funny you mention this. We have 3 federal student loans. For whatever reason, 1 payment ceased and the other two never did. We couldn’t figure out or understand why. We didn’t fight it, it is what it is.
The other thing I was really looking into was how much we gross vs. net. So breaking down, let’s say $120k gross.
16% federal tax
3% state tax
2% local tax
16% 401k
4% Roth
$490 per month health and vision
So bringing home a lot less, ends up being about $58,000.
mortgage, childcare, insurance, utility, cell phones, current car payments... all adds up. Plus our freaking property taxes just skyrocketed.
and groceries now, fu** em. Food is just insane.
hard to budget additional funds to the truck when every time you turn around something costs more money.
property insurance and taxes will never go anywhere but up.
food will only go up
health insurance will only go up
up, up, up.
Well shit I’d tell ya to try growing/selling weed but govt took that over already lol!
all I can say is this....my wife & I currently gross $300k +\- & I had about a 4-5 year stretch where I was making $350k +\- on my own while my wife started her career in architecture & as she got more traction I opted to take a lower paying gig but w/ much more stability/lower stress, why? She was making more & we started having kids.
When she was in grad school & bartending I was starting to break 6 figures in my industry but overall income was tight- had a condo mortgage payment/HOAs etc....but back then what I used to do was “rip the bandaid off” in terms of immediately withdrawing $$$ for all my bills & sending whatever else I could budget every week/2weeks into a savings account that I chopped up the debit card to the first day I got it. Even if it was $25, every pay check $$$ went there, & what was left over we held in literal cash to cover entertainment/groceries/clothes etc.....I found when you looking @ literal paper money it’s easier to be stingy w/ it vs Apple Pay & cards etc
Then once I accumulated $70k (which looking back on it seemed impossible then but I 10000% contribute to my basic bit*h cash in hand method) we put down payment on a house in burbs & rented the condo....it sucked b/c I had to upkeep both properties myself & had a bout of deadbeat tenants for a bit....but when things WERE working it would result in a bump in excess income that I religiously split evenly 3 ways: cash savings, pay down bad debt, invest in portfolio...that was 15-16 years
then we had our first kid, had just gotten rid of the bad tenant & I said screw it & fixed the condo up & sold it- doubling my initial investment.
the real estate profit I did the same thing, however I weighted much more heavily toward any bad debt including our current vehicle loans @ the time which when i traded in enabled us to pay off our vehicles in full within 2 years in perpetuity essentially.
Which NOW - despite making a good amount relatively speaking (we live in MA so cost of living/taxes quite high) our single largest bill is day care for 2 kids that started @ $3550/month, dropped to $3250 & I think now that my oldest is full time K again & only does part time daycare it’ll be $3k even (yay!!!!) so we are still crushed by bills, but the way we make it work? No car payments, mortgage refi’d 4x now down to a 10 year & 2.35% @ $2300/month all in w/ taxes
point is- real estate, being diligent about both paying debt & putting something ANYTHING always into savings & being patient will work out for you.
