I started late in life in terms of getting a job, took my time in college and explored options afterwards. Have only been seriously working for 6 years. With that said, I realized I was way behind and tried my hand at options to try and supplement my income thinking it was easy. Was not, got carried away, chased loses and what was originally a $2,500 exploratory investment became a $9,700 loss. It hit me hard, I stopped, closed my accounts, came clean to my GF and started working out a plan. I scared myself because I acted like a gambling addict. Don't get me wrong, I go to casinos and bet on fantasy sports but I'm the guy who freaks out about losing $100 and stops. The fact that I lost over $9K scared me shit-less and is something I will be staying the hell away from specially with such low savings. It was irresponsible at best.
Where I am at now:
Bank account: $3.5k (After bills/expenses)
401K: $35k
Stocks: $2.4K worth (currently at $1K value) but holding
Debt: 0
Job: $54K/year
Monthly Income after taxes: $2,884
Monthly Expenses Average: $2,230-$2,380
Aprox. Monthly savings: $500-650/month (Up from $400/mo last yr)
Step1: Recovery
I ran the numbers and if I don't change my lifestyle in anyway I can be back to $15K by February 2019. Lost a year of savings. Not optimal. I feel I need 'penance' to make the lesson sink.
I'm looking into Uber eats as a side income, friends in area report $150-300 for 10-20 hours/week of work. Can recover half my loses in 4-6 months. The issue here is I live with my GF and her kid and I help out a lot around the house, me being gone an extra 10-20 hours a week could impact relationship and I can't find anyway to make extra income from home. Amazon Turk pays pretty bad. (HELP HERE)
Step2: Stop settling
Been settling and lazy my whole life. I don't want that anymore and neither would any woman. I've been overqualified and underpaid for a few years now and could make $10-15K more for same job elsewhere. Problem is my industry is tiny and only two companies in my city. We can't move because of GF's job.
Leads to part 2. Ive been thinking about a career switch into Cyber Security. I know people in the field and apparently it's as easy as getting a few certificates to get an entry level job in the $70-100K range. HUGE step up and a career path that actually has a future, something I don't see where I am now. Is it too late to make this move? Should I go for it? (HELP HERE)
Step3: Retirement
With the first two in order and looking forward. My plan moving forward is to drop in $5K/year into ETFs and the like for the average-ish 7% ROI yearly. Up that by $5K every 5 years if possible. HOPEFULLY retire by 65-68 with $2MM+. Not sure if this is fairy tale numbers or not but when I ran the numbers on the potential earnings for Cyber Security career path even if i top out at $150K/year it seemed reachable. Opinions? (HELP HERE)
That's it! Thanks for reading all of this and your comments. Also please don't take my cold approach as not caring about money, I'm still petrified of how much I lost but big picture this should be a drop in the bucket and I have to focus on the root problem which is my settling for mediocrity without a plan and not the trigger.
P.S. My GF/her kid do not factor into this. Shes well off and debt free financially and despite us splitting bills and such she can afford all of the expenses on her own and be comfortable.
Submitted April 07, 2018 at 09:24PM by WHY-05 https://ift.tt/2GFZbdX
