Reveling in the Chaos of It All
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Life Advice

“Caught in lifestyle creep, how to get out?”

Lifestyle Creep

First of all, I completely understand that my problems are first world problems and I’m VERY lucky to be where I’m at financially. Even so, I have very poor money management skills and could really use some advice. Its embarrassing. Thanks in advance for the help.

Me: 37, gross $13k-$15k/mo, 25% w2, 75% self employed. Main monthly expenses are rent: $1300 Child support: $800 Car: $350, along with regular utilities, subscriptions etc. Credit score: terrible. I’ve run the numbers and there is absolutely no good reason for me to essentially be living paycheck to paycheck and having around $5k of debt killing my credit score. I have a small 401k and about $1k in a savings account, but that’s it. Yes, self employment taxes shaves off a fair amount each month, but I’m lucky enough to get health insurance through my W2 job that helps balance things.

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Life Advice

“I feel behind on my retirement savings?”

behind_on_retirement

I’m 33M. I currently have $31k in my Roth IRA. I’m a graduate student, and I don’t have an option for a 401(k) plan currently. I sold my motorcycle recently, and that enabled me to max out my 2023 Roth IRA contributions plus put another $1,300 towards 2024. Part of me feels like I’m doing okay, but due to the ever-increasing cost of housing, food, insurance, and transportation, a big part me feels like I’ll never be able to save enough to retire. At 7% interest, if I max out my Roth IRA every year until I’m 65, I’ll have just over $1M in retirement savings. I know that sounds like a lot, but after inflation, kids/family, and COL increases, I don’t know if that’s going to be enough. I just feel like I’m running out of time.

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Life Advice

Never Give Out Personal or Financial Information On a Call You Did Not Initiate

never give out personal information on phone call

It happens often, and it seems like common sense. But, how often have you been called by your loan company, or your phone company, or your insurance company, or internet company, and that call has started with something like:

“Hello, this is Sandra from Comcast calling about your account. Before going any further, for your security, please verify the last four digits of your social security number.”

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Money

The Importance Of Paying Yourself First

pay yourself first

One of the oldest rules of personal finance is the simple admonition to pay yourself first. All the money books tell you to do it. All the personal finance blogs say it, too. Even your parents have given you the same advice.

But it’s hard. That money could be used someplace else. You could pay the phone bill, could pay down debt, could buy a new DVD player. You’ve tried once or twice in the past, but it’s so easy to forget. You don’t keep a budget, so when payday rolls around, the money just finds its way elsewhere.

And besides: What does “pay yourself first” even mean?

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Life Advice

How To Stop Eating Out And Save Money

how to stop eating out

Holy shit at the money people spend on food!

And I was the exact same way when I landed my first job out of college. You know what I’m talking about–biscuit and Starbucks on the way to work, lunch out with coworkers and pizza and beer at the local tavern for dinner! Every night! All week! Professional money spender! And more beers and dinners on the weekends! Woohoo!

Wait. Where did all my money go? And how the hell did I gain 40 pounds in six months? If you’re nodding your head you’ve fallen into the brand-new-job-big-salary-eat-out-because-I-can trap. And you have to stop it. It’s killing your bank account, it’s killing your financial freedom and it’s killing you. (Literally–I was on the edge of type 2 diabetes and had hyperglycemia during routine physicals.)

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Money

Wealth Is What You Don’t See

Money has many ironies. Here’s an important one:

Wealth is what you don’t see

My time as a valet was in the mid-200os in Los Angeles, when material appearance took precedence over everything but oxygen.

If you see a Ferrari driving around, you might intuitively assume the owner of the car is rich- even if you’re not paying much attention to them. But as I got to know some of these people I realized that wasn’t always the case.

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