<![CDATA[FI TRAVELGUY - Budgeting]]>Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:00:40 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[Updated Budget: Living Off Half My Income]]>Mon, 24 Aug 2020 07:00:00 GMThttp://fiwiththetravelguy.com/budgeting/updated-budget-living-off-half-my-income
Since I work in a school at the beginning of every school year I excitedly see what my take home pay will be and update my budget. It interests me because I am able to see how my life is changing by what I prioritize. It used to be student loan pay down and now it is mostly saving. 

Here is my real budget and how I save over 54% of my monthly take home pay.
Off the bat you might be thinking that I make a lot of money and it is easy to save half. Unfortunately, that is not the case. I work in a school and although I am paid more than what I think I should it is nothing crazy! I supplement some of my travel through travel hacks which helps get me free flights. I also have side hustles to help get extra spending money which also comes in handy - last year I almost made $7,000 doing my favorite one
Any who, here is the official breakdown. 

Fixed Income - 27.75%
    Mortgage - 19.85% - I'm currently living in deal 3 and have help with my mortgage from my girlfriend who I live with.
    Electricity/Internet - 4.5% - This isn't every month but more of an average. Summers are expensive and winter is less so. 
    Car Insurance - 1.8% - I have a '09 Camry that is completely paid off.
    Phone - $0 -  My mom pays for my phone but I take care of all the streaming services so it's the same price. 
    Gym Membership - 0.8%
    Netflix - 0.4%
    Hulu 0.4%
Variable Income - 10.3% 
    Food - 7.7% - I usually don't spent this much but like to have extra just in case. 
    Gas - 2.6% - I live like 5 - 10 minutes for work so it's usually less than this. 
Savings - 54.4%
    Travel - 10.24% - My summer trips are a priority that I like to save for.
    Car - 2.5% - I like to save for a future car that I don't know when I'll get it but I'll want to pay cash. 
    House - 30.73% - Always trying to save for my next rental or personal property.
    Savings - 10.88% - I am not paid in the summer so I need to save extra but also to max out my roth ira.
 Fun Money - 7.7% - As I mentioned early this isn't a lot but I make an extra $580 a month through this one side hustle. 

Summary

To some people this may seem really strict but for me I have all my needs met and am still trying to delay gratification as long as I can. If there is something I truly want I try and do more tests to save up and get it. At this point my priority is to save to set myself up for later on and that is reflected in my budget!
]]>
<![CDATA[Best Ways To Track Your Spending In 2020]]>Mon, 24 Feb 2020 08:00:00 GMThttp://fiwiththetravelguy.com/budgeting/best-ways-to-track-your-spending-in-2020Do you ever look at your bank account and have no idea where your money went?

​Like, I know I just got paid and haven't spent much money but there is nothing in there. I'm sure that's why they say the first step in getting your finances in order is tracking your spending. Once you have an idea of where you are spending your money it will become easier to create a budget and stick to it.

Here are the best apps to track your spending in 2020!
Just a heads up I haven't used any of these apps but know people who have. Once I create my budget I can trick myself into different games to just not spend money. My favorite is breaking it down to how much I can spend per week and just being under that. If you want to see how I got to a 76% savings rate or need help creating a budget click those links.

Okay, let's get into the reason you're here!

Mint  
If you are looking for an easy to use tool Mint may be your choice! Mint has been around for a long time and is now owned by Intuit which has other services like Quickbooks and TurboTax. Just a heads up though, the app is free but you will have ads that pop up. But, free is free.

The great thing about Mint is you are able to track expenses across multiple banks, credit cards or investment accounts. This allows you to create a budget based off recorded transactions or you can always create one based off how much you want to spend on each category a month. Since it's keeping track of your spending you can categorize across all your accounts. You'll probably need to go back and change some expenses manually so luckily that's an option.  Mint also provides free credit scores, bill payment reminders, and low balance alerts.  


Overall, no list of budget apps would be complete without a mention of Mint. Mint is free, supports a wide range of banks and lenders, and comes from one of the largest and most trusted names in financial software, Intuit.  With Mint you'll get help with budgeting, expense tracking, credit monitoring, and bills. But it isn't perfect and there are a handful of bugs in the software, and new features are slow to release since Intuit bought the app in 2009. 

Mint is the best for spending less and saving more. 

