Comment on Poignant post on the state of things
rockstarmode@lemmy.world 11 months agoThanks again for the insight, it sounds like you’ve got things on the right track.
Truthfully, I feel like I’m struggling, but relative to most I’m probably living very well. I own my home near the ocean in a major metro in California.
Any advice I’d feel comfortable giving doesn’t revolve around money investments or savings. When my relationship with my now wife first got serious, we talked transparently about what kind of life (and lifestyle) we wanted. We did a back of the napkin calculation of the minimum income required to support ourselves, and at the time we were very short. We agreed that we would become very aggressive about our careers and income generation. This is why I asked you about whether you’d been exploring the job market with your sights set on long term goals.
My wife and I decided to work together to defray the risk inherent in solving the income problem. We started by having one of us find a job with a salary slightly above our old ones. Then that person became the anchor for the household which enabled the other person to find a job that was far riskier but with much higher financial upside. Once things stabilized with that person’s career, making it less risky, that person became the anchor for the household which permitted the first person to take on risk (and debt) to go back to university for a degree specifically selected to improve their earning potential once they graduated.
Over and over, slingshotting each other forward by taking turns and being very aggressive about generating income, and then investing that income. 20 years later we feel like we can do most of the things we want. We still stress about having enough or being on track for retirement, but it’s a different kind of stress.
MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca 10 months ago
Well, that’s certainly a good plan.
At this point I’m not confident that either myself or my SO would be comfortable doing the same strategy. Personally I’d like to return to school and upgrade my diploma to a degree, however, being the highest earner in the home, I can’t really take the several years of unemployment required to do so, even with support from everyone involved. It would simply be too much of a hit to our finances.
I’ve been exploring getting some after-hours training in to enhance my resume, even looking into pursuing a degree part time. The problem I keep facing is that since I’m very rural, the universities that offer degree courses in IT (non-programming) are few and far between, and for the most part, those IT related courses that are required for the degree, are not offered as distance learning. I’m simply too far away to attend a university class, even part time, in person. The closest uni that would offer a course that I’m interested in, would likely be more than an hour drive away each direction. With my current duties and obligations in the home and for work, I just can’t seem to find a way to make that work. Distance learning is my only real viable option, and it’s basically not offered for the program I want.
Unfortunately, my life’s story, while interesting, is full of missteps and failures. As a brief overview, I dropped out of highschool after my parents separated, nearly ended up homeless but my brother gave me a room in his apartment for a year or so for me to get on my feet. I was ~16. I entered the workforce to get off of social assistance, and floundered for several years doing retail work to make it by. After a particularly bad break up, I obtained my highschool equivalent diploma, and started college at ~23yo. I lost about 7 years or more doing menial labor.
I got into trouble during my academics, ended up getting a year long suspension for an action that I thought would be helpful, but the administration at the college took as malicious. Took me almost two years before I decided to return, I was bitter about trying to help, and being punished for it.
I graduated college at ~29yo, with two diplomas (each a “2 year” diploma), and got my first job in my field. That was around 10 years ago. I’m 40 now, I’ll be 41 later this year (in a few months).
I was diagnosed with ADHD at 39, and the same year, I bought a house with my SO, brother and his spouse.
This is the first time in my life I’m not renting. I finally paid off my student loan in 2022, and I fully paid off my vehicle in 2019? I think. I still carry significant debts, mostly credit cards, a lot of it from the seven year gap and from my college days. Though I still have expenses that I have to put on credit, since I don’t currently have a slush fund for incidentals. I usually pay more for things because I always focus on buying things that are durable and reliable more than cost effective in the short term. This leads to spending more up front, but (hopefully) less in the long term. Most of what I own is older, most of it was purchased used, but I haven’t had to replace almost anything I own unless it is so obsolete it no longer functions effectively for what it does. My most significant recurring purchase is for laptops, since college I’ve owned three, all of which have been more than $1500 CAD, frequently more than $2000 CAD… Around $5000 in 10 years. Rivalling that is my cellphone, which is rotated out every 3 years or so, and I buy my phone entirely (rather than lock into a contract with my provider), and they cost around $1000 CAD for every upgrade, every three years. I’m currently on year two of owning my current phone, a pixel 7. My computer’s, laptop, phone and car, are all work-enabling devices for me given my vocation, so those expenses are generally required to be effective in my job. Everything else I’ve purchased has been either less expensive or a one time purchase that I have not had any need to replace.
My strategy is to pay for reliable things up front, to minimize any recurring costs of replacement, and provide a good return on my investment. Hopefully better than that of cheap items that will need to be regularly replaced.
This, hopefully, limits my spending, but my recent unemployment has significantly damaged my finances. I was in a good position prior to the unemployment condition, though with little if any savings, and much of my ongoing expenses taxed my finances since my income from social assistance was so low in comparison to my normal income.
As mentioned, my current plan is to continue to reduce any debts until they are resolved, since I know any investments I make right now, and any interest I earn will be far outweighed by the interest owed on my debts. Once debts are eliminated (aside from the mortgage), I can refocus on saving and building a slush fund for incidentals. Again: this will take years to accomplish. So my only daily focus right now is to maintain my employment so I can continue to pursue my debt payment plan. I need to re-do my budget and assess my financial condition given my new employment, and plan from there. I’m certain I’m making enough for my ongoing expenses, both fixed (mortgage, bills, etc), and dynamic (additional considerations for debts, as well as food, fuel for my car, maintenance, etc); what I need to determine is how much I have above and beyond those required expenses, and allocate some for entertainment, so I don’t lose my mind or burn out working without a break, and a small amount for upgrades, like for my cellphone in a year and a half or so; then push the rest to debt repayments as I am able, and have a bit left over for minor incidentals (under $200).
Budgeting is not an activity I enjoy. It’s necessary, but it’s incredibly hard for me to do given that I have ADHD.
Most of my life and the poor path I had previously (especially prior to college) can be explained by my ADHD condition and being undiagnosed. Now that I’m receiving treatment for it, the effects are significantly reduced.
That’s my story, and it goes so much deeper. I left out a lot of detail for brevity, and all of that detail explains why I ended up here. I’m proud of how much I’ve done despite my obvious challenges, and I’ve accomplished a lot in the short time I’ve been receiving treatment for the condition.
Personally, I like a relatively simple life. I don’t want much. I don’t desire travel or vacations, I’m happiest watching TV on the couch with my SO. My next big spend will likely be a ring. She’s stuck with me for the better part of a decade and she was instrumental in getting the mortgage approved and the house purchased. It’s time.