Charizard card sold for 300k

I heard that AMD is really bad for VR..Is that true?..I heard something about really bad encoding compared to nvidia..I am planning on buying quest 3 and valve index 2 when they both come out...So if I had to buy even a new card It wouldnt be really pleasent..So if someone could help me I would be really thankful

We bought a new house 6 months ago and decided to get a 0% intro APR credit card to furnish it. I was issued a 23.5k limit.
We decided to do this, instead of spending money out of savings. I know this can sometimes be a risky move, but we have stable jobs and the cash to pay it off at any point.
We spent 15k on furnishing our house and I just made the last payment.
Full disclosure: I also have a 0% APR loan that I took out for laser hair removal. I am in the process of doing an extended Brazilian and my underarms. This is about $140 a month for another 2 years. The clinic that I go to does unlimited sessions.
I know there are different types of 0% offers, so I was curious if anyone else uses them.
What 0% APR offers have you used? What did you buy?

Hi Everyone,
Need advice from people more experienced than me. I have a credit-card usage problem. Since I got a job in my early 20s I've been stupid for the last decade or so and cruised without a care or a plan. I've rolled debt from one consolidation loan, paid it off, racked up more, have another consolidation loan and have cc debt still. For the last 2 months I haven't put a cent on credit. Decided enough is enough. I don't want to dwell on it more but clearly I had a spending problem and that's being handled through some professional help. What I'd like an opinion on is how to tackle this.
I bring home approx. $5000 per month from my W2 job after taxes. After expenses, I have $900-$1100 leftover depending on variabilities each month, see below:
Income - $5000
Core Expenses (my half so 2x in reality but shared with my gf) Rent - $925 Water - $50 Power - $60-$75 Internet - $50 renters insurance - $16
Food - $350 to Max $575 Pets - $100 Gas - $150 Car Insurance/Cell Phone - $90 Disney AP - $73 Storage Unit - $227*
Min. Monthly loan and debt payments - $1725
*The storage unit is tied to a crystals/gems and ebay side-business that even just spare-timing it without a ton of effort (4-8 hrs a week) generates ~$1500 extra after fees and tax held aside each month.
I currently have ~$12,000 saved in a high-yield savings account and with already-funded retention bonuses at work, putting back at least the extra $900 each month and one extra paycheck coming in June, I should have a 6 month emergency fund built by September of ~$24,000.
My question is - build the emergency fund first while funneling the side business income to debt paydown, and then use the ~$1500 a month side income plus the $900+ surplus each month to accelerate debt paydown afterward? If I do this I will be cc debt free in 1 year and completely debt free in 2 years, not including any bonuses or raises at work which would accelerate that. And the reach of my emergency fund will grow as my minimum debt payment requirements decrease over time just in case of a job loss. I would be more comfortable having 6 months emergency saved up first, but.....
What would you do in this economy?

Took a shot and picked the big man to go deep on Opening Day. Question for the group here...Do we think Topps will create a super limited quantity of this card since there was only 1 game in March? Or, do we think they'll cheap out and lump it in with April's games? From the look of the rules on the Topps site it is not very clear, but I am thinking they'll execute the latter...

So my grandfather was from the United States, and he met my grandma in Mexico and had my dad, so my dad has a double nationality. When my brothers and I were born, my dad tried looking into giving us the US nationality, but he only asked once, and when he was told that it wasn’t possible he didn’t look into that anymore and forgot about it. But one year ago, my father got a job in the United States, and on there she was told by an immigration lawyer that it was possible to claim us, and we’ll have to go through an immigration process. We’ve been waiting for a response for a little under a year now, but the Nebraska’s office page shows that within a week we’ll have a response on our case. Could anyone please be so kind to explain or maybe enlighten me on what will they tell us? Is it this waiting only and we get the citizenship? Will we be interviewed as if we were applying to a B1 visa? Is it more like a green card process? Thanks!

So, I left “Job A” almost 3 years ago. I loved this job up until I got a new manager. She didn’t know shit, was very unhelpful, and a little micro-managey.
I left Job A to go to Job B, a government job, where I work 4 days a week. I accepted a very small pay cut because, 4 day workweek and pension. I work with an amazing team and a great boss. Get your image of a typical govt worker out of your head, most of my team is fresh out of public, and loaded with great ideas. However, with very structured raises (more than that of Job A), I’m making a good amount more than I was when I left Job A.
Same manager at Job A came back to me, after the company got sold, and they lost 90% of their team, with a promotion and a 25% pay raise.
Would you take it? Thing is, I’ll be making that amount working 2 years at Job B- again, my raises are very structured.
I really liked the things I got to work on in Job A; it was a F500 company and the opportunities were endless. job B is a little more boring but with a 4 day hybrid workweek, and a pension, I’m ok with it. I know I could be making more elsewhere, but I’ve got a good situation.
I’m not passionate about this field, I’m just trying to keep a roof over my head and pay for a few luxuries.
What would you do?