You Need A Budget (YNAB)
If you want to live by the guidelines that you should spend only the money you have available, which I do, this is your app!  If you use the app you'll be forced to give a job to every dollar you earn, whether that is savings, expenses or investments, and the app with show you a budget. YNAB is trying to help young adults get their finances in order with things like free daily workshops, an online resource library with guides that cover finance topics, a community forum and explains how to use the app effectively. The app can be linked to multiple bank accounts to make it easier to track and plan for expenses.  

If this all sounds great and you're waiting for the catch it's that after a free 34-day trial, YNAB costs $84 per year. The only exception is for students who get one year free, plus a 10% discount after the first year. It isn’t perfect for everyone, but if you want to start budgeting and need help getting the process moving, YNAB is likely a good fit for your needs.

YNAB is the best for zero based budgeting.

Personal Capital
If you are able to create you own budget and want to track and categorize every expense on linked cards you can do that here. Personal Capital may be best for those individuals who have a slightly better handle on their current money situation and are trying to monitor it.  You'll be able to see charts and graphs of your monthly cashflow, break downs by categories and dive deeper into your spending habits. You can also keep track of your net worth if you are interested in that. This app probably isn't the best for budgeting but is great for tracking your overall finances and especially your investments. 

Personal Capital is the best for tracking wealth and spending. 

Clarity Money
Doing my research Clarity Money had some of the best reviews and provides you with an online and mobile option. The  app on your phone is extremely easy to navigate, has a wide range of accounts that are supported, and has nice images to give a fun in-app analysis that highlights your recent activities like spending, savings, or manage your subscriptions. 

One of the main features is being able to track your spending each month compared to your expected monthly income. Making it easy to see where you spent within a few screen taps. Like other apps you can check your credit score, automatically add to a savings account or manage/track your subscription. They recently updated the version to include a new budgeting feature also. They are able to calculate your average weekly spending by category so you can set an informed budget.

Clarity Money is the best for an all inclusive budgeting experience.

Wally
Wally is a streamlined expense tracking app that provide great insight to where your money is going. Hate entering in all your expenses? Wally allows you to take a photo of your receipts and uses geo-location to fill in the information for you.  You don't have to manually log in all your expenses at the end of the day, week, or month.

It then uses insights into how you're spending using artificial intelligence and other fancy technologies. They focus primarily on spending and try to give you useful information and feedback. They have also created a social feature for shared expenses.

Wally is the best for tracking expenses. 

Mvelopes
​Mvelopes recreates the old envelope budgeting system for the digital age. Envelope budgeting is where you put cash in envelopes at the start of the month, and you can spend until your envelopes are empty. This was to help people look at your money at the beginning and not after you've spent it. You can set up how much you want to spend on coffee, clothes, or Amazon each month. The app then helps by offering spending forecasts and suggestions to help you from going overboard.  

Mvelopes is free but costs $95 a year to link unlimited accounts, create more than 25 envelopes, and have access to a debt management tool.


Mvelopes in the best for people who like envelope budgeting styles. That may be obvious, it's right in the name. 

Summary
If you continue to search online there will be more apps that pop up but they will have similar features, like Goodbudget is very similar to Mvelopes. I simply wanted to highlight the differences in types and styles. If I were to use one of these I would probably use Mvelopes as that is the most similar to how I manage my budget currently. But if I wanted an all inclusive tracker and budgeting app I'm the most intrigued by Clarity. The images and functionality of it look like it is easy to use and engaging.
]]>
<![CDATA[What is Financial Independence?]]>Mon, 23 Sep 2019 07:00:00 GMThttp://fiwiththetravelguy.com/budgeting/what-is-financial-independence
Picture
If you spend enough time cruisin' the web you'll come across a post or two about a couple in their 30s who retired because they are "financial independent".  So, what does that mean and how do you get it?
Financial Independence (FI) is the idea that you have enough money to cover your living expenses without having to work.  It's that magical moment when your investments start paying you more than your expenses.

That sounds pretty sweet huh?

Getting to that point can be hard because you either have to save a ridiculous amount of money or have a business that supplements your income. My goal is to have a little bit of both.

Another term that is being used frequently is FIRE, or Financial Independence Retire Early. This is a similar concept but with the goal of being able to retire early, obviously. I mean, it's right there in the name.

What's the difference?

To me, financial independence is the concept of having money set aside, or an alternative stream of income, to allow you to live the life you want and/or pursue your passions. I think this idea is much more attainable and realistic for people since you would still be bringing in money. 

