33-Year-Old With More Debt Than Anyone Should Ever Have | Financial Audit

My name's Candace Thomas. 33 years old. I'm from Temple, Texas and. this is financial audit. What do you do for a living in Temple, Texas? I am a product photographer. Product photographer, okay. Yeah. How. much do you bring in? Um, I'm hourly. right now, so it's. What's your hourly? 23 13, I believe an hour. Interesting. that 13. Yeah, I know. Every year I get. like a percentage increase. Oh, sure. And how many hours a week do. you work? 40, normally.

Good. Normally, does normally mean. there's sometimes more, sometimes less, or what is it? Yeah, sometimes I if I. have a project going on or something, I'll just stay a little later and it. just rolls over. Okay. Then I'm just. going to use 23 13 40 hours a week Yeah. for like the whole year essentially and. then. not take into account the overtime, just. to take into account time you might take. off. Okay. That brings us to about. $48,000 a year before taxes or about. $4,000 a month before taxes. Does that.

sound about right to you? Um. sure. I I'm I'm not sure. I just. You don't follow how much money comes. in? Uh yeah, I have it on a spreadsheet, but like I don't. total it up. It like I have a like a. function for it, so it just does it. automatically. you know how much money comes in on a. monthly basis? Yeah, roughly like 3,000. after taxes. Okay. Okay, I just wanted. to make sure. Yeah. Um. cuz that's definitely a very important.

thing to know. Yeah. Before I jump into your finances. and you know, give my take on it and. then what can be improved and cleaning. up some messes, I want to hear from your. perspective, how do you think your. financial situation is at this point? Um. I think it's better than it was about a. year ago, but I still feel like I have a. lot to learn. So what do you think you. have to learn? Um. I I don't really have any kind of. savings. Um. I don't have anything like I don't I.

know I need to set up like a Roth IRA or. something, but I don't know Uh what. about like the debts? Shouldn't we think. about those first? Yeah, we should probably should. Okay. Now, what improved from a year. ago? Um. I bought a house. and I had to get on like a strict. budget. So. Okay. it it definitely got me in like. the motions of. like getting on track. Like, "Wow, this. is all where all your money's going. You. need to like cut back on this, but.

Now, having a strict budget, that's. great, but having a home or being in. have being in a mortgage and. depending on the situation is either. better or worse. In this case, better? Yeah, it's better. I'm I'm glad I don't. have to throw away money on rent. anymore. Yes, absolutely. So just hopefully it. fits in your budget, but we'll take a. look at your financial situation and. see. Uh but before we do that, consider. subscribing. Trying to get to 250,000. subscribers and thank you to everyone.

who has subscribed so far and remember. it is free to do so. Love you all. So we. have a few checking accounts we're going. to look at good old Bank of America. first. Okay. $120 starting balance, first of all, is kind of scary. Yeah. Okay. Um. like what do you do in that situation if. an automatic payment hits and stuff? Overdraft? Um usually when I get paid, I. automatically pay everything that is due. before the next check. do manual payments. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, and that might.

be the way you have to do it with you. know, what I've seen in this stack cuz. there's definitely payments. So 4,734. came in. ATM, you know, ATM and debit. card subtractions, 1,667. which. you know, a lot of it. we'll get into Okay, we'll get into. $2,508. for other subtractions as well. Ending. at 678 which again, though it's not like. terribly. dangerous Well,

Okay, it's not in a place where I'm like. freaking out like if the $120 was still. under $1,000 in a checking account is. still kind of scary. Yeah, I know. Why. do you think it is under $1,000? Especially if you know that's scary. Um. I don't know. I feel like I mean I keep. track of everything. I've been very. meticulous with my spreadsheets and. stuff, but I don't like So maybe you. keep track of everything, but maybe your. categories are just you're not doing it. right. Right, probably. Okay.

Well, let's go ahead and see where this. money went. I'll tell you. just flat out. for you all out there who's who are. looking at the screen. All the X's represent non-necessities. X's X's X's X's. X's all throughout. These are. essentially eating out or just BS. spending. X's X's X's. So as someone who keeps track of all. their stuff, why do you just have so.

much chaos, so much spending of just. crap when you have bad debts? I know. Why? I um. I just. had credit cards and I didn't like This. isn't even on a credit card. Well, yeah, no, that I mean like. Yeah, I don't know. I don't have an. excuse. But why do you? I want to get to like. the root cause. Why do you? Why do you. spend this much on just crap? Oh, well, let's go through it. No, we're not going. to I'm not going to name everything cuz. there's too much Okay.

way too many sheets attached to other. things where I'd be doing this for like. hours. But endless Apple payments, just. different Apple subscriptions or maybe. paying for something with. you know, Apple Pay stuff like that and. Klarna. So what are you financing. through that? Um Cuz you have many of. those purchases that are payments. through here. I think I finished paying. it off, but it was. something. Cuz you finance your life mostly, honestly. You really do. And lots of these Apple Pay bills and. BJ's restaurant and Starbucks and. Moonshine Patio and Danny's and Spotify.

