[TheDuncan]

Due to very poor money and life descions in my early 20's ranging from wasting time in college and not finishing, credit cards and just spending in a very poor way I am in debt right now, I have a job right now but it pays poorly and I have no sort of degree or any particular skills that can make me a
lot of money.

Thankfully I am a hard worker and am willing to do any type of work, I would love to make money and save but right now I have to focus on being debt free, It feels like im stuck, I dont want to be in my 30's with even more debt but I dont want to have nothing to show either in my 30's.

I take full responsibility for my stupid actions but I want to focus on what I can do to get mysef out this hole im in.

Any advice on what I can possibly do?

[kaotic]

Sack up, take the hit.

Live the bare minimum lifestyle, and pay that debt down. See if you can consolidate your debt at a lower rate and lower monthly payment.

If you're able to do that, double or even triple your monthly payments to get ahead on the debt payment terms.

[Cosmonaut]

since you are american, a great way to save up cash quick–especially since you have no job skills–is in the service industry. clean yourself up, get your wine/drink/food knowledge down so you can BS your way through an interview at a high class restaurant, and start working double shifts collecting tips.

I'm from Toronto, and I've seen people walk out of an 8 hour shift consistently with 300-500 cash on top of their hourly wages, and here we only tip 15%. If you can manage to get a job somewhere good where people average around 50-100 a plate you can make a LOT of money, and if you're working late then you will miss last call and cant blow it all on booze. You will also meet a lot of people/girls and develop good social skills. its a good job to have, for a time.

also, one of the best ways I found to save money is to just learn to cook and stop eating out. pre-make meals for the week.

[Quintus Curtius]

Duncan:

Maybe we can get a better idea of a course of action after doing an inventory of where we are here. Think about these questions, and then write them down:

1. What is your currently monthly income, before taxes? Do you expect your employment to be stable in the near future?

2. What are your current monthly expenses? Write down rent or mortgage, utilities, food, clothing, gas, medical/dental, transportation, recreation/entertainment, charities (if any), insurance, installment payments (i.e., car payment), domestic support payments (if any), student loan payment, miscellaneous payments.

3. What is the breakdown of your total debt? How much is credit cards?
Medical bills? Student loans? Delinquent taxes?

4. Have you been sued or have any collection action pending? Any garnishments going on right now?

[BrewDog]

Pay that shit, man. It'll haunt you forever if you don't get it done. I had $45,000 in student loans when I got out of college. I paid it all off by the time I was 31 (yep, sucks).

You don't need a new goddamn car every 3 years. Pay off your car and then keep driving it. It feels nice to have an extra $400 a month. I was guilty of it, too, but 20 somethings think they need a nice car to get laid. You don't. Fuck the sports car and pay off your debt.

[roberto]

You might have no skills but you can learn them while earning. Find a tradesman, become his labourer, graft like fuck and PAY ATTENTION. Be punctual every day, polite to the customers, ask questions if you don't understand, and do extra research in the evenings.

It'll pay at least the same as a service job, and after a year or two you will know what you're doing and be worth more money to him. Or you can look elsewhere for higher paid work.

[jj90]

High level abstract:

If your credit score is shit, and it's unsecured non student loan debt, you can declare bankruptcy and walk.

If your credit score hasn't taken a hit, look at aggressively paying it down as per the various suggestions. Real simple equation: make more than you spend.

Now almost everyone will give you the same advice here: cut expenses -> learn a skill/trade at no to minimal cost and hustle -> stack cash -> payoff debt and profit.

I'm going to give you a radically different option: If you have the motivation and inclination, take on more debt in the form of student loans, and go do a program where the expected job after graduation pays well. Not for amateurs, I knew what I was doing when I did this.

[Phoenix]

You already know, and your post is just a gasp for "is there a magic way I can avoid reality?".

[Akwesi]

In my opinion, 20k shouldn't be a big deal unless you are dealing with very high interest rates. If you are, then first of all try to get your interest to come down.

