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Empress Brosephine
Mar 31, 2012

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS
Hi goons

Some other nice goons in A/T steered me towards making a thread in here to solicit receive some sound financial advice. Basically, I got injured at work about two years ago, got fired and will finally receive a decent amount of money for the injury and resulting treatment in the next week or two. I'm really just wondering what my best course of action would be to do with this money.

Originally, and what led me to post in here,lol, is that I wanted to pay off all my debts and then spend the money on a truck and a camper "for fun". The A/T thread told me I was being dumb and I listened and I think i've mostly nixed that idea. Here's the post from the A/T thread for context on that:

quote:

Hi goons instead of bugging the AI stupid questions thread I figured I'd ask in here.

I'm getting a injury settlement with a okay amount of money, and I kinda wanna get a truck and camper with the money after I pay off all my dumb debt that isn't a student loan. The AI thread has helped me tremendously in selecting a Tacoma but now the financial stuff comes into play.

I currently have a 2017 Toyota Corolla XSE with 71050 miles on it. I love it and it's been, knock on wood, clean and mostly babied besides a slight amount of rust near the door and some scratches from a dog (I live in new england). I am considering trading in or selling this corolla towards the Tacoma and making that my daily driver, since I had a 2015 Tacoma and really enjoyed it before getting this. I do roughly 15k a year in miles, with the bulk of that being basically one round trip to Florida from northern NH a year. Otherwise I drive maybe 30 miles a day in New Hampshire.

I guess wherey situation comes up is in the following: I have bad credit (624). I probably won't be able to get a insane loan like I did on this Corolla (I think it's like 3% APR with a $359mo payment). I owe roughly 11.6k on it So I'm not sure what my best course of action would be. I've juggled these options:

1. Just buy the Tacoma with cash and watch most of that settlement go away. But I'd keep the Corolla and the Tacoma would just be a weekend warrior vehicle.
2. KBB says I could probably get ~11k on a trade in for the Corolla, CarMax says ~12k, so I'd be upside down in the former. In that case, would I be better to just use some of the settlement payment and just pay off the rest of the Corollas loan and then have that as a down payment of roughly 12k and then probably have a monthly cat payment of ~600 month? My regular job I could pay that monthly np, especially with the elimination of all CC debt.
3. Just keep the Corolla but get it detailed and a full mechanical tune up somehow. I don't hate the Corolla.
4. Some other option? Not opposed to used trucks, but I just would want android or apple audio and backup camera.

I have real bad FOMO. So I'm hoping you folks can lead me on the right path. I also have a extreme fear of cars breaking down etc after a while from having a dad born in 1930 and a mother who would be too afraid to drive a hour away while growing up.

The Corolla isn't our only car. We have two Volvo XC90 a from like 2008 that run, I just would never take them on a drive to Florida as they are Volvos and mechanically poo poo (plus no heat or ac). But they would do fine with the local driving I do.

Thanks goons !!

So, with that out of the way for now, it leads me to wondering wtf to actually do with this money. Its ultimately going to be around $90k after lawyer & workman comp fees. For some context, I originally had horrendous credit from when i was 18 and racked up cc debt. I fixed it by the time I was 25, but between a move back and forth to Florida, I racked up the debt and have been slowly paying it off over the past two years, but my current credit score is a beautiful 625.

I work a full time job where I am severely underpaid, but its self employed so I get to sleep and do whatever I want. That pulls in about 40k a year so far as a marketer / software developer, which is about medium income for where I live (Northern New England). I also work a part time job on the weekends for about 18 hours a week. I am a idiot who likes to work, but I am getting old. I do eventually want to find a "real job" again which pays what I should be earning but for now I am able to pay my bills and have some fun when I am afforded time.

The house I live in is "rent free" as of now because my girlfriends and future wifes parents own it. We pay the electricity and thats about it. My gf has epilepsy so I usually buy the food for both of us since she can't really work.