and Shipley's and Apple and Mexican. Grill Apple Apple Apple McDonald's Bath. and Body Works Apple Bath and Body Works. Sonic Drive-In Apple Apple and these. Apple what are they? Cuz they're like. $15 or $3 or $10 or $1,000, what are. they? Um It's just so random. I can't. track them. They're they're usually like. games that I play. Dude! Yeah, I know. Whoa whoa whoa! So. no, like. like the the gem game and stuff like. that? You're just dropping like hundreds. of dollars on a monthly basis?

think it's. quite a hundred, but I don't know, dude. These are like every day. Mexican Grill Apple McDonald's Bath and. Body Works already said those. Bath and. Body Works again Sonic Apple Apple Uber. Eats Uber Eats Apple Apple Starbucks. Crumble. Dude, you're spending everything. chewy.com Klarna again is down Sam's. Arty's Shipley Donuts Apple Apple Apple. Whataburger Apple Apple Apple Uber Eats. Shoot Proof Apple Apple Apple Apple. Starbucks Olive Garden Apple Kohl's.

Apple Apple Apple Schlotzsky's Apple. Apple. McAlister's Affirm. So you really don't. think you spent hundreds on Apples? Do. you know how many times I just said. Apple? That's more than I've ever said. Apple in my entire life. That's a lot of in a single day. That's. a lot of Apples. Yeah. I just I mean. when I guess I'm playing, I don't. realize it. No, you don't. So what are you playing? Um. I want to make sure it's not like a. gambling game. No, no, no. It's I don't. know. It's some kind of it's not. FarmVille, but it's like I don't and and.

then like bingo games. Well, bingo games that can be kind of. like gambling. Maybe. Cuz that's essentially old person. gambling. Yeah, I know. I feel old, but. I've tried to stop. How old did you say you were? 33. Okay, you're not old. Yeah, and then we had an Affirm payment. as well. Yeah, it's probably Christmas stuff. Like is it. Why are you financing everything though? It's when you break down the payments, it seems easier. Yeah, until you've. broken down every single payment and.

then your minimum monthly payments are. just like you know, choke you. Yeah. Which is kind of where your life is to. be completely honest and we have we've. barely even scratched the surface, yeah? Yeah, pretty much. I feel like I'm like. living paycheck to paycheck right now. and. Probably, I wouldn't be surprised cuz. even for the area, I mean Temple, it's. definitely cheaper than Austin, but. still it's relatively expensive and. $3,000 a month after taxes and. we we haven't even like touched the. debts. So again.

money just flew out and all the. necessity section are pretty much. nothing. You're just paying off cards. and stuff. You spent. so much money. You spent. about $1,700. of the $3,000 you bring home on food and. Apple games. You know that, correct? I do know. Well, you said you track everything. Well, I do. It's just it's not under. control. I just kind of put it in a. spreadsheet. Okay. Well, I just I'm I'm trying to get. a hold of like where you're at so we can. approach this in the right way. Okay. If.

you're tracking everything, do you look. at it? Yeah. What's the point of. tracking if you don't if you're not. adjusting? What is preventing you from. adjusting? I don't know. I just. It's more like just tracking and then I. just keep it in the spreadsheet. Well, let's get into habits habits and. addictions later, but we we got to get. through all the finances because that. that Apple thing, that is not healthy. The amount of times you're just. clicking, you know, buy me some coins, buy me some coins. Yeah. Not good. We we have another.

um. uh checking account. This one's not as. chaotic. Uh you know, really. nothing in here. A balance of $11. What's the purpose of this checking. account? So that one is for So I tried. to be like get on the right track to. start saving money, so I did I did like. a um. like a direct deposit straight from my. check. Like $100 each check goes. automatically into this account. So I. was trying to save money that way cuz I. don't normally use that account. Trying.

to save money, but then we take out $180. from the. at an ATM and who knows where that goes. Yeah. And then we're going to Z's. Thai and Panera Bread. So, if we're just. It's siphoning off money. here to be savings even though it's just. checking account. This isn't even a. savings account. No. And we're literally just spending it. like everything else. What's the. purpose? How long have you been doing. this? Um $11. Um when things get tight, I use the.

money, but um. I've been doing the separate direct. deposit for like a year now, maybe. This was a year and we've it's at $11. Well, I did it. it was better when I was like trying to. buy the house. Like I was putting more. money into it and leaving it alone and. stuff cuz I you know, when you buy a. house, they want to see that you have a. savings and stuff. But since then. I haven't kept it in there like I. should. Okay. That's good to know.

In order to create the entire picture. before we go into the debts and. everything like that, you do have some. retirement. Yes. Which is good. This is. 401k though. So, it's like automatic. stuff. This isn't stuff outside of that. No. And the 401k is 7,000 and I'll be. honest, that is very behind for 33 to be. on track for retirement. In fact, in. here according to the contributions and. growth of what you're in and with the. company match, it it says that your. annual income is going to be like. $25,000. Mhm. And that's in the future.