Hello! I am in the process of buying my first car and I’ve been dead set on getting something Toyota. I found a 2013 Toyota Corolla with 90k miles for 12K. Is this reasonable? I figured if I take care of it, those things can run for 200-300k miles. Thanks!

I've been reading and re-reading the requirements of the practicum and internship to commit it to memory. However, would it be unprofessional to bring in note cards with the information, just to ensure that what I tell the person is correct?
What other questions do you think they might ask? For those of you that take students, what questions have you asked them? Have you ever asked for references of your students? I'll be bringing a nice folder with information about the practicum, my resume, a cover letter... should I bring a letter of recommendation with me as well from my current employer (who wants to hire me on after graduation?)
I'm so nervous. It's been so difficult just to get someone to call me back, this feels like all-or-nothing. If this doesn't pan out I'll be looking to move to a different state with extended family, so there is a lot riding on this.
I need this to go perfectly, so please, anything.

Good day everyone, We are presently developing Greenpay, a cryptocurrency payment platform, and we need the crypto community's help to make it a reality.
What exactly is Greenpay?
Green Pay will be a payment platform that enables the use of cryptocurrency in Africa, beginning in Nigeria and spreading to other African nations.
Users will be able to receive, transfer, store, and swap cryptocurrencies using Green Pay. Greenpay users will also be able to pay bills and make online payments.
Greenpay will have a web app, iOS app, Android app, and desktop app.
Cryptocurrencies that will be supported by Greenpay :

• Greencoin
• Bitcoin
• Ethereum
• Monero

What is Greencoin: Greencoin is a stable coin being developed by us to make sure that African finance for everyday transactions isn’t volatile.
Features of Green Pay:

• Receive crypto
• Send crypto
• Store crypto
• Swap crypto
• Pay bills with crypto
• Trade NFT
• Make online payments with our green pay virtual and Physical card.
  
• Green Card: Is going to be a physical and digital card that you can use to make payments. It’s going use a barcode technology to make payments and purchases in physical and digital stores.
  

What makes GreenPay unique is that users will be able to purchase cryptocurrencies not only with fiat, but also with products and services. A farmer, for example, will be able to submit, say, tomatoes in exchange for cryptocurrency.
How it will work: If a farmer has tomatoes, he only needs to find our closest agent. We will inspect and price the tomatoes based on a universal standard pricing, and then the equivalent of the tomatoes he desires to trade will be transferred in cryptocurrency. And vise verser People who have crypto will be able to buy vegetables from us using crypto.
Greenpay web app is already in development which you can view here: https://greenlifetv.africa/greenpay
How can you contribute and benefit from Green Pay?
To begin, you purchase our NFT for $1. We hope to raise $60,000 in the first round of fundraising, which will require 60,000 people to contribute $1 each.
Because we are receiving contributions via NFTs, the NFT will be used as proof of contribution for contributors.
When GreenPay is fully developed and profitable, everyone who contributed will be able to access their benefits through the NFTs. The NFT will function as a key to the portal where contributors can opt-in to receive their benefits. There are going to be essentially 3 benefits to contributing:
1 - ROI (Return on investment) 2 - Free NFT’s for all our future NFT collections. 3 - Free transaction fees on the Greenpay platform.
The NFT collection is divided into 3.
Gold Key - Only 10 available which is for the first 10 people to purchase our NFT
Benefits : 1% life time Equity of Greenpay which will be divided by 10 people = 0.1% equity each for the 10 people.
Silver Key - Only 50 Available for the next 50 people to purchase our NFT.
Benefits : 1% life time Equity of Greenpay which will be divided by 50 people = 0.02% equity each for the 50 people.
Regular Key - 59,940 Available for the remaining people that purchases our NFT.
Benefits : 3% life time Equity of Greenpay which will be divided by 59,940 people = 0.00005005 % equity each for the 59,940 people.
Timeline for Development: The first six weeks will be spent developing our proof of concept for our web app, mobile app, and desktop app.
Users will be able to see our development process on a public website 14 days after we reach $10,000.
Furthermore, users will be able to view full documentation of the Green Pay Payment Platform, which will be accessible only to those who have the Green Pay NFT because the NFT will serve as your entry key to view the full documentation.
If you want to contribute to the development of Green Pay. You can get our NFT as contribution here: https://opensea.io/collection/greenpaygenesis
Please remember to properly store your NFT because this is the only method you will be able to claim your benefits once the Green Pay platform is completely operational.
Updates on the GreenPay Africa Payment platform will be posted on our official subreddit, here: greenpayafrica.
GreenPay is also actively lobbying Nigerian lawmakers to see how we can make cryptocurrency a legal tender in Nigeria.
As most of us are aware, Nigerians are presently among the most active cryptocurrency users globally. If we can persuade lawmakers to make cryptocurrencies legal tender, it will be a huge victory for the worldwide crypto community.
If you are unable to help by purchasing our NFT, you can contribute by upvoting this post.
Thanks so much for your time and support. Your opinions and comments will be greatly appreciated.

