Friends, I'm 32 years old, changing jobs/careers, moving five hours away with my soon to be bride, and will fortunately get a 20% raise over my present salary. I'm also in graduate school studying to be a psychiatric nurse practitioner, which pays exceedingly well (110-120k/year) in my area, and I'll graduate May 2015. As said, I have a job lined up. She does not.
Like all Americans, to varying degrees, we have financial problems.
1. I spent $11k cash for an engagement ring. It's nice, and she deserves it, but after my income tax return I now have only 21,719 in savings. That seems like a lot for most Americans, but taking a ten grand hit hurts anybody psychologically.
2. I owe Visa 2,072. No matter how hard I try over the last 6-8 months I can't help but pay it down significantly and then charge it back up. For example, I just bought this laptop I'm typing from for 700, but I literally needed a new one thus the expense.
3. We're moving. Moving is expensive. Moving costs, deposits for utilities, deposits on a house we'll be renting. Geez it's just more money lost!
4. Due to some financial setbacks of her own, my fiancé has maybe 2k in savings.
5. On top of that, later this year there are wedding costs, honeymoon expenses, and so forth. I'm not complaining about the event, but I'm getting really cost conscious.
6. Also, here's the clencher, I have 36k in student loans. I've always felt that after I finish my master's that I'll be able to pay that off rather rapidly given the typical salaries of recruited graduates from my program. Seeing the above cumulative expenses makes me think I'm never going to get out from under this debt load.
I agree this is wordy and seems like a lot to talk about, but I think I'm developing an ulcer over this and definitely have hypertension. I want to have ZERO credit card debt, start getting my savings back over 30k, and pay my student loans off by Christmas 2016. I have a Roth IRA that took a major hit in 2008-2009 and since then I've really skimped on contributing to it. I also have a floundering employer-sponsored retirement plan. I don't own any real property, have maybe 3.5k in precious metals locked in a safe deposit box, and used to have a thousand cash on hand here in the house. I used to do really well financially. I never made "a lot" of money, but I was always able to save a lot proportionately to my income as well as make prudent decisions. Other than my credit card (2,072), I have no current, pressing debt. Six months after completing my M.S. I'll have an additional ~40-45k.
Any tips, pointers, suggestions, etc. on the above six problems would be of substantial help. I don't know what I'm looking for really. I've researched this over and over. I just want a definitive solution.
Thanks and best wishes,
RP
Like all Americans, to varying degrees, we have financial problems.
1. I spent $11k cash for an engagement ring. It's nice, and she deserves it, but after my income tax return I now have only 21,719 in savings. That seems like a lot for most Americans, but taking a ten grand hit hurts anybody psychologically.
2. I owe Visa 2,072. No matter how hard I try over the last 6-8 months I can't help but pay it down significantly and then charge it back up. For example, I just bought this laptop I'm typing from for 700, but I literally needed a new one thus the expense.
3. We're moving. Moving is expensive. Moving costs, deposits for utilities, deposits on a house we'll be renting. Geez it's just more money lost!
4. Due to some financial setbacks of her own, my fiancé has maybe 2k in savings.
5. On top of that, later this year there are wedding costs, honeymoon expenses, and so forth. I'm not complaining about the event, but I'm getting really cost conscious.
6. Also, here's the clencher, I have 36k in student loans. I've always felt that after I finish my master's that I'll be able to pay that off rather rapidly given the typical salaries of recruited graduates from my program. Seeing the above cumulative expenses makes me think I'm never going to get out from under this debt load.
I agree this is wordy and seems like a lot to talk about, but I think I'm developing an ulcer over this and definitely have hypertension. I want to have ZERO credit card debt, start getting my savings back over 30k, and pay my student loans off by Christmas 2016. I have a Roth IRA that took a major hit in 2008-2009 and since then I've really skimped on contributing to it. I also have a floundering employer-sponsored retirement plan. I don't own any real property, have maybe 3.5k in precious metals locked in a safe deposit box, and used to have a thousand cash on hand here in the house. I used to do really well financially. I never made "a lot" of money, but I was always able to save a lot proportionately to my income as well as make prudent decisions. Other than my credit card (2,072), I have no current, pressing debt. Six months after completing my M.S. I'll have an additional ~40-45k.
Any tips, pointers, suggestions, etc. on the above six problems would be of substantial help. I don't know what I'm looking for really. I've researched this over and over. I just want a definitive solution.
Thanks and best wishes,
RP
Comment