That's when $25,000 is worth like. nothing. Yeah. That's why I want to like. know what I need after I clear my debts. and stuff. Well, I mean, I think I that's a big if. The way you're spending all your money, 2/3 of your money just went to eating. food and buying gems. Yeah. Yeah. Total contributions, you know, this was for last year. This was all of. last year. It was only 2,787. What is that percentage? What percentage. are you putting in? Um You only put in.

1,412 and the. employer contribution was 1,374. So, I mean. no wonder you're very behind, you know? Yeah. Um I honestly don't know much about. Okay. retirement and stuff. So, That's fine. I. don't know if I need to contribute more. like. I don't I really don't know. Okay. Well, yes. Well, we can get there. Okay. Unfortunately, just a lot of that stuff. is going to be far off for you and.

that's my fear. Yeah. I know. I should have started this. Cuz you've just played the game of get. I'm going to go crazy the last decade. and a half. Pretty much. Uh S&P 500 other. just growth stocks and funds. So, pretty good. What it's in is fine. Okay, good. Now, we're going to get into the. hard part, the part that. is not great. But before we do, I do. also just want to say. thank you for being here and putting. your financial situation on display cuz.

one, you know, hopefully you're going to. take something away from this and learn, but even almost more important than. that, other people that relate to your. situation. Right. You know, hopefully they are learning. and it lights a fire under their butt. And people leave comments all the time. of the examples that have helped. So, thank you for being here and being. willing to. promote financial transparency. Yeah. So, some of these. are okay. Some of these are terrible. Okay. So,

let's go through them. All right. This one is like a. okay one. Okay. Cuz interest is not being accrued. This is CareCredit. Yeah. It's. um. for my dogs. Like I A credit card for your dogs? Yeah, that's that's kind of what it's. used for. It's like for medical stuff. and for pets and stuff like that. Yeah, but why credit card though for. that? Uh well, there's no interest. Uh okay. And.

Cuz you are holding a balance. I was. wondering if you're paying it off every. month or if you Yeah, you have. Cuz 0% interest for how long? Um. a year. And when does the year end? Uh June. Okay, that'll come quicker than you. know. Yeah. There's only $181. Right. It's not crazy. That's why I said this. one's. I understand it now. Yeah. With the 0% for a while. I don't know what it's going to go to, but. It'll be paid off by June. I broke it. down to where So, you're just paying.

minimum what's necessary to pay it off. by. I just what what the cruise? Whatever. the amount was, I just divided it by 12. and I have to make that payment every. month. It's only like $36, I think. I know, but you're in the constant. minimum payment life where your minimum. payments have to be adding up. Well, actually, let's start keeping track. Now, we have a Capital One Quicksilver. This was in an interesting in position, but you threw a lot of money at it. It. had a huge balance of 3,457,

but you paid it off. I didn't pay it off. What? You. transferred. I did a balance transfer. Oh, I thought. I knew I saw it. Didn't know where it. came from. That makes sense. And you. have a new balance of 140. Yeah. So, you. couldn't transfer the whole thing. You. had to No, there's new transactions. No, I'm confused. This is legit. confusing. Yeah. Well, why are you. laughing? Are you not taking this. seriously? very serious. It's just Coping cop. laugh? Yeah, probably. I get it. That's a natural response. As. long as you're taking it seriously.

because this is upsetting. If we have. essentially max If we just built up this. credit card debt that we couldn't pay. off because we are spending all of our. money on food and gems, then what are we. doing where we have to transfer it? And. now after we transfer it, we're making. additional purchases. Why? I paid that. off. Okay, good. It's it's at zero. I'm not allowed to. use that card anymore. Did you chop it. up? Cuz you're clearly not a credit card. person. You should chop it up. Uh no, I.

still have it, but I'm not going to use. it. You should chop it up. It doesn't. make any sense. Going to Chili's and. doing some Ubering. No more spending. I. know. Yes, and you lost at You lost a lot of. interest over while holding the balance. at 27% interest. I know. That is bad. Now, we have a Bank. of America card. Previous balance 798, but you paid it off. Yeah, I. Right? This wasn't transferred this. time. No, no, no. This is the one I try to. like every time I make a purchase, I pay. it off within the.

Why just this one versus the rest? Uh. cuz it's got a bigger. uh allowance on it and I know I got to. make sure it's paid off. I don't know. It's my main one. Cuz the. credit line is higher? Well, no. I just. mean like it's my main card. I I can put. more stuff on it. Yeah. And I just make sure it's I can't. believe you're even spending more money. Do you know how many transactions were. just be a spending on that debit card? I know there was a lot of apples. A lot. of apples and a lot of eating out. Yeah.

Did you catch all those restaurants? That's. Yeah. It was like eating out every other. day at a minimum just on that. specifically. And then you had that last. card that we just looked at that was. eating out as well. Right. Okay. So, and then $546 in new purchases. So, now add that all together. I mean, you're spending way more than you make. than you bring in, way more. Yeah. If you know this, why are we doing it? I. I it's it's just hard to stop, I guess.