If you lack the skillset or papers to get a job that pays well, consider combining two jobs - simultaneously. Find a job that requires minimal effort, like being a nightwatchman, night receptionist, or something like that. Bring your laptop to work and do freelance jobs that you find online. I'm sure you can do some simple content writing, accounting, programming... there's got to be something you can do if you did in fact spend several years in college. Once you figure this out, you can get double pay without putting in double shifts.

[Hannibal]

This book tells you how to retire early, it's methods will also allow you to pay off your debt in the fastest way possible.

I can summarize 80% of the book right now.

1)Get a roommate and try to pay no more than 10% of your income on rent.
2)Live within walking or biking distance to work. A long commute fucks your earning potential.
3)Cook all your own meals and stop spending money when you go out.
4)Get a hobby that costs no money, costs little money but benefits you in other ways, or makes you money. Examples would be

• Reading the classics
• Weightlifting
• Flipping shit off craigslist
• Carpentry
• Playing free games off Steam
• Learning how to code in [insert computer language here]
• Daygaming because it's cheaper
• Fishing with just the rod and reel off a dock (if you live by a lake)
• Gardening
• Blacksmithing
  

You get the idea.

Notable ways to further cut spending.

1)Forgo the cell phone and use Google Voice on your laptop like it's a homephone.

2)Cut the cable bill and get Kodi instead.

3)Split the wifi with your neighbors.

4)Buy groceries in bulk. Do your homework to figure out where it's cheapest. Around here it's Wally World, Aldis and Sam's Club. As of right now I have fifty pounds of rice, fifty pounds of protein powder, ten pounds of lentils, a bunch of assorted meat in the freeze, and like six cans of oatmeal. If I really had to, I could live for a couple months on that alone (wouldn't want to but you know).

5)Bring a flask to the bars and order soda. Roll your own cigarettes if you're into that.

6)Get a somewhat portable home gym setup instead of a gym membership.

[Seadog]

20k is nothing. There is no reason, even if you're making minimum wage that if you really put your mind to it you can't get that gone in a year or two at most. You just need to make the debt repayment you're #1 priority in life, ahead of game, recreation, vacations, everything. Live in a rooming house for $300 a month. Even less if you share a room. Bike or walk to work. Minimum wage jobs are everywhere, so get one or two close to the cheap rent. Have skills? Than you can justify living somewhere closer to work or bussing, but make sure you do a cost/benefit analysis. Scour discount grocery stores for food about to expire. Freeze things. Forego cellphone/internet/cable/TV. You can literally survive on $500 a month if you want to. 2 min wage jobs at 25 hours a week is like ~$500 a week. ~25k in a year. 6k for living expenses. A bit more for tax. That's most of the debt gone in a year.

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/04/1...emergency/

[The Beast1]

Commonly forgotten but make sure to modify your withholding allowance with your employer so you can get more money out of your paycheck instead of giving it to uncle sam as an interest free loan.

[Ensam]

(07-21-2016 02:51 PM)The Beast1 Wrote:  

Commonly forgotten but make sure to modify your withholding allowance with your employer so you can get more money out of your paycheck instead of giving it to uncle sam as an interest free loan.

I believe you can owe the IRS up to a grand at the end of the year without penalties. Just make sure to stash your expected tax bill away in a savings account so you don't end up having to take a out a loan to pay your taxes.

[RatInTheWoods]

Think of this like s very cheap lesson on how not to fuck up your financial life in future.

Some people skip this lesson when they are young and make a mistake on a nuclear level when they are older.

Suck it up, live frugal, work your ass off and pay it off.

Remember this lesson until the day you die.

[lavidaloca]

$20,000 is nothing debt wise. Thats a drop in the bucket. Don't stress that whatsoever. Just live minimally and pay it off. But I wouldn't be overly concerned about $20,000 in debt.

[Brown Pride]

(07-21-2016 03:21 PM)lavidaloca Wrote:  

$20,000 is nothing debt wise. Thats a drop in the bucket. Don't stress that whatsoever. Just live minimally and pay it off. But I wouldn't be overly concerned about $20,000 in debt.

Yeah, that's pretty much a car loan. People pay that off in about 5 years or so.

I think op is overreacting.