Tymit is a credit card that is offering a free £10 bonus when you make 3x £5 card transactions using the physical or virtual card.
My experience: I successfully got my free £10 reward immediately after making my third £5 virtual card transaction (didn’t even need the physical card), so a really easy one to earn. Just use the card for things you’d normally purchase, or split up a bigger grocery shop into separate transactions to meet the spend requirement. Plus, the account serves as a useful direct debit should you need one for future bank switches.
When I made my application, I was approved immediately but did get a hard credit search on my credit report.
How to get your free £10 bonus with Tymit:

1. Sign up to a Tymit credit card using my referral link here or download the Tymit app and enter KATEUL2362
2. Complete the ID checks (ID document + selfie)
3. Once accepted, make 3x purchases of £5 or more within 14 days. TIP: I just used the free virtual card instead of waiting for the physical to arrive, and it worked.
4. The £10 will be credited to your account almost instantly after your third £5 card transaction (mine was immediate)

LINKS

• Referral link + enter code KATEUL2362
• Non-referral link: https://tymit.com/

I've noticed that scammers seem to do three things:

1. Upload mirrored photos of a legit posting (which has been sold)
2. Add random letters and numbers to titles
3. Choose odd categories such as "buggies" for, say, a pair of trousers

I think it's safe to say that most people won't fall prey to such listings, but I'm just curious about this ... tactic (if you can call it such). I can see the possible reason for #1 (to avoid reverse image search?), but cannot wrap my head around the other two. These listings seem to appear after a "real" sale: For example, a shirt I sold suddenly appeared in such a listing a day after the buyer had received it. Has anybody else noticed this & can shed light onto what's going on?

💕 I'm the original owner of all items. Everything is brand new!
💸Payment in PayPal G&S.
📬 Shipping is thru Pirateship (I'll quote you via dm) and usually starts around $4. US only, tracking included, via USPS. Pay today, ships tomorrow!
................ 🔎Thank you for looking!🔎
❤ MAKEUP
EVERYTHING BNIB!

• Tarte Lights, Camera, Splashes WATERPROOF mascara full size, $10
• Wet N Wild Photofocus Waterdrop Primer in Cucumber 0.68oz, sealed $1
• Joséphine Cosmetics Liquid Lipstick in Meet Tiphaine full size .20oz $1
• Gerard Cosmetics Color Your Smile Lip Gloss in Crystal full size .23oz $1
• Araceli Beauty Monarca mascara in Black full size 10.5 g/0.37oz $1
• Ulta Beauty Brow Lift Laminating gel full size sealed 0.17oz $1
• Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Bronzer Shade 2 Medium, 0.56oz $30
• Danessa Myricks Vision Flush lip, cheek, eye color blister card, 6 x .03oz $1
• Laura Mercier Translucent setting powder MINI .07oz, $2
• Chella + Vella Beauty eyeshadow quad $1
• Illamasqua Unveiled Artistry Palette $3

❤️ FRAGRANCE

• YSL Libre Eau de Toilette sample vial $1
  
• Lancôme La Vie Est Belle deluxe Body Wash (50mL/1.6fl oz) and deluxe Body Lotion (60mL/2fl oz) both in never opened, sealed bags $6 each
  

❤️ SKINCARE

• Lancôme Genifique Youth Activating Concentrate mini .27oz $1
• Exuviance set Triple Microdermabrasion Face Polish mini .35 oz and Age Reverse Total Correct + Sculpt Serum mini .17 oz $2
• Volition set One Apple Cider Vinegar Resurfacing Peel Pad (1),Tumeric Brightening Polish mini .33oz, and Yaupon Tea Glow-Awakening Moisturizer mini .34oz $3
  
• Ole Henriksen Dark Spot Toner Glow2OH sealed, 2.2oz $4
  

❤️ FREEBIES
Pick one freebie per order!

