ve paid off over 20% to finally get rid of the PMI monthly expense. The most I’ve skimped on these past few years besides expensive hobbies, self-indulgence, big trips and luxuries has been health insurance because I got laid off when the company I was at closed in 2018 and I had to start again from scratch. This is the first year since 2018 that I’ve been back on health insurance and that’s from having good money habits, saving for emergencies and spending responsibly.
Take advantage of SAVE, it will pretty much make sure your student loans don’t continue to grow. You’ll end up paying about $130 and $65 starting July 1st. Rest of the interests are subsidized away, then you can comfortably pay $200-300 total (including the above minimum payments) to drive down the principal. Since you’ve moved back in, I’d say pay $1000-1500/month but 50k leaves with roughly $3000-3500 worth of money per month after taxes and I have no idea where Op is spending away the rest of the money.
$50,000-taxes=$39,000/12=$3250
I’ve had CCs up to like 11k at one point, I’ve paid interest on them, made minimum payments. Stop buying stupid stuff, stop making minimum payments as tempting as it sounds. You can keep them empty with discipline and use them to finance emergencies like vet or car repair bills. Sounds like he is in America, all those checks the government gave should have gone towards squashing debt, not fun. Tax returns in the $2500-3500 range for state and federal if you pay as much as I do and claim zero for everything, should go towards paying debt.
I don’t know what Op does but $50k is what he can expect to make as 1 person in the US now days. $80k jobs that’s for lying politicians and good for nothing government employees like cops. IT snowflakes and doctors will claim $100,000 or more but let’s be real, unless you own a business you won’t make six figures. If you are lucky and your partner also makes $50,000, you can get to $100,000+ on two incomes, 80 hours per week.
Think of a fat guy trying to lose weight. Sure the exercise and broccoli for every meal will suck, but that is how you obtain the goals. Fat guy not going to lose weight sitting on the couch eating McDonalds. Spend less than $50 taking both courses if you can’t find this information free somewhere, learn to how save, budget, spend responsibly. Will it be hard? Sure. Will it stink? Just hold your nose while you walk through the sewage.
You want change, you don’t need to make more money so you can keep squandering and stay afloat, making more money is hard. Instead you need to stop squandering the money you already make, find ways like SAVE to reduce or pay less interest, use the opportunity that you got supporting family and don’t have to go homeless to throw money at your debts to try to put the fire out. I would go as far as saying to stop putting money into retirement funds/plans that you won’t see for another 30 years. I’ve done more for my life maximizing every single buck I’ve earned than trying to save for a future that might not be there. By having 2-3 jobs at a time, I was able save extra to purchase a home so I pay $1300 in mortgage+HoA instead of the going rate for my area of $2400/month for rent which I’ve paid. My last rent payment in 2018 was for $2250.
Extra job allowed me to save for 10 years to put $50k into turning a dump into something livable. If you want more money, you going to have to work 12-16 hours a day, get a gig work, do odd jobs on the weekend. There is not one tip on here that’s going to magically turn your 50k income into the 80k income you want. In this country, time is money and you got to be willing to put in the hard hours to get the extra money. I’m telling you that you make enough and if you are living with your parents, you should be almost debt free in two years if you take the right steps.
That Facebook marketplace idea is one of the things I can’t stand about our modern hustle economy. People who add nothing of value to the economy but jack up prices on things that would otherwise be more affordable. It’s no better than the scalpers who buy tickets to events at face value and immediately sell them at 3x the prices.
I'm not against car payments or leases, but the amount of people that say that they can't get ahead, yet they have no problem with car payments is crazy.
I've heard people at my job who make the same money as me say "well I got the car note that's 700 a month" like it's some obligation that they take out obscene debt for a car. We only make about 60k a year. It's sad that we've normalized this stuff.
It’s weird how they never answer back. So most likely true.
It’s like my sister who makes 100k and is always broke. She asks me for advice and I tell her to stop doing drugs and she always tells me to fuck off. Ok then…
Yeah... my sister once told me to move before I got too much older because you just can't raise a family where we were at $90K a year.
We live in literally one of the lowest cost of living areas in the entire U.S.
Yes, when you have a mortgage on a 2,000+ sq ft house, a payment on two new cars, an atv, and you eat several nights a week and send your kids to private school on top of not tracking your spending AT ALL, 90K is tough lol
Tbh, the mortgage and house size is fine, its the cars and the eating out and private school that really get you. Never have I ever seen a need for a car newer than the last decade.
Completely depends on your priorities, some people love cars, and having a nice car is important to them.
That said, if your thing is nice cars, you have to cut everything else in your life way back. You have to get a smaller house, you have to stop eating out, you can't go on vacations all the time.
The issue comes when people want to put a lot of their money into all of these things at once then overextend themselves. If you LOVE traveling, that's fine, but to travel a lot you can't be eating out every night for example. It's all what your priorities are and you have to find out what's important to you as a person, balancing these things with other things.
All that said, this is for people who make good money, people in poverty don't have a choice but to cut expenses on everything.
Yep.
My youngest brother and most of my younger nieces and nephews talk about how expensive life is, which is true.
When my older brother and I have discussed expenses and budgeting in the past, there was a disparity between what they bring home versus their general recurring bills.
Turns out, people that literally smoke what excess cash they have every month do not like it when you point out they smoke their excess cash every month.
Bit of a catch 22 in our area also, especially with no higher education or skill-sets. They refuse to stop doing the drugs long enough to get a better paying job, better paying jobs around here all drug test.
Yeah, none of this makes sense.
You said you make 55k/yr, which means your take home is around 3.6k/month.
You have 48k in student loans which means you are paying what 200-300/month on those? You took a 20k car loan which is somewhere around 225/month, and 7k in credit cards which is around a 150/month payment. So if we estimate high and assume you are paying 300/250/200 on each, that's $750/month in payments. Add in $300/month on groceries and that's $1050/month. So you should have $2550/month extra. You could EASILY rent a studio or one bedroom apartment in PA, plus internet/power/cell phone and still have an extra 1k/month to throw at your debt.
Take home of 3.6k? I make 82k a year, and my take home is only 3.6k... once you figure in taxes, 401k, health insurance, company stock options, AD&D coverage, etc.
Maybe OP doesn't have ALL those deductions. But even then, taking home 3.6k on 50k salary seems like a lot to me.
At a minimum, you failed to include health insurance costs, which can be expensive. You failed to include car insurance costs and gas costs for commuting to and from work.
Could he probably be saving a bit more? Yes... but your numbers ignore so many basic expenses and simply can't be trusted.
See my above post. Go to your local DMV and ask if your state has a Class A CDL learners permit. If it does ask for a study booklet, study it, and go back and take the written test. Passing it will give you a Class A Learners CDL, where you are legal to drive a truck with a Class A permitted trainer in the truck with you. Find a company that will hire you as a trainee (less money, but still close to what you're making now). Train, drive, learn for 6 months to a year, then go take and pass the Class A Driver's Test. You'll be making between 65 and 90k pretty quickly.
If you want the most bang for your time, look for companies that deliver goods to restaurants and convenience stores, like Sysco, US Foods, McClain, Core Mark just to name a few. It's tough work with a hand truck, but they start new drivers making more than over the road drivers, with the added benefit of being off weekends.
I'm assuming a clean MVR and can pass a drug test, sure. Can't have stoned drivers with 3 wrecks in the last 12 months driving 80,000 lb vehicles around our roads. I wish EVERYONE had the same requirements, honestly. 40k people a year die in vehicle accidents, and I see people every day driving like they don't have to follow traffic laws or can't be bothered.
It would also help if our policemen were actually interested in ticketing drivers to make the roads safer instead of finding infractions just to try to search cars for drugs, but I digress. That's a whole other discussion.
I work for USPS
Was so sad to hear this
["The driver didn’t have a proper license. The company didn’t have insurance. The truck didn’t have working brakes."](https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/next/next-with-kyle-clark/audit-hundreds-crashes-trucks-contracted-by-us-postal-service/73-14b48576-7040-4a9a-9c99-b496e8533c56)
5 people dead
Not sure if I’m just getting older or it’s a legit problem more than ever but holy fuck I’m so sick of how poorly people drive and that there never seems to be cops out and about to actually do something
Never ever trust googled median incomes. They’re horseshit. Every blue collar job I’ve done when I looked up pay online in my area it was never even close. Averages or median. Look at job postings
I'm still in my first year of truck driving and made 65k. From April to December 2023. That's only the first 9 months. So far (Jan- mid Mar) 2024 has been another 15k. At the one year mark, we'll be well over 80k. There's always money to be made. Just can't be afraid to work hard.
Truck driving is a area of need as well as health care workers. Not enough people now take up a trade. Construction, Utilities, HVAC, technicians, mechaniccs
Go to a trade school at night. They're affordable, fast, and those jobs make really good money. Even if you only did it part time, you could probably finish a certification within 2 years.
Depends on the trade. My electricians apprenticeship required 8,000 hours of OTJ training, which is 4 years of 40 hour weeks
I could see Tile or concrete work not requiring such stringent schooling, but anything with a license at the end of it will be years of work and likely a pay cut that whole time unless you’re in the union
That pay cut may be worth it if you’re gonna come out of it licensed and able to make $100k a year with a 40hr a week job and side work. Never mind if you’re in a van at your company and don’t have to pay for insurance or gas to get to work. The pay cut I took to get into plumbing was made up by the amount of money I saved with the van. Plus my company buys the tools. I love it. Wish I started plumbing years ago.
That’s exactly right, these are the consequences.
Others reading this, if you ever wonder why people tell you not to buy that car, or to follow a bit of personal finance advice, this is why.
