Don't blame payday loan businesses. They provide a service to folks who need money with bad or no credit. The interest rates are so high because the default rate is high. Otherwise, they would not be able to stay in business. It's simple math. You should actually thank them for taking a risk on you and loaning you money in your time of need. Congrats on being responsible and paying off your debts!

The correct finance take is downmarseyd. I guess Redditors would rather this guy not be able to get money when he needed it.

And who's fault is it that they have horrible credit again? Not the pay day loan people.

In America? So many reason: medical debt, being in the foster system, minor crimes like shoplifting as a teen, being gay (ie your parents make you homeless), disability, a fire, your landlord ups the rent by 50% or more, your employer decides to fire you, ohh so many reasons.

Instead of being judgmental, you may want to show some empathy and compassion for those less fortunate. SPECIALLY if you call yourself a Christian.

The seethe is amazing.

It’s horrid. Places like that, payday loans/advances and rent to own businesses are nothing short of predatory. You only ever see them near poverty stricken areas of town. They just want to make your life worse

Well im not debating that they are not predatory.

But like do you think rich people need loans to buy basic items like furniture?

The shady stores don't stand a chance there because they would laugh and then buy something that costs more than 3 of the shitty rent to buy furniture sets that have probably been repossessed twice before you got it.

So close to getting the point. So close. Just because someone is poor doesn’t mean that it’s ok to target them with your predatory shit, and it certainly doesn’t mean that these businesses even vaguely belong in working class communities.

Completely misread the point and smugposts about it.

That's all the effort you are getting out of me. So many people there with poor financial decisions.

WORK FOR FREE

3 times a month is still quite a bit but idk i'm a ruralcel

it ain't shit but it's still too much

LSA or /pol?

Massive improvement over the alcoholic harpy link

Lisa, 22, Austin TX

Personal Life:

• Lived in a small town in midwest but moved to Austin

• My mom didn't graduate high school and my dad barely graduated high school"

Career:

• Twitch streamer

  • Has tried to branch out but "hasn't felt the motivation" to actively put content out elsewhere

  • "What do you make on a monthly basis?" "I don't really look all that much because it gives me a lot of anxiety"

    • Sub Revenue:

      • Bad months - $1000

      • Good months - $3000

    • Donations:

      • Bad month - 2000-3000

      • Good month - 3000-4000

    • Last year - a little under 50k

    • Made 15-20k in the last two months from a "subathon" but did similar last year

      • Spent 2-3000 expenses on this

  • Assumption 4'000 a month

  • Losing money on fees for Paypal?

    • Getting charged an 11% fee

  • Paid about 4000 in taxes last year

    • Does her own taxes, does not have an LLC

Debt/Expenses:

• Rent - timestamp

  • Lease for old apartment is ending June 12 (today)

    • Currently in a sublease ending July 31st - $1200 for that

  • "Where are you going in two months?" "I don't know"

• Car: timestamp

  • 2018 Jeep Renegade, about 20'000 miles

    • No major issues, crack in the windshield from a rock

  • Started 2020 8.1% apr, $292 a month payment

  • Father is cosigner, want her to refinance because they want to get another car but can't while he's cosigned

  • She's 44 payments in, not even half way through

    • 2025 or 2026 she finishes up?

  • Had car insurance when she first moved there but stopped because $200 a month was too much for her

    • Borrows her friend's car a lot, drove

  • Credit score is 681

  • Rationalizing about whether she wants to keep the car or not timestamp

• Credit cards -

  • They scare her so she doesn't have any

    • Worried she'd forget payments or get in over her head timestamp

  • Massive bullet dodged

• One of the 3 people in america subbed to Discovery+

• $500 on eating out last month (15% of her income)

• Had a cat, also found a stray cat 1-2k on medical costs but he has feline leukemia, apparently this is cat AIDS

  • Keeps the two separate, no interactions

  • timestamp

• Not on her parents' health insurance

  • Father is disabled and mother is a waitress, both have state health insurance

  • since she's no longer in school and not in the same state they didn't keep her on, not certain whether it was because state or personal choice by the parents

• Doesn't have Renter's insurance, she forgot about it

Savings/Retirements:

• Paypay timestamp

  • Doesn't separate business and personal paypals?

  • Three $120 payments to something called Canva, she doesn't recognize it

    • Also made a $50 adobe payment

  • Current balance - $1800

• Student Checking -

  • Dropped out

  • Didn't borrow money, her father got a million dollar settlement in a mining accident before he was born

    • Money went 1/4 for funny money other 3/4 split between 3 kids as trusts

• Savings -

  • $12'121

  • Had to take out some to cover her rent

  • Goal is never to touch it unless it's the only option

• $600 in Bonds, from $500 she put in after High School graduation

I (30F) am just frustrated. I don’t understand how to even begin to move forward and get ahead. Money is the worst!! I am at a big adult job now and make 65k which is the most I have ever made. It’s awesome and I love my job it does keep me busy but overall it’s great with good people. Every month I pay 3k to bills (rent, child care, utilities) this leaves me with $400-$500 every paycheck, which is the 15th and 30th of every month. I know it seems like a lot but it’s not. I have a husband (41M) who is graveyard and doesn’t make much but gets paid weekly maybe $450-$550 a week and a toddler (4M) who takes a lot of time and money obviously. Car payment is auto take out $288 and second one I try n pay $350 so we aren’t paying $680 all at once. I’ve had to take out a payday loan and it’s been eating at me. Credit cards are maxed out for gas and food and it’s hard to pay them and not use them.