• SOQU Vitamin C + Aloe Vera sheet mask
• Naturally Serious Skin Warrior cream deluxe size
• Tarte Knockout Brightening Gel Moisturizer deluxe size
• Ofra Cool as Cucumber primer sample
• Oribe Gold Lust Repair + Restore Shampoo and Conditioner 0.23oz each
• Terry Brightening CC Serum sample
• Tatcha The Rice Polish Deep sample

The food looked really good and it's minimal prep but not a ton more money than cook your own meal kits. So I signed up for delivery for today, got a confirmation email, and... nothing. No tracking, no food, no credit card charge, and the website doesn't even show my order. I emailed customer service twice but haven't heard back. I'm just annoyed because now I have to go grocery shopping and plan some meals. I'm wondering if others have had better experiences?

The SmartVestorPro seems like it is nothing more than a means of getting more business or Financial Advisors. In a sense Dave acts as a marketer for these Advisors and in return the Advisors pay Dave a monthly fee.
The qualifications for being a SmartVestor Pro is to align with Dave's teachings, serve everyone no matter how much their net worth is, and pay the monthly fee. Additionally there are no requirements of SmartVestors Pro being fiduciaries, (advisors who have the clients best interest at heart). This is not to be confused with 'having a heart of a teacher'. In other words there is nothing stopping a 'SmartVestorPro' from 'educating' Dave's loyal listener, who may not know any better, on their company's lack luster investment products.
The Avg cost of having an advisor is conversatively about 1% of AUM (Assets under management) per year. This may seem small however 1% of a 1Million is 10K per year, which is only likely to grow as your money is growing.
Only about 10% of actively managed funds actually beat the market. Additionally this number is skewed up after ruling out all the actively managed funds that closed within a 30 year period. (I.e. Survivorship bias). So realistically there is less than 10% of actively managed funds that actually beat the market within a 30 year time period.
Actively managed funds may also have front loaded fees in addition to high expense ratios 1-3% per year. Which is on top of your financial advisor fees of 1% per AUM annually. Owners of actively managed funds also have to pay taxes as most of them have high turnover rates (how often a stock is sold within a fund), which also reduces the net returns.
So if the S&P 500 returned a hypothetically 10% (low cost index funds have low turnover ratios and usually an expense ratio of around 0.04% or lower). Your net return will be somewhere around 9-10%.
If Dave's 'Actively Managed Good Growth Stock Mutual Funds' returned an optimistic 11%, your net returns post fees would be around 7-8% (excluding the front loaded fees). Post the taxes your net return would conservatively be around 6-7%, which sucks.
These costs will only grow and compound the longer you are holding them.
But here's what Dave's SmartVestorPro business investment is making.
A SmartVestor Pro can expect to pay around 7,500 -11,000 per year to be a part of the program. Which is about ($625- $916) per month. In 2021 Dave reported having about 1400 SmartVestorPros on the program.
This means Ramsey Solutions is making anywhere from $875,000 - $1,282,400 per month, just on this SmartVestor program alone. This results in between 10 Million - 14 Million in revenue per year.
So of course Dave is going to advocate for and even purchase actively managed funds as the revenue from the SmartVestorPro program itself more than makes up for any of the taxes, fees, or lack of performance his so called 'Good Growth Stock Mutual Funds' are producing.
Dave is literally selling his audience bad advice, so that his business can generate revenue. Dave gets really pissed off when the government or anyone from the Left are take advantage of people like this, but hides the fact that he is being a Hypocrite doing it himself. What a scummy means of taking advantage of his loyal listeners.
Please don't screw yourself over with actively managed funds and using the SmartVestor Pro program. Investing shouldn't be complicated or expensive. Investing should be boring and simple. So just max out your tax advantage accounts with low cost and low turnover index funds/ ETFs. And just like Dave preaches never ever put money in something you don't understand, this includes Ramsey Solutions' SmartVestorPro program.
I'm interested in hearing any experiences that anyone has had with this program, please share!

Hello, I'm quite new to this world so I'm posting here to answer some questions. 10 Months ago I applied for my first credit card, then I discovered that my credit score decreased/increased if I apply/maintain multiple credit cards over time. So one week ago I applied for my second credit card (it required a minimum credit score to be accepted) and today it has been accepted. Now I would like to know, does it have sense, for my credit score, to apply for a second credit card? (for this second one no minimum credit score is required so it should be approved immediately) Or is better to wait 6/8 months before applying for the second one? I'm not asking which is the best technique to exploit at the most their bonuses/cashback, but the best way to manage my credit score.