You You got to talk closer. It's it's just. I'm just so used to like I used to like. Used to the lifestyle, yeah. Yeah, that. and I like I have a I slowed down when I. bought the house, but I used to like get. stressed out or anxious like in my life. and then I would just like stress shop. So, I've Do you see a therapist? I do. Good. Is it helping at all? Have you. talked about this issue specifically? Oh, yes. Every every time we talk about.

my financial woes. And how long have you. been in therapy? Um. I don't know. Maybe maybe. two years. You find it to be helping? Have we seen progress? You said this is. better than last year and this is. already Yes. Yeah. Um. Yeah, it's good. I definitely recommend. like. talking to somebody. helping you? Oh, um Have you seen progress from it? Yeah, definitely. She's helped me like.

get through certain things and Progress. on this though. Oh, progress on that. Um. No, I kind of just talk about it. And she hasn't helped with it? She. hasn't done anything? No, not not about. me not spending as much money, no. You need to bring it up and say talk. about this what you just said to me. where when you're stressed, when blah. blah blah happens, when blah blah blah. happens, your coping mechanism is. spending and your spending right now is. putting you in a deeper and deeper hole. and you're not able to climb out of that.

right now and you need help with that. Bring that up. Therapists don't know. unless you bring it up. You can't just. say something as a, you know, comment. that just flies by. True. You Deman Noodle, Fire Base Brewing, Olive Garden, Cotton Patch Cafe, Mama. Lama, Mobile Kitchen, Clem Milk Stop, Papa Murphy's, Ignite Coffee. So, now. we're getting we're getting even closer. and closer to almost every single day we.

are swiping our card at a place that. you're consuming something. Yeah. I know it's bad, but. I really. So, I have a lot of amount for groceries. and I don't know why I didn't go to the. grocery store last month, but I went. this month. So, I hopefully am not going. to spend as much on eating out. Hopefully, I am not going to spend as. much on eating out. work like that. It just. But, we'll get there. We we just have to.

get through everything first, and I. promise we'll get there. Okay. Best Buy card. This is in a 0% interest. period, I have a feeling. Promo, yeah. For how long? Um. Or until when? Uh. I'm not exactly sure when it's finished, but I did like some calculations to. where I wouldn't end up paying any. interest. By paying how much on a. monthly basis? Uh right now it's $101. a month, and then in November it'll drop.

to like 50. Why? Um. a bigger purchase is going to fall off. of it. Oh, okay. So, these are multiple. purchases here. Yeah. You're living your life based on minimum. monthly payments. Yeah, I know. And were that payment you know, to be. too much because technically it kind of. is cuz again, you're bringing in less. than you spend. And once that interest. starts accruing, it's going to be a 30%. Oh, no, it's not going to. Okay.

You say as you've transferred balance. Yeah. It was It was a a deal they had going. on. Like. I could transfer the balance and then. get 18 months no interest. I just did it in January. So, now we have your credit union. Mhm. Okay, now what are we doing here? Because this is objectively disgusting. Yeah? Uh is this the credit card with my. credit union? Mhm. We are in the credit card section.

of the video. Okay. So, we have here. minimum payment $175 yet No. I'm so confused. So, what are we doing? You had a previous balance of 5,700. 275 and then 3,455. came in. Was that the transfer or was. that new purchases? the transfer. I don't I don't make any. purchases on this card. This is like. specifically my balance transfer card.

cuz that other balance was from another. card. Why is your balance transfer card a card. where interest is being accrued? This. was $63 of interest being accrued at. 5,275. You know that's going to be closer to. like 80 now. That was a month that you're just losing. this new balance. It has a lower. interest rate than the other two, though. That is why. Okay. Cuz I think. this one's like 14% maybe. Well, you only make minimum monthly. payments on here. No, actually. What? $106 and your minimum monthly.

payment is $175 now. So, what? So, I split it up. I pay the minimum and. then I pay extra on top of it. Because. extra? Um so, it's 250 total. God, that's not going to do anything. And it is, but. still going to take 3 years to pay off. This is if you do basically $300 a. month, it'll take 3 years to pay off. And. you'll pay a total of $10,620. on $8,721. That's $50 more than you're paying now.

Yeah. And yeah, balance transfer and then you. had the balance transfer fee as well. So, you had fees of 3455. and your balance transfer at 14. 14% interest and then purchases 14% as. well. Cash advances would be 17. You. don't do cash advances, right? No, never. done that. Now, this is insanity. Oh. So, what did. you possibly possibly go to school for.

and where and for how long? Um well, I got my bachelor's in. photography. I started at UT Austin and then I. transferred to the Art Institute. of Austin. Of Austin, okay. Yeah. So, private? Um. so, somewhere private. Um I had used to have. No, that's a private school, right? Um. The Institute of. Art Institute of Austin, I'm assuming.

