EFFORTPOST IT Consultant isn't making his payments because he just wants to have more money in his savings account and he'll make them later

Miles, 25, Lake Mary, FL

Personal Life/Career:

• IT Consultant

  • Contractor, roughly $65'000 after taxes tiemstamp

    • 65 last year, likely 62 this year

    • $28/hr

    • Thinks he's a little low-balled should be getting $35 an hour

    • Since January with this current place? Lost his old job timestmap

      • Had "some issues" with a (female) VP/Director at Mitsubishi Power (not the car company)

      • "She's kind of... an issue"

      • Had old job for 2 years

    • He definitely reports all his income for realsies timestamp

  • More old job deets

    • Coworker in that same month "got in [his] face, cussed [him] out" (circa November 2023) timestamp

      • Claims coworker was trying to break a security privacy law related to moving data between different countries

• Has a fiance and a 9 month old

  • She's a stay at home mom at the moment, no income

• relationship with parents timestamp

  • "it's a little toxic"

• Are you really hard-headed? timestamp

Financials:

• "So basically uh, what all kind of happened is I never really took my finances too seriously" timestamp

  • Major story time about family backstory?

  • Was renting from his parents in central Orlando for $500 a month?

  • Had an argument with the parents about them coming over unannounced?

    • "We'll keep coming by whenever we want if you have a problem with it be out by [date]"

    • "They kept coming by and harassing"

    • They took the TV that they had given to his sister (sister was living with him?) - took the tv while he was watching UFC

      • Parents also took all their other stuff?

  • The actual point timestamp

    • got forced to move?

    • they gave him eviction papers, stuck on doors and windows "might not have been real eviction papers"

    • Had to move by November 2023

  • Moving meant he needed a new motorcycle because he had to sell his jeep timestamp

    • Gas was "$100 a week"

    • Parents bought the Jeep for him when he was 18 (13'500 for it)

      • Used the money on the motorcycle and the move

• Self-score 6/10 timestamp

  • He has a "good amount of money saved up" and I can afford rent/food, about a third of savings will be going to taxes

• "My fiance says I have a shit-eating grin" timestamp

• Credit Card 1 ($1129/$1200) timestamp

  • $37 Late fee

  • Paid $45 to it

  • No new purchases

  • $73 due next month

  • Second late fee

  • Why isn't he paying his bills? timestamp

    • He wants to make sure that he still has money set aside???????

    • He tries to justify that he wants to have money if something happens?

    • Because it's like then I'm not gonna have it?

    • "It's hard for me to see the benefit"

• Credit Card 2 (Amazon) (5'145/5'000) timestmap

  • $373 minimum payment

    • includes $39 Late Fee

  • $116 in interest charged

  • Originally just a groceries card for Whole Foods

  • Fiance had to go take care of her grandparent, spent a couple months there?

    • Story time

    • Adjusted to 6 months, he gets pressed timestamp

      • Goes into a story about cash advances

      • He didn't know how cash advance interest works

      • He was doing twice a month cash advances for weed? $300 to $500 a month on weed timestamp

        • Claims he is not doing this any more

        • Tries to adjust the weed number down to $300 timestamp

    • "Are you trying to piss me off?" "A little bit" timestam

      • 

      • He says he's seen the show "plenty of times"

  • Has never budgeted

  • Got some advice to invest in Ali Baba, $3'000 timestamp

    • From a buddy who does day trading

    • Went from 3'000 to 300

  • Pressed on another missing payment timestamp

    • He paid it a week late

  • $15 in purchases, he didn't realize he'd bought anything this month

    • Some amazon order

  • Awkward shifting after caleb "jokes" about butchering the guest timestamp

  • He didn't know that minimum payments would increase if he got late fees

• Does not have a retirement account

• Florida Career College timestamp

  • Owes them $2373

  • "Third attempt notice'

  • Apparently they never gave him the degree?

  • He didn't go to the graduation to get physical the cert? He thought that he would need the literal physical cert

  • He's so stubborn he decided that he just wasn't going to pay because they weren't giving him the cert because he didn't go to the graduation

  • He was hoping Biden would get rid of them timestamp

    • He didn't know that Biden wouldn't have forgiven private loans

• Federal Student Loan

  • 5'496

  • Not making payments right now? He's just not paying

• $939 Phone timestamp

  • 0%

  • $125 phone bill

• Caleb reminisces about what his own butt looked like when he wasn't as fat timestamp

• They call his parents on speaker to get their side of things, editor is there to translate Spanish timestamp

  • Parents sound like they did literally nothing wrong and should take more of his stuff

• Affirm timestamp

  • "I like Affirm though"

  • Justification for TV "How am I gonna watch UFC?"

    • "I like to have the boys over"

  • What are the interest rates? timestamp

    • Thinks of them are between 25% and 30%

  • The actual interest rates timestamp

    • 36% $500 on one?

    • $600 TV at 30%

      • TV is "not even that good" $400 that he paid $600 for

    • 36%

  • So how does it make sense? timestamp

• Car (2005 PT Cruiser)

  • Got for his fiance

• Motorcycle (no debt?)

• Checking Account $363 timestamp

  • Disney+ (kid likes Bluey?), Spotify,

  • Went to see Nascar?

  • $63 at a dispensary

  • Overdraft timestamp

    • He knew it was going to happen?

  • Fair bit of eating out

• High Yield Savings (5'000) timestam

  • He thinks it's close to 6'000 (it's almost 5'000 flat)

  • He's paying his taxes quarterly? Thinks he'll end up with 9'000 after his quarterly

  • Thinks he's saving $1'700 a month

  • Gets pressed on whether his savings math is right

Pie Chart - timestamp

• 1'470 rent

• Does not pay utilities - fiance's cousin sleeps on couch, he pays utilities

• $70 for Internet (no Fiber)

• $230 car insurance

• On govt insurance? timestamp

  • Question about whether this hits him on taxes?

• $55 Gym

• $125 jujitsu gym

Planning to go on a cruise with fiance this August timestamp

• He hasn't bought in yet

"We actually had to stop you from smoking before you came on" timestamp

Mentions that he owns some land in Honduras in the epilogue