My apologies in advance for any errors I made. I'm very new to personal finance and trying my best. Gathering all of this information was pretty overwhelming, and I'm still missing things. Math is not my forte. I appreciate any assistance/gentle face-punching you can give me.
Life Situation: 27yo, single, no dependents, Chicago IL
Gross Salary: 40,000/yr (hourly, so paychecks fluctuate)
Pre-Tax Deductions:
- 403b: 4%
- Health Insurance: Approx. $134 a month
Other Ordinary Income: I average $100 a month from babysitting. Unfortunately that income is hard to predict.
Qualified Dividends & Long Term Capital Gains: N/A
Rental Income, Actual Expenses, and Depreciation: N/A
Taxes: These vary, because I’m hourly, but here’s an example from one paycheck:
- FITW: $140.73
- IL: $52.89
- MED: $22.71
- SS: $97.11
Adjusted Gross Income: Approx. $2,400 a month (I think??)
this is coming mainly from looking at Mint over the past few months
Current Monthly Expenses (TOTAL: $2,361)
- Rent: $1,000
- Utilities: $174 (Gas, Electric, Internet. Everything is as basic as possible but it's an old, inefficient building)
- Public Transportation Pass: $100 (I have a bike, and I’m trying to use it more often, but I’m very afraid of riding in heavy traffic. I have a near-panic attack each time)
- Renter’s Insurance: $12
- Life Insurance: $60
- Spotify: $11
- Groceries: $200
- Entertainment/Misc: $200 (I have steadily decreased this amount over the last 6 months, tracking trends via Mint)
- Current Credit Card Payment: $200
- Student Loans: $354 (paying $10 more than required on one of these)
- Phone: $50 (my portion of a family plan)
Assets:
Savings Account 1 (Ally): $361.72
Savings Account 2 (US Bank): $1,820.06
403b: $3,355.61
Old 401k rolled into IRA: not sure, have to dig it up, but I think approx $4,000 in there
Total Assets: Approx. $9,500
Liabilities:
Student Loan 1
- Balance: $1,791.90
- Interest: 6.550%
Student Loan 2
- Balance: $3,520.34
- Interest: 6.550%
Student Loan 3 (a combo of Stafford Unsub and Sub with different interest rates, but I think I worked out the overall interest rate)
- Balance: $9,376.61
- Interest: 4.48%
Student Loan 4
- Balance: $1,315.91
- Interest: I cannot for the life of me find this and the website is awful and buggy, I will try again later
Credit Card
- Balance: $4,210.19
- Interest: 19.99%
TOTAL DEBT: $20,214.95
Solutions in motion:
- Just negotiated my credit card interest rate down to 17.99% by calling my bank. I haven't used the card for months, trying to break dependency and be more aware of spending
- Using Mint to track and understand spending habits
- Moving in with my partner when my lease is up in November, which could save me approx $300 a month or more
- Trying to find a new job
- Working hard to bring down entertainment spending slowly without shock of deprivation, as that tends to make me emotionally over-spend