To me, FIRE is the concept of having a lot of money in the bank and strictly living off that without bringing in any additional income. As the acronym states, you are financially independent and are going to retire early!

I'm way more interested in the FI path because I know I'll stay busy and eventually I'll want to monetize that. Maybe I'll want to coach basketball, just work 3 days a week, real estate will always be a hobby that makes me money. I'll be up to something other than waking up just to nap and watch Netflix.
How To Achieve Financial Independence?

​We know that we need to have our investments bring in enough to cover our expenses, but how does that look? Like, how do we get there? What do we gotta do to spend our days on the beaches in Santorini, Greece?
Picture
The first step is to figuring out how much you spend each year. If you don't know how much money you live off, or at least a ballpark, you can either track your expenses or create a budget to help figure that out.

Next, we can calculate how much you'll need in your investment accounts.
 Trinity University did a study and found the safe withdrawal rate to be 4%. Basically you should be able to take out 4% of your investment each year without touching the principal.

In theory, if you saved a $1,000,000 you should be fine living off $40,000 each year with your million dollars staying in tact. If you want to know how much you'll need to save to be able to do this you can multiply your living expenses by 25. If you currently live off $60,000 per year you'll need $1,500,000 to retire and keep your lifestyle. 

If you are like me, you might be wondering how you'd get access to that money if it's in a retirement account? ​ Wouldn't there be a penalty? There is this whole thing called the Roth Conversion Ladder that I'll have to write a post on. You basically transfer money out of your retirement account into an IRA and withdraw after 5 years.

So how long does this take?

Using a compound interest calculator at investor.gov here are some projections on how long it would take you to get $1,000,000 if you started with $0 and got an 8% return compounded annually. 
Picture
$1,850 a month takes 20 years.
Picture
$2500 a month takes 17 years.
Picture
$5750 a month takes 10 years.

I don't know about for you but that is saving a lot per month on a consistent basis and still looks like it'll take a long time. 
Different Levels Of Financial Independence
Naturally there are different levels depending on how much you are able to live off each year and I learned these definitions for this post. Side note - it makes me laugh that from a far the FI community rejects the normal American status symbols like cars, houses, and clothes, yet created their own to describe how "independent" they are. Anywho,  here are the two levels. 

LeanFIRE
This approach requires you to have a low spending rate each year (typically less than $40,000/year). By this qualification I could be financially independent! At my lowest point I was living off $970 a month when I was  house hacking in my quadruplex. I would be able to cover those expenses if I moved back into my 500 sq ft unit and never got a new car, or had a kid, or had any real changes in my life! I'll keep going as that doesn't feel like "independence".

FatFIRE
FatFIRE is the level of financial independence that allows you to live a more “high-class” lifestyle. If you plan to spend $80,000 a year keep in mind that you'll need $2 million. 


Earlier I talked about how my goal is financial independence as that seems easier to get, and hopefully you can now see why. Working in a public school as a Speech Language Pathologist I'll never be bringing in the big bucks or able to invest at the rate I used in my projections. But, slowly increasing my rental portfolio and investing the way I am will allow me to achieve financial independence much quicker and provide me a more enjoyable path along the way. 
]]>
<![CDATA[My Updated Budget!]]>Mon, 26 Aug 2019 07:00:00 GMThttp://fiwiththetravelguy.com/budgeting/my-updated-budget
Picture
With the start of every new school year I get excited about nerding out on making a new budget! I looking forward to seeing what my take home pay will be and where I'll be putting my money over the course of the year.

​Let's check it out!
If you are curious on how to create a budget you can learn more here, or to see my past budgets you can click here. This will also be the first year I'll be experiencing the magic of a health savings account but that isn't listed here as this is only my take home pay! Also, just a reminder I work in a school and am NOT paid year round so I need to be more cautious with my savings so it can last me over the summer!
Budget For August 2019 - May 2020
 
Monthly Net Income - $3878
 
Savings
$ 690 – Savings Account
$ 325 - Travel Account
$ 1000 - Future House Account
$ 100 – Car Account
 
Total Savings: $2,115
Remaining: $1763
 
Fixed Costs
$ 775 - Mortgage
$ 70 - Car Insurance
$ 30 - Gym Membership
$ 15 - Netflix
 
Total Fixed Cost: $890
Remaining: $873
 
Variable Costs
$ 300 - Food
$ 100 - Gas
$ 175 - Electric/internet
$ 298 - Fun Money
 
Savings: I put all this money into a high interest online savings account. I know I should probably put it in the stock market but part of me just feels more comfortable knowing I wont lose it. As I said above I am not paid over the summer and need money to cover that time period so I put money into a savings account for that and to max my IRA. I'm still plugging away and throwing little bits of money into a car fund. Even though I just purchased my third property, I'm already beginning to save for the next one. I also always gotta save for more travel!
 
