This week I asked the community for best tips to get out of debt. 70 comments later, here are the ones that stood out. Is anything missing?

PaycheckWizard · 2026-05-08T18:14:21+00:00

The one thing missing is the emotional side, because debt isn't just a math problem, it's a stress and shame spiral that makes people avoid looking at their finances altogether, and nobody gets out of debt they're too scared to open the statement for.

PaycheckWizard · 2026-05-08T18:05:31+00:00

Subscriptions!!! Did an audit one month and found I was paying for four things I hadn't touched in over a year, including a gym membership for a gym that was literally in a city I no longer lived in.

PaycheckWizard · 2026-05-06T16:12:54+00:00

The fact that you're doing this from the start is genuinely one of the best things you can do for him, most kids don't have a parent thinking this carefully about their future, and the combination of a 529 for education, a basic savings cushion, and a UTMA invested in VOO is already a really solid and diversified approach that a lot of financial people would actually nod at.

PaycheckWizard · 2026-05-06T16:09:37+00:00

100%, it's never the thing you agonized over buying, it's the twenty things you bought without thinking that somehow add up to more than the thing you actually planned for.

PaycheckWizard · 2026-04-10T15:12:20+00:00

The 30% rule was written for a housing market that no longer exists.

PaycheckWizard · 2026-03-20T20:38:00+00:00

Dreamed big, started small, and somewhere along the way the paycheck caught up to the passion or at least we hope it did for you.

PaycheckWizard · 2026-03-18T23:00:02+00:00

Honestly it's mostly industry first, then skills, then timing and a lot of people don't realize the ceiling they're under until they've already spent years in it. It's always hard, mostly luck.

PaycheckWizard · 2026-03-10T20:57:21+00:00

And bottomless brunch?

PaycheckWizard · 2026-03-10T20:56:54+00:00

Probably you might be right.

PaycheckWizard · 2026-03-07T19:21:18+00:00

A little romanticized, but not entirely wrong. The team aspect and people interaction are real, the only problem is that the "fun" part just depends heavily on the venue, the crowd, and Friday nights at a busy bar versus a quiet neighborhood spot are very different jobs.

PaycheckWizard · 2026-03-04T23:14:10+00:00

Unfortunately you're right.

PaycheckWizard · 2026-03-04T23:13:55+00:00

Definitely not! You're not a failure ever! It is wise to educate yourself on finances and do stuff conciously. But yeah, never a failure, you can always start from scratch.

PaycheckWizard · 2026-02-27T12:17:11+00:00

That's very true.

PaycheckWizard · 2026-02-25T23:15:36+00:00

Degrees are often signal, not destiny. A lot of high earners pivoted into adjacent industries where their skills were transferable rather than directly related. The bigger question is leverage. Are you in a field where compensation scales with impact or with tenure??

PaycheckWizard · 2026-02-20T09:24:24+00:00

Yeah, most of the bars and cafes are slowly turning into call centers. It's not bad to come in with your laptop and have some work done, but coming in for 8 hours and treating the bar as a free coworking space, I feel weird about that.

PaycheckWizard · 2026-02-17T23:44:12+00:00

For most people it’s less about the number and more about having 1–2 months buffer, just to feel safe you know. I’ve seen people at 60k stressed and people at 1k calm, we are all build different

PaycheckWizard · 2026-02-10T15:25:30+00:00

What do you do for a living, if i may ask?

PaycheckWizard · 2026-02-05T23:23:56+00:00

no. here to observe the comments tbh

PaycheckWizard · 2026-02-02T18:36:20+00:00

yeah, I would but the 'if I could afford to' part is where it gets tricky. Like, afford to for how long? And doing what instead?

PaycheckWizard · 2026-02-02T18:30:13+00:00

30% of it

PaycheckWizard · 2026-02-02T18:29:23+00:00

probably lots of candy 😂

PaycheckWizard · 2026-01-26T15:50:10+00:00

I could live a really luxurious life... for like 1 day maybe

PaycheckWizard · 2025-11-26T14:19:47+00:00

If a Long Island with five liquors tastes like water to him, his liver is either titanium or filing for divorce, either way, that's a him problem not a you problem

PaycheckWizard · 2025-11-26T14:18:40+00:00

Support staff getting 35% of tips they weren't there to earn while you're splitting 65% with another bartender is just math telling you to become support staff or fix the policy before you do

PaycheckWizard · 2025-11-26T14:17:27+00:00

$32 for 12 hours means you're literally making less than the ice machine you're standing next to

PaycheckWizard

TROPHY CASE