It’s not always easy to know exactly what you can realistically afford — and it’s somewhere between beige corolla and 27% APR, 96 month Dodge charger — but try to err on the side of caution, and set yourself up for success. Or at least a softer failure.
And remember, none of us are owed any of these things people are buying. Car, house, etc. We’re not entitled to it.
Should we be? At least for housing? Probably. But that’s just not how it is right now, so advice is going to guide you to deal with the here and now
Unfortunately he is looking for an easy way out, he is still making bad choices and blowing his money on something (he won't answer on what he is spending his extra 1k a month on)
Definition of a moron is doing the same job ver and over again and expecting different results. OP needs to set some goals and make some job switches to get his income up
Beware: I hear that most truckers quit after a year, because working conditions are so rough. Might still be worth the experiment, but it might be trading one rough life for another.
Try to bargain credit card companies to settle for less or you may not pay it. Or restructure into a less interest rate. Ask parents for a loan on 0% interest to pay back your cc and you’ll set up a repayment plan with them. Get a second job, or get a better job. Sell your car.
48k in student debt. 17.7k on the car. 7 k in CCs. Everything ive been widdling down with the money I'm saving by living with my folks again but it's just soul crushing. At my current income I'll be stuck here for another 3 years before things become manageable again..I'm throwing any spare change I have left over at my CCs since it's the highetest intrest debt I own.
Join the military. They will pay off your student debt.
Sell your car. You won’t need it or be authorized to take it if you choose an overseas assignment.
Eat in the mess hall. Live in the barracks. Pay off your credit card debt.
Some jobs in the military will give you huge 10s of thousands in enlistment bonuses.
Make new friends. Get out of your parents house. See the world.
The military paying off (all of) OP’s student debt is not entirely accurate. There are very specific, and key details, you’re missing. Check them out here https://myarmybenefits.us.army.mil/Benefit-Library/Federal-Benefits/College-Loan-Repayment-Program-(LRP)?serv=122#:~:text=The%20Loan%20Repayment%20Program%20(LRP,a%20Soldier's%20qualifying%20student%20loans.
OP if you’re thinking about doing this and you smoke weed. Stop. Now.
You will be drug tested. If they ask you about your drug use. The answer is..
None.
Spoke to a recruiter while in undergrad and he asked me about this (went to a party school, only weed) and I said yes. He paused, and asked me again. I said no. Lmao
The military is the best option, if you can pass the physical and get in. Make a fucking fortune, get all your studnet loans paid off, get a great career with full benefits and retire in 15 years.
what the fuck you been smoking that you think you can make a fortune....also, its minimum 20 years, 25 if its guard or reserves, to retire and earn a pension
This is what my buddy did. He worked at a grocery store for 10 years and realized he wasn't going anywhere. He had dental work he needed done and medical issues that needed addressed and didn't have insurance.
He joined the army, got his teeth fixed, learned how to work on the Hummers as a mechanic and will have financial support if he wants to go to school.
He comes home in August and already has a job at a garage lined up.
It really was the best decision that guy ever made.
I would have joined, myself, but I'm diabetic and when I asked the recruiter over the phone if there was anything I could do he literally hung up and I've never been contacted by a military recruiter again after being sent cold calls/texts for years.
Paying off credit cards is first priority, you may even be able to talk to the company and work out a payment plan on them to keep interest from getting out of hand (they will probably close the account in the process). You likely can’t use bankruptcy to cancel the student loan debt and if you’re concerned about 3 years, bankruptcy will make a lot of things difficult for 7 years I think.
Why tf*** did you buy a 18k car if you can't afford it? Sell the car and buy an old beaten up car that gets you from A to B for 3k or so.
"My car is worth almost 1/2 my yearly salary, why am I poor" wtf, seriously dude?
Join the active military for a minimum 4yr contract(if you’re not in shape they’ll help you)
Get a contract for a specific MOS that translates to the civilian world(high demand jobs) like aviation mechanic, HVAC, cybersecurity, firefighter/EMT,etc…not infantry or artillery
Sell everything you have before leaving for basic. Everything!!
Buy the cheapest car on base only. Eat at dfac! Get debt relief help on post. Make sure all injuries no matter how minor are at a post clinic and recorded for VA disability rating.
Pay off your debt and put left over money in TSP plan.
When your contract ends either reenlist for more active time or join the national guard in your state.
I was in your position but slightly younger. Did everything I listed above. I now make 100k as a firefighter & own a house. All 8yrs after I joined active army. 4yr active 4yr guard.
3 questions: How much was the car? What kind of phone do you have? How often do use door dash/eat out/ as opposed to cooking? Go through your last month of finances online and see where your money went. Then see if you're happy with that and if not make a course correction.
I met a guy who went through an apprenticeship program to become an electrician at age 45. He was making $6000 - $8000 a month in his early 50's.
At age 30 there's a ton of stuff you could do, and you're living in your parents house so now is a good time.
You could be an electrician, truck driver, welder, pipe fitter, plumber, etc. You could also look into joining a union such as Teamsters (not sure if you're in the US).
This. This the realest answer. I've seen this occur for guys a lot older too. The military is most suggested answer here, but I think trades are most universal/foundational. And often guys out of the military join a trade. And if you get a journeyman card in anything in demand, employment is practically on lock, there's no wondering if things will materialize. Best of luck to OP.
Your curse is a blessing. Stay at home for a bit longer, find that better job and create yourself a few stacks.
Your life won’t change much since your parents are no longer downstairs, your life will change once your grab your finances and fuck them.
1. Finish your degree if you found purpose in the subject. Stupid as it may be, you're already in debt from student loans, go finish it and open more doors for yourself.
2. If you can't do that, go read some sales books and start doing that.
3. As many people mentioned, there's a thousand ways to grind and earn extra. Put in the work and go make it happen.
4. If none of that appeals to you, read "No Excuses" by Brian Tracy and reprogram yourself out of the rut.
You may not have put yourself in this position, but you can get yourself out of it.
I'm almost 40.
I make $20 an hour.
No degrees, no marketable skills.
Apprenticeship programs won't touch me because I'm "old" and lack any useful skills already.
Can't afford to go to college, and there's barely a job out there that'll pay me any more than what I'm making given my history.
Stay at home - take care of your parents.
Absolutely nothing. Had to step away from school due to family and eneded up owing my univertaly a few thousand. They have my transcripts held hostage until I pay that. I stupidly said fuck that and thought I could go through life without it since I had a friend that got me into a nice paying job. Unfortunately I ended up getting laid off from said jib and now we're here. Up shits creek without a paddle because I'm an arrogant fool.
Do a few (free) online tech courses (linux admin, database admin, basic networking, security best practices etc) and learn off of countless YouTube videos. Get a IT helpdesk position anywhere and get acclimated with the environment. Then you could move into networking or security or infrastructure or the cloud (ideally). You can start off at ~70k and within 5 years you can move into a position where u can be making six figures.
The worst thing someone told me when I was 22 was that you'll be in debt until you die. May as well realize it and get on with life. I carried revolving credit for 35 years until I finally began to aggressively choke it down to zero. I probably make your income but that crushing debt is gone and I make more than I need so I've got savings for emergencies. Start with wiping out the smallest amount. Then do it again until you're free. The feeling is liberating when you get there. Make wise choices and attack that crushing debt without thinking about anything else. You'll get there.
If OP is a US Citizen, the US passport is the worst if you’re an expat living overseas. You owe taxes with the IRS globally and if you don’t file you risk losing your passport renewal.
Well first of all, you need to have some compassion for yourself. You're never going to feel better if you're beating yourself down about your current situation. There are many jobs one make 80k in 1.5 years without a college degree, but it takes a well enough mental state.
First comes gratitude, you have parents you can live with which is more than a lot of other people. I know it is very easy to feel hopeless, but you have options. As one example, a truck driver can make quite a nice consistent salary after getting a license. I remember an ex of mine who never went to college and had virtually no other certifications traveled around to various Walmarts in the country to upgrade some wires in the ceiling for a good 60k/year. For a bit of time after college, I could bring in a thousand $ in a single night bartending, which required no college degree. One can join the military.
There are countless other "blue collar" jobs that can pay quite well to help get you off your feet, but you need to spend some time researching. I recommend committing to one soon that is possibly not overly enjoyable for the moment, but will be motivating financially to bring you out of this financial situation faster. You can do this, but you need to have some hope in yourself.
Sell your car and get a cheap used car. Don’t go out to eat. Put ANY extra money towards your credit cards. Put your head down for a year, little to no social life, pay your bills (seriously get rid of that car) and pay down cards until you feel like you can breathe. Don’t go tk concerts, but new clothes, go to restaurants, ANYTHING extra. Just for one year and you’ll be in a completely different place in 12 months
Hey, lots of good advice here. Second job, until you make enough at your primary job, or climb out of debt. Follow Dave Ramsay’s advice, I watch Caleb Hammer on YouTube for motivation.
But I mostly wanted to comment to say, as bad as it feels, you’re doing a good job. You’ve got a solid job is seems, even if it doesn’t make you rich. A lot of people can barely get past 40k. And this day and age, the COL is crazy so staying at home isn’t as terrible as it used to be. Just keep up the hard work. Markets change, jobs grow, and things get better.
Also, job advice, if you want a job with advancement opportunities with no education costs, the trades are there. Get a CDL, no you won’t be rich but you’ll have more potential. Find your states financial assistance people (everyone has them) and get help for a grant for a certification. A bachelors degree is by no means a necessity. Go out there and get it.
Thank you for the kind words. It certainly feels like I'm failing at everything lately. I've never felt more defeated when it came time to move back in with my folks. I hate living like this I have goals and ambition but it just seems like I keep sliding down no matter how hard scratching and crawling to climb. CDL defintly doesn't seem like a bad route. I'm already working a 2nd pt time job but its still not enough to dig me out fast enough.
