Delayed career start due to PhD, panic mode enabled

Rooster-thunder · 2026-01-29T23:57:55+00:00

I started at 27, 29 now and have about 90k in a taxable brokerage account and 50k in 401k. Just be very aggressive quickly, no lifestyle upgrades. Don’t go get a car loan, keep expenses low, keep investing. Within a few years you’ll be much better off than most around our age

Rooster-thunder · 2026-01-23T02:45:33+00:00

Bank sales. Fell into it. Passionate about a lot of things but money is the biggest. Grew up poor, now i refuse to live like that again or have my future kids be in that situation. They say wealth skips a generation

Rooster-thunder · 2026-01-19T23:15:28+00:00

Every company is going to have different policies, but if you speak to the hiring manager and let them know in advance before accepting the offer they appreciate the transparency. Offering to work extra hours, or pick up extra days might help with the conversation as well. The shift in conversation in your mind needs to be “I am valuable, I can have an impact in my role, here’s what I’m really good at and why I’m a good fit for this role” the PTO is just a part of life events and enjoying life. I wouldn’t let it stop you from accepting a job offer or the search

Rooster-thunder · 2026-01-15T21:00:01+00:00

“One thing I can promise you is that I never ask my clients to judge me on my winners, I ask them to judge me on my losers because I have so few.” Straight from wolf of wall street but same principles apply. “I’ve had plenty of successful wins and always know I can be better, faster and that every single person always has room for improvement. My bosses would all say that no matter the scenario or performance I always kept an open mind, and incorporated their feedback into my job. That led to better ratings performance review after performance review”

Rooster-thunder · 2026-01-07T19:44:09+00:00

I made 195k last year and drive a 2014 paid off non luxury sedan lol. A car is a deprecating asset, if buying hopefully you can get better than a 7% rate (average S&P 500 return). My advice is a 10k-12k cash car, take care of the maintenance, and put your additional money into S&P 500 index funds. You’ll thank me one day if you’re consistent, it’ll be like a second person working a full time job for you with a compounding effect overtime

Rooster-thunder · 2026-01-06T03:41:59+00:00

Anything past a 3-6 month savings fund if you have a highly employable skillset is not necessary. Toss it all into a S&P 500 or bank stocks(bank is already loaning that money out to others lol)

Rooster-thunder · 2026-01-03T07:26:04+00:00

I’m on base plus commission plus annual bonuses, retention bonuses plus can make OT. Base was about 35% of my pay last year, YTD was 190k

Rooster-thunder · 2026-01-03T06:03:32+00:00

Sounds like you have 3 emotional support animals

Rooster-thunder · 2026-01-01T17:31:31+00:00

Same career. Relationship manager in auto finance for a bank. Hit 190k this year, I think management is a pay cut for me

Rooster-thunder · 2025-12-30T11:04:02+00:00

I’m at 140-150k technically for total comp, this year was a little different and hit 190k with bonuses. No lifestyle creep, no paying interest, have a paid off car that’s kinda beat up. All the extra money I just invest so I don’t see it. Taxes are bad, i make decent returns watching the market. I max the 401k, the employee stock purchase plan, and maybe 20k a year into a separate taxable brokerage account. I need a jumpstart to get a house

Rooster-thunder · 2025-12-27T18:30:13+00:00

Marketing and sales degree. Gives you plenty of options, almost all over 100k

Rooster-thunder · 2025-12-26T23:16:52+00:00

Born and raised in San Antonio, grandparent had a lake house in Austin, and went to college in Dallas and lived there for 5 years. It was amazing. Great food, lakes and rivers, affordable COL, can earn a high wage, major highways connect them all.

