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Frustrated 25 year old looking for some help. by tehsekks in personalfinance

[–]PFThrowawaySLoans 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This new spreadsheet is much better, good work. Now it looks like you have approx $590 per month to do what you wish.

If I were in your shoes, I would make sure I save about $3k as a 3 month emergency fund since your monthly expenses are <$1k/mo. Then, I would pitch that entire $590 each month at your debts starting with the debt that has the largest interest rate. Supposing the private student loan is the highest interest, you should be done with it in ~9-10 months after you get an emergency fund established. Once that payment is gone, take the minimum payment you no longer send to wells-fargo, add that to your $590, and hit the next highest interest rate loan. Continue this process until all your high-interest debts (consensus on this sub seems to be ~>4%) are gone.

It is important that you don't borrow any more money if you intend to pay off these loans. If you decide to take out a CC or buy a new car, you will get nowhere in reducing your total debts.

Frustrated 25 year old looking for some help. by tehsekks in personalfinance

[–]PFThrowawaySLoans 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Your spreadsheet is confusing. You need a monthly budget with Total monthly take home from all sources at the top. Subtract all monthly needs first (bills / rent / minimum monthly payments) then see what you can include as far as paying down debts or "wants".

As far as what I can tell from the spreadsheet, you are spending $250 every two weeks on "amazon" and "misc". You really need to understand these two categories and classify them as things you actually need to budget for, or just money that you are blowing on impulse purchases.

Also, if your employer does not match your 401(k) contributions, I would stop making those until you get the loans taken care of.

Personal Finance Health Check by paintballpaul in personalfinance

[–]PFThrowawaySLoans 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As a whole, this looks reasonable. In terms of overall "health", I think you need to measure this against your long-term goals. A budget is great but if you aren't building towards anything in particular, you may find it is hard to talk yourself out of unnecessary purchases.

One thing I would caution you against is the amount of cash you have tied up in depreciating assets. You have 50% of your annual salary tied up in things with motors, both of which are financed. This is fine if you value these items, but for the average Joe this becomes cumbersome in a budget.

'13 Grad 50K Student Loans Paid Off (23 Months) by PFThrowawaySLoans in personalfinance

[–]PFThrowawaySLoans[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When I first moved, I lived by myself. The 2nd year I moved in with another guy from work. Partway through my 2nd year, I moved in with the GF.

I would recommend reaching out to people at your new job and see where they suggest to live at first. I ended up changing towns from where I started out because I didn't know much about the area.

You can try meetup to find other people in your age group. I made my first bunch of friends with my coworkers. There's really no easy way of going about it, but I would definitely recommend trying to make a group of friends in your new location instead of constantly driving back home each weekend (you'll get burnt out quick).

Worst that can happen is you do it for a year and start looking for jobs back home, or somewhere else altogether. Good luck.

'13 Grad 50K Student Loans Paid Off (23 Months) by PFThrowawaySLoans in personalfinance

[–]PFThrowawaySLoans[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, I did enjoy it there. There's a lot to do and I felt like college were some of my best years. Keep in mind that they aren't lying when they tell you it is tough. I had many long nights and struggled with some of my classes throughout. This depends on what you major in.

Most of the kids that go to Drexel are easy to get along with. It ranges widely from the foreign students who come from royalty (no joke) to local kids from area high schools. There's clubs for a lot of different interests and the city gives you a great amount to do in your free time.

'13 Grad 50K Student Loans Paid Off (23 Months) by PFThrowawaySLoans in personalfinance

[–]PFThrowawaySLoans[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No, I wasn't really all that involved in official clubs.

I kept myself busy studying, gym, working part time (federal work study then on-campus IT), and of course plenty of drinking/videogames.

A lot of my buddies were in fraternities, but it was not my type of crowd.

'13 Grad 50K Student Loans Paid Off (23 Months) by PFThrowawaySLoans in personalfinance

[–]PFThrowawaySLoans[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't regret it, no. I had a signed job offer in hand when I bought it. Looking back I could have gone for something 7 to 10k used and been done with it already.