Oh, yeah. I think it's for a for-profit. school, so yeah. Okay. And yeah, somewhere private. Now, we're. just in. and. uh. Elna, right? Isn't that how it's. pronounced? No, Elna? Nelnet, that's. right. Yeah, that's okay. Um. Uh one thing I don't get, the regular. monthly minimum payment $171. Yeah. On a total balance of 73,177 with. accrued interest or capitalized interest.

of 12,750 and then on the that total of. 68,779. accrued interest of $4,397. Of which your now total balance, which. is continuing to grow because $171 a. month is nothing. Yeah. Guess what? You're not going to get any. any. You're not in like a nonprofit or. anything. Like you're not going to You. don't have any chance to get this wiped. off in any way. No, I don't. So, right now it's just the interest is.

ballooning in a insane way that your. $171 a month isn't even coming close to. touching. Right. When is this. What did you select? Income based? Um income driven. Which is not a blessing. typically. Depending, potential forgiveness. situations. Let's hope. What? Let's hope? There is no. forgiveness for you. Is Isn't there some. sort of Not like fully, but isn't there. some. about the Biden? That's not being.

forgiven. Oh, well. Not in the Supreme. Court. Nah. So, no, you will have to pay this and it. is killing you. Now, some are in. COVID-19 forbearance. All of them. All of them. So, the interest that was. accruing was before that? Yeah. Okay. So, these are all federal? Uh all of those are, yeah. Was more private? There was private. But, you've paid them off? yes, technically. I got a a loan from a family member.

and they gave me the $13,500. and I put it towards all the student. loans and I'm currently repaying them. Without any interest, though. How much do you owe them? Um so, I. I'm not exactly sure how much. spreadsheets. I Well, I mean, I don't. have them in front of me. Um. I know I'm on payment 10 of 36.

How much is each payment? 375. Payment 10 of 36? Yeah. Current balance is $9,000. Yeah. Should be. We need to check. So, this is an interest that was. accruing before. Yeah. So, no progress has been made on this.

No. Oh, yeah. Cuz we got some 7% interest in. here. Oh, we got quite a few 7%. interest. You have a couple low towards. the three. It's either pretty much three. to four or. 7% or 4% interest in there in those. student loans. Income based. This is killing you. It's killing you. Yeah. And now we added a mortgage on top of. this. Mhm. Okay. So,

uh not bad for as far as mortgages go. So, this actually this area is a lot. cheaper cuz this mortgage amount is not. even a 20% down payment in Austin, but. $117,676. is your outstanding principal. You got. some escrow and stuff like that. And the. interest rate is at 5.3%. Um hopefully when interest rates. if they ever hit rock bottom again, refinance, but yeah. Yeah. Either way, minimum monthly. payment $922.

Yes. And I'm seeing mortgage insurance. So, how much did you put down? Um On the purchase price of what? I think it was. 135. Okay. So, 13 So, I I bought it from a family. member. Oh, okay. And I moved in like I moved in like. um. not even a year, about 9 months before.

and I was paying rent to them and they. were taking it off the purchase price. But, um. Nice of them. Yeah. And then as far as. the down payment and stuff, uh. I think we put 10% down. We? Oh, my. father and I. So, it's owned with you and your dad? No, no, no, it's It's completely me. He. He helped me out with the down payment. He gifted you? Yeah. I put in about five grand and he. put in like. 10. What is your vehicle situation?

I need a new one. Do you have one? Yes, I have one. Do you. owe anything on it? No. Good. What is. the car? It's a 2011 Dodge Avenger. How. many miles? Like 150. Why do you need a new one? Cuz there's a lot of issues with it and. stuff. Windshield's cracked. Mhm. Well, you don't replace a car cuz of a. windshield cracked. Well, yeah, no, no, that's not the only. reason. There's a lot of like stuff that. has gone wrong with it. I feel like it. was a lemon when I bought it.

But, are the repairs worth it for the. value of the car? That's what needs to be determined. Yeah, right now it is. I would. eventually like to upgrade to something, but I know I have a lot of stuff to do. We're not even in the conversation of. upgrade. Yeah. Well, fun fact, your minimum monthly. payments are $1,880, which means uh 2/3. of your income is essentially gone on a. monthly basis for minimum payments that. you have to make in order to not get. completely.

So, and that actually does not include all. those little extra finances you did in. your checking account. You say they're. gone, but I'm assuming they're coming. back because you There were two in your. checking account from the single month. statement. So, I assume you do them. quite often. Do what? Those extra little finances, like Affirm and stuff like that. Oh, yeah. No, I can't do that anymore. Well, yeah, I know but you do it often, right? Every once in a while I do, yeah. Okay. So, right now, okay, cool. We have. minimum monthly payment $1,800.

But bad news, we were. 2/3 of your income, essentially, rounded, is going to minimum monthly payments. Mhm. But 2/3 of your income in your. checking account went on gems and food. Yeah. You see how that math is working? Yeah, it's not mathing right. No, that's. not mathing right. That is 4/3 of your. income. Yeah. I know. I've realized that I got to stop. eating out. When did you.