I was attending online school for accounting but am scheduled to attend in person school this fall to finish my senior year, but I may push it out another semester. I am getting married this fall and between the two jobs and putting full time school on top of the wedding it might be too much to do as a old timer (im 32).

My debt and obligations are as follows as of a capital one credit report:

Active Credit Card Debt: $10,700
In Collection Credit Card Debt: $3254
Car Loan: $11,519.89 , i pay $359.98 a month. I think my interest rate is stupidly low because I got this car when I had really good credit.
School Loans: $32379. I don't have to repay these back yet as I was last in online school back in uh October or around there? I'm still holding out hope that theres some sort of student loan foregiveness before I "graduate" within the next year or two.
Medical Bills: ~$2000. I refuse to pay these as they are uncovered workman comp bills. I'll pay them if I have to, but out of respect for myself I will not willingly pay a dime to those sharks unless its in my favor and or forced.
Loan from GF's Mother: $1500. I will pay this back. This was to cover euthanasia for my cat :/.
Loan from Aunt: $700 for when I was injured.
College Class Loan : ~$600 for the one summer class im taking. I have a payment plan set up for this though.

Other Monthly Payments:
Car Insurance: ~$160 a month for car.
Self Employment Costs: ~$600 a month at the most including health insurance and office space rental. Obviously my current income covers this.
Gas: ~$200 at the extreme realistically maybe $100. I can write off a large portion of this for business expenses.
Food: ~$300 a month at the most. We only eat like one meal a day.
Utilities: $250 at the most including internet.
"Fun Stuff" Netflix, OnlyFans, Spotify: ~$70 a month at the very most.
Cell phone: I pay for the phones for my gf and my mother, so roughly $260 a month. I think if anything i'd pay off the three phones and then just pay the monthly costs, but not a urgent requirement here.
Affirm Loans for Dumb poo poo I Didn't Need: ~$800. I will absolutely pay these off right away

I don't really have too much other expenses. I wear clothes until they're ripped and have never felt the urge to need nice clothes and I am perfectly fine with walmart clothes. That said i'd like to spend some of this money on fun things and/or essential things. What i'm eyeing:

Either a "cheap" drum set or keyboard. ~$800 at the most.
I'd like to pay to have my mothers washer and dryer brought upstairs. Not sure the cost on the plumbing for this, so maybe at the most $1000?
I'd probably buy non rubber engadgement rings so what, $2k at the most.
Vacation / honeymoon this year. Hawaii maybe along with our annual florida trip (which I usually budget $2k for). We don't go extravagent so its not like fine dining or a 5 star hotel are required.
Manual lawn mower for like $80

I'm pretty open to doing whats best after being talked out of the above plan. I don't think i'd want to pay off all that debt in its entirety, atleast not the education & medical bills as I don't neccesarily need to yet? I'm pretty lost on this. I appreciate all and any help from kidn goons. Feel free to make fun of me also. I'm not looking to quit any of my jobs and live two years unless it would be extremely beneficial to do that and focus on full time school / a side project for the year I have left. Which could work out, but who knows what the economy will be like in a year I guess. I have no savings account as the pitiful one I had two years ago (for $10k) I had to drain when I was let go.

Thanks for all the help.

Empress Brosephine fucked around with this message at 01:20 on Jun 4, 2021

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KYOON GRIFFEY JR
Apr 12, 2010



Runner-up, TRP Sack Race 2021/22
Hey, good on you for posting over here!

Thanks for the additional detail. When I look at your overall financial picture two things kind of jump out to me that aren't solveable from the windfall alone.

1) You got no savings and specifically no retirement savings. You are calling yourself old at 32, you're going to be feeling a lot older at 64. What's the plan then? The windfall can give you a leg up here for sure but you do have to think about how to make saving for that future a priority. Even being able to carve out a hundred or two hundred bucks a month will make a difference.
2) You are living in a free house but that situation can change rapidly (breakup, parents decide something different, etc). It seems like there isn't much wiggle room if you start having to drop a grand a month on rent (although this could very well be less in NNE). I think you should plan and budget as if you don't have a free house.