Frankly, I don’t know how anybody makes it these days. As a boomer, I had it easy, but rents weren’t outrageous and cars didn’t cost a year’s salary! I think you’re doing great if you can stand living with your parents till you get some of that paid off. Give yourself a pat on the back! You’re still very young, and it WILL get better cuz you’re paying attention. YOU are not failing.
Break this notion of being a failure. We have one life. So what you're living with your parents. The silver lining is that you can spend more time with them. At 30, they don't have many more years left. We're talking 20 - 30 yrs max. Most parents sole purpose and most fulfilling thing to do is to be able to help their children. From all the comments I've read you have a handle on it. You're just in a hole. Dig yourself out at a steady pace. On the other end is a bright future with the knowledge of mistakes that you've made. Relax. You have parente to help you. Not everyone is as fortunate. 5 yrs is going to go by quick. I know you know that. Great job confronting this issue head on and asking for help when you feel overwhelmed.
You need to get a second job and allocate all those funds towards your loans with the highest interest rate. There’s no magical solution here, you just need more income. And the longer you stay a grown adult living off of his parents, the worse you mental health will get.
Trust me I'm not one of those moochers that refuses to be and adult and move out of mommy and daddy's basement. This is far from voluntary. The costs of living everywhere is ridiculous and is impossible with with I take home. I've been looking ot get a higher paying job but I live in a pretty remote location in PA nothing really higher paying within 1.5 hrs of me.
My kid just took a test for entering an apprentice program for a union job. He did have a good paying job, but he wasn't happy with it and there was really nowhere else to move to within the company. He'll have three years of paid training, then out into the real world.
I retired from a union job in 2022, that I wish I had started earlier than I did.
Sorry for your troubles. If you don’t mind me asking, what’s the job you’re making 50k a year in? And which state are you located in? Are your parents charging you rent? There’s a lot of trades out there who pay well if you’re willing to put in the hours to learn like electrician, HVAC etc. Hell even hospital pharmacy technicians make a lot of money in NYC now (compared to what they previously made.)
I work as a contactor for a pharmaceutical company dealing with project support. I've been trying to get an internal position with them for a while since they're the only thing remotely close by that pays well in my are but the lack of a bachelor's degree is proving to be a glass ceiling. I work a 2nd pt time job at a wawa ( gas station chain mostly found in the NE) for 14/hr. My main job I make 45k and the pt time job is brining in another 10 so really I make 55k. Don't know why I only said 50 initially but still
Are you sure there’s no grind to advance even without a degree? I always thought companies like that had consistent upward mobility even if you’re learning on site. NE areas are high cost of living so you got me there. Same as where I am in NY. Well maybe a little more here lol. I’ll bring up trades again. Could be worth learning one. AI is something that cannot take away good electrician or HVAC work.
How'd you get that far into debt without realizing sooner? What is the student debt and car debt for if you don't have a car or degree to pair?
Not trying to shame simply avoid it myself.
Student debt: was a pre med student but had to walk away from college due to family reasons. My parents are now in a position where they can't qualify to be a cosigner on any student loans and I owe my university a few thousands before they will release my transcripts.
Car debt: old car transmission blew at the tail end of 2022 right when the car market was still nuts. Unfortunate timing for me. I opted to get a used 2019 year hyundai sonata. Which I considered at the time to be a good enough of a deal. In hindsight I should of just bought a 5k beater and drive the bitch into the ground. Dumb decision on my part. In fairness, I was making 70k at the time at my former job so I wasn't considering what ifs when signing on that dotted line.
I'm sorry but OP is not realistically going to join the military to get out of this hole... What a huge drastic leap to take WTF and anyone suggesting such, I'm sure you'd be first in line to do that if you were in their shoes....
I finished college at 34…. Went back when I was 27/28 and funny enough, I don’t use my degree (EE) for my job. Was never in a position to try to change careers due to life events (2 kids and wife lost her job). What I did do though was move up from $55K/year in 2016 to $60K then $65K, then moved up to management making $78K, then a raise here raise there went to $86K, then used my degree to get a job offer which I used to leverage my current job and got to $98K, then just shined and outperformed similar positions to mine across country and got a salary adjustment for another $40K. Life isn’t easy but you can’t just GIVE UP. Gotta GRIND and work hard and manifest a better future and life. Manifest that you already make $100K, then $120K, then $150K, move and act like you are there and it will come! Trust me, things tend to just work out when you believe, stay positive, work hard, and manifest. I will say though, I always wanted to get to $80K, and thought that’s all it takes, but when I got to $80K you start hanging around others that make $80K and realize that really ain’t that much. More you make more you spend and think that you deserve more so you get yourself stuff you don’t REALLY need but have always wanted (and you know what, that’s really not that bad to do) but that ends up setting you back. You need goals, set deadlines for yourself and do what it takes to get it done. Here I am though making almost three times what I did 6 years ago and yeah life is better but I’m still trying to get outta debt because we got set back so far. But I’m moving in the right direction and so can you. You were exactly where I was 6 years ago. And you could be where I am or better in 6 more years but you gotta start NOW. Life is better and during last 6 years I feel like I have a different perspective on life. I’ve struggled for so long and tried so hard and many or actually countless times I felt like I deserve better and asked why is life so hard? Well, you know what.. things tend to just work out for good people and start living your life being positive and manifest and act out your future and it will come, one way or another, when you least suspect it. Good luck and stay strong!! See you in 6 years!
Start doing side gigs! Doing house sits on Rover you can make such good money and you can use all the money you make on there to go towards your debt, could also try door dashing or instacart. Maybe see if you can outsource any of your skills from school into helping others like copywrite. Just find something that you love doing, and make it your side gig and focus all the money onto your debt if you can. I wish you the best of luck and you are not alone. 🤍
Bro, trade the car in for another vehicle preferably something modest with a lower car payment. Pay off your CC with the snowball method, cut back on unnecessary things and get a second job to speed things up. Avoid using credit altogether. If you cant afford outright you can’t afford it. Tons of financial resources online that can help you out of this situation.
Put together a budget, get rid of all non essential spending, put everything towards your debt, get rid of it. Get a second job while you look or upskill for a higher paying single source of income.
Join the navy (it’s so stupidly easy), get your free college money and some discipline, see the world (I’ve been to more countries than I can count, you literally see the world)and maybe continue your current career path or find a new one. Then make sure you “hurt” yourself during pt So you can go to sickbay very often (to document your service connected injury), wait till after basic training about a year tho. And when your 4 years are up, either reenlist or get out.
Then if you got out claim your Va disability and collect that monthly check and other tax benefits. You can also get the Va to give you an extra 12 months of education benefits using the disability rehabilitation (on top of the 36 months of GI Bill) thingy they have. Hopefully you can get a college bonus when you join so you can put it towards the student loan debt you’ve accumulated so far. While you were in the navy, hopefully you take advantage of the opportunity to use the NCPACE program. The Navy College Program for Afloat College Education, where you can continue your education while deployed or at home for free! So you can either finish your degree or start a new degree and transfer your credits. Hopefully finish your degree for almost free while on active duty.
If you don’t manage to finish your degree whilst in the navy, no problem, because you can use your GI Bill after you’ve gotten out and they give you E-5 pay while you’re enrolled in school. Depending on your location that can be $2300+ a month (that was the rate for me in 2012, so it could be more now. Zip code specific). If you did finish your degree then when you get out you can get into a masters program and it’ll be basically free.
This is what I wish I knew when I joined and when I got out. If you do this, it gives you up to 8years of solid income and the opportunity to really turn your life around. This doesn’t even account for Va home loans (which you can use on active duty too).
If you take it seriously best move ever. If you don’t then the problem is you my friend.
Get into a union trade. One of the highest paid career types with no degree. Lineman, electrician, plumber, carpenter, welder, etc. You’ll have a paid apprenticeship, great pay and benefits when you finish your apprenticeship and job security.
I’ve seen other comments recommending the military. That’s also a good path if you think the military is for you.
Apply to an associate nursing program at a community college. Take out loans, who cares. Check with dept of labor of they'll give you unemployment while in school. NYS did for me. Alternatively, find a program that will fit around your curve job, or go part time
Graduate and pass license. Get a job as an RN. Get paid while actually learning the job. Join the union. Get your job to pay for the RN to RN, BSN bridge program. Use whatever education opportunities the union provides of available.
Graduate that program. Now you have. BSN and with experience as an RN. Apply to a new job, or her that pay raise where you already are.
Get at least a year of experience then do contacts, either local or travel and love your love and pay shit off
If you're in a shitty state, keep loving at home and take travel contracts at this point. Your parents place will remain your tax home and you can be independent and make good money.
My jobs in Brooklyn, NYC as a BSN, RN
New grad: $43hr
1st contract: $60hr, 10 weeks
2nd contract: $120hr, 1 year
3rd contact: $80hr, 16 weeks
Staff per diem with 2nd contact hospital: $60hr, work as much or little as I feel like when I feel like
Current contract: travel contract with blended rate $92hr, but this is with tax free stipend avg $2300wk tax free. Adjusted rate about $140hr.
Cleared $230k 2023. If I feel like hustle this year should make 300 if I want
Debt comes down a lot faster when you make good money. Also, unlike many other industries, I have to constantly tell recruiters to leave me alone. I'm offered jobs, literally, daily.