I feel like I’m drowning. We barley have $15-$20 in our account after everything. I guess my question is, does it ever get better? What am I doing wrong to have it so near death every month? What in the world can I do to do better?

I was thinking of a second job but then I would never be with my kid or even sleep. I feel so torn I think I just need some personal advice on how to make it work.

Thanks 😊

A couple of bad with money tell tale signs were in the OP.

• "adult job"

• separate finances from spouse and worded in a way that makes it sounds like they pay for nothing and you wonder if they even make money

• describes pay in multiple different units. Annual salary for her, weekly pay for him. Expenses are described monthly but left over funds described as per paycheck.

• Completely nonsensical sentences like: "Car payment is auto take out $288 and second one I try n pay $350 so we aren’t paying $680 all at once."

So what the heck does that sentence even mean?

It’s $680 for one car and $580 for the second. We unfortunately need both cars since he doesn’t get home until I’m already at work.

$1,260 a month is pretty beefy for someone making $65k/yr with a husband making $450-550 a week. /r/personalfinance turns on them here and lots of "I make $900k and I would never have car payments over $300" posts follow.

The husband is disabled in some way but he can't receive any benefits.

Not really. He’s partially disabled and can’t receive benefits since it’s not “fully disabled” he’s limited in what he can do

Finally, they had to file for bankruptcy two years ago which is why the first car has such a high payment (compared to the second?)

We had to do a BK almost 2yrs ago and that affected the first car. We owe way more then it’s worth unfortunately. The second is a Corolla we got it for the gas since the other car is a Buick enclave and eats gas like crazy. I have tried to turn it in we just don’t have that option.

Once you figure out the puzzle of their financial life (that they tell us about at least), they have about ~$2,000/month after rent, cars, utilities, and child care so they're probably spending $3,000-$4,000/m on food and worthless crap.

Jesus Christ that’s a hole

Ron, 33, Nashville TN

Self-rated 3/10 situation

Personal Life:

• Falling out with his parents

  • Says father was emotionally abusive/manipulative

  • Has since mended bridges with them somewhat?

  • Asked if he could move back in after getting a remote job, they said no

  • Good relationship with his mother, bad with his father, they are still married?

    • Mother makes 200'000?

• Debt from early 20s moving out of his parents house

  • Story time about being a boozer - timestamp

  • Was van living for a little while so more money to party

    • Stopped in late 2019 early 2020

• Addicted to Mountain Dew timestamp

  • Goes through 2 a day, doesn't buy from stores, just from gas stations or dunkin donuts?

  • "If it's a bad day I will go and get more"

• "Do you have diabetes?" timestamp

  • "Not that I know of, I haven't been to a doctor in 5 years"

  • Blood sugar test timestamp

    • "I don't have diabetes by the way I just have all medical equipment possible because I'm afraid of something going.. bad"

    • New Caleb lore - he is terrified of needles and blood plus is some sort of paranoid

    • Apparently he does not have diabetes?

• Brother had addiction stuff as well? (marijuana and alchy)

Career:

• Tried to apply for real jobs out of school, never got callbacks

  • timestamp

• Call center 40 hour week

  • $18 an hour

• Starting a second job in a couple weeks

  • Variable, $18.50 after 5, $20 weekends

  • Also 40 hours?

  • Call center stuff but different from the other call center

• Some online stuff

  • Runs DnD games online

    • 3 hours a piece depending on how much he needs to prep

    • $600 a month or so

      • 1 game ended

    • Using some site for this that pimps out DMs

    • Made 10k last year from this

    • Runs these games through his phone? "Only reason I bought it"

    • uses Fiverr people to do stuff for it?

• Got a cat recently, photo shown to camera timestamp

• His mother gave him 1'300 total last month

Expenses:

• Mountain Dew:

  • Unreal amounts of mountain dew more than $400 a month

• Rent $1230

  • Low end, not a great neighborhood, pays for laundry not within complex?

Debts:

• Discover Card (Card 1) Around $3000: timestamp

  • Had to put car repairs on it?

