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Thread: Starting