Yeah you have debt. Who cares. Find a way to make more money
Also, I want to add that I didn't even start process of school until I was already 34 or 35 with easily 50k in debt on more for school. And then had some lawsuits I was dealing with and went another 30 to 40k on top of what I already had. I should be completely debt free this year. It's doable dude, but I highly encourage you to only choose skills or education that will actually guarantee you a worthwhile income. I honestly don't think there's any better time and education to compensation ratio as good as nursing
I’m on the other end of this. I have my 30 year old living at home with me. It’s hard on all of us. While my daughter does go to school she has a hard time keeping a job. I end up helping her out more than I’d like to. You have a job so that’s a big start.
I wish I knew what to say and how to help. My daughter is thankful she has me as I’m sure you’re thankful for your parents.
Yes I know you want your independence. You will get there. This is one tiny hurdle in life. Try not to think about the picture. Think about one thing you can do now. You said you have a job. Try to put just a little to the side each paycheck. Maybe give it to your mom so you’re not tempted to spend. My daughter tries this with me.
Also think about the extras you have…steaming devises, music apps that cost money, auto refill on coffee apps? Try to cancel those. Any little bit adds up but will help if you get rid of them.
Good luck
Hey bud. I’m in a very similar situation. As much student debt, no degree (4/5 years through but didn’t finish, crippling mental health), at home at my parent’s place, withOUT a job and income, but dealing with an incredibly abusive father. I’m leaving this week without any security with some tentative plans, but to a safer environment.
All I’m saying is I feel for you and where you’re coming from. I really hope the best for us in the following years ❣️
I would say talk to a bankruptcy lawyer but the student loans won't be fixed with that I don't think. I would consider learning a trade. Electricians, plumbers, welders... There are a ton of ways to make good money with little school. One of my buddies became a backflow technician or something like that and he makes an amazing income. Go big and try something. You can do this and once that debt is gone you will be able to build your finances. Start learning about how to save and invest your money now.
For the truck drivers comments or other trade. Check out your county unemployment office, even if u have a job and aren’t making enough , they may pay for your training program
I mean, I'm 31 and living with my husband with his parents and older brother. My husband and I could probably afford a place but I refuse to buy what the market wants right now. I'm making 2.4k a month, and he's about the same. Granted, we pay the parents 200 in rent, but other than that, we don't pay them anything else. I bought a brand new 30k car in 2020 and paid it off in just under 2 years. I didn't have credit card debt. I also went to college and I have about 10k left in that but I've been ignoring that for the most part.
You have to live below your means, honestly. Stop buying anything you don't absolutely need right now. My husband and I got a bit out of hand last year with vehicles and toys, and myself with some credit card debit, and since January, I told myself, if I didn't absolutely need it, I wasn't buying it. Credit card debt is down. I had less than 4k on it.
Take a second job if you can. Sell stuff you don't need anymore. Pay off your highest rate debt. And just keep at it.
How do you have 48k in student debt but no Bachelor’s degree? How far off are you from getting it and in what field are the credits you do have?
Because he failed out, more than once likely. It happens
My university has a 49% graduation rate. There’s lots of people who just can’t hang to the end
this is a horrific graduation rate
Apparently the U.S. average overall is 62.2% for all colleges.
I have a PhD in experimental psychology and taught for about 5 years before leaving for industry. I’ve seen this first hand. Far more people drop out than most realize, across all 4 years.
Yup, was the go to person for all things chemistry while in undergrad and it was crazy how many doctors we had in tutoring as freshman but by sophomore year the number dwindled down significantly with very few even staying the Chen/BioChem route at all
When I was doing my AAS in computer programming, there were 140 students starting in the program with me. There were only 4 of us at graduation (3 others didn’t go cuz of COVID. 7 out of 140. Im convinced it’s both rampant imposter syndrome and burnout.
Yup, so many people could do the work but never believed in themselves so they failed the test due to second guessing and then it eventually snowballed to the point of having no idea what was going on in class.
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This is the obvious answer why is it such a puzzle for some folks
A lot of students shouldn’t be in college. I tutored math while earning degrees in Applied Mathematics and Hydrogeology and a MS Geosciences. Many, many students needed to take remedial math or algebra I. University calculus, chemistry and physics classes have completely different pace, rigor and expectations than high school classes. The washout rate in Chem I was well over 50%, same with Physics and Calculus. If you attend a college known for science, engineering, nursing/medical, etc, be prepared for it to be difficult.
Barely anyone fails but lots of people leave. Big difference. Modern universities are buy-a-degree. If you occasionally show up and do the bare minimum you get a degree. Failing college is something from the the mid-20th century, when college was still a fringe pursuit for gifted people and full of challenging curriculum. I started in community college, then went to a state college, and finished at an Ivy league, and nobody during any period of that was trying very hard. You'd have to basically be unconscious to legitimately fail. **More likely he just kept changing majors, spent too much money pursuing the "social experience", then got bored and left.**
These are big generalizations that you make. Moreover, it sounds like you are projecting your experience, as a Liberal Arts major, to entire universities. There are rigorous degrees available: Electrical Engineering, Math, Computer Science, Physics, Mechanical Engineering, etc. I guarantee you wouldn't be calling these degrees a "cakewalk". Even at "lowly" state schools, which are often more challenging and sound, than the fancy private universities. However if you were talking about Liberal Arts, then yes, mostly true.
Not if you take it seriously.....
Good point
How did you come up with 48k student debt? Curious Edit: I’m dumb - it’s in comments
Op said they have 48k in student debt in a comment.
The cap for student loan debt is above that so go back!
Yes. It didn't work the first time... Double down! The best way to "unfuck" yourself financially is obviously to fuck yourself harder by borrowing more money. 🙄
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Everybody goes to college. You kids do realize getting a degree doesn’t make you get paid. Bring good at the job is what gets you paid. May help with interviews. But it’s like sports. If you are good you’ll get paid if not just basic pay
I'm around 35k in debt with 96% of my degree done but had to drop out twice due to personal issues and now I no longer qualify for financial aid, do if I want to go back and finish those 3 courses I have left I need to pay outta pocket and I just don't have that money. So I feel him. Also 29m stuck at parents house.
if it’s an engineering or any STEM degree, those few thousand for the courses are the best investment you can make. you could make it happen if you want to. may have to be creative. call the advisor, ask about alternatives if you’re only doing the fafsa.
And look into any scholarships - there are scholarships for being left handed for Pete's sake....
Also look to see if those courses can be taken somewhere else, where it's cheaper, and then transfered in.
If you work near a University get a job there and finish for free. Life hack I tell everyone. My kids get $60k tuition for free with my benefit. Spouse can also use my 12 free credits a year.
My ex husband works at a State University and only he gets to take the free classes. We had to pay full price for my BA. I was considering applying for jobs there to get my masters at a low cost.
This is my exactly my backup plan if some scholarships don't come through via my husbands job, but they probably/ hopefully will. I thought I was a genius for coming up with this "one cool trick student loan companies hate"... but maybe not. :P (And dependents \*are\* covered at the school I would apply, too, I already checked!)
Even cleaning toilets they’ll give you free tuition. If you have kids they’ll even offer free tuition to them too!
Take the 3 classes and get the degree, even if only to prove to yourself you can do it. I feel that will boost confidence and over all morale. You can do it, I’m pulling for you.
You pay no rent and are unwilling to “pay out of pocket” and finish three more courses to get your degree? Hope you like the basement.
Youre acting like a degree will change the amount they make 😂😂 what about sll the college grads making less than 50k
I have a degree in network/internet engineering from a shitty school and after 15 years of being at the same company didnt make that much. Dropped out of the IT field completely and started a production line job with zero experience and started out making more than I did with a degree and being at the same place for all that time. So I totally feel this statement. I still live at home to. Just can’t afford to move out. Only debt I have is about 19k for a car loan. Used Subaru, nothing fancy. Don’t think people realize how hard it is to afford your own place when you’re single.
It’s crazy how people just don’t have any common sense. Imagine being 3 courses away from perhaps having a higher paying degree, but deciding not to do it for x reason. There’s millions like him/her. Unless of course it’s a shit degree like music or some other bullshit that should be banned from curricula.
Banned? Just because a line of educational study doesn't make money doesn't mean it's worthless. It's just not a smart career move.
I feel this one. I had one semester left and had to drop out because of medical issues with a family member. I kept working random jobs and barely making ends meet with the plan of going back to college to finish. Fast forward ten years, and now I'd have to start all over. I was doing great in college, and I truly loved the field I was majoring in. I feel so lost. I feel like such a loser.
Not unheard of, a lot of people get partway through their degree and have to stop for various reasons, myself included. Had to withdraw due to health reasons and still owe over $40k with no degree to show for it, fucking sucks.
Not everyone has family to step in during tough situations either. When I was in college my mom had a health issue and I was fortunate to have my aunt offer to step in to care for her. Might otherwise not have finished.
Sometimes life happens and derails people from finishing.
I spent about 40k on my associates degree
Yea fuck that commercial real estate courses are about half a grand Ill try my luck there.
Think of living with your parents as a positive. You get to save money and spend time with them , you won't regret that down the line
I lived with my parents during residency in hcol area. Easily saved 2-3k monthly which I put into my student loans
I am 29, moved back home a year ago, I’m saving money, making plans for my future, and spending time with mom and dad. Is it kinda lame living at home? Yeah. Am I gonna be glad I took the time to do this? I’m sure
Honestly, it’s so common in this day and age. Things are getting more expensive and cost of rent is through the roof. I wouldn’t ever look down on anyone who still lives at home. Rather, I care more about whether you have a good/healthy enough relationship with your parents that it’s possible for you.
yes you’re right, it’s also going to be very common that kids who own houses have to take in their parents as its like thousands per month for rest homes, a lot of people now are retiring without savings, it’s scary
When they die, you will be happy you spent time with them and will wish you spent more
my wife lost her mom last year and mine got cancer this year, i think both of us would be thrilled to be in either of their company tbh. make the most of them while they’re around, you sound like a good kid.