  • 4 tires and some maintenance stuff

  • Minimum monthly maybe $30? He's not certain

  • 25% interest

  • Had paid off the card with a personal loan years prior to the car repairs

  • Dunkin Donuts - 2 Dews for $4 "That's how they get you"

• USAA (Card 2) $7712:

  • 20% interest, $631 lost on interest this year

  • Did not spend anything on there

• Costco (Card 3) $908:

  • Paid 218 but made 185 in purchases 14 in interest

  • Credit limit of 750

  • Thinks the purchases were all unnecessary

  • 30% interest

• Car: 2010 Toyota Camry

  • 130'000 miles

  • $5438 left on it

  • 4.99% interest rate

  • Bought right before the pandemic hit

• Personal Loan $18'173 timestamp:

  • 2 or 3 cards, and the rest of the loan balance of the van he had, has since sold Van

  • $584 min payment

  • originally 25'000

Student Loans:

• Majored in Business?

• Southern Hampshire University?

• $38'900 federal student loans, Probably 470 minimum payment

• These are why he decided to get a second job

Savings:

• Checking

  • Gets money from his mother?

  • 26.76 => 5132 - 3918 => 1247

• Business Checking account for his DnD thing:

  • "Cloak & Dagger LLC"?

Budget Section timestamp:

• -$1231 between minimum budget and basic survival currently without the second job

I've given up on life and am wasting away.

I can't do that under someone else's roof since I won't ask them to support me, so I need to leave and never come back.

I have no job (because I got laid off back in February) and no prospects (just several interviews with tests that never lead to a job offer). Applied to 250 jobs and my unemployment is running out. My savings is depleted, I'm 210 pounds, losing my hair, and am a general waste of oxygen.

I need to go somewhere where I don't have to pay a dime: just lay there until I finally die since killing myself is against the law for some stupid reason.

I'm fine with whatever comes with being in either (being drugged, being assaulted, being robbed) because at least it's a free hot and a cot.

Best advice on where to waste away without having to spend a dime: psych ward or homeless shelter?

The sooner I can be an unidentified toe tag, the better.

Any "it's gets better", "find God/Jesus" nonsense will be ignored.

Feel free to give me tough love, though. That's always a reliable reminder that I'm a roach.

She also has vaginismus that sugarbabying has cured i guess. Click link for her tik tok explaining lol

vaseline? what in the !peakpoors use carmex like a normie

what does this mean?

please upmarsey i want a podcast hole thanks

oh yeah after watching, she shoulda been left. $5000 on summer camp and he sound asleep ?? pic.twitter.com/6yfz2BdsBd

— Rae (@raefromabyss) June 7, 2023

Honestly that's some bad luck lmaoooo

Michael, 33, Richmond VA

Self-rated: 1/10

Career:

• Door to door solar salesman

  • Started working for them in February

  • Claims it's one of the best markets in the country for it

  • All commission, no base pay

  • Income so far this year, he brought a spreadsheet timestamp

    • Jan - $2163

    • Feb - $630 (Started Door to Door Solar here)

    • March - $3220

    • April - $3125

    • May - About $9000

  • Believes it will settle between 7'000 and 10'000

  • Payment model -

    • Paid 175 they see the presentation

    • $225 if they buy

    • 8-10 people -

    • Who in the world first answers their door to salesmen and two actually lets them do a presentation timestamp

      • "It happens, all the time"

      • Apparently old people are a tougher sell, usually younger demographic

    • Talks to about 20-30 people a day, thinks he should be doing more

      • Started out doing 4-6 hours a day, started working 10 hour days in May tripling his income

• Worked for a different Door to Door solar prior, made about 45'000, his first year doing it

  • Did it for 4 hours a day

Personal Life:

• Last year was a "little chaotic" timestamp

  • Started a business for online marketing

    • Wanted to fill the rest of the day since he was only putting in 4 hours a day at the prior solar company

  • Goes more into this "business" later on when explaining Debts

    • "So basically you get access to a platform, right? And you can uh you can start your business from there" timestamp

    • △

  • Also sold roofs in Florida for 3 months?

• "I've been in debt since I was probably... eighteen years old"

  • "About to completely run out of money" last Decemberish

  • Tries explaining how he got in this situation in broad terms timestamp

Debts/Expenses:

• "Special Financing Company LLC" $4'012 timestamp:

  • Down to about 3'000 now

  • Minimum payment $320

    • 240 to principal, 80 to finance charge?

  • Personal loan he took out to start the marketing business

  • Doesn't remember what the initial amount was

• Taxes due timestamp:

  • Has not paid the IRS jannies

  • filed extension so he has until September

• Interpersonal debts

  • Borrowed from them since he only made 600 in Feb?

