Finally Worthless...Started ~120k in debt a little over 2 years ago

[dancinglamb]

https://imgur.com/a/STrXFXH

Yes this is a brag cause I hit a milestone. I don't care. I was in a pretty miserable spot 3 years ago. and it feels good to be on level ground.

•100k student loans

•13k car note

•10k Pilots License on 0% interest credit card

After being laid off during covid 6 months into my first job after graduating, I finally settled into a good stable job (1.5 years later layoff) in a good area. Got to work immediately on my finances and with the help of bartending, I was able to knock out some high interest loans and CC debt while also save and hit yearly retirement goals.

• contributed 13k in a Roth

• saved 10k in an E-Fund

• contributed 10k to an HSA

• contributed 30k to company 401k

Most importantly, I wasn't withering away for 2 years. Had plenty of expensive date nights, took two vacations with another big one planned. I just worked essentially every weekend.

I still have:

•67k Student Loan (@3%)

•5k Car Note (@2.9%)

Onwards and Upwards, next stop: not needing to have a 2nd job in the first place.

EDIT: Including Salary and other requested useful information

•Occupation: Mechanical Eng

•Salary: 72k -> 90k, promotions

•6% 401k cont with 6% match

•Side income: ~15k per year from bartending per year

•Method of saving: Excel spreadsheets. Just did income - expenses for the month and applied money left over either to debt or savings

 

[themysterydd]

@dancinglamb Congratulations!!! That positive net worth bar feels so amazing, even if it’s just a few cents.

 

[titi404]

@dancinglamb I love this attitude. Brag on. Instead of just complaining that your first job isn’t enough to pay down your debt, you took a second job, while still having fun. Exactly what I did to get debt free once I graduated.

Kudos to you!!!

 

[brian18373]

@dancinglamb Congrats! I too recently became worthless, 401k outgrew student loan debt (actively paying down). It's a boring journey but hoping the back half feels like there's more progress.

 

[sarahjane5595]

@dancinglamb Saying you are “finally worthless” is by far the funniest way to say you have a net worth of 0. Thanks for the laugh haha

 

[caed]

@dancinglamb That’s great, but can you include useful info like your salary, method of saving, etc.

 

[dancinglamb]

@caed updated OP

 

[caed]

@dancinglamb Thanks! I also make 90k. But I’m the director of a department at a non profit. I don’t have that much debt, but it’s interesting to see how quickly you could get rid of yours with the same salary trajectory. I must be an expert in lifestyle creep

 

[dancinglamb]

@caed Keep in mind I supplemented this income with Bartending. But I also had around $1000/month in debt payments so I guess it evens out to your position.

 

[kaybunny]

@caed Fellow expert here I made 120 and broke even year to year. Single income on family of 5 though.

 

[resjudicata]

@caed You should also note living expenses. OP did a fantastic job, not knocking him at all. But rent or mortgage can make 90k feel different as well.

 

[bubba5657]

@dancinglamb RIP Mint. Still not over it being defunct.

 

[hbksfilms]

@bubba5657 Agree. Just transferred over to credit karma and it’s horrible. It won’t recognize my Priceline card and only shows the credit report balance on my net worth!

 

[dancinglamb]

@bubba5657 Switched over to Copilot. I don't budget really, just want to see what's left over and have an easy reference for transactions.

 

[pja]

@dancinglamb Never heard of copilot but I'm still looking for an alternative to mint. Do you recommend it? I'm also not using it to budget. I just want all of my spending across my bank accounts/CC's tracked and an honest attempt at automatically categorizing transactions. Is copilot free? I've been considering Monarch but it's $100/yr

 

[ronniesgrl1]

@pja Empower. Its free and sounds like it will do everything you want

 

[cleann]

@ronniesgrl1 Just switched. Really like the allocation data. Cool app. Wish I would have switched years ago.

 

[nancylovee]

@cleann Are you talking about empower or Copilot ?

 

[salvatore_sunset]

@cleann Switched to which one?

 

[dancinglamb]

@pja Copilot is around the same per year unfortunately, but the UI/UX is very good and addicting. Give it a free trial run and see what I mean.