Please help... need financial advise!!!?

Question

If my income is 38k yearly and my debt is about 15k + 10k for my automobile... How does a 27 year old guy get out of debt and into his own home...? I haven’t had anyone to teach me this and would really like to learn... please, anything you have to say will be greatly appreciated....

Answer 1

First step is to set up a budget. Make a list of all your bills. Categorize them by housing, utilities, food, car, credit cards, etc. Look over all your bills for ways to cut costs. For example, your landline phone: do you need call waiting and those other extra fee services? are you paying for wire maintenance? You can knock about $15 off the phone bill by getting rid of these.

Next, get a notepad and write down everything you spend money on for two weeks. You'll be amazed at how much money you are wasting.

Concentrate on paying off your credit cards first. Take every penny you can squeeze out of your budget and throw it at the highest interest rate card, while making minimum payments on the rest. When the highest rate card is paid off, move to the next till they are all paid off. Then only charge what you can afford to pay in full each month.

If you have other loans in the $15K, work on paying them off next. If you work at it, you can probably pay this off in 2 years.

With the debt out of the way, put a set amount every payday into savings for that house. Always good to have a nice fat downpayment.

You probably should pull your credit report and check for any negatives. You'll have to settle those before you can qualify for a mortgage. But you can deal with those later. Start with the budget and paying off those credit cards.

Answer 2

First thing you need to do is get rid of that automobile--it is costing you way too much. If you can sell the automobile and not owe any money, and buy an inexpensive reliable automobile for a few years, you should be able to cut that debt down a lot.

Also, cut out any nonessentials--cable, eating out, etc. I know you want to do these things, but right now you are in debt and need to get out before it gets worse. Once you clean it up, create a budget to create a nice balance of spending and saving so it doesn't happen again.

There is a nice little saying I read the other day for entrepreneurs, but it can be applied to anyone: "Entrepreneurs must be willing to delay gratification, to forgo the $56,000 luxury automobile now in order to 'have it all' in the future."

Good luck. Hope this helps!

Answer 3

I will tell you what I did to save alot of money. Its something simple but has to be stuck to. Make a food menu first. Mon-Sat. For two weeks. Write it down on paper and post it on your fridge. For example: Mondays-porkchops and salad, Tuesday: lasagna and cumcumber salad, etc etc. Make a menu and only grocery shop for what is needed for your two week menu. I have a family that consists of three people, myself included, if your only one person left overs are a blessing. I only spend no more then 78 bucks for two weeks of schedule menu food compared to fast food that could cost a family of 3 an average of 10 bucks a day if we ate fast food every day. That would add up to 140 bucks every two weeks. My second advice, look at your credit report and make sure there are no lingering things on there that are not yours. Credit reports should be viewed at least yearly to make sure there is nothing on there that should be removed or something may be on there that is not yours because credit reports get scrambled all the time. If thats the case write all three consumer assistance EQUIFAX, TRANSUNION, EXPERIAN. You need to stay on top of your credit score. Third, don't spend more then you earn.

Answer 4

Angelina, are you for real?