In general I think your new windfall special spending ideas sound like good ones. Get a couple quotes for the plumbing for sure.

You should finish school, you are very close, but you should do it at a time that makes sense for you that will allow you to be successful. Wouldn't count on student loan forgiveness, though.

Windfall totals, assuming you get $90K:
$17,000 - Paying off various CC, personal, Affirm debts
$9,000 - various treat yoself stuff
$10,000 - emergency fund, six months of expenses but increased to offset the fact that if you need to dip in to this it's quite possible your free housing situation has gone away

Leaving $52K. I would suggest:

1) Make sure you can pay for the rest of school. Shouldn't be horribly expensive.
2) Open a SEP IRA and start contributing to it. You can contribute up to 25% of your earned income from your business, which means you can stuff $10K in here annually. You should do that for sure this year (you can buffer from your remaining windfall) and also next year.

This will then leave you with roughly, I don't know, call it $35K. I think you should then consider your overall financial and life goals. IMO, figuring out an alternative to the current free house situation should be on that list - you want to make sure you are using your money to a) increase earnings (school is good!), b) secure basic needs now (shelter, transportation etc), c) mitigate risks (efund), d) secure future needs (retirement money)

Empress Brosephine
Mar 31, 2012

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS
Thanks for the reply. Actually that made me wonder something, would this money jeopardize my ability to receive financial aid? In that case I would need to plan to pay for the rest of school, bit like you said, it wouldn't be much, maybe 12k max.

I don't know anything about IRAs etc, so I should probably look into those. I imagine like most people though in my income bracket, it's hard to just have money sit there lol. But that comes from having parents who never saved a dime in their life lol.

Thanks yo

milkman dad
Aug 13, 2007

Empress Brosephine posted:

Thanks for the reply. Actually that made me wonder something, would this money jeopardize my ability to receive financial aid? In that case I would need to plan to pay for the rest of school, bit like you said, it wouldn't be much, maybe 12k max.

I don't know anything about IRAs etc, so I should probably look into those. I imagine like most people though in my income bracket, it's hard to just have money sit there lol. But that comes from having parents who never saved a dime in their life lol.

Thanks yo

Something to keep in context is the age for retirement will probably be ~67+ (not earlier). If you are 32 currently that is 35 years that you have left to prepare for that. There are tax advantaged accounts such as Roth IRA that could help you live a better life in retirement if you take advantage of them when you are young.

You haven’t mentioned children or wanting to have children but recognize you seem wholly unprepared financially for them so prepare to make changes depending on if the changes with your marriage. I would also say try to save money on a honeymoon (no hawaii) and save the money for a down payment on a house when that becomes a necessity.

Empress Brosephine
Mar 31, 2012

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

milkman dad posted:

Something to keep in context is the age for retirement will probably be ~67+ (not earlier). If you are 32 currently that is 35 years that you have left to prepare for that. There are tax advantaged accounts such as Roth IRA that could help you live a better life in retirement if you take advantage of them when you are young.

You haven’t mentioned children or wanting to have children but recognize you seem wholly unprepared financially for them so prepare to make changes depending on if the changes with your marriage. I would also say try to save money on a honeymoon (no hawaii) and save the money for a down payment on a house when that becomes a necessity.

It seems like such a hard pill to swallow to just have money sitting around for 35 years lol. I know that's the smart thing to do to be able to live what, ~20 years doing whatever we want / can. I guess thats a factor of growing up lower middle class and just not trusting banks / financial people / the irs (ironic considering i'm going to school for accounting lol).