Fixed Costs: There have been some big changes here compared to my last budget. The first being I no longer have a loan payment, screw you loans! I also have a housing payment again. You'll also notice I don't have a phone payment. I'm on a plan with my mom to save us both money and she offered to pay it until I was done with my loans. Well, screw you loans I am done and told her the time has come for me to start helping to pay. She said it was only a $15 difference in having me on there and would let me know if she needed it. I feel very lucky, plus, extra savings!
 
Variable Costs: Electricity will be a variable as I have no idea what it will cost and I have found that $700 a month for food, gas, and fun is typically more than enough. My life isn't that fancy so I feel $175 a week is fine. Plus, I do my side hustles for extra income and that helps to pay for some of the finer things in life that I want, like a new grill for my house!
 
I will be living off 54.5% of my income. This is not the 76% savings rate I was at but that is okay. I couldn't live in my little unit forever. The irony is the unit I was living in will now be rented out for $775, which would cover my housing expense, and put me at a 74.5% savings rate. 
]]>
<![CDATA[How I Grew To A 74% Savings Rate]]>Mon, 20 May 2019 07:00:00 GMThttp://fiwiththetravelguy.com/budgeting/my-past-and-current-budgetsI had just graduated with my Master’s, was riding high from working as an Aquatics Director for the YMCA making $12 an hour, and had what felt like a crippling amount of debt. Ahh, it feels good to be an adult!
 
While in graduate school I was donating plasma for extra money and living frugally - like extremely frugal. Rice, beans, and chicken almost every night frugal. Honestly, any increase in money was going to make me feel rich but I wanted to live as frugal as I could, for as long as possible. This would allow me to save money and pay off as much debt as I could tolerate.
I knew the best way to do that was to create a budget since I was disciplined enough to stick to it. There are fancy spreadsheets but I just opened up Microsoft Word and created a document. If you need help creating a budget click here.
 
I work in the school system and adjust my budget based on the school year schedule. Listed below are my real budgets from the corresponding years.  
 
Budget For August 2014 - July 2015
 
Monthly Net Income - $2985.31
 
Savings
$ 100 – Personal Roth IRA
$ 100 - Travel Account
$ 250 - Savings Account
$ 75 – Car Account
 
Total Savings: $525
Remaining: $2460.31
 
Fixed Costs
$ 450 - Rent
$ 54 - Car Insurance
$ 1061 -Loans
$ 29 - Gym Membership
$ 8- Netflix
$ 50- Robinhood Stock Trading Account
 
Total Fixed Cost: $1652
Remaining: $808.31
 
Variable Costs
$ 300 - Food
$ 100 - Gas
$ 408.31- Fun Money
 
This was my first salary job and my first budget. I was paid year round on the last business day of every month. This made budgeting easy as I took care of all my fixed costs and transferred money into my savings accounts at the beginning of the month and lived off what was left.

Savings: I have 8 separate savings accounts that I transfer money into. They each have a purpose as I project future needs or wants like travel, a car, or a rental house. When the time comes for these expenses I'll be prepared.
 
Fixed Costs:  I budgeted for a phone but my mom offered to pay for it until I was done with my loans, so I added that money into my loan payment. My student loan payment was $315 a month and I was paying off my car loan, which was about $200 a month. I paid the minimum on both and put extra toward the principal on the loan with the least amount remaining or the one with the highest interest. The debt snowball! Robinhood is a stock trading service that I used to see if the stock market was something I would be interested in doing… it was not. I started putting that into my IRA instead which worked better anyways. 
 
Variable Costs: I never track my spending. I simply knew I had $200 per week and wasn’t able to spend more than that. I say $200 because that is my monthly fun money, food, and gas added together and then divided by 4 for the number of weeks. I rarely came close to spending all of it and eventually built up a reserve in my fun money account. That came in handy any time I have an inconvenient expensive, think new car tires, or spend over my weekly amount on a weekend trip, that money is there.
 
If you combined my loan payments and savings I was living off 47% of my income.
 