Get the collection here: https://www.genkicourses.com/product/robert-kyosaki-ultimate-collection-bundle/ [Get] Robert Kyosaki Ultimate Courses Collection📷 What’s Included in the collection?

• ABCs of Real estate investing
• Cashflow Quadrant
• Choose to be Rich
• ChooseRich
• Conspiracy of the Rich
• Financial Freedom Planner – Your Personal Financial Organizer
• Guide to Becoming Rich Without Cutting up Your Credit Cards
• High Performance Selling [Robert Kiyosaki, Tony Robbins, T Harv Eker,Bob Proctor]
• How to predict the future
• How To Save A Fortune In Taxes [Robert kiyosaki, Tony Robbins, T Harv Eker]
• Increase Your Financial IQ
• Michael Maloney – Guide to Investing in Gold and Silver
• Own Your Own Corporation
• Real Estate Advantages
• Rich Dad Poor Dad audio and book
• Rich Dad Poor Dad for Teens_ The Secrets About Money – Robert T. Kiyosaki & Sharon L. Lechter
• Rich Dad Secrets Of Wealth [Robert Kiyosaki, T Harv Eker, Tony Robbins, Jack Canfield]
• Rich Dad, Poor Dad
• Rich Dad’s Advisors – The ABCs of Getting Out of Debt
• Rich Dad’s Guide to Investing
• Rich Dad’s guide to Wealth
• Rich Dad’s how to Predict the Future
• Rich Dad’s Success Stories
• Rich Dad’s Who Took My Money
• Rich Dads Advisors The ABCs of Building a Business Team That Wins
• Rich Dads Before You Quit Your Job
• Rich Woman
• Richard Kiyosaki – Rich Dad, Poor Dad
• Robert Kiyosaki – 6 Steps To Becoming A Successful Real Estate Investor (AUDIO & VIDEO)
• Robert Kiyosaki – Before You Quit Your Job
• Robert Kiyosaki – Corporations
• Robert Kiyosaki – Freedom or Security
• Robert Kiyosaki – How to Find Great Investments
• Robert Kiyosaki – New Rules of Money
• Robert Kiyosaki – Real Estate Investor Business Plan
• Robert Kiyosaki – Retire Rich Retire Young (AUDIO)
• Robert Kiyosaki – Rich Dad’s Real Estate Riches
• Robert Kiyosaki – Rich Dad’s Secrets Of Wealth [T Harv Eker, Tony Robbins, Jack Canfield]
• Robert Kiyosaki – Rich Dads Guide To Investing (AUDIO)
• Robert Kiyosaki – Rich Kid Smart Kid
• Robert Kiyosaki – Sales Dogs (AUDIO)
• Robert Kiyosaki – The 8 Hidden Values of Network Marketing
• Robert Kiyosaki – The Real Book of Real Estate
• Robert Kiyosaki – Who Took My Money
• Robert Kiyosaki Cashflow 101 and 202
• Robert T. Kiyosaki – 8 Lessons in Military Leadership for Entrepreneurs
• Sales Dogs
• The ABC’s Of Building a Business Team That Wins
• The ABC’s Of Property Management
• Why -A- Students Work for -C- Students
• Kiyosaki Live NY City
• Robert Kiyosaki – 60 Minutes To Getting Rich