  • Owes roommate about a $1'000

    • Paid off

  • Owes parents about $2'000

    • Not paid off

• Student Loans timestamp

  • $49'845

  • Got a biology degree from "Old Dominion University" (Not sure I heard the name right)

  • Thinks it's between 4% and 6%

  • Probably minimum payment of $500

• Another shot of The Spreadsheet, debts section this time timestamp

  • Verizon $1321

    • Financed an iPad and iPhone

  • Credit Card $6'628 timestamp

    • Cut it up sometime last month when he started making more money

    • Losing $100 in interest every month (18% in interest)

    • $164 minimum payment

    • Made $68 in purchases

Savings:

• Nothing set aside for taxes currently

• Nothing saved for Retirement

• $4000 in his checking

• Savings account 2100 ending balance timestamp

  • 3600 in 2000 out this month, might have gone to checking? Some Dave Ramsey thing about maintaining 1000 in savings

  • He starts going through all the debit transactions

    • Mysterious $148 charge from Alient timestamp

      • thinks he knows but doesnt want to say

      • When I google Alient I only see a ceramics company and something that seems to have been acquired by AT&T

    • Best Buy $742 timestamp

      • Doesn't remember what this was, seems genuine this time

Brief summary:

• $350k mortage at 2.75%, covered by military pension and disability

• One car loan and one lease at $1,000/m (doesn't give balance, remember this part for later)

• $50k credit card debt, $2,000/m

• Special needs kid, receives unknown amount from state. Wife stays home with him.

• Works for Fedex

Thanks that make you go

my wife worked door dash for 6 months in 2021 to finance 1/2 of an overseas trip (see below).

The thing is my job now is the first one I’ve ever had where I LOVE going into work. I’m probably worth more elsewhere but I currently have a lot of perks (company vehicle, unlimited PTO) that would be hard to let go of.

Go with a consolidation company. My wife did this 2 years ago with her debt. But her credit score suffered, we had collectors calling. She even got served by one bank but collection company worked something out with them as they do I guess. She’ll be done paying them next year.

I have a huge video game collection that I’ve amassed over the past 15 years. I could probably sell half of it over the course of the next 3 months and make about $10k. I’ve actually started doing this within the past week.

Our dinning out used to up to $1200 a month. Now we cook at home almost exclusively. In 2019 I spent about $4000 on video games, buying vintage systems and games. This year I bought the latest Zelda game, that’s it. We do like to travel. But we (my wife) has finally excepted that our planned trip (overseas again) this fall, is not going to happen.

As for the car they purchased while being provided a company car(?):

The car is a 2022 and this year they came out with a new model and drop the price by a significant amount which in essence makes my car worth about $15k less than I owe on it currently.

From what I can tell with some really rough math, I think this guy is making like $40k a year as a Fedex driver. He never says so I'm not sure. But the wife says it's time to man up:

Yes I agree. My wife is a very intelligent person but she is also very stubborn…VERY! Her current stance is my main goal should be looking for a higher paying job.

A father-of-two travelled to Turkey and spent $106,000 to get limb-lengthening surgery to increase his height after deciding his legs were 'too short' for his body.

Brian Sanchez, 33, a mortgage broker who lives in Georgia with his wife, Nidia, 30, and their daughters, Kaisley, two, and Kairi, six, said he felt like his body was 'out of proportion' and he looked like 'like a huge thumb

Brian Sanchez, 33, a mortgage broker who lives in Georgia said he felt like his body was 'out of proportion' and he looked like 'like a huge thumb'. Pictured: Brian before (L) and after (R) the surgery

'It's going to be really nice just to be able to hug her and have her all the way down there on my chest instead of being almost eye level.

'One of the things that I'll enjoy the most is being able to work out again and put some weight on my legs and have my body look a little bit more how I want it to.'

Last January, Brian realised his legs didn't match his 'torso proportions'.

He said: 'I realised that my legs were always looking weird, and I didn't know what it was, until one day I was sitting next to my brother-in-law who is almost 6ft 6in, and I was actually a little taller than he was.

'I thought that was weird, because I knew he was taller than I am by a lot, and we stood up, and all of a sudden, I started looking and realised my legs were too short for my body.

I'm broad, have long arms, and I'm wide, but my short legs make me look different – I almost look like a huge thumb, like those thumb men from Spy Kids.'

After the realisation, Brian, who had never previously had cosmetic surgery, started to dislike his aesthetics and decided to research ways to make himself taller.

He said: 'I thought I can either find a new hobby, and give up lifting weights, or I can fix the issue.

Brian had his first operation in last December, which involved breaking his tibia and fibula, putting a rod inside the bones, and fastening it with screws

I'm not posting anymore of the article but it's worth reading if you care

now, some TheColi commentary

please someone make a westbrook marsey for the love of bardfinn

i think the caucs are fine with 6 foot but our brehs see it differently

who the frick doesn't have HPV?

Nice

nvm

Forgot to paste this into the link spot

Mel, 22, San Antonio TX

Personal Life:

• Lives with her boyfriend, splits rent/utilities

• Wants to work govt job for student loan forgiveness? Nothing specific

• Boyfriend

  • Manager at Lackland Air Force Base - timestamp

    • Something about videography?

  • He's planning on going back to school, got a degree in fine arts/photography wants to do cloud computing

Career:

• Personal Shopper

  • HEB

  • 25 hours?