We're not going to have children so thats a non factor but good catch. As for the down payment on a house, what would be considered a "good" down payment? I've never really looked into houses or really figured into one as much since I assumed you had to have perfect credit to get a house. I could theoretically take that extra ~35k and just use it for a down payment I guess on a house. We don't really have much in the way of life goals as hosed up sounding as that is lmao. Kinda happy with what we got and where we are other than obvious things like "wish we had a nicer house / nicer cars / whatever". I've always been a take it as it comes person though instead of planning for anything in the future.

Empress Brosephine fucked around with this message at 13:38 on Jun 4, 2021

Jean-Paul Shartre
Jan 16, 2015

this sentence no verb


The thing is the wise move is going to require a change in your thinking. Because yes, the best thing is to invest the majority of your windfall and not touch it for decades, no matter your hesitation about that.

You're really to be commended for being open to the criticism in the A/T thread and opening this, to start. But even here you're still looking to spend the money - the issue rightly gets raised that your emergency fund should assume that you might not get free housing and your response is "well should I buy a house?" No, you shouldn't. While you get free housing you're happy with, the wise move is to take it and save the money, but you can't count on the situation lasting forever and so need a backup plan

Yes, it's boring. Yes, it requires trusting these big institutions. But the reason everyone is saying 1) pay your debts, 2) establish an emergency fund, and 3) invest the rest, is that you've been given a rare opportunity to actually reset yourself for long term stability, and the way to do that isn't a big mystery, it just requires willpower and discipline.

Empress Brosephine
Mar 31, 2012

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS
Oh yeah sorry if thats the way its coming over, i'm just generally interested in the way the economy(?) has moved that way. Always seemed kind of backwards to me that we put so much into retirement instead of enjoying life as we live it but I guess thats more of a capitalism problem lol.

I'm absolutely going to do this the mostly right way. Those debts are going BYE BYE no matter what (except the car, student loan and medical ones). Which actually makes me wonder; I know back in the recession you could call the credit card companies and be like "if I pay this off right now, will you chop off $500?". I wonder if that still works.

I would like to some day move someweres again outside of New England, so i'd save money for that no matter what if we were to ever decide on a place. I guess I could theoretically spend some of that money in a "vacation" exploring some places of interest, although the housing market seems so hosed up that who knows if a house will ever be affordable unless you pull in 100k+ a year, at least up here in northern new england. But, i've never really been a fan of houses anyways and have no problem with renting so thats always the other option.

I should look into lifetime goals though and what those would be. Then a tleast there'd be a destination for the goals!!

Thanks for the help!!

Dik Hz
Feb 22, 2004

Fun with Science

Empress Brosephine posted:

Always seemed kind of backwards to me that we put so much into retirement instead of enjoying life as we live it but I guess thats more of a capitalism problem lol.
How's that worked so far?

Ok, I apologize for being an rear end in a top hat. But that mindset can be pretty detriment to your future goals. There's no amount of money so great that you can't spend it all and still wind up balls deep in debt.

KYOON GRIFFEY JR
Apr 12, 2010



Runner-up, TRP Sack Race 2021/22

Dik Hz posted:

How's that worked so far?

Christ what an rear end in a top hat post.

Empress Brosephine posted:

Oh yeah sorry if thats the way its coming over, i'm just generally interested in the way the economy(?) has moved that way. Always seemed kind of backwards to me that we put so much into retirement instead of enjoying life as we live it but I guess thats more of a capitalism problem lol.

I should look into lifetime goals though and what those would be. Then a tleast there'd be a destination for the goals!!

Yeah, money is just a means to accomplish goals, and I think you're finding some of the limitations with not having clear goals. You get a big windfall and you think about how to spend it, rather than having it just kind of self-allocate to your goals.

There is a balance between enjoying life as you live it and not eating catfood in retirement. In retirement you have very limited income and your medical and life expenses tend to increase due to the fact that you're old and broken down. You need to prepare for this because there is not an adequate social safety net for old people, even though they do have the most robust social safety net out of all groups of Americans.

