How am I doing? 24 Years Old...

[jcmf339]

"
Vehicle Costs and Debt:
Auto Loan = $670 Obviously you know this is an issue, and you have addressed it
Car Insurance = $85
Gas Expense = $150 Quite a bit for DC, are you taking full advantage of the metro? You should include those costs in here as well as "Transportation"
TOTAL VEHICLE COSTS AND DEBT = $905

Not sure if I did this 'quoting' thing right, but re: comment about the metro- I lived in dc, and metro is abhorrently expensive. Anywhere from $2 to $5.50 each way. Depending on the commute, it may not save any money. and it breaks all the time.

[ecoadapt]

For a 24 year old, I would say you are doing great. And,I'll second their suggestion on minimizing your auto cost.

[siggy_freud]

It's too bad that negative equity all rolled into such a high car payment. $670 buys a lot of car without that negative equity, and the car you're driving is nice, but at those prices, you're in Mercedes territory .

I understand where you're coming from though. I'm young and have a car fetish myself.

[Vpxggmr17]

It's too bad that negative equity all rolled into such a high car payment. $670 buys a lot of car without that negative equity, and the car you're driving is nice, but at those prices, you're in Mercedes territory .

I understand where you're coming from though. I'm young and have a car fetish myself.

Yea trust me, I am fully aware of what a $670 COULD get me. That said, I have gotten my car progression in control and will be more than likely cutting a check to the bank for the car EOY next year and keeping it paid off and eliminating a car payment. Only way I see that makes the most sense.

In reply to the metro point. Metro is just as expensive as driving here. There is no trade-off. For me to take a bus to my second job would be $5 round trip and they stop running before I get off work. To get to my day job? Forget about it, it would take my commute from 12 minutes to over an hour, costing twice as much.

[Tree0164]

I think you learned about the car-keep it and drive it until you have 150-200k miles on it. My general rule of thumb is no longer than 36 months and a $250 a month car payment. if I can't afford that then we don't get the car. The last car we purchased in 2009 we did 100% cash and hopefully we will drive it for 10 years.

[crazyliblady]

How am I Doing?

I probably have about 54 months left on the car (2011 Nissan Maxima SV). That said, my choice is as follows:

1. Maintain the car payment because I can afford it and pay it off and save money after I pay off the student loans.
2. Pay the normal car payment through next December and then take what I've saved and pay it off completely, depleting my savings of most, if not the entire year.
3. Sell the car, finance the difference, buy a beater and pay off the debt and then go get something else with cash (my least favorite option)

I am curious. Since you live in a major metropolitan area, do you really need a car? I used to live in a major metro area and found that I was able to take the bus and metro rail to work every day for 5 years. If it not been for the fact that grocery stores were not close to where I lived, I could have just sold the car and done without entirely. The reason I ask is because with the car payment and insurance (and probabaly having to pay to park), you could save a significant chunk of change to put toward your debt payoff. Just a thought.

[Vpxggmr17]

While I do live in a major metro area, I live in the Alexandria suburb of DC. My main job location is 8 miles south on the freeway. No conveinent metro there and the cost of metro to travel (in both time and money) is not worth it. Even my other job is 2.5 miles north of where I live and while there is a direct bus route, I'm not usually off work until after they stop running the buses. As beneficial metro has been for me in the past, for instance when I lived and worked off metro lines, it is the least bit conveinent or relevent currently.

In regards to parking, it is free at my apartment, free at my office and free by my second job on the street. So the only time I pay for parking is when I go into the city occasionally.


Also, as a 10/25 update:
I decided to cash out my individual stock purchases since my major student loan is 7.5%. I wanted to rid myself of that as soon as possible and there was no rational way to maintain the gamble of stocks outperforming 7.5% just to break even.

That said, with that liquidity, I will be on exact pace to have all loans gone 12/31 this year. That will leave just my vehicle with about $31,000 left on the loan.

I should be able to put away somewhere between $32-$39k next year in cash while contributing to my Roth 401K (6% with 3% match) and fully funding my Roth IRA.

At the end of next year I will have a choice to make:

1. Cut a check and pay off the car, leaving me about $10k in liquidity.
2. Continue paying payments on the car and keep the stockpiled cash of less than $40k.
3. Keep working both jobs or quit my second job and seek my next level of employment, hopefully obtaining a job that will provide a similar income level to the prior two jobs. worked.

Another option is keeping the cash to live off of and go back to school for a J.D./M.B.A. but only under the pre-tense that I can get myself into a Federal Work/Study Program or a assistanceship to where I work off the cost of the education. I refuse, after spending an entire year to pay off credit cards, student loan debt and other small bills totaling about $20,000, going out and obtaining a debt burden of $150k.

Feedback and advice/insight on these areas/options is always greated appreciated. This forum has been a fantastic outlet for me to voice my progress and also get community feedback so thank you everyone!

[Bayspieler]

If you own land all the way across the country, make sure you are aware of things like the legal principle of adverse possession.

[Vpxggmr17]

You really a got and huge expenses and it seem that you can handle it.The problem is you still need to manage some of your expenses because most of the time without knowing you're earn money only falling in debt and other finances things.

What?!

Yes, I have some large expenses, mainly my vehicle. That said, I budget every single month and usually come in under budget and with more income than I set the standard for. Each month, I have at least double what I need to pay bills which leaves me the availability to pay off debt and save for retirement.

[Andrew Black]

You are doing phenomenally well for someone your age. You have a wise outlook towards finances which is greatly crucial. If you do find that you could do with some support than consider the assistance of a finance broker who will be able to really help you out while taking any economic shake ups into account.

Good luck and I hope your financial success continues!

[Nsmith508]

doing good

[Ramose]

I think you are doing well. Keep it up.