  • 300 a week, depends on hours worked

• Grad Student

  • Got undergrad in Marketing last May

  • MBA

  • Taking out debt, took out debt for undergrad as well

  • 12'000 a year tuition

  • "Why aren't you cashflowing it?" timestamp

  • Planning to be done next May

• Talent Acquisition at Ford "Social Media Coop" (?)

  • Remote work

  • 20 hours a week?

  • 850 - 900 twice a month

  • "Why is this Ford position not a full time position for you" timestamp

    • Started 4 months ago, thinks it is just a trial? Had it as a part time because she wasn't certain about how demanding grad school would be

• Total income $3000 after taxes

Expenses/Debts

• Loan ($2069 remaining)

  • Credit card consolidation

  • Some part of debt was initially because she wanted a Macbook for school

  • $90 monthly payments

  • "26 payments to go"

  • More than 10% interest

• "This past semester I took out $20'000" timestamp

  • Her excuses

  • Clarifies that this is for the whole year? More of her classes are in the evenings and shes worried they might cut into her HEB job

  • On top of existing 36'386 timestamp

    • incredible gymnastics on these rationalizations timestamp

  • All Federal

  • thinking about a PhD

    • Would be done in 2026/2027ish?

• LOTS of eating out timestamp

  • "I didn't realize how bad it was"

• Explanation of how she budgets timestamp

• Imprint HEB Card (Card 1):

  • "You get 5% cashback"

  • Pays it off, lots of subway purchases on there

  • "Favored Subway"

    • Some sort of regional doordash that's more expensive?

• Synchrony Card American Eagle? (Card 2) (not sure I heard this right):

  • $300 credit limit

  • $29 late fee

  • 30% interest on this card, "I got it a long time ago"

• Ikea Furniture Plan?

  • 0% financed apartment furniture

  • 546 remaining, her and her boyfriend split it, paid 300 on it last month,

  • minimum payment 37

• 2018 F-150 truck

  • parents pay for it, it's in their name and they pay insurance for it

Savings:

• $102 in her checking ($708 on hold?)

  • "I try to leave myself with at least 150 a week, that's my budget" timestamp

• Hasn't started a 401k, one of her jobs offers it with matching but she hasn't signed up

SHE THOUGHT HER STUDENT LOANS WERE ZERO PERCENT FOREVER

timestamp

i’ve had the activate windows watermark on my pc for the past 5 years and my moid won’t stop telling me to buy a key but i’m a poorcel and don’t have the money rn (plus frick paying for windows they’re gay) so anyone have a spare key i can have? i’ll give you 1000DC if the key works !dramatards

Subreddit link in case of drama

Jose, 29, Dallas TX

Self-rated 4/10 financially and slowly declining

Career/Business stuff:

• Personal Trainer

• Started a gym

  • Signed lease a year ago

  • Opened 6-9 months

  • "All of it's debt" (did not save up money before starting)

  • One of his clients loaned him money to help get gym started

• Has his business/personal life merged, difficulty separating the two

• Bringing in 10k a month

  • "Now after expenses what does that look like" "Gonna be honest I haven't done the math" timestamp

  • "I am uhh slightly in the red"

  • "I would say right now it costs about 2 grand roughly" a month to run the business

  • Rent is 1600 a month, going to go up in July to 4'600

    • Was on a 6 month "baiters" lease? I didn't hear this part clearly

• Only employee is his girlfriend, she keeps about 60% commission

  • brings in 4'500 for the business? Not sure

  • "A lot of our finances are also intertwined"

• 0 cost on equipment besides a loan on a body scanner?

  • $160 a month

• Bought cleaning supplies in bulk and hasn't needed to buy more since then

• Electricity - 150, 200 a month

• Water currently included with the lease?

• Internet about $80

• Pandora subscription $10

• Insurances

  • Doesn't have them

• Business credit card debt

  • "Under a special program that they have" reduced interest, reduced monthly payment

  • "About 370"

• Personal Loan from the client

  • Lent 50k

  • Paying him 1360 a month but through an exchange of services? Trains him/wife 3 times a week

• Personal Loan

  • 170 monthly payment

• Has an LLC set up

  • Not currently funneling money through this before it gets to him

• Setting money aside for taxes? (this wasn't mentioned)

• Should be around 3000 dollars of profit but he doesn't know where it goes

• Currently struggling to hire a trainer, has two-three leads per month he's able to handle?