Your parents don't have any money saved for retirement, what's their plan? Are you going to be on the hook somehow? You don't wanna end up like that.

Empress Brosephine
Mar 31, 2012

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS
I mean to be honest it's worked pretty good so far....I pay my bills on time every month except for when I forget and I get to go on vacations :shrug: it's not like I live in poverty and/or not have what I want mostly when I want. :shrug: I've managed to get through the recession, covid and breaking both my knees without losing anything :shrug: I do however understand that i've been lucky in my ability to fall up through life so far.


My dad is dead and my moms health IS failing, but she will be able to go into a nursing home, which will be paid by the widow benefits from my dads time in the service I think. I don't really know, and she never says anything about it or expects us to pay. Granted there was $0 when he died left to any of us which is okay and itll be the same for my mom. I definitely see how it sucks for my mom who lives on welfare and social security, but I mean, she lived in a very rural town so its not like she needs to pay $1200 a month in rent, I think her mortgage is like $120 a month lol. I think the state owns her house in the case she dies since I think whatever she worked out with the government or something involved putting a lien on the house for my dads nursing home time? I don't know, they never talked about any of this stuff to us.

Thank you for explaining it though because yeah, by then it may be totally messed up economical wise so it does make sense to prepare. Not to sound like a robot but i'd like to learn about some examples of lifetime goals...

I should have the money next week or two (i signed the check yesterday now I gotta wait for my lawyer to take his large cut :/ ) so ill do a update when I guess im technically debt free*!

edit: Although now that I think about it, i think I have some life goals...i'd like to one day open a a retro game shop and/or actually make a small video game myself. But those are more hobby things I think then items i'd want to devote large sums of money too (although another dumb idea I had initially was to quit work for a year and devote it to developing a indie game lol)

Empress Brosephine fucked around with this message at 16:10 on Jun 4, 2021

KYOON GRIFFEY JR
Apr 12, 2010



Runner-up, TRP Sack Race 2021/22
There's a financial goals thread around here somewhere, but probably a good idea to get your life goals in order too!

Liquid Communism
Mar 9, 2004


Out here, everything hurts.




Our current retirement scheme is a bitch, and was the unintentional result of financial regulation the 80's. It just got embraced wholeheartedly by industry as it let them gut pensions, followed by not raising wages accordingly.

That said, being old and trying to live on social security is a nightmare, and compound interest means your retirement savings dollar will never be as powerful in the future as it is today.

MadDogMike
Apr 9, 2008

Cute but fanged
One important question from my tax professional perspective; is this settlement for damages only or does it include punitive damages of any sort? The latter can be taxed, damages can't generally. Also back wages of any kind are treated as wage income (up to and including getting a W-2 for them). If you aren't sure you can check with your attorney, they should know. I assume they probably are damages only if it's a settlement mind you, I mention this primarily to make sure you don't replace all those debts you pay off with one to the IRS thanks to a surprise tax bill if it's something else.

Empress Brosephine
Mar 31, 2012

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS
Yeah I was thinking about that too. I don't think there's any punitives but I'll ask. There is some medical forgiveness so I wasn't sure if that's considered income by the IRS also?

I'm going to check with the lawyer either way

MadDogMike
Apr 9, 2008

Cute but fanged

Empress Brosephine posted:

Yeah I was thinking about that too. I don't think there's any punitives but I'll ask. There is some medical forgiveness so I wasn't sure if that's considered income by the IRS also?

I'm going to check with the lawyer either way

Medical forgiveness is probably only a thing if you itemized any out of pocket medical expenses previously, if like most people you didn't that shouldn't cause tax trouble. If you have any taxable amount over $600 they should issue a Form 1099-MISC at the start of next year to report it to you and the IRS anyway. Anyway, this is more in the nature of "paranoia because I've seen this sort of thing bite people before", not any real concern you're actually LIKELY to have any problems, so don't stay up nights panicking about it just because I asked ;).