Yes, so well, that's not even. These mobile apps, you should delete. them. Yeah, I know. These. They are clearly There's some. compulsion that you are just spending on. it. You're not thinking about it, and. it's not causing any friction in your. brain when you're clicking that button. And there might be some behavioral. issues around it in terms of like an. addiction or in terms of. response to different things in life. And that is what you need to talk to. your therapist about. I am not a mental. health person. I can talk about money.

all day. Can't talk about mental health. Yeah. So, that is something that. you need to bring up to your therapist. next time you see them immediately. Also, you have lots of medical expenses. that we didn't bring up. Yeah. What's. up? Um. So, a couple months ago, I started having a. lot of heart problems. So, I keep having. to go to these specialists, and they're. like $80 co-pays all the time, and they. want to run all these tests and stuff, but. they found?

Nothing yet. Well, I think eating. healthy. Yeah. Like, shocker. I know, right? I mean, I need to do it, too. I have a. solid 20 to 30 lb I need to lose for my. health and longevity of my life and for. higher energy, and I'm trying to, and I. know it is incredibly difficult. But it. This What we are seeing here is not only. unhealthy for your finances, it is. unhealthy for you and the longevity of. your life. Yeah.

I know. And it wouldn't be a big. surprise, would it, if your heart was. related to that, if we're being 100%. honest? Yeah, I know. I definitely. understand. Okay. So, what do you do from here? I I don't know. That's why I'm here. Yes, for sure. It was more retor rhetorical than I was. going to answer, but Oh, that's fair. Sorry. It's good to know that you don't. know though, so I'm not just like. talking to someone who, you know, might. already know. Yeah. Um.

The thing is, you budget out things. Here's your budget. You budget out. things. No, you don't budget, you track. yeah. I don't really budget. time that we budget. You're setting. strict numbers on different criterias. that you're doing. Yeah. And you don't. spend a single cent over that. Fun fact, there is not a single cent that can be. spent on fun or going to restaurants or. gems at all Yeah. for months and months. and months to come. Like Oh, you mean.

the Apple gems. Well, yeah, whatever that's happening in. your. you meant like fitness gyms, but Oh. Okay. No, gems. Just your in-app spending. Oh, okay. I got you. No more. Not a single cent can be spent. on this. Any of that until these. payments are gone. We have a Pet Card at. $181, Bank of America $546, Best Buy. $1,905, your credit union $8,721, student loan $73,177,

family you owe $9,000, and you owe. $117,000 on your home, which does not. have a great interest rate as far as. property goes. So, honestly, bad news, fun does not exist. but for a very long time if you actually. want to take care of this. I know it's. incredibly difficult, but if you. actually want to take care of this and. you go quite crazy, fun does not exist. I do. I want. Well, fun exists. You just don't It's.

just fun that costs money does not. exist. Cheap fun. I can have that. No, other people Well, no, free fun. And. other people can pay as well. Yeah. But. you do not spend any money. So, to be. clear of what I mean when I say that. Zero fun. You're working with $1,000, and that. doesn't even include utilities. Like, what are your utilities? Um. They're tracked. So teeny. Sorry.

Here lately, they've been like. outrageous. Like, my last bill was like. heat? Yeah, it was $287. Well, yeah, we've had a couple cold. weeks. Okay, we're going to say the. entire That is going to be then. $2,000 total is gone there for minimum. monthly payments and utilities. Taking. account lower months, higher months. Health insurance. What's that situation? Is it through work? Does it come out of. the paycheck? It's through work, comes. out of the paycheck. Okay. Now, these medical expenses, how. long do we foresee them continuing? Um.

Well, I always have had like medical. issues and stuff, so I have like. prescriptions and stuff. I definitely. have to fill them every What do we think. we're going to be losing on a monthly. basis? Therapy, going to doctors, prescriptions, stuff like that. Um. 100, 200, 300? I don't think it should. be any more than 200. Crap. So, $220. Okay. to survive Yeah. Survive without consumption of calories. Now, we have to talk about calories. The only way out of this is that you. spend $300 on groceries, $300 a month,

and not a cent more on groceries and. toilet paper and paper towel, and. everything's at the cheapest place. possible, getting the off-brand. everything, and it's it's like not even. an option. Yeah. And yeah, that sucks. So, what we have now is $500 left on a. monthly basis. Okay. $500. to hundreds of thousands of Well, in. terms of the bad debt, it's closer to. about $100,000. $500. Just Just even just quick The most.

quick basic math on this $100,000 of bad. debt. 200 months. or 16. years. 16 and 1/2 years. Does that sound reasonable? What What's reasonable? 16 and 1/2 years. I mean, it doesn't. sound ideal. What is the rent situation. in Temple? Um I don't know. I haven't rented in a while. We have to.

get rid of these payments. The. snowball is going to be what works best. for you. We need to get rid of minimum. monthly payments. The minimum monthly. payments are taking away 2/3 of your. income. We need to get rid of them. Yeah. Your mortgage Your mortgage is a. third, which by the way, you can't I. mean, you can barely afford that. It's. like at the max of what you can afford. I know. So, you have $500, right? a month because you're not spending. anything on anything else other than. your minimum monthly payments, your.