Budget For August 2015 - July 2016
 
Monthly Net Income - $3095.46
 
Savings
$ 100 – Personal Roth IRA
$ 100 - Travel Account
$ 400 - Saving Account
$ 75 – Car Account
$ 75 – Ring Account
 
Total Savings: $750
Remaining: 2345.46
 
Fixed Costs
$ 450 - Rent
$ 54 - Car Insurance
$ 1100 -Loans
$ 29 - Gym Membership
$ 8- Netflix
 
Total Fixed Cost: $1641
Remaining: $704.46
 
Variable Costs
$ 300 - Food
$ 100 - Gas
$ 304.46- Fun Money
 
I was still being paid year round, on the last business day of every month.
 
Savings: I increased my savings and even though I was single, I started putting away money for an engagement ring. Those things ain’t cheap and I wasn’t going to finance something.
 
Fixed Costs: Only real change was increasing my loan payments. 
 
Variable Costs: I built up a nice cushion in my fun money account and cut back there and saved more.  $176 per week was more than enough for a single guy.
 
If you combined my loan payments and savings I was living off 40% of my income.

Let’s enter the time machine and fast forward to present day to see how things have evolved!
Picture
Or the Millennium Falcon (I know it doesn't time travel, but it's a cool picture, alright..)

​​Budget For August 2018 - July 2019
 
Monthly Net Income - $3709.48
 
Savings
$ 300 – Savings Account
$ 200 - Travel Account
$ 1475 – House Account
$ 100 – Car Account
$ 250 – Real Estate Business Account
 
Total Savings: $ 2325
Remaining: $ 1384.48
 
Fixed Costs
$ 70 - Car Insurance
$ 414 -Loans
$ 30 - Gym Membership
$ 11 - Netflix
 
Total Fixed Costs: $525
Remaining: $859.48
 
Variable Costs
$ 175 - Electricity
$ 300 - Food
$ 100 - Gas
$ 284.48 - Fun Money
 
I'm paid bi weekly, and not during the summer, which makes things more tricky. I look ahead for months that have 3 paychecks, and try and save those to hold me over during the summer.
 
Savings: I'm buying a house in the fall of 2019 and am aggressively saving toward that. I put money into my real estate business account to help cover repairs and improvements.
 
Fixed Costs: This area had the biggest change. I don't have a rent payment because I'm house hacking a quadruplex and live for free. To see the numbers on that check out my first deal. I have also reduced the amount I am paying toward my student loans. I am able to access student loan forgiveness in the fall of 2019 and can’t pay more unless I want to lose free money!
 
Variable Costs: The hardest thing to predict is my electricity bill. I have it as low as $39 in the winter when I only use a space heater and as much as $230 during the summer. It is a crazy place but I’d rather be on the safe side and build my reserves for the expensive months.
 
If you combined my loan payments and savings I am living off 26% of my income.
 
If you have looked at my articles on side hustles you know I have more than just my day job as a source of income. My real estate income stays within the business for repairs and improvements. All my income that comes in from my contracting goes directly into my house account. The money I earn from website testing is used for bigger life events like flying to a friend’s wedding in Mexico, taking my mom to a concert, or buying my dog, Harper.
 
My budget has changed and I tinker with it, but for the most part my spending has remained about the same and I just increase my savings.
 
For the time being, and only having a dog to rely on me financially, this works for me! Every circumstance is different and do what makes the most sense for you. If you are having trouble don’t hesitant to reach out. I clearly enjoy this stuff!
]]>
<![CDATA[A Budget That Works: Spend On What You Want!]]>Mon, 06 May 2019 07:00:00 GMThttp://fiwiththetravelguy.com/budgeting/a-budget-that-works-spend-on-what-you-want
Picture
​I know that title sounds like click bait but just continue reading and you’ll realize it’s not. You’ll learn you can create a budget and customize it to allow you to spend on whatever you want AND save money.

We'll go over the steps to make a budget and then work to personalize it for you.  

Creating Your Budgeting

​Before you start to make a budget, try and figure out what your financial goals are. Mine were, and are, being able to aggressively pay off loan debt, save money, and still travel. I wanted to do all that but not feel like my life was compromised. If you want to see my actual budgets you can here.
 
Part One: What Is Your Net Income?
Your net income refers to the money you actually get per month. Your gross income refers to the total amount before all your pre tax deductions, taxes, Medicare, etc. are taken out. For this we only care about the money you have access to every month.
 