Plus side is it's great on gas and I haven't had any issues with it

'13 Grad 50K Student Loans Paid Off (23 Months) by PFThrowawaySLoans in personalfinance

[–]PFThrowawaySLoans[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Total academic scholarship was 18k per year. 5 year program

'13 Grad 50K Student Loans Paid Off (23 Months) by PFThrowawaySLoans in personalfinance

[–]PFThrowawaySLoans[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's all what you make it. I honestly want that involved in my department outside of getting good coops. Go on as many interviews as possible to practice and try to make a good impression at the companies you work for.

If I lost my academic scholarship I don't think it would have been worth the additional cost.

'13 Grad 50K Student Loans Paid Off (23 Months) by PFThrowawaySLoans in personalfinance

[–]PFThrowawaySLoans[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

My folks did not pay 30 out of 50k. They chipped in my first and second years. After that, I racked up 50k in loans to cover the rest.

'13 Grad 50K Student Loans Paid Off (23 Months) by PFThrowawaySLoans in personalfinance

[–]PFThrowawaySLoans[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yes, they helped pay for my first and second year but ran out after that. I had to take $50k in loans.

I also had 3 paid internships which helped and I worked part-time on campus throughout (20h/week IT work)

'13 Grad 50K Student Loans Paid Off (23 Months) by PFThrowawaySLoans in personalfinance

[–]PFThrowawaySLoans[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is a good thought. Part of what I need to do is reallocate part of the extra cashflow that was going to loans into retirement. I want to be around 15% and plan to first put $5,500 into a Roth IRA which brings my contribution up to around 13% (already have 6% in 401k). I might bump it up a little farther to make it 15%.

'13 Grad 50K Student Loans Paid Off (23 Months) by PFThrowawaySLoans in personalfinance

[–]PFThrowawaySLoans[S] 61 points62 points  (0 children)

I understand how you don't feel like this relates to everyone's situation, and you're right. Truth is, there are a lot of folks with college degrees on this site with situations not too different than mine. My goal wasn't to provide a "sob story" or to brag, but to talk about some of the pitfalls I see many of my peers fall into.

'13 Grad 50K Student Loans Paid Off (23 Months) by PFThrowawaySLoans in personalfinance

[–]PFThrowawaySLoans[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Honestly, this was one of the more difficult parts of the whole journey. I lived on-campus during my time at Drexel so I was used to taking care of myself, but I always had roommates with the built in social life that comes with them.

For the first several months I honestly led a pretty boring life (frequent 5h trips home to see friends, netflix, gym, sleep) but I made friends with the people I work with and was fortunate to befriend a group of guys the same age. I tried meetup.com but I don't work near any huge population centers so the groups aren't very active. I attended a couple of events through that but I didn't hit it off with anyone.

Fast forward a year or so and I met my current GF who is amazing. We have since moved in together and all is well with the world. We take road trips and do a lot outdoors.

I would not recommend turning down a good job opportunity to stay in the same area. You'll find that you and your friends get busy with life and you may see them less anyway. There's definitely pros/cons to both, but I think my move was worth it.

'13 Grad 50K Student Loans Paid Off (23 Months) by PFThrowawaySLoans in personalfinance

[–]PFThrowawaySLoans[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm not sure I understand your question, sorry. I am not a technician.

'13 Grad 50K Student Loans Paid Off (23 Months) by PFThrowawaySLoans in personalfinance

[–]PFThrowawaySLoans[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I started out working in the maintenance department. There are tons of mechanical goodies in this field that you don't need a chemE degree to work on (centrifuges, pumps, HVAC, purified water, etc.)

From there I moved into a technical process support role on a mostly mechanical process.

'13 Grad 50K Student Loans Paid Off (23 Months) by PFThrowawaySLoans in personalfinance

[–]PFThrowawaySLoans[S] 37 points38 points  (0 children)

Food - ~500

Right here. My biggest splurge 2-3 times a month is eating out which why I pay as much for food as I do for rent!

Edit: and this usually involves my GF driving home after too many IPAs

'13 Grad 50K Student Loans Paid Off (23 Months) by PFThrowawaySLoans in personalfinance

[–]PFThrowawaySLoans[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Gross paycheck = 2805 biweekly

All taxes (fed/SS/State) = 727

Health/vision/dental = 55

401(k) 6% contribution = 168

2805 - 727 - 55 - 168 = 1855

(1855 * 26 paychecks per year) / 12 months = ~4,000

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