Recently I've come to a realization that I'm not managing my money well. I'm 4 years out of college and in a total debt of about $66k. I didn't come from a family with a lot of money, and my parents really never taught me the importance of saving money and how to manage money. They have always been in debt, and I feel like I'm following their footsteps, which I don't want to do.
This is an overview of my current debts
- $30k in student loans with interest rates that vary from 3.86% - 6.8%. Minimum payments are $490, and i've basically just been making minimum payments.
- $8k loan for my motorcycle with a 5.9% APR, minimum payments of $190
- $9.5k for my car with a 3.5% interest rate, minimum payments of $225. Which I refinanced through the bank to get some money to pay for credit card debts. The car is probably worth 5k now.
- $19k in credit card debts. I've been trying to move the cc debts around with 0% APR for 1 year with balance transfers that have a 3% fee. I have about 4 accounts with ~$4k balance on each. So each time I move my balance, I pay ~$140 fee. But that gives me about another year without getting hit with the ~20% APR interest. Each account have minimum payments of ~$100.
I live in a house with roommates and my minimum monthly expenses are $500 rent, $45 cable/internet, $~70-90 utilities.
I'm currently making $80k/year, and maxing out my 401k. After taxes, med insurance, and 401k contribution, I'm getting about $4.4k/month.
- Should I stop 401k contributions and focus on paying off debts? The contributions are taking ~$500/month pre-tax, but company will match $.50 to for every $1 up to 8% of my salary, so I'd be missing out on some free money.
- What's the best approach to get rid of my CC debts? Consolidation? Just keep doing the balance transfers?
- There was a PLR for 401k matches based on student loan payments. When will that take into effect?
And I know I have a spending problem, I should probably have lived at my parents house out of college to pay off my debts first. Asking for any advice that anyone may have.
Submitted September 17, 2018 at 09:57AM by FrostyPay https://ift.tt/2OvAroJ