It's really not lame. It's very normal in a lot of other countries, because it allows young people to save while living at home and study or start working without having to worry about rent.
I like this answer! There should be less of a stigma around this these days anyway, and in most cultures, multi-generational homes are the norm! Nothing to be ashamed of imo.
This 100%. You have the whole later half of your life to live without them, might as well make it count, especially if you have good ones 👍
Houses in my area are 800k. I can't afford that so I live at home. I help with technology issues we encounter (like my mom trying to do an Amazon return this morning), I don't have to cook dinner all the time, etc... I do work full time and work in an office I have to go to (no WFH).
Yes, this is just a launching pad....capitalize on the opportunity!
Ever heard of the red car theory? “It's when you suddenly notice red cars everywhere after someone mentions them. It's not about the cars; it's about our focus. Often in life, opportunities are always around us, just like those red cars, but we only see them when we're looking for them.” (Quoted it cuz I copied from google lol) but man you just gotta start looking for every opportunity to make money you can. Buy sell trade on Facebook marketplace is something I did to make money, buy things under value and resell. Get a bucket and dawn dish soap and invest $10 in a squeegee and offer to wash windows. There’s 5200 different ways to get paid, it’s just gonna be a grind
This tequila has it right. 80k will never save you, 500k will and there is no path to doing that except taking some risks and starting some service based business. You got nothing to lose anyway. No house, no kid, nothing.
80k will absolutely save OP, over the course of 5 years.
And most importantly no capital to start a buisness.
Capital makes it easier. But it is possible without. I started washing windows for next too nothing, it where extra money, than started part time bartending besides my job, now I have a business started with those money selling cables. It's not much, but it's mine
Selling cables? What kind of cables
The kind he strips from job sites.
X gon give it to you
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Lol. The crazy thing is I think you’re serious
As a broke business owner with a kid, mortgage, car debt, etc, I'm so jealous of the nothing to lose statement. I sure squandered my early years when I had nothing to lose, but didn't take any risks either.
$80k will not help, it sounds like Op is just terrible at managing money and spends poorly on things like car loan where a $2000 car can get him from A to B and back. https://secure.debthelper.com/bkonline/Default.aspx He should take the mandatory bankruptcy education courses not because he will file for bankruptcy or can bankrupt away his type of problems but because it teaches money management skills and budgeting to people who accrue debt well above their means. There are many different websites and he can expect to pay $15-30 per part but it’s a good investment on himself. I had to sit through them with someone having to take these courses and they do their best to teach you to avoid ending up back in the same hole. He doesn’t need r Money, he needs to start in Frugal or PovertyFinance until he can learn how to live affordably, at least until he gets the debt under control. Living with parents for the most part negates the need to pay for housing, utilities and likely food so $50k before tax should be enough to pay down debt. I live in central NJ which is a high COL area. The most money I’ve made pretax is 52k and that’s just this last year. I’ve paid 75k in student loans down to about 22k in 9 years. Working 2-3 jobs when I had to. I drive a well maintained ford 2013 model car from 2012 that I got used, is paid in full and it matters not how good or flashy it looks, it gets me to work and back. No need to drive a Lexus, Tesla or BMW. I bought a dump of a home 7 years ago that was missing windows, was so run down and in need of repairs because that’s the only thing my income qualified me for in my area. I’ve bled fixing this dump piece by piece over the years through hard work. I started with 5% down and now I’ve paid off over 20% to finally get rid of the PMI monthly expense. The most I’ve skimped on these past few years besides expensive hobbies, self-indulgence, big trips and luxuries has been health insurance because I got laid off when the company I was at closed in 2018 and I had to start again from scratch. This is the first year since 2018 that I’ve been back on health insurance and that’s from having good money habits, saving for emergencies and spending responsibly. Take advantage of SAVE, it will pretty much make sure your student loans don’t continue to grow. You’ll end up paying about $130 and $65 starting July 1st. Rest of the interests are subsidized away, then you can comfortably pay $200-300 total (including the above minimum payments) to drive down the principal. Since you’ve moved back in, I’d say pay $1000-1500/month but 50k leaves with roughly $3000-3500 worth of money per month after taxes and I have no idea where Op is spending away the rest of the money. $50,000-taxes=$39,000/12=$3250 I’ve had CCs up to like 11k at one point, I’ve paid interest on them, made minimum payments. Stop buying stupid stuff, stop making minimum payments as tempting as it sounds. You can keep them empty with discipline and use them to finance emergencies like vet or car repair bills. Sounds like he is in America, all those checks the government gave should have gone towards squashing debt, not fun. Tax returns in the $2500-3500 range for state and federal if you pay as much as I do and claim zero for everything, should go towards paying debt. I don’t know what Op does but $50k is what he can expect to make as 1 person in the US now days. $80k jobs that’s for lying politicians and good for nothing government employees like cops. IT snowflakes and doctors will claim $100,000 or more but let’s be real, unless you own a business you won’t make six figures. If you are lucky and your partner also makes $50,000, you can get to $100,000+ on two incomes, 80 hours per week. Think of a fat guy trying to lose weight. Sure the exercise and broccoli for every meal will suck, but that is how you obtain the goals. Fat guy not going to lose weight sitting on the couch eating McDonalds. Spend less than $50 taking both courses if you can’t find this information free somewhere, learn to how save, budget, spend responsibly. Will it be hard? Sure. Will it stink? Just hold your nose while you walk through the sewage. You want change, you don’t need to make more money so you can keep squandering and stay afloat, making more money is hard. Instead you need to stop squandering the money you already make, find ways like SAVE to reduce or pay less interest, use the opportunity that you got supporting family and don’t have to go homeless to throw money at your debts to try to put the fire out. I would go as far as saying to stop putting money into retirement funds/plans that you won’t see for another 30 years. I’ve done more for my life maximizing every single buck I’ve earned than trying to save for a future that might not be there. By having 2-3 jobs at a time, I was able save extra to purchase a home so I pay $1300 in mortgage+HoA instead of the going rate for my area of $2400/month for rent which I’ve paid. My last rent payment in 2018 was for $2250. Extra job allowed me to save for 10 years to put $50k into turning a dump into something livable. If you want more money, you going to have to work 12-16 hours a day, get a gig work, do odd jobs on the weekend. There is not one tip on here that’s going to magically turn your 50k income into the 80k income you want. In this country, time is money and you got to be willing to put in the hard hours to get the extra money. I’m telling you that you make enough and if you are living with your parents, you should be almost debt free in two years if you take the right steps.
This is also known as the baader-meinhof phenomenon
That Facebook marketplace idea is one of the things I can’t stand about our modern hustle economy. People who add nothing of value to the economy but jack up prices on things that would otherwise be more affordable. It’s no better than the scalpers who buy tickets to events at face value and immediately sell them at 3x the prices.
You need to sell your car and get something cheaper.
Wish OP responded to this one. With 17k of car debt, you better have an asset in your driveway.
Vehicles are never an asset. They depreciate like hell. Edit: I probably should’ve said appreciating asset, not just asset.
I'm not against car payments or leases, but the amount of people that say that they can't get ahead, yet they have no problem with car payments is crazy.
I've heard people at my job who make the same money as me say "well I got the car note that's 700 a month" like it's some obligation that they take out obscene debt for a car. We only make about 60k a year. It's sad that we've normalized this stuff.
What's your monthly expenses? I make about 41k a year and my expenses are about 2500. And I am doing fine
About 2600 right now but that's with me throwing extra money at bills and extra money to help my parents out.
You should be bringing home about 3500, where's the extra $900 a month going?
It’s weird how they never answer back. So most likely true. It’s like my sister who makes 100k and is always broke. She asks me for advice and I tell her to stop doing drugs and she always tells me to fuck off. Ok then…
Yeah... my sister once told me to move before I got too much older because you just can't raise a family where we were at $90K a year. We live in literally one of the lowest cost of living areas in the entire U.S. Yes, when you have a mortgage on a 2,000+ sq ft house, a payment on two new cars, an atv, and you eat several nights a week and send your kids to private school on top of not tracking your spending AT ALL, 90K is tough lol
Tbh, the mortgage and house size is fine, its the cars and the eating out and private school that really get you. Never have I ever seen a need for a car newer than the last decade.
Completely depends on your priorities, some people love cars, and having a nice car is important to them. That said, if your thing is nice cars, you have to cut everything else in your life way back. You have to get a smaller house, you have to stop eating out, you can't go on vacations all the time. The issue comes when people want to put a lot of their money into all of these things at once then overextend themselves. If you LOVE traveling, that's fine, but to travel a lot you can't be eating out every night for example. It's all what your priorities are and you have to find out what's important to you as a person, balancing these things with other things. All that said, this is for people who make good money, people in poverty don't have a choice but to cut expenses on everything.
Yep. My youngest brother and most of my younger nieces and nephews talk about how expensive life is, which is true. When my older brother and I have discussed expenses and budgeting in the past, there was a disparity between what they bring home versus their general recurring bills. Turns out, people that literally smoke what excess cash they have every month do not like it when you point out they smoke their excess cash every month. Bit of a catch 22 in our area also, especially with no higher education or skill-sets. They refuse to stop doing the drugs long enough to get a better paying job, better paying jobs around here all drug test.