The SmartVestorPro seems like it is nothing more than a means of getting more business or Financial Advisors. In a sense Dave acts as a marketer for these Advisors and in return the Advisors pay Dave a monthly fee.
The qualifications for being a SmartVestor Pro is to align with Dave's teachings, serve everyone no matter how much their net worth is, and pay the monthly fee. Additionally there are no requirements of SmartVestors Pro being fiduciaries, (advisors who have the clients best interest at heart). This is not to be confused with 'having a heart of a teacher'. In other words there is nothing stopping a 'SmartVestorPro' from 'educating' Dave's loyal listener, who may not know any better, on their company's lack luster investment products.
The Avg cost of having an advisor is conversatively about 1% of AUM (Assets under management) per year. This may seem small however 1% of a 1Million is 10K per year, which is only likely to grow as your money is growing.
Only about 10% of actively managed funds actually beat the market. Additionally this number is skewed up after ruling out all the actively managed funds that closed within a 30 year period. (I.e. Survivorship bias). So realistically there is less than 10% of actively managed funds that actually beat the market within a 30 year time period.
Actively managed funds may also have front loaded fees in addition to high expense ratios 1-3% per year. Which is on top of your financial advisor fees of 1% per AUM annually. Owners of actively managed funds also have to pay taxes as most of them have high turnover rates (how often a stock is sold within a fund), which also reduces the net returns.
So if the S&P 500 returned a hypothetically 10% (low cost index funds have low turnover ratios and usually an expense ratio of around 0.04% or lower). Your net return will be somewhere around 9-10%.
If Dave's 'Actively Managed Good Growth Stock Mutual Funds' returned an optimistic 11%, your net returns post fees would be around 7-8% (excluding the front loaded fees). Post the taxes your net return would conservatively be around 6-7%, which sucks.
These costs will only grow and compound the longer you are holding them.
But here's what Dave's SmartVestorPro business investment is making.
A SmartVestor Pro can expect to pay around 7,500 -11,000 per year to be a part of the program. Which is about ($625- $916) per month. In 2021 Dave reported having about 1400 SmartVestorPros on the program.
This means Ramsey Solutions is making anywhere from $875,000 - $1,282,400 per month, just on this SmartVestor program alone. This results in between 10 Million - 14 Million in revenue per year.
So of course Dave is going to advocate for and even purchase actively managed funds as the revenue from the SmartVestorPro program itself more than makes up for any of the taxes, fees, or lack of performance his so called 'Good Growth Stock Mutual Funds' are producing.
Dave is literally selling his audience bad advice, so that his business can generate revenue. Dave gets really pissed off when the government or anyone from the Left are take advantage of people like this, but hides the fact that he is being a Hypocrite doing it himself. What a scummy means of taking advantage of his loyal listeners.
Please don't screw yourself over with actively managed funds and using the SmartVestor Pro program. Investing shouldn't be complicated or expensive. Investing should be boring and simple. So just max out your tax advantage accounts with low cost and low turnover index funds/ ETFs. And just like Dave preaches never ever put money in something you don't understand, this includes Ramsey Solutions' SmartVestorPro program.
I'm interested in hearing any experiences that anyone has had with this program, please share!