utilities, which is not cable Cancel all. your subscriptions. I don't give a crap. I don't have any anymore. And then $300. of groceries and toilet paper. Yeah. Nothing else exists. Like car repairs and stuff. Do you have. any savings? Do you have money anywhere? Mm. Crap. Not really. No. Cuz of the mortgage. I'm. I need you to have money aside. Your minimum monthly payments, we need. to cover at least a month, at least a. minimum month. So, what this.

automatically becomes. You need to up your income now. You're. working 40 hours a week? Yeah. No, you're not. You're working 80 hours a. week. You have to get another job. You're going to be a server at night. You're going to do something. I don't. know what Temple's like in general, but. it's likely going to be food service or. retail. I don't care what it is. You. have to double your hours. So, I have. been trying to do like my own. photography stuff. Yeah, okay. I love. that. I support that. Probably not. realistic right now, I'll be honest.

Yeah. In terms of getting off the. ground. Do as much as you can there. Bring some money. Sure, absolutely. But. in terms of time and effort that we're. putting towards it, the disaster of this. nuclear bomb that is your money needs to. take priority. And I'm saying that as an. a music nerd and arts nerd. I'm all. about it. Yeah. to be realistic first. Right. So, really, I need you to minimum minimum bring in. an extra $1,000 a month, which What? Nothing. I'm listening.

$1,000 a month you should easily be able. to bring in with a side job. I'd love to see that an extra $2,000 a. month, but minimum $1,000 a month. You. need to be working till you drop on a. daily basis. Okay. And then you're packing everything Yeah. for food. This sucks, and I know this. sucks. I know this sucks. This is the. hard part cuz it's so much easier to say. than it is to do, but you basically do. not have a choice unless we're. essentially saying that you're going to. be hundreds and hundreds of thousands of. dollars in bad debt by the time you.

retire, and you're forced to work. because you have no other choice but to. pay those bad debts cuz none of them are. going to get forgiven. Those student. loans are not going to get forgiven. And. you need to be able to afford things. like survival, and you don't have. anything saved up for retirement. I. don't. Is that an option? Do you prefer that or do you prefer. suffering temporarily? Um, I would. rather suffer now than and set myself up. And it is going to be a suffer, to be. very clear. I believe it. Yeah, cuz. you've just you've just played ball. for a long time now and this.

I I I I There's a part of me that just. There's a big part of me that just feels. bad cuz I know this is going to be so. hard. But if you bring in an extra. $1,000 a month after taxes, then you. have $1,500 a month. That all of a sudden just makes such a. big difference cuz right now your income. is not even close to what it needs to be. for the amount of debt you have. No. So let's say $1,500 a month now cuz.

there's really no other choice. Mhm. So. $1,500 a month now. Essentially, what. you need to do. is for a month and a half. you just just over a month, like a month. and a quarter. Okay. You get to $2,000. and you just put that aside into a. savings account. So I need you to be. able to cover these minimum monthly. payments. on a survival were you to lose your job. for at least a month and even that is. way too risky for me normally. Yeah. But the good news is that a lot of these. debts are a little smaller to begin.

with. The minimum monthly payments are. what killing you. So. after about after you get that $2,000 in. a month and a quarter, then you. immediately with the $1,500 pay off the. Pet card and you pay off the Bank of. America card. Yes, I know no interest. rates are paying, but that's not what's. killing you right now. It's not. interest. Interest is pretty bad, but. it's not what's killing you. Your. minimum monthly payments are killing. you. It's draining your income. So and then you're going to put the. remainder about a thousand about $900 to.

towards the Best Buy card. Then you have. $1,000 left on that. Then the next month. now we're talking we're in month three. of this. Um, you put. $1,000 towards Best Buy, boom, it's. gone. Then $500 towards the Texas card. Now the Texas card you'll have about. $800 left to remaining on that the your. credit union card. Yeah, okay. About $8,000 at that time. So and we're. in month three at that point. We just wrapped up month three. So we're. entering month four. Now.

it's going to take five months just. about. to pay off this card that you balance. transfer things to. Mhm. So. like October November-ish depending cuz. things can go up and down emergency like. the car can pop up. Yeah. So this point. But. beyond that. where I'm starting to struggle. is I want to start hitting these student. loans once those cards are gone. But you. do have the outstanding balance of your.

family. Mhm. Are they totally good with the the. payments of 36 months? Yeah. Totally good and nothing else. Yeah. Okay, I want to get rid of minimum. monthly payments, but now that we've. gotten rid of $250 and $101 and $25, $36. and 37 cents. Since the family one will. never accrue interest Yeah. Ah, it's hard. I think. we start attacking the student loans. Now luckily, guess what? Because your.

minimum monthly payments are lower, you're going to have about $1,750. No, you're going to have about $1,850, $900, $1,900. extra on a monthly basis cuz you're. still working this job. And again, this. goes quicker the more and more hours you. work somewhere else. So the more money. you can bring in, the better. Yeah. But you have like $1,900. Let's just say you're working a little. more. I'm going to round it to $2,000. cuz you're going crazy cuz you should. be. Should be going crazy. This is still.

going to be very difficult. For you. it doesn't make sense to wait for. interest to start accruing before you. pay your minimum monthly payments. because your interest I just slurred. those words cuz your interest rate. are so bad where the interest uh. it just won't make mathematical sense. anymore. But this is the sad. part. At that point with the third two. $2,000 Mhm. it's going to take 36 months. to pay off.