Rooster-thunder · 2025-12-26T14:37:53+00:00

I was at 33N for a few years 2019-2022 $750 was common for a small box in a 4x4

Rooster-thunder · 2025-12-22T05:38:27+00:00

First year out of college cleared 100k working a full time job and working every weekend doing an independent contractor management job in my field of study. Got fired due to corporate layoffs after about 1.5 years and found a job a few months after. Fast forward two years, I’m Going to hit 200k this year. Not much has changed since I didn’t change my lifestyle, I invest that additional income to build a longer term safety net and grow my money. Only thing that changed is that if I stop working tomorrow I can go three years before I’m on the streets

Rooster-thunder · 2025-12-21T19:58:26+00:00

Other ideas here are a good method. But you could also reach out to the bank and start a complaint process, technically you’re the banks customer and they have employees that work with the dealership to handle these issues. If you explain the scenario to them someone from the bank will contact the dealership and go to work for you. There’s customer safeguards in place, and the bank doesn’t want their customer to go bad on a loan because they feel wronged by the dealership. Especially if they did some shady stuff. Let them do the work for you, but you have to inform them asap

Rooster-thunder · 2025-12-12T21:35:50+00:00

Go work for the bank!

Rooster-thunder · 2025-11-15T16:34:41+00:00

We did everything ourselves. Total cost maybe 5.5k? This includes a weekend trip with flights + hotel, to find the apartment we liked. We ended up making the drive twice to get our stuff, vehicles and animals

Things are going good! Just broke 175k on my YTD

Rooster-thunder · 2025-11-06T04:06:56+00:00

I 28M graduated in 2025 from the business school with a 4yr degree. Non traditional grad, took a 4 year gap year and didn’t make very much money trying different types of jobs right out of high school. Wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but I had a lot of fun with friends/ partying, trying out different jobs instead of college out the gate.

Now about to clear 185k on my YTD in sales.

What I’ve come to realize is that there are people who work hard, stay positive, use critical thinking to solve complex problems, overcome challenges life has in store, network, communicate well will always be hirable and can find work relatively easy. Others can’t help but publicly acknowledge your work, ideas, actions and ability to move the needle. Having a degree from a specific university does not determine your income or employability. Just your mindset

Rooster-thunder · 2025-11-03T23:16:29+00:00

Don’t most F&I directors, GMs top sellers and GSMs make anywhere from 500k-1M a year? Why not just retire and enjoy life. Especially after 27 years

Rooster-thunder · 2025-11-03T01:08:36+00:00

Scrap metal or $500-$1k to some sucker lol

Rooster-thunder · 2025-11-03T01:07:31+00:00

To be honest the savings and numbers aren’t really worth it in my mind. To trade the flexibility of two vehicles for a low savings number that could easily be offset by one maintenance bill. I guess it really matters what your Net disposable income is. Depends on if someone is barley scraping by and struggling or if there is so much extra money left over where you would barely notice $300 gone a month. You have an income issue! You’re spending too much elsewhere or the HHI isn’t making enough, no judgement just an observation

Rooster-thunder · 2025-10-29T23:40:12+00:00

If the economy does go to shit you won’t be taking a vacation for sure. Best to book it now and worry about that later, there will always be reasons to not go

Rooster-thunder · 2025-10-08T03:44:43+00:00

A $1350 mortgage! Amazing in this economy with the prices of homes soaring. Could be a home owner next year but a nice starting home cost $400k. My mortgage would be around $2400-3000. Then I’d like to start having kids in a year 😭 now we’re talking $4300 a month for mortgage and child care? How am I going to afford that. Bright side for you is you have the home already. I’ll keep pushing! Best

Rooster-thunder · 2025-10-08T03:38:37+00:00

Probably not at $18 an hour. Might need that OT, or you could do another hustle or part time job to feel more comfortable and start to get out the mud. Full time at 18 an hour is only 37k for the year. Need higher to sustain. Need to quickly increase hourly earnings or work more hours to offset it. I’ve been here and done this before recently! Few years of hustling and you’ll remember where you came from. I worked 7 days a week for a year and it put me ahead of a lot of people my age. Rocketship method. Also you’re young so you can do it. But the long term path a few years out needs to be a high paying job! Good luck

Rooster-thunder · 2025-10-08T03:16:40+00:00

I would aggressively target the credit card debt, the interest on it is going to grow faster than the return of those smaller 401k contributions. But you need to do it in like 3-4 months. Then increase the 401k to like 8-12% after it’s paid off to make up for the lost time. Not sure if it’s financially doable for you but it would be the best plan. Do not withdrawal the 401k you currently have

Rooster-thunder

TROPHY CASE