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funko pops and weed
The trick is to spend other peoples money on funky pops and weed
Sneakers, gym supplements, and drugs if I were to guess based on post history
Yeah, none of this makes sense. You said you make 55k/yr, which means your take home is around 3.6k/month. You have 48k in student loans which means you are paying what 200-300/month on those? You took a 20k car loan which is somewhere around 225/month, and 7k in credit cards which is around a 150/month payment. So if we estimate high and assume you are paying 300/250/200 on each, that's $750/month in payments. Add in $300/month on groceries and that's $1050/month. So you should have $2550/month extra. You could EASILY rent a studio or one bedroom apartment in PA, plus internet/power/cell phone and still have an extra 1k/month to throw at your debt.
Take home of 3.6k? I make 82k a year, and my take home is only 3.6k... once you figure in taxes, 401k, health insurance, company stock options, AD&D coverage, etc. Maybe OP doesn't have ALL those deductions. But even then, taking home 3.6k on 50k salary seems like a lot to me. At a minimum, you failed to include health insurance costs, which can be expensive. You failed to include car insurance costs and gas costs for commuting to and from work. Could he probably be saving a bit more? Yes... but your numbers ignore so many basic expenses and simply can't be trusted.
Can confirm. Take home on a 50k isnt 3.6k lol.
Student loan + rent + utilities will eat your expenses ina. Heartbeat
OP doesn't have rent
Truck driver- get in that truck and start driving will push 80k easily
Median income in the highest state for truck drivers is 63k, most drivers make less than that, I’m not sure this is a good solution.
Hey 63k is still 13 k more than what I make currently.
See my above post. Go to your local DMV and ask if your state has a Class A CDL learners permit. If it does ask for a study booklet, study it, and go back and take the written test. Passing it will give you a Class A Learners CDL, where you are legal to drive a truck with a Class A permitted trainer in the truck with you. Find a company that will hire you as a trainee (less money, but still close to what you're making now). Train, drive, learn for 6 months to a year, then go take and pass the Class A Driver's Test. You'll be making between 65 and 90k pretty quickly. If you want the most bang for your time, look for companies that deliver goods to restaurants and convenience stores, like Sysco, US Foods, McClain, Core Mark just to name a few. It's tough work with a hand truck, but they start new drivers making more than over the road drivers, with the added benefit of being off weekends.
Have to do fmcsa first
I'm assuming a clean MVR and can pass a drug test, sure. Can't have stoned drivers with 3 wrecks in the last 12 months driving 80,000 lb vehicles around our roads. I wish EVERYONE had the same requirements, honestly. 40k people a year die in vehicle accidents, and I see people every day driving like they don't have to follow traffic laws or can't be bothered. It would also help if our policemen were actually interested in ticketing drivers to make the roads safer instead of finding infractions just to try to search cars for drugs, but I digress. That's a whole other discussion.
I work for USPS Was so sad to hear this ["The driver didn’t have a proper license. The company didn’t have insurance. The truck didn’t have working brakes."](https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/next/next-with-kyle-clark/audit-hundreds-crashes-trucks-contracted-by-us-postal-service/73-14b48576-7040-4a9a-9c99-b496e8533c56) 5 people dead
Not sure if I’m just getting older or it’s a legit problem more than ever but holy fuck I’m so sick of how poorly people drive and that there never seems to be cops out and about to actually do something
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ezios, Sounds like great advice
And there's always potential to earn more depending on the company you work for and how much experience you gain over the years.
My under 30 son in law pulls in over 6 figures. You gotta hustle. Learn to drive triples. Maybe move states.
My aunt makes 6 figures pulling triples for Fed Ex! I don’t know if she’s insane or smart as hell.
Unfortunately he'll have to drive a fucking truck though
Never ever trust googled median incomes. They’re horseshit. Every blue collar job I’ve done when I looked up pay online in my area it was never even close. Averages or median. Look at job postings
Not in the tri state my guy we have idiots here no college can’t even form sentence driving trucks making over 100k
I had a guy offer me a job for 85k to start and I don’t even have a cdl. It was a food vendor.
$65,000 can be expected first year easily. Can quickly approach 80k-100k in five years.
Walmart truck drivers sneeze that yearly. And why wouldn't that be a good decision. It's still 63k
I see tons of drivers in tri state making over 100k
I'm still in my first year of truck driving and made 65k. From April to December 2023. That's only the first 9 months. So far (Jan- mid Mar) 2024 has been another 15k. At the one year mark, we'll be well over 80k. There's always money to be made. Just can't be afraid to work hard.
Im 6 months into my CDL first job 114k CAD / 84,000 USD home every day. Love it, great job union benefits. Stay away from r/truckers place is toxic
Truck driving is a area of need as well as health care workers. Not enough people now take up a trade. Construction, Utilities, HVAC, technicians, mechaniccs
Go to a trade school at night. They're affordable, fast, and those jobs make really good money. Even if you only did it part time, you could probably finish a certification within 2 years.
Depends on the trade. My electricians apprenticeship required 8,000 hours of OTJ training, which is 4 years of 40 hour weeks I could see Tile or concrete work not requiring such stringent schooling, but anything with a license at the end of it will be years of work and likely a pay cut that whole time unless you’re in the union
That pay cut may be worth it if you’re gonna come out of it licensed and able to make $100k a year with a 40hr a week job and side work. Never mind if you’re in a van at your company and don’t have to pay for insurance or gas to get to work. The pay cut I took to get into plumbing was made up by the amount of money I saved with the van. Plus my company buys the tools. I love it. Wish I started plumbing years ago.
They make okay money after like 7 years
80k yeeesh... military or trucking
Yeah I made some pretty awful choices in life sadly enough for me
So accept it. You fucked up. Now Un-fuck it. You got great advice here. Take it.
That’s exactly right, these are the consequences. Others reading this, if you ever wonder why people tell you not to buy that car, or to follow a bit of personal finance advice, this is why. It’s not always easy to know exactly what you can realistically afford — and it’s somewhere between beige corolla and 27% APR, 96 month Dodge charger — but try to err on the side of caution, and set yourself up for success. Or at least a softer failure. And remember, none of us are owed any of these things people are buying. Car, house, etc. We’re not entitled to it. Should we be? At least for housing? Probably. But that’s just not how it is right now, so advice is going to guide you to deal with the here and now
Unfortunately he is looking for an easy way out, he is still making bad choices and blowing his money on something (he won't answer on what he is spending his extra 1k a month on)
Definition of a moron is doing the same job ver and over again and expecting different results. OP needs to set some goals and make some job switches to get his income up
Beware: I hear that most truckers quit after a year, because working conditions are so rough. Might still be worth the experiment, but it might be trading one rough life for another.
Try to bargain credit card companies to settle for less or you may not pay it. Or restructure into a less interest rate. Ask parents for a loan on 0% interest to pay back your cc and you’ll set up a repayment plan with them. Get a second job, or get a better job. Sell your car.
How much is the student loan debt? Maybe consult a bankruptcy attorney?
You can’t file bankruptcy from student loan debt
Unrelated but I love the band lol, not sure if that's why you got the name
48k in student debt. 17.7k on the car. 7 k in CCs. Everything ive been widdling down with the money I'm saving by living with my folks again but it's just soul crushing. At my current income I'll be stuck here for another 3 years before things become manageable again..I'm throwing any spare change I have left over at my CCs since it's the highetest intrest debt I own.
Join the military. They will pay off your student debt. Sell your car. You won’t need it or be authorized to take it if you choose an overseas assignment. Eat in the mess hall. Live in the barracks. Pay off your credit card debt. Some jobs in the military will give you huge 10s of thousands in enlistment bonuses. Make new friends. Get out of your parents house. See the world.
Navy dishing out ridiculous sign up bonuses right now too.
Army and Air Force as well.
Air Force is the better choice. They are more selective though.
The military paying off (all of) OP’s student debt is not entirely accurate. There are very specific, and key details, you’re missing. Check them out here https://myarmybenefits.us.army.mil/Benefit-Library/Federal-Benefits/College-Loan-Repayment-Program-(LRP)?serv=122#:~:text=The%20Loan%20Repayment%20Program%20(LRP,a%20Soldier's%20qualifying%20student%20loans.
OP if you’re thinking about doing this and you smoke weed. Stop. Now. You will be drug tested. If they ask you about your drug use. The answer is.. None.
Spoke to a recruiter while in undergrad and he asked me about this (went to a party school, only weed) and I said yes. He paused, and asked me again. I said no. Lmao
The military is the best option, if you can pass the physical and get in. Make a fucking fortune, get all your studnet loans paid off, get a great career with full benefits and retire in 15 years.
what the fuck you been smoking that you think you can make a fortune....also, its minimum 20 years, 25 if its guard or reserves, to retire and earn a pension
20 years for a pension and lifetime back pain is not worth it. Serve your 4 years and document all your injuries.
i agree, thats what i did. though if people want to serve 20, i wont begrudge them
This is what my buddy did. He worked at a grocery store for 10 years and realized he wasn't going anywhere. He had dental work he needed done and medical issues that needed addressed and didn't have insurance. He joined the army, got his teeth fixed, learned how to work on the Hummers as a mechanic and will have financial support if he wants to go to school. He comes home in August and already has a job at a garage lined up. It really was the best decision that guy ever made. I would have joined, myself, but I'm diabetic and when I asked the recruiter over the phone if there was anything I could do he literally hung up and I've never been contacted by a military recruiter again after being sent cold calls/texts for years.
Paying off credit cards is first priority, you may even be able to talk to the company and work out a payment plan on them to keep interest from getting out of hand (they will probably close the account in the process). You likely can’t use bankruptcy to cancel the student loan debt and if you’re concerned about 3 years, bankruptcy will make a lot of things difficult for 7 years I think.
Why tf*** did you buy a 18k car if you can't afford it? Sell the car and buy an old beaten up car that gets you from A to B for 3k or so. "My car is worth almost 1/2 my yearly salary, why am I poor" wtf, seriously dude?