But that's not actually insane, is it? no. No. And the in the grand scheme of. your life Yeah. that is not that bad. No. So this is a four-year solution now. Okay. So you start today Mhm. four years. from now. Pet card is paid off, Bank of America is. paid off, Best Buy is paid off, credit. union is paid off, your terrible student. loans are paid off, your family is paid. off and you only have a mortgage. Then.

boom, only at that point, four years. from now, are your minimum monthly. payments a third. of your income cuz that's how dire we. are right now. Yeah. That's how bad it. is. Then at whenever the interest rates are. low at some point, you refinance your. home to a lower thing. I don't want to. necessarily pay that off early if we can. do that. Okay. That's really the only other choice. You. could have I said if you want and. stretch this out to like eight years, nine years, 20 years and you're shaking.

your head no and you are correct. Don't. do that cuz that's not worth it. Because. what you need to do actually starting. like immediately, but you can't is you. need to have a fully funded emergency. fund because you have a home. You have a. mortgage. You need to have a You need to. start catching up in retirement. I know. The thing is. once you have the emergency fund cuz. your minimum monthly payments again will. be. much better. You'll be able to. save up fully funded emergency fund for. your pretty cheap mortgage in the grand.

scheme of the United States. Yeah. You should be able to do that in a few. months. How much save up how much? Uh, you could probably save up like 10, 15,000 dollars. Call that a fully funded. emergency fund. 10? Okay. I think. Yeah. That's a lot of money. $10,000? To me it is. Oh, no, I was just confirming. Yeah, $10,000 is a lot of money. I know. It. absolutely is, but when these minimum. monthly payments are gone and you're. still going crazy after four years, you.

should be able to save that all up in. only a couple months. And only at that point then. four four and a half years from now can. you go out to eat again. Yes, that is right. You don't get to go. once for four and a half years. Okay. Yeah. That sucks. You might need to. double up your therapy. Yeah. But that's if you're being real real. about it because that's not even the. start of the emergency cuz only then can. we have the conversation about you. doubling down and going crazy for.

retirement cuz you are so far behind. You will be incredibly far behind at. that point. Yeah. Does that make sense? It does. So I laid it all on you. It's hard. It's a pain in the butt and I wish that. no one had to deal with it. But you are. paying off stuff that you've already. purchased. So this isn't just. something that. came from nothing. Yeah. You chose to go. to that school. You chose to borrow the. money. You chose to get all these.

different cards and transfer balances. and stuff like that. You chose to own. this home. And hopefully your car lasts another. four years. Oh, I hope so. I you There's. If it doesn't. then you probably have to put. only do the minimum monthly payments, stop the craziness. for unfortunately quite a few months. Save up $5,000 and get a clunker. No, no. I know it sucks, but we just need to. get you to the end of this. All right. And you cannot borrow more money. No.

You need to chop up your credit cards. immediately. This is such a disaster. Yeah, I know. 4/3 of your income is out. the door. As it stands, it's probably like 5/3 if. we like looked at everything total. Mhm. It's It's really bad. And it's And the. budget that I laid out, that's your. budget. You don't spend a single cent. more than that on any of the categories. Okay. So that is a lot. That is what I would. do because I've been in bad debt and I.

know how bad it can be. Yeah. And I know. the math around retirement and the math. around that. So that because of that. knowledge. this is what I would do because I know. how dire it is. From your perspective. sitting across the table, I now want to. know what are you actually going to do. knowing yourself? Well, I mean. I know that I can't be eating out. anymore. Like that's something I know I. can't do anymore. Um. Yeah, just a lot of grocery shopping.

Save as much money. Eat a lot of ramen. like I have been doing. Careful, careful. We we should still try. to be healthy though. Yeah. You can do healthy on this. We can do an. example grocery shopping trip to prove. it, but I'm sorry, continue. No, no, no, you're fine. Um. Yeah, I know I'm just I'm already behind. the like behind in the game of saving. for my future and I I'm. basically. lying in the bed that I made with all of. my debts and I got to take care of it.

So. it's time that I got to make some. sacrifices. It's not going to be pretty, but. it's what I got to do. For Candace, it's unfortunately you. can't get much worse than that. I guess. if you add like an auto loan, but that's. pretty much. as bad as it gets. She has a long way to. go before being in a good place. financially. I hope she can really up. her income cuz that's the solution right. now and then just going crazy for years. to come. But for now, just because you. don't have an auto loan, hammer.

financial score one out of 10. Maybe a. two out of 10 if I'm being generous, but. one and a half out of 10. Make sure to. check out all the fun things in the. description like my Instagram and. Twitter and don't forget to subscribe. Thanks.