Background
Me: 34F
Jobs: Consultant
Location: East Coast
Goal: Finding the balance between paying off my six-figure student debt while still enjoying life post failed fertility treatments.
Current Debt and Assets
DEBT
Credit card debt: $2,200 approximately. I usually never go more than 2 months without paying it off completely to keep me honest.
Personal loans: $0
Medical debt: $0
Student loan debt: $125,303.17 with 3.301% interest. I had a scholarship to undergrad. For my graduate degree, I took out 150k of loans. In the 4 years after graduate school where I was paying the minimum payment, the loan amount grew to $171,000. I paid off approximately 57k in the past 18 months (although because interest is so high, only 46k of that went to principal.)
Auto loans: $0 – My husband and I have had a ton of bad luck the past few years but one thing we were fortunate about is buying two used cars around 22k each right before the new and used car market went crazy. We paid them both off within 3-4 months of purchasing them. I used to think I would just lease a car because I had this idea that all used cars break down constantly but I’m glad my husband disabused me of notion because with some TLC, my car should last me a long time and with all the spending on gas and tolls, I am so thankful to not have a car payment.
Savings balance: $1,000. My husband and I used to have a very large savings/rainy day fund (30k-ish) but we’ve spent the past 3 years going through fertility treatments that have really eaten away at our savings. This amount of savings is pretty antithetical to how judicious we both are about money but we both have good job security and could cash out our investment accounts with penalty if we really needed it so we haven’t prioritizied replenishing it. That, and we are very emotionally spent after the past few years.
Checking account balance: $460.55
Crypto portfolio: $0. I don’t have the risk tolerance for this.
House: Bought for $580,000, now worth ~$700,000. Still owe around 545k.
Assets:
401K: ~$140,000. I max out my contribution to my 401k. I did not start contributing to this until I was 27 but all my past employers have had generous matches which has helped.
ROTH IRA: ~$11,000. My husband and I have a joint ROTH IRA that we’ve maxed out every year for past 4-5 years. All our accounts have taken a beating this year, not unlike everyone else, so these numbers used to be much higher. Keep reminding myself to play the long game!
Brokerage Account $6,000. I’d like to be more aggressive with this but we’re doing our best at the moment.
Income
I am currently working full-time as a tech consultant. I’ve only been here a year, but I love the work and the benefits are generous. The job is very stressful and a bit hectic sometimes but it’s hard to imagine I’ll get everything I have at this job elsewhere, so I plan to stay awhile a while.
Main Job Monthly Take Home: ~$4,825 2x/month
Side Gig Monthly Take Home: $0. I joked with my husband I should start bartending to keep up with my student loan payments and IVF costs, but he wouldn’t stand for it.
Other Income: I sometimes do other work with modest honorariums that probably only bring in around $2k a year. This year is an outlier thought and I will get almost $9k.
Total Income: ~$4,825. I don’t account for other income into my budget and whatever I get just gets chucked towards student loans.
Monthly Expenses
Rent: $1550 (Half of my mortgage. My husband has VA Loan so we didn’t need a down payment for the house, just closing costs, which is why our mortgage may seem a little high. We also live in a HCOL area so this probably seems high but this is not far off from what we paid for rent living in the city, so this wasn’t a hard jump for us financially.
Debt payments: Anywhere from $1700 (the minimum) to $4000, depending on the month.
Utility Bills: ~$200 (I pay)
Cellphone + Internet: $150 (Husband pays)
Subscriptions: $150 (Husband pays)
Car Insurance: $100 (Covers both of us, husband pays)
Dining Out: $150-250. We very rarely go out to eat especially in the past few years because of pandemic and IVF but we’re trying to get in the habit of doing so once a month to enjoy ourselves. We're more likely to order in with UberEats or something. My husband usually pays even though it goes on our joint CC, he usually pays it off.
Shopping: Wildly fluctuates but anywhere from 500 to nothing. The older I’ve gotten the easier it is for me to avoid impulse buys.
Groceries: $1200-1500 – I pay for all groceries and house toiletries like soap, toothpaste, medicine, etc. One of the things we splurge on is high quality meats, organic fruits and vegetables, blah blah blah etc. This lifestyle change hasn’t made any difference in our IVF success unfortunately but we both couldn’t deny how great we felt eating that way, so we continue to do so despite me sometimes wincing at the cumulative cost. I make almost double what my husband does, so I take over a slightly higher percentage of our monthly bills but not by much because we both agreed I should prioritize paying down my student loans. He also covers dog food, treats, and medicine for both our dogs which really adds up and those more random, quarterly house expenses like Home Depot visits, pest control, buying a new mower, lawn care, and other things that come up more than you think (Home owners know the struggle). Once my debt is paid down, we will probably revisit the split of monthly expenses to see what makes sense.
Cleaning: $165/month (I pay) Having a house cleaner is one of those luxuries I would never give up. I’d rather cut back on dining out, shopping, etc if someone could come once a month to clean. We also have two big dogs, so it feels less of a luxury and more of a necessity.
Pet Insurance $80/month, covers both dogs (I pay)
Gas: $300 (I have a long commute and I go into the office almost every day)
Tolls: $225
Parking: $0 Work covers this, thank goodness!
Health Insurance: $0. My work covers health insurance for me and my husband. Huge bonus I don’t take for granted.
Total Expenses: I’ve estimated it is roughly around $6,500 a month at least for my portion of bills, assuming I’ve only paid the minimum of my student loans.
Debt Diary
2006 – Started college at a public university where I got free tuition from a combination of my mom’s job and my good grades. We still owed room and board which my parents covered for the most part and then took out loans to cover the rest when they divorced. My stepdad paid off the remaining balance of around 8k for me in my mid-twenties.
2010 – Graduated and moved to abroad for four years. Got great experience but pay was very low so no savings and no financial planning at all.
2014: Started my graduate degree back in the U.S.. Took out *all* the loans for this to include living expenses (150k). During this time I wanted to be a public servant so I felt confident my loans would be paid off after 10 years through Public Student Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. That’s not exactly how it worked out.