Part Two: Determine Your Total Expenses.
This will be broken up into fixed and variable costs. Fixed costs refer to the expenses you have every month that are going to stay the same price, such as, your rent/mortgage, car insurance, gym membership, Netflix, etc. Variable costs are things that can change every month. This would be your food, gas, or entertainment. Everything you spend should be accounted for.
 
Part Three: Subtract Expenses To Equal Zero.
Your income minus your expenses should equal zero. If you have money remaining, that is awesome! You can already begin to save or pay extra toward loan debt, if you have any. If you are over, you will NEED to start to find places you can begin to cut.

Part Four: Be Conscious Of Your Spending.
This could be tracking your spending to see how much is going out. There are apps for this, I hear Mint or Personal Capital are great. I personal don’t track my spending, I don’t have that level of dedication. I simply know a rough estimate of how much I can spend each week and try to stay under that. It is almost a game at this point. I don’t always succeed but I do more often than not and that is all I can really hope for.
 
If you need help creating a budget you can use either of the following excel spreadsheets. The simple is just that, it is super easy.  If you are interested in your percentage breakdown, or want to plan for different things every month, like holidays or birthdays, you can use the changing budget.
simple_budget.xlsx
File Size:117 kb
File Type:xlsx
Download File

changing_budget.xlsx
File Size:135 kb
File Type:xlsx
Download File

Customizing Your Budget
Now that we have a rough outline of a budget let’s begin to personalize it so you can stick with it!
 
Part One: Evaluate Your Spending?
You have now allocated all your money and can see where it is going. Earlier I asked you to determine what you were creating a budget for and now I want you to think about what is important to you? Does the spending in the budget you just created match what is important to you or your goals?
 
Part Two: Stop Spending On Things That Don’t Matter.
If you saw that you spent $150 ($5 per day) on coffee in the past month but waking up and going to your local coffee shop or Dunkin’ makes you happy, then keep doing it. If you realize it doesn’t really matter but is just a convenience thing, suck it up and make it at home and save that money.
 
If you like fine dining but don’t care about what car you drive, don’t have a car payment. Maybe you like the social aspect of getting lunch with coworkers or going to happy hour but you don’t really care about shopping for the latest clothes. You get the point. Choose the things you don’t care about and reduce your spending there.
 
These are the areas that can make a big difference. If you don't really care about going out for lunch but do it because you are a bum, stop being lazy! If an average lunch is $10 and you eat out 5 times a week for 4 weeks, that is $200 a month, or $2400 a year. That's a lot of money you could use elsewhere!
 
Part Three: Spend On What You Care About.
If you want to be successful, spend on the things that make you happy and not on the things you don't care about.
 
For right now, the car I drive or where I live aren’t a priority. I drive a 10 year old Toyota Camry with 120k miles and plan to drive it to 200k. I like not having a car payment and want to use the money in other ways. I went from living with Craigslist randos for 5 consecutive years to living in a 500 sq ft apartment, but never spent more than $450 a month on rent, and am currently living for free. See how by checking out my first deal.
 
Clearly I love to travel and I make that a priority. 2019 will be the third consecutive year I take an international backpacking trip when I go to Asia for a month. But my flight to Asia will be free through travel hacking. Those trips aren’t always cheap and I am okay with that because I cut back in other areas. I spend on what I care about!
 
Part Four: Enjoy The Benefits! 
Here is the fun part! Now that you have identified your goals, what is important, and have cut the expenses that do not matter, let’s spend that money!
Picture
​Let’s say you cut $100 per month, you can pretty much fly anywhere in the world for $1,200.
 
Maybe you hate travel but want to pay off your mortgage early. Paying an extra $100 a month on a 120k mortgage at 4.5% interest will save you $27,944 in interest payments and reduce your payments by 7.5 years.
 
Imagine if you cut $200 a month and put that into a Roth IRA for additional retirement. $200 a month at an average market return of 8% per year would give you $293,630.08 in 30 years.
 
This is the time to put that money where you want!
 
Looking back, yeah it sucked living with random people from Craigslist when I could have afforded to live alone. But, I would have done the same thing because within 5 years from starting my career I will have paid off 90k in loans (that interest will get you), completed 3 international back packing trips, lived in Brooklyn, New York for a summer, and have 5 rental units and a single family for myself (coming in the fall of 2019). To me, those memories and accomplishments will bring me more joy and satisfaction than going out to lunch everyday.
 
If you want to see my actual budgets you can here or need help working on yours, please reach out!
]]>