[Kapostatus13]

Also find a way to make more money being self employed. Get into stock trading look up timothy skye, learn computer coding or master a software like photoshop. Working low paying jobs and being s minimalist will only get you do far. You want to also maximize your income potential preferably with location independant work.

[The Black Knight]

A stint in the military is an option. Some branches offer loan repayment programs.

Do 4 years, get some life experience, get the GI Bill, save a few bucks, learn a useful skillset (if you pick right), and get out.

Things you could do and get trained on in the military and walk out making good money in 4 years:

1. Air Traffic Control
2. Contracting (buy shit for the government)
3. Intelligence
4. Certain IT positions (more technical, the better)

If you look at the re-enlistment bonus sheet for the various branches, you can get a sense for what's in demand on the outside possibly as well. They give bonuses for shit that is hard to fill (like spec ops) and stuff that pays a lot of the outside (intelligence, ATC, etc) typically. OPs tempo affects what is demand as well. You want to focus on the fields that pay a ton on the outside and are easy to cross over into after 4 years of military time.

Those 4 fields I listed? You can walk into a 70-100k/year job as long as you're not a total fuck up after 4 years. With a clearance, you could make even more. You can also work potentially as a civilian contractor at bases overseas or in warzones and REALLY make some money.

Lots of potential and there are other jobs to consider as well. I just listed some of the more obvious ones.

I would give this some serious thought given your position.

Your debt might fuck you on getting a clearance for jobs that need them so I would get a handle on that ASAP (as long as you're paying it off and not defaulting, you should be fine).

One last thing: DO NOT go into the combat arms or anything that has little/no transferability into a civilian job. You might have some fun times but your experience will be useless for gaining employment on the outside.

[storm]

Quote:

Any advice on what I can possibly do?

Make more money.

[jimukr104]

good advice!

[Leonard D Neubache]

You're 26. If you're not making good money or on your way to making good money then you've fucked up and that's the first place you need to look. No judgement here. I was in the same boat but I didn't have anyone to tell me the truth of the matter.

I'm going to swim against the trend on this one. Unless your credit rating is super important (what, so you can pick up more debt down the line?) then don't focus on your loans. Focus on your ability to make money. Learn a trade, even if the pay is shit now, and service the debt if you can (minimum payments) or just walk away from it.

I know guys who could wipe that debt in several months because they know how to make money. Working shitty low end jobs for several years and living like shit to get rid of that debt will make you miserable, and in several years time you'll still be a low rent motherfucker, only one without debt.

If you're a bachelor then the world is your oyster. Your thread should read "26 and I still don't know how to make money. Fix me." Even a tradesman with an epic debt default to his name is still going to be living larger than a grocery boy with no debt.

[chicane]

You are here and you write with quite good English. That means that your IQ is well above average. There are many things you can do to make money. If nothing else, check the jobs ads on Craigslist. Slash your cost of living as far as is practical. Living in your parent's basement might be a really good choice for the next year or so. Finding a friend with an extra bedroom would be a good option, or even sleeping on a friend's couch.

You can get paid to be an Electrician's Apprentice. Find some local welders and see if a similar deal is available. Look into getting work on an oil rig, they provide you a place to sleep while you are out there.

Lots of possibilities.

[Leonard D Neubache]

(07-21-2016 07:09 PM)chicane Wrote:  

You are here and you write with quite good English. That means that your IQ is well above average. There are many things you can do to make money. If nothing else, check the jobs ads on Craigslist. Slash your cost of living as far as is practical. Living in your parent's basement might be a really good choice for the next year or so. Finding a friend with an extra bedroom would be a good option, or even sleeping on a friend's couch.

You can get paid to be an Electrician's Apprentice. Find some local welders and see if a similar deal is available. Look into getting work on an oil rig, they provide you a place to sleep while you are out there.

Lots of possibilities.

^This. A million times this.

I don't like to give specifics on trades without knowing the ins and outs of the location you're in, but if you can get work on an oil rig (or get the qualifications needed) then do it.

An old friend of mine used to come back from his rig job so cashed up it blew our minds, considering that at that stage the rest of us were still eating ramen noodles for the second week of every fortnight.

[jake1720]

Most people I know have more student debt than that. Still in a pain in the ass however.