2016: Graduated and started my first “big girl” job at 27 making around $75,000 . This is the first time I started contributing to a 401k. I was working for a 401c3 so I qualified to start paying into the PSLF program. My loan payments, based on my income at the time was around $350-400 monthly. I got modest raises over the next few years that brought me to 85k before I switched jobs. During these four years, my student loans ballooned to 170k because I was only paying the minimum.
2020: My husband and I cancel our wedding and honeymoon (covid) but still get married. Got a new job that finally got me a low six figure salary (120k) but was in the private sector so still paying minimum on student loans but no longer was making qualified payments for student loan forgiveness. Thought I might still go back into government/nonprofit world.
2021: Changed jobs – same ish salary @ 125k, still in the private sector. Start what will be many rounds of unsuccessful rounds of IVF. I think the total cost has been somewhere around 80k. My husband’s grandmother has helped us a lot which I quite literally don’t know what we would do without, but it’s still been very financially, emotionally, and mentally taxing. Wasted a lot of money on supplements and acupuncture that didn’t help.
2022: Started at the job I have now. Base started at 175,000 plus 25% bonus. In the first year I got a promotion and a 20% raise, so I now make 210,000. This is when I realize that this is the career I enjoy and will likely not go back government service in the future or at least not long enough to participate in student loan forgiveness program. I also do the math and realize if I continue to pay the minimum of income-based repayment (based on my now much higher pay) I will end up paying 3-4x the loan amount over the course of my life. I decide to privatize my loans and choose a 10 year pay off plan because I want to be somewhat aggressive about it, hence the relatively high minimum payment of $1700. Despite the good interest rate (3% ish) the principal is so high that $400 of that goes to interest. It’s why I’d like to aggressive pay it down now, if for no other reason than to get the interest payments down.
2023: I’m told after many failed rounds of IVF, I’m unable to have genetic children. We start figuring out how we will afford other ways to build our family, all of which cost in the tens of thousands. Fortunately, (?) I’ve gotten my student loans down to 125k.
Now: Between canceling our wedding, our honeymoon, living through a pandemic and years of fertility struggles and awful treatments, I am now re-thinking how aggressively I’ve been paying down debt this past year. Approaching getting pregnant and debt payment both as a sprint and not a marathon has done me no favors. I also just want my husband and I to enjoy life a little bit given all our struggles. We both work so hard, and I want to make sure we’re making time (and money) on the things that make us happy. I also realize we need to figure out how we’ll pay to expand our family which overwhelms me but I’m trying to treat this just as a second marathon, not a sprint.
Reflection
Do I regret my student loans?
Despite my six figure loans living rent free in my mind constantly, it’s hard to regret taking them because I can’t imagine how else I would have built the career I have now, which I love and am very grateful for. My career is everything I always hoped for and more although sometimes I lose sight of that in the daily grind. Grad school was so time consuming it’s also hard to imagine how I would have worked at the same time and made enough money to make a meaningful difference in my bills. And I focused a lot of time on substantive internships that would help demonstrate my ability to shifting gears into a different career which I do think paid off in more ways than one. This new career path that I’m on also opens a lot of doors for me to continue to be a higher earner so in the long run, this amount of debt, while daunting and a bit menacing, is somewhat of a first world problem. It will get paid off. My only concern is if something catastrophic happened, since my loans are private, I would still have a very high mandatory minimum payment. Again, both my husband and I have a lot of job security and could always cash out our investment accounts, heaven forbid something awful happened. I think because the past few years have been so mentally taxing, I have very little bandwidth for regret.
Impact of Infertility
It is probably also worth noting that dealing with years of infertility and infertility treatments only to be told ultimately that I’m unable to have [genetic] children has changed who I am as a person and how I see life. We spent 3 years of our life in a pandemic lockdown and then in back-to-back all-consuming aggressive fertility treatments. I feel like we lost so much time and had very little levity during those times. I still plan on being diligent about paying off my debt and investing, but I want to cut myself some slack and allow my husband and myself to live a little, travel and just spend time enjoying our lives instead of just focusing on destinations (of having children and debt pay off).
Generational Wealth
The city I live in is filled with lots of wealthy people and many a times I’ve been in conversations where people ask where you sailed in the summer and skied in the winter, like it’s a given that everyone does this (lol). Most of the people I went to grad school with had their school paid off from family (plus help with a down payment for a house and wedding costs), and it occurs to me over and over how critical a role generational wealth can play in setting someone up for an incredibly easier life. My husband and I grew up middle class (which still conferred a lot of privilege that is never lost on us) but would like to make sure we have saved money for our [eventual] kids college so they’re not saddled with debt – and thinking about other investment accounts we could open for them to start generational wealth. Without my student loan debt, I could have an additional 200k to invest which would have meaningful impact on my kid’s and kid’s kid’s life when invested correctly. I don’t dwell too much on this though, at least anymore, but rather something I consider when planning for the future. Both my husband and I are still grateful for the advantages and privilege we still did and continue to have. Oddly, getting more interested in personal finance has made me feel more neutral about money which I appreciate.
Husband’s Influence
I also have to credit a lot of good money habits to my husband who was a really great influence on me on the importance of making consciousness steps to get a better credit score, invest aggressively, etc. I was definitely living for a good time not a long time up until I met him lol. We still prioritize spending money on fun without guilt but now I enjoy the process about making sure we’re set up well for the future.
​
​
Thank you for reading. I'm feeling a bit vulnerable talking about this stuff so please be gentle with me :').