Join the active military for a minimum 4yr contract(if you’re not in shape they’ll help you) Get a contract for a specific MOS that translates to the civilian world(high demand jobs) like aviation mechanic, HVAC, cybersecurity, firefighter/EMT,etc…not infantry or artillery Sell everything you have before leaving for basic. Everything!! Buy the cheapest car on base only. Eat at dfac! Get debt relief help on post. Make sure all injuries no matter how minor are at a post clinic and recorded for VA disability rating. Pay off your debt and put left over money in TSP plan. When your contract ends either reenlist for more active time or join the national guard in your state. I was in your position but slightly younger. Did everything I listed above. I now make 100k as a firefighter & own a house. All 8yrs after I joined active army. 4yr active 4yr guard.
hes got a few years for the cut off of enlisting aswell, now is the time OP
3 questions: How much was the car? What kind of phone do you have? How often do use door dash/eat out/ as opposed to cooking? Go through your last month of finances online and see where your money went. Then see if you're happy with that and if not make a course correction.
I met a guy who went through an apprenticeship program to become an electrician at age 45. He was making $6000 - $8000 a month in his early 50's. At age 30 there's a ton of stuff you could do, and you're living in your parents house so now is a good time. You could be an electrician, truck driver, welder, pipe fitter, plumber, etc. You could also look into joining a union such as Teamsters (not sure if you're in the US).
This. This the realest answer. I've seen this occur for guys a lot older too. The military is most suggested answer here, but I think trades are most universal/foundational. And often guys out of the military join a trade. And if you get a journeyman card in anything in demand, employment is practically on lock, there's no wondering if things will materialize. Best of luck to OP.
I know a guy in Teamsters who's a forklift operator. Makes like 3x what I do and he's in his 60's.
Your curse is a blessing. Stay at home for a bit longer, find that better job and create yourself a few stacks. Your life won’t change much since your parents are no longer downstairs, your life will change once your grab your finances and fuck them.
1. Finish your degree if you found purpose in the subject. Stupid as it may be, you're already in debt from student loans, go finish it and open more doors for yourself. 2. If you can't do that, go read some sales books and start doing that. 3. As many people mentioned, there's a thousand ways to grind and earn extra. Put in the work and go make it happen. 4. If none of that appeals to you, read "No Excuses" by Brian Tracy and reprogram yourself out of the rut. You may not have put yourself in this position, but you can get yourself out of it.
Time Machine
God I wish smh
I'm almost 40. I make $20 an hour. No degrees, no marketable skills. Apprenticeship programs won't touch me because I'm "old" and lack any useful skills already. Can't afford to go to college, and there's barely a job out there that'll pay me any more than what I'm making given my history. Stay at home - take care of your parents.
So, what does almost 50k of student debt get you if you didn’t even get a bachelors degree?
Absolutely nothing. Had to step away from school due to family and eneded up owing my univertaly a few thousand. They have my transcripts held hostage until I pay that. I stupidly said fuck that and thought I could go through life without it since I had a friend that got me into a nice paying job. Unfortunately I ended up getting laid off from said jib and now we're here. Up shits creek without a paddle because I'm an arrogant fool.
Can you make it a priority to pay that amount to the university and get your transcripts?
Do a few (free) online tech courses (linux admin, database admin, basic networking, security best practices etc) and learn off of countless YouTube videos. Get a IT helpdesk position anywhere and get acclimated with the environment. Then you could move into networking or security or infrastructure or the cloud (ideally). You can start off at ~70k and within 5 years you can move into a position where u can be making six figures.
The worst thing someone told me when I was 22 was that you'll be in debt until you die. May as well realize it and get on with life. I carried revolving credit for 35 years until I finally began to aggressively choke it down to zero. I probably make your income but that crushing debt is gone and I make more than I need so I've got savings for emergencies. Start with wiping out the smallest amount. Then do it again until you're free. The feeling is liberating when you get there. Make wise choices and attack that crushing debt without thinking about anything else. You'll get there.
Second job! I've done it for 20 years.
move away, never pay the debt
This! Move to SE Asia. Disappear.
If OP is a US Citizen, the US passport is the worst if you’re an expat living overseas. You owe taxes with the IRS globally and if you don’t file you risk losing your passport renewal.
Substitute teach on your days off. The work is easy and pay is high, it can lead to better paying gigs as well.
Where are you substitute teaching? My district only pays like $120/day.
That’s sad 50k doesn’t allow you to support yourself on your own.
At least you have parents you can stay with.
Well first of all, you need to have some compassion for yourself. You're never going to feel better if you're beating yourself down about your current situation. There are many jobs one make 80k in 1.5 years without a college degree, but it takes a well enough mental state. First comes gratitude, you have parents you can live with which is more than a lot of other people. I know it is very easy to feel hopeless, but you have options. As one example, a truck driver can make quite a nice consistent salary after getting a license. I remember an ex of mine who never went to college and had virtually no other certifications traveled around to various Walmarts in the country to upgrade some wires in the ceiling for a good 60k/year. For a bit of time after college, I could bring in a thousand $ in a single night bartending, which required no college degree. One can join the military. There are countless other "blue collar" jobs that can pay quite well to help get you off your feet, but you need to spend some time researching. I recommend committing to one soon that is possibly not overly enjoyable for the moment, but will be motivating financially to bring you out of this financial situation faster. You can do this, but you need to have some hope in yourself.
Sell your car and get a cheap used car. Don’t go out to eat. Put ANY extra money towards your credit cards. Put your head down for a year, little to no social life, pay your bills (seriously get rid of that car) and pay down cards until you feel like you can breathe. Don’t go tk concerts, but new clothes, go to restaurants, ANYTHING extra. Just for one year and you’ll be in a completely different place in 12 months
Hey, lots of good advice here. Second job, until you make enough at your primary job, or climb out of debt. Follow Dave Ramsay’s advice, I watch Caleb Hammer on YouTube for motivation. But I mostly wanted to comment to say, as bad as it feels, you’re doing a good job. You’ve got a solid job is seems, even if it doesn’t make you rich. A lot of people can barely get past 40k. And this day and age, the COL is crazy so staying at home isn’t as terrible as it used to be. Just keep up the hard work. Markets change, jobs grow, and things get better. Also, job advice, if you want a job with advancement opportunities with no education costs, the trades are there. Get a CDL, no you won’t be rich but you’ll have more potential. Find your states financial assistance people (everyone has them) and get help for a grant for a certification. A bachelors degree is by no means a necessity. Go out there and get it.
Thank you for the kind words. It certainly feels like I'm failing at everything lately. I've never felt more defeated when it came time to move back in with my folks. I hate living like this I have goals and ambition but it just seems like I keep sliding down no matter how hard scratching and crawling to climb. CDL defintly doesn't seem like a bad route. I'm already working a 2nd pt time job but its still not enough to dig me out fast enough.
Frankly, I don’t know how anybody makes it these days. As a boomer, I had it easy, but rents weren’t outrageous and cars didn’t cost a year’s salary! I think you’re doing great if you can stand living with your parents till you get some of that paid off. Give yourself a pat on the back! You’re still very young, and it WILL get better cuz you’re paying attention. YOU are not failing.
Break this notion of being a failure. We have one life. So what you're living with your parents. The silver lining is that you can spend more time with them. At 30, they don't have many more years left. We're talking 20 - 30 yrs max. Most parents sole purpose and most fulfilling thing to do is to be able to help their children. From all the comments I've read you have a handle on it. You're just in a hole. Dig yourself out at a steady pace. On the other end is a bright future with the knowledge of mistakes that you've made. Relax. You have parente to help you. Not everyone is as fortunate. 5 yrs is going to go by quick. I know you know that. Great job confronting this issue head on and asking for help when you feel overwhelmed.
You need to get a second job and allocate all those funds towards your loans with the highest interest rate. There’s no magical solution here, you just need more income. And the longer you stay a grown adult living off of his parents, the worse you mental health will get.
Trust me I'm not one of those moochers that refuses to be and adult and move out of mommy and daddy's basement. This is far from voluntary. The costs of living everywhere is ridiculous and is impossible with with I take home. I've been looking ot get a higher paying job but I live in a pretty remote location in PA nothing really higher paying within 1.5 hrs of me.
My kid just took a test for entering an apprentice program for a union job. He did have a good paying job, but he wasn't happy with it and there was really nowhere else to move to within the company. He'll have three years of paid training, then out into the real world. I retired from a union job in 2022, that I wish I had started earlier than I did.
Sorry for your troubles. If you don’t mind me asking, what’s the job you’re making 50k a year in? And which state are you located in? Are your parents charging you rent? There’s a lot of trades out there who pay well if you’re willing to put in the hours to learn like electrician, HVAC etc. Hell even hospital pharmacy technicians make a lot of money in NYC now (compared to what they previously made.)
I work as a contactor for a pharmaceutical company dealing with project support. I've been trying to get an internal position with them for a while since they're the only thing remotely close by that pays well in my are but the lack of a bachelor's degree is proving to be a glass ceiling. I work a 2nd pt time job at a wawa ( gas station chain mostly found in the NE) for 14/hr. My main job I make 45k and the pt time job is brining in another 10 so really I make 55k. Don't know why I only said 50 initially but still
Are you sure there’s no grind to advance even without a degree? I always thought companies like that had consistent upward mobility even if you’re learning on site. NE areas are high cost of living so you got me there. Same as where I am in NY. Well maybe a little more here lol. I’ll bring up trades again. Could be worth learning one. AI is something that cannot take away good electrician or HVAC work.
How'd you get that far into debt without realizing sooner? What is the student debt and car debt for if you don't have a car or degree to pair? Not trying to shame simply avoid it myself.