Empress Brosephine
Mar 31, 2012

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS
Haha yeah I appreciate it. The only things I like with accounting is taxes so it'll certainly be a learning experience. Either way I reached out to my lawyer

milkman dad
Aug 13, 2007

Empress Brosephine posted:

It seems like such a hard pill to swallow to just have money sitting around for 35 years lol. I know that's the smart thing to do to be able to live what, ~20 years doing whatever we want / can. I guess thats a factor of growing up lower middle class and just not trusting banks / financial people / the irs (ironic considering i'm going to school for accounting lol).

We're not going to have children so thats a non factor but good catch. As for the down payment on a house, what would be considered a "good" down payment? I've never really looked into houses or really figured into one as much since I assumed you had to have perfect credit to get a house. I could theoretically take that extra ~35k and just use it for a down payment I guess on a house. We don't really have much in the way of life goals as hosed up sounding as that is lmao. Kinda happy with what we got and where we are other than obvious things like "wish we had a nicer house / nicer cars / whatever". I've always been a take it as it comes person though instead of planning for anything in the future.

You *do* have a very strange disposition for someone studying accounting.

If you’re certain about not wanting children you most definitely should consider using 2 forms of protection. Outside of purchasing a 50k truck the biggest thing you could do to put yourself in a tailspin financially is have a kid (though kids are awesome).

If you’re still trying to finish your degree it suggests you either changed careers or otherwise went to school late. Don’t get rose colored glasses over not loving your job. Your best case scenario is go for cpa and hope to get partnered.

The other subjective thing here you may not recognize I tried to hint at earlier is if you’re living for free with your fiancée you really want to cement a good relationship with your in laws. This is just the right thing to do. Buying a brand new truck and then potentially not having money to care for her or otherwise meet your obligations could sour that relationship.

fart simpson
Jul 2, 2005

DEATH TO AMERICA
:xickos:

ive just pmed you my venmo details op. im happy to bear some of this burden with you

Empress Brosephine
Mar 31, 2012

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS
lmao.

Sorry I haven't replied. Luckily, my lawyer said he doesn't believe any of the award is punitive so that's good.

re: milkman dad:

I have no intentions of going into accounting itself, I simply wanted to stop paying for student loans that literally gave me nothing. I figured that if I actually completed my degree then atleast i'd be wasting my money for something that I physically have. Originally I got into accounting because every accountant I ever worked with was dumb as bricks and I usually had to do their job for them at the places I worked. But that was a long time ago and I was like 18 lol.

Yeah we won't have children so thats not a worry. As for schooling, I got like 1.5 years done when I was 18/19 and then stopped for a few years and then picked it back up via online school two(?) years ago. Now i'm in my final year and I wanted to transfer to a brick and mortar as its obviously a better education experience and more networking. However i'll probably stick with my development job, but as stated above, atleast i'll have a backup degree and I won't be paying for nothing.

As for the in laws, yeah I agree, thats why I want to make sure to pay them back asap. I would like to ultimately move out and live on our own, either in a apartment or a house, but i'm in no huge rush right now. Of course one of the volvos has poo poo the bed (typical for volvos) so I kinda want to entertain buying my fiancee a cheap used car (if I can even find one) in a bid to a: give her "reliable" transportation and b: show the inlaws I appreciate all they do

I should have a thread update in a few more days :) Thanks all.

Owlspiracy
Nov 4, 2020


if you aren't currently enrolled in credit hours you have to pay your student loans back. the reason you haven't been sent a bill is because of the payment moratorium, but that ends in september. you can't just stay 'enrolled' without taking courses to game the system.

Empress Brosephine
Mar 31, 2012

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS
Ojlh yeah I've been in school "full time" for the past two years, I meant more for the time before returning to school then if paying 150 a month for nothinf

human garbage bag
Jan 8, 2020

by Fluffdaddy
If you have to ask what you should do with a windfall, it means you don't have a long term goal for your life. Given this fact, the best decision is to invest it somewhere until you find that long term goal.

