I am 12k in credit card debt and make 170k a year salary. I’ve been working for 5 years and have no savings whatsoever aside from 30k in my 401k. At one time I felt like I was running in place but now I am digging a hole. I am usually great with finances but after getting married we’ve spent spent spent for her and her family. I really don’t have much to show for aside from a new car (just a regular Chevy sedan). How do I dig myself out? Obviously stop spending but should I pay as much off as I can each month or stack and save and pay off in large chunks? TC: 182k YOE: 5
Pay it off n budget my friend. Sit with your partner n talk finance goals.
Put your wife to work/force her to stop spending or split before it gets worse, easier said than done but these are your realistic options
In the past 1.5 years she applied to like 5 jobs and that was only because I was laid off. She never put forth initiative into finding a job after I got hired and it’s been a year.
And what’s her excuse? Except she is taking care of the kids at home, no reason why shouldn’t be working
Call credit company and set $500 limit, give that card to your partner, include yourself, make it joint account. Don’t allow her to use other cards and pay them of and close them
lol she ain’t going for this. She’s gotten too used to this lifestyle.
Do a balance transfer and then from each paycheck take the amount you were using to pay debt and invest that whole in sp500 etf or other safer investment. There are cards which are giving 18-24 months of balance transfer., Within 2 years, you should have extra money and a lil good amount to pay a big amount of that chunk.
This is terrible advice. What if the market goes gown for the next 5 years?
What if the market doesn’t go down in the next 5 yrs? What if 2024 had similar gains like 2023 or gives a minimum of 5 gain this year being presidential vote year. If market is too risky, then one can surely use a 5% saving account and can stack there. Giving a lump sum money will help boost one’s confidence too.
Why would you spend on her family?
Her family has been extraordinary kind and giving towards me wayyy moreso than my own who I’ve had to cut off. They are pretty much my new family.
Is ur wife hot? Otherwise run
Your TC is not stellar, but you should be able to pay this debt off in a year only if you stopped bleeding money to your wife's family. Question yourself: which you value first - your own family well-being or well-being of someone else? You should have very serious conversation with your wife. It cannot end well if not corrected now
If you knew the COL this post is even more insane. I’m not in no California/NY/Seattle etc.
What I’ve done in the past is open up a new card with 0% interest on balance transfers for 21 months. Then set auto pay to have it paid off in that time frame. There will typically be a 3-5% fee for the balance transfer, so only do this if you can’t pay it off quickly enough to beat that fee.
Dude what are you spending your money on, if you have no savings at 170K you are just blowing money out of your ass, credit card debt is the worst debt to have (aside from payday loans) and should be paid off ASAP.
This is ill-advised, but can you shift the entire balance to a newly opened credit card and get a 6 month deferment on repayments? Or at least a lower interest rate? Or maybe a personal line of credit? (Uncollateralized loan). This depends on your credit score. Is your car loan greater than your credit card loan? Probably not, hmm. Is your wife working at all? 12k credit card debt isn't that bad. You should be able to dig out within a few months I'd think. How bad is the spending? Are you spending it? Or your wife?
We both kinda are. A lot of our financial stability went away and goes away in helping with her family who is very much in need. That and although my spending can be bad, my wife’s is almost uncontrollable. I’ve talked to her about this several times but 🤷🏽
Mark my words. This will lead to divorce very fast if it remains this way