• No base pay for the new hire, 40% commission only for anyone interested

• Had a friend he set up a deal with for training at the gym and the bridge got burned for various reasons

  • deets timestamp

• Had another guy who put his two weeks in 3 weeks ago they've been looking for someone since then

• Plans to start doing youtube content to help promote the gym

Debts:

• Blue Cash Preferred Amex (Card 1) $4898:

  • $86 minimum payment, made $55 in purchases on this card

  • Doesn't know what those purchases on there, thought he had already canceled everything on this card

  • $33 interest charged (409 total so far this year)

  • On this card with his gf

• Blue Business Amex (Card 2) 12'691:

  • Business card

  • 371 minimum payment

  • $40 new purchases, $81.47 in interest charged, $1112 interest total for this year

  • 691 above credit limit

  • Thought he had canceled everything on it

  • Purchases at two record stores and disney+

• Inbody scanning machine thing

  • 63 month term

  • 36'260 total financed, has paid maybe 5000?

  • $100 monthly payment since May of last year

  • No interest

• Upstart Loan

  • Took it out because the lease was about to start and he didn't have the money for first month's rent (had already signed the lease)

    • Story and reasoning timestamp

  • 30% interest loan

  • Minimum monthly payment (he doesn't remember it) timestamp

Savings/Expense:

• Business checking:

  • $30 -> $1239

  • Lot of zelles in (clients), some zelles from himself into the account

  • Lots of Amazon purchases (at least 15 separate purchases)

    • Gym equipment

    • Some of his other purchases here: timestamp

    • PSN payment is on the business account

  • G-suite

  • $34 overdraft fee

  • Zelle payments timestamp

• Does not have any savings?

• Pays a $30 subscription to another gym

• His personal rent is going to decrease he thinks? Will go down to $675 starting June

• Does not currently have health insurance

• Car insurance $200

• Parents currently cover his phone bill?

Might have gotten some of this wrong, hopefully mostly right though

Brianna, 41, Seattle WA

Single, owns a few cats, no mention of boyfriend/girlfriend/exes

"I have a lotta debt. It's a lot of stuff I've racked up from a long time ago and I've been slowly making progress over time but just this year is when I started making a really decent income"

• Increased by $6'000 annually

Wants to leave her current apartment because "the neighborhood is going south"

Career:

• Job 1: Bookeeper

  • Small private firm

  • 25.75 full time (53k yearly)

• Job 2: Podcast assistant

  • Working on two podcasts for a woman who has health and wellness podcasts

  • Show notes, artwork, audio-editing

  • Flat $385 a week altogether

• Around $6'000 monthly pre-tax?

Expenses/Debts:

• $176 in subscriptions

  • "If you have netflix you have time to work!" timestamp

• Rent -

  • "I'm lucky right now my rent is extremely reasonable"

  • "I've been living in my apartment for a really long time"

• Apple Card (Card 1):

  • March31 $1'975 -> April30 $2'300

  • $46 minimum payment

  • Blames lifestyle creep for the increase in her spending

  • "Did you follow a budget?" "Then I did not but now I do"

  • Pays down balance that would accrue interest before interest is charged? I didn't understand this one timestamp

  • Lots of eating out, 3-4 visits to watch Mariners games

  • Paypigs hundreds of dollars a month on Angry Birds

  • 2 apple purchases financed -

    • 0% APR on an Apple Watch

    • 0% on some cat thing

  • Emergency pet services put on the card because she didn't have the cash on hand

  • Claims she has had it for almost a year now and has not paid a single dime of interest

• Card 2:

  • $6'718

  • "That card was actually twice as much, I split it to do a 0% apr with a balance transfer"

    • "That was like 14'000" "I'm not quite sure what I spent that money on"

• Citi (Card 3)

  • $6689 -> $6'339 (Made $350 in payments on it)

  • minimum payment $63

• Amazon Card (Card 4):

  • "Because I was buying things on Amazon I opened an Amazon card for the the the points or whatever but this will also be paid off without accruing interest"

  • $555, $361 on traveling to see Caleb

    • He's not comping these people's flights timestamp

  • Whole Foods

  • A pair of shoes because she's been walking more often for fitness?

• Student Loans timestamp

  • $18'000s

  • 5% interest

  • "All Federal?" "I don't know"

    • They are federal

  • In deferment for a very long time when she was younger

  • Opted not to pause her loans?

    • Didn't realize she could pay them off still while they were paused

  • $304 minimum payment

• No vehicles

  • does not drive

Savings/Retirement:

• $100 -> $300 -> $0

• "Every time I try to put money in savings I'm like no wait I should spend that on paying my debt down and like-"

• Paid 225 for a psychic reading timestamp

• $200 in Robinhood

  • Some health thing, treasury bonds, and a vanguard etf

  • Cashed it out and spent in on credit card bill

• "Stash"

  • 2 accounts both around 1'200

  • bunch of random stocks

• Job just started to offer a 401k and she's made 1 contribution

• "I have a contingency plan for retirement" "What?" "It's my best friend, she has a pension and VA disability and she said I could we could get married"

Jessilyn, 21

Brandon, 32

Springfield MO

There's a pretty good chance I've gotten some of this wrong, there were a lot of numbers getting thrown around.