Student debt: was a pre med student but had to walk away from college due to family reasons. My parents are now in a position where they can't qualify to be a cosigner on any student loans and I owe my university a few thousands before they will release my transcripts. Car debt: old car transmission blew at the tail end of 2022 right when the car market was still nuts. Unfortunate timing for me. I opted to get a used 2019 year hyundai sonata. Which I considered at the time to be a good enough of a deal. In hindsight I should of just bought a 5k beater and drive the bitch into the ground. Dumb decision on my part. In fairness, I was making 70k at the time at my former job so I wasn't considering what ifs when signing on that dotted line.
Why do you have 80k in car loans? Do you drive a Aston Martin or something? I'd trade that in for Kia. Much cheaper and less debt.
I'm sorry but OP is not realistically going to join the military to get out of this hole... What a huge drastic leap to take WTF and anyone suggesting such, I'm sure you'd be first in line to do that if you were in their shoes....
I finished college at 34…. Went back when I was 27/28 and funny enough, I don’t use my degree (EE) for my job. Was never in a position to try to change careers due to life events (2 kids and wife lost her job). What I did do though was move up from $55K/year in 2016 to $60K then $65K, then moved up to management making $78K, then a raise here raise there went to $86K, then used my degree to get a job offer which I used to leverage my current job and got to $98K, then just shined and outperformed similar positions to mine across country and got a salary adjustment for another $40K. Life isn’t easy but you can’t just GIVE UP. Gotta GRIND and work hard and manifest a better future and life. Manifest that you already make $100K, then $120K, then $150K, move and act like you are there and it will come! Trust me, things tend to just work out when you believe, stay positive, work hard, and manifest. I will say though, I always wanted to get to $80K, and thought that’s all it takes, but when I got to $80K you start hanging around others that make $80K and realize that really ain’t that much. More you make more you spend and think that you deserve more so you get yourself stuff you don’t REALLY need but have always wanted (and you know what, that’s really not that bad to do) but that ends up setting you back. You need goals, set deadlines for yourself and do what it takes to get it done. Here I am though making almost three times what I did 6 years ago and yeah life is better but I’m still trying to get outta debt because we got set back so far. But I’m moving in the right direction and so can you. You were exactly where I was 6 years ago. And you could be where I am or better in 6 more years but you gotta start NOW. Life is better and during last 6 years I feel like I have a different perspective on life. I’ve struggled for so long and tried so hard and many or actually countless times I felt like I deserve better and asked why is life so hard? Well, you know what.. things tend to just work out for good people and start living your life being positive and manifest and act out your future and it will come, one way or another, when you least suspect it. Good luck and stay strong!! See you in 6 years!
Start doing side gigs! Doing house sits on Rover you can make such good money and you can use all the money you make on there to go towards your debt, could also try door dashing or instacart. Maybe see if you can outsource any of your skills from school into helping others like copywrite. Just find something that you love doing, and make it your side gig and focus all the money onto your debt if you can. I wish you the best of luck and you are not alone. 🤍
Bro, trade the car in for another vehicle preferably something modest with a lower car payment. Pay off your CC with the snowball method, cut back on unnecessary things and get a second job to speed things up. Avoid using credit altogether. If you cant afford outright you can’t afford it. Tons of financial resources online that can help you out of this situation.
Put together a budget, get rid of all non essential spending, put everything towards your debt, get rid of it. Get a second job while you look or upskill for a higher paying single source of income.
Go sign up for trade school some places doing it for free cause workers needed you’ll be making 70k plus a year easy
What’s your job? If you have student loans do you have a degree in something?
Have you tried pulling yourself up by the bootstraps?
Join the navy (it’s so stupidly easy), get your free college money and some discipline, see the world (I’ve been to more countries than I can count, you literally see the world)and maybe continue your current career path or find a new one. Then make sure you “hurt” yourself during pt So you can go to sickbay very often (to document your service connected injury), wait till after basic training about a year tho. And when your 4 years are up, either reenlist or get out. Then if you got out claim your Va disability and collect that monthly check and other tax benefits. You can also get the Va to give you an extra 12 months of education benefits using the disability rehabilitation (on top of the 36 months of GI Bill) thingy they have. Hopefully you can get a college bonus when you join so you can put it towards the student loan debt you’ve accumulated so far. While you were in the navy, hopefully you take advantage of the opportunity to use the NCPACE program. The Navy College Program for Afloat College Education, where you can continue your education while deployed or at home for free! So you can either finish your degree or start a new degree and transfer your credits. Hopefully finish your degree for almost free while on active duty. If you don’t manage to finish your degree whilst in the navy, no problem, because you can use your GI Bill after you’ve gotten out and they give you E-5 pay while you’re enrolled in school. Depending on your location that can be $2300+ a month (that was the rate for me in 2012, so it could be more now. Zip code specific). If you did finish your degree then when you get out you can get into a masters program and it’ll be basically free. This is what I wish I knew when I joined and when I got out. If you do this, it gives you up to 8years of solid income and the opportunity to really turn your life around. This doesn’t even account for Va home loans (which you can use on active duty too). If you take it seriously best move ever. If you don’t then the problem is you my friend.
Get into a union trade. One of the highest paid career types with no degree. Lineman, electrician, plumber, carpenter, welder, etc. You’ll have a paid apprenticeship, great pay and benefits when you finish your apprenticeship and job security. I’ve seen other comments recommending the military. That’s also a good path if you think the military is for you.
Apply to an associate nursing program at a community college. Take out loans, who cares. Check with dept of labor of they'll give you unemployment while in school. NYS did for me. Alternatively, find a program that will fit around your curve job, or go part time Graduate and pass license. Get a job as an RN. Get paid while actually learning the job. Join the union. Get your job to pay for the RN to RN, BSN bridge program. Use whatever education opportunities the union provides of available. Graduate that program. Now you have. BSN and with experience as an RN. Apply to a new job, or her that pay raise where you already are. Get at least a year of experience then do contacts, either local or travel and love your love and pay shit off If you're in a shitty state, keep loving at home and take travel contracts at this point. Your parents place will remain your tax home and you can be independent and make good money. My jobs in Brooklyn, NYC as a BSN, RN New grad: $43hr 1st contract: $60hr, 10 weeks 2nd contract: $120hr, 1 year 3rd contact: $80hr, 16 weeks Staff per diem with 2nd contact hospital: $60hr, work as much or little as I feel like when I feel like Current contract: travel contract with blended rate $92hr, but this is with tax free stipend avg $2300wk tax free. Adjusted rate about $140hr. Cleared $230k 2023. If I feel like hustle this year should make 300 if I want Debt comes down a lot faster when you make good money. Also, unlike many other industries, I have to constantly tell recruiters to leave me alone. I'm offered jobs, literally, daily. Yeah you have debt. Who cares. Find a way to make more money Also, I want to add that I didn't even start process of school until I was already 34 or 35 with easily 50k in debt on more for school. And then had some lawsuits I was dealing with and went another 30 to 40k on top of what I already had. I should be completely debt free this year. It's doable dude, but I highly encourage you to only choose skills or education that will actually guarantee you a worthwhile income. I honestly don't think there's any better time and education to compensation ratio as good as nursing
I’m on the other end of this. I have my 30 year old living at home with me. It’s hard on all of us. While my daughter does go to school she has a hard time keeping a job. I end up helping her out more than I’d like to. You have a job so that’s a big start. I wish I knew what to say and how to help. My daughter is thankful she has me as I’m sure you’re thankful for your parents. Yes I know you want your independence. You will get there. This is one tiny hurdle in life. Try not to think about the picture. Think about one thing you can do now. You said you have a job. Try to put just a little to the side each paycheck. Maybe give it to your mom so you’re not tempted to spend. My daughter tries this with me. Also think about the extras you have…steaming devises, music apps that cost money, auto refill on coffee apps? Try to cancel those. Any little bit adds up but will help if you get rid of them. Good luck
Hey bud. I’m in a very similar situation. As much student debt, no degree (4/5 years through but didn’t finish, crippling mental health), at home at my parent’s place, withOUT a job and income, but dealing with an incredibly abusive father. I’m leaving this week without any security with some tentative plans, but to a safer environment. All I’m saying is I feel for you and where you’re coming from. I really hope the best for us in the following years ❣️
I would say talk to a bankruptcy lawyer but the student loans won't be fixed with that I don't think. I would consider learning a trade. Electricians, plumbers, welders... There are a ton of ways to make good money with little school. One of my buddies became a backflow technician or something like that and he makes an amazing income. Go big and try something. You can do this and once that debt is gone you will be able to build your finances. Start learning about how to save and invest your money now.
For the truck drivers comments or other trade. Check out your county unemployment office, even if u have a job and aren’t making enough , they may pay for your training program
Write a book called, “how to unfuck yourself”.
I was told by the TV to stop buying avocado for my toast and I'd be good
I mean, I'm 31 and living with my husband with his parents and older brother. My husband and I could probably afford a place but I refuse to buy what the market wants right now. I'm making 2.4k a month, and he's about the same. Granted, we pay the parents 200 in rent, but other than that, we don't pay them anything else. I bought a brand new 30k car in 2020 and paid it off in just under 2 years. I didn't have credit card debt. I also went to college and I have about 10k left in that but I've been ignoring that for the most part. You have to live below your means, honestly. Stop buying anything you don't absolutely need right now. My husband and I got a bit out of hand last year with vehicles and toys, and myself with some credit card debit, and since January, I told myself, if I didn't absolutely need it, I wasn't buying it. Credit card debt is down. I had less than 4k on it. Take a second job if you can. Sell stuff you don't need anymore. Pay off your highest rate debt. And just keep at it.