I would say that if you haven't found a long term goal by 40, then it would be best to resign yourself to a life of hedonism and estimate how long you will live, and spend money accordingly so you die from natural causes just as you spend your last dollar.

Maggie Fletcher
Jul 19, 2009
Getting brunch is more important to me than other peoples lives.

human garbage bag posted:

resign yourself to a life of hedonism and estimate how long you will live, and spend money accordingly so you die from natural causes just as you spend your last dollar.
Hello where do I sign up for this retirement plan please.


OP, you probably would've mentioned it if so, but is there any possibility that your injury/accident will cause lingering health problems down the road? Might be something to think about. You can feel like a million bucks at 35 and then suddenly you're 40 and you sprain your neck getting out of bed.

Empress Brosephine
Mar 31, 2012

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS
I broke both my legs but have been knock on wood relatively back to normal so I don't believe so, but I do have decent health insurance anyways which would hopefully cover it 😐

surc
Aug 17, 2004

Maggie Fletcher posted:

Hello where do I sign up for this retirement plan please.

https://engaging-data.com/will-money-last-retire-early/

Actuarial data is not actually (:v:) useful for determining your lifespan on an individual level

Empress Brosephine
Mar 31, 2012

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS
Hello thread update:

Some may have caught my sticky situation with the previous employer in the legal thread, so i've been dealing with the stress / disgust at lawyers from that. '

Luckily, I did receive my money today and I am officially mostly debt free*!

* besides school bills, health bill and my car bill


Part of me wants to pay off the car (~$11k) just to not have to worry about it anymore. But now I can freely move onto investigating the best ways to invest(is that the word?) the amount I want to and figure out what the hell else I want to do with the money that isn't a total waste.

You guys will be proud of me; I ignored three car salesmen today.

So now i'm debating on just paying off the majority of the rest of the "debts", the above mentioned car bill, paying off the three cell phones I pay for and anything else I can think of (besides medical bills).

Kinda feel relieved for once. Thanks knees.

I kinda wanna quit my part time job but the people there are all very nice, but I know its a ticking time bomb situation with that above legal thread. Oh well.

Jean-Paul Shartre
Jan 16, 2015

this sentence no verb


Congrats! You are allowed to also buy yourself one (1) celebratory drink as well. So long as it's reasonable.

Seriously though, good for you for actually taking the moment to pause and think of how best to use this to get yourself into a better place. Being debt-free feels so much better longer than any fleeting feeling from spending.

KYOON GRIFFEY JR
Apr 12, 2010



Runner-up, TRP Sack Race 2021/22
what's the interest rate on the note on the car?

Empress Brosephine
Mar 31, 2012

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS
Im looking at the contract and the contract says 0,00%?

Which is odd but I knew it was very low

Empress Brosephine
Mar 31, 2012

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

KYOON GRIFFEY JR
Apr 12, 2010



Runner-up, TRP Sack Race 2021/22
ya im gonna go with "don't pay off the car note early"

although 31k for a corolla, woof. water under the bridge on that though.

Empress Brosephine
Mar 31, 2012

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS
Yeah, it was the Corollas 50th anniversary year and I couldn't get the anniversary model so I went with the xse. Granted about 5k of that is stupid GAP insurance.

I won't pay it off. Thanks!

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Feb 20, 2004
....can you get rid of that GAP insurance? Check your policy, even a prorated amount would be great, especially now that you can cover the rest of the loan if you really needed to. $5k is a shitload of money to basically cover the difference between the loan and car value:
https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/insurance/gap-insurance

If you're looking to pay down bills, check your highest percentage loans and pay it off from there. That'll maximize your ROI and try your best not to blow away all the cash..it's incredibly easy to do (see: lotto winners that end up bankrupt).

In any case, congrats for getting your financial life together.

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