Husband self-rates: 2-3/10

Wife self-rates: 3/10

!straggots This is our fate

!incels How are you even real

!biofoids

Career:

Jessilyn: Stay-at-home mom

• Doordash and uber as side-hustles (about 400 a week after gas)

  • Only done these for 2 months so far, started because slow season for car sales right before taxes were due (end of Feb)

• "We're financially illiterate. I'd say I'm financially inexperienced, almost too"

Brandon: Car Salesman

• All commission based, 49'918 ytd (did 117k pre-tax last year)

  • Minimum wage or commission based whichever is greater? 277 hours a month?

  • About 30% for taxes

  • Only brought home 4'200 pre-tax in March?

    • Best months were Jan/Feb, all downhill from here?

• End of 2022 "economy just kinda shit the bed" so sales are down

Personal Life:

• "We met selling cars and then I got pregnant then we started dating"

  • Stopped selling cars in the summer because she didn't want to deal with the heat on car lot both fat and pregnant?

  • "Kind of a dumb decision looking back because they had 6 weeks of maternity leave and they offered to move me to a different position that was hourly based inside"

  • "From my understanding they will not hire her back because we're married"

• started dating last Spring

• moved into apartment last May

• "over the last month and a half we've moved out of our apartment so we're kinda like in a position too where there's not a whole lot of space to be able to keep stuff"

• Jessilyn is still on the mother's insurance

• Building a new house that was supposed to be ready middle of May?

  • It sounds like they're renting it?

Saving/Debt/Expenses:

• "I got denied for Paypal crediting like where they finance your things"

• Got most of these cards in June? Not sure I heard that right

• "Yeah, the ones I sent you were all the really bad ones"

  • not sure what she means by that?

• Got a car in April "probably spent way too much money"

  • "60'000 dollar car"

    • Still owe 57'891

    • Might be worth upper 40s, low 50s?

  • 2022 Grand Cherokee

  • Got some percentage off since he's an employee

  • 4.24%, was offered 3.29% but took that to go out an extra year in term to get the payment below $1000 a month

  • 920 minimum payment

  • He tries to convince them to sell this one timestamp

• Husband's car:

  • 2018 Kia Stinger

  • $26'850 owed, 11.51% interest

  • 525 minimum payment

• $330 for car insurance that covers both

• Loan to pay off delivery

  • 30k bill on the delivery, still owe 1668? Another 1800 sitting off loan because insurance may/may not cover it?

    • Projected 150 minimum payment, less if it's only the 1668

• Card 1:

  • 2917.43

    • 29 minimum payment (they made $43 in purchases on this card this month )

    • Interest free until December

    • Lots of recurring subscriptions through apple, they've since canceled them?

• Chase (Card 2):

  • "The baby one:

  • 455/500 balance -> made 0 payments -> 523.60

  • $80 minimum payment

• Citi (Card 3):

  • 4752 -> no payment and $258 purchases -> $5039

  • Had paid 300 off of it to get it down to 4752 prior "And that's so sad" timestamp

  • She put multiple Afterpays on here

    • One was lunch. She afterpaid her lunch

  • $29 late fee

    • "The way I see it is it's not all the way 30 days past due because my breaking point is if it hits my credit you kn-" timestamp

• Bluecash Everyday Amex (Card 4):

  • 826 -> -$60 payment, +$192 new transactions -> $961.36/$1000

  • Minimum $40, interest free

  • "We actually had that paid off the beginning of February" -

  • At 857 because she made just a payment on it

• "I actually got one [credit card] sent to me in the mail the other day and I was like I don't need another one" timestamp

• "My thought process, hear me out, was that my utilization right now is probably like 94, 96 percent and that's godawful don't get me wrong but if I open another credit card technically it would exp-"

  • "I don't give a shit"

• Discover (Card 5):

  • $3453 -> -$94 payment, +$155 new transactions, +$83 interest, +$30 fees -> $3627

  • $134 minimum payment

• [indecipherable] Bank (Card 6):

  • "Furniture loan"

  • $2534, 0% interest for another year or two?

  • Minimum payment $150

• Apple (Card 7):

  • $7'988/$8000

  • 255 minimum payment, 29.4% interest ($171 interest)

• "I have 3 Affirm loans"

  • "Big one that we've had since September of last year"

    • $400 minimum payment, almost paid off, $671 remaining

    • Financed their wedding rings

    • "Only reason we did it was it was 0%"

  • "Two amazon purchases"

    • "Both like a hundred dollars so they're each like-"

    • $53 left on one

    • $120 on the other

• Self-told history of her financial life

• Phones are financed

• iPad is financed (they bought an iPad for the baby?)

• Her apple watch is financed

• Child support

  • "That comes out of his paychecks out of the gross percentage"

• Brandon 17000 in retirement

• Jessilyn "I don't have a retirement"

  • "I also have like a cash value life insurance policy my mom's been paying in since I was a baby. It's cash value is only 1700 dollars though"

• $50 in their savings 2000 -> 50?

  • Getting ready to move into a new place, most of that went to deposit

• $300 in checking?

  • Lots of paypals/venmo for eating out timestamp for her being told she cant eat out any more

  • Lots of Klarnas that are all paid off now

• She is one of the only people on earth still subscribed to SiriusXM

  • 110 yearly

i love them.

Stephani, 35, Austin TX

Self-rated: 2/10

!straggots

Personal Life:

• "Been in debt since before she hit 18"

• "So I also have uhh CPTSD? So I also decided that I wasn't going to have emotions until this year too" timestamp !biofoids please translate this aside into scrotespeak

  • "Found out" February of last year? She doesn't say the word diagnosed

• "Somebody got me sent to the hospital for saying I was doing something I wasn't exactly doing" timestamp

  • "They said I was trying to commit suicide? Yeah, I kinda got like attacked, by the cops, and drugged by the EMS"

    • "Who said this?"

      • "This girl I've been trying to avoid for like a year or so...used to be a friend but you know sometimes people have to leave your life because they remind you of other people that make things wild"

Career:

• Nurse

  • "Lower paid nurse" - $32.54 hourly

    • Works a desk job now so averages 40 hours with a little overtime instead of the 60-80 she'd get otherwise

    • mostly remote

• Tries to do sidehustles

  • used to bartend for events

  • Writing jobs, currently freelancing writing curriculum for some company or school in Oregon?

Savings/Expenses:

• Checking $4'631 -> $5'639, currently $7400

• Savings $725?

• Retirement

  • Rollover IRA 2'189, currently just sitting not invested?

  • United Health Group 401k $9'515

  • Had thought she would get married and just have someone else deal with these issues for her

• A few $40 coffee trips?

• got scammed

• 55% of regular goes to rent (includes utilities), used to be on a COVID unit grift so her income was way higher when she got it

• Phone is $99 but she's supposed to get some credits for being a nurse from them?

Debt:

• I didn't catch the monthlies for a lot of these

• Lots in collections

• Mother had put some bills in her name before high school graduation

  • 

• A ton of stuff in collections

  • "I've restarted my life a few times and some of the stuff that's in collections I'm like writing letters to them because I've either never been to some of the places that are charging me or they were like my ex or other things"

  • Some of the companies are trying for debts that should have already expired or w/e

• "Portfolio recovery"

  • $100 a month, bought a laptop for a sales job?

  • "An Ashely's account" to buy furniture when she moved 5 years ago?

    • $645 left, was just a couch?

• IC Systems

  • Anesthesiology bill, currently owned by a debt buyer who's willing to give her at least half off

• Elevator Recovery $2039

  • broke her leg in 2020 and let the medical bills from that go to collections

• Credit Card:

  • Had to replace a battery around $160 but it's totally paid off now

• $30'556 in student loans

  • Around a $400 minimum payment, thinks she might be on an income based repayment? She's not certain

  • Some of these loans were for nursing school, some were from an abusive ex-boyfriend who used them to buy "race cars"

• Car debt: 9'000, 6 years and 25%?! not sure I heard that interest rate right

  • "So you what people do when girls go to car lot and try to get cars, they said like- they didn't even show me the original car that I went there for but they just told me the bank wouldn't loan me any money because the bank can recoup its losses easier on a new car than a used car if I were to not pay my car loans but I've never not paid my car loans so-"

  • $350 insurance payment

• Large number of hospital bills coming up

  • $4-5'000 "of the current ones"

    • Might get helped out by insurance but she's not counting on it

    • was thinking of payment planning it

You gotta be poor af to frick in a b-word in a tree

Jk I would

Someone tell our coders to add thecoli emojis for the love of god.

It often is in North America. The fact is public transport is often terrible, so people don’t use it if they don’t have.

Now that should be a sign towards “hey, let’s improve transit”, not “let’s never consider transit”

Even progressive liberals still view transit as a last-resort public service that only the poor and desperate use.

that’s cause it is

Every American movie out there shows people at their lowest point riding the bus. It’s so normal everywhere else.

I even hear people say it while riding transit. There was a fight on the Portland MAX while I was riding home the other day and one guy said "If you had [money] then you wouldn't be on the MAX"

Bro some of us just hate driving and parking

Public transit being cheaper is a pro not a con

actually sharing your space with poors is a good thing

He invested in crypto, got lucky, realized that he didn't deserve all that money, so he decided to reinvest in his community public services to help those less fortunate than him and help to make his city more efficient and safer for everyone, then he realized that public transit was the superior option? What a Chad!

plot twist: he got out before the bubble burst, moved somewhere with good public transport, and can take the bus to things he wants to do without needing to work anymore

sounds like heck on earth

A person allegedly stealing gasoline at a BART parking lot in Antioch started a fire that burned six cars, according to fire officials. https://t.co/mFQ3zcb1dc pic.twitter.com/phSW975DDJ

— KTVU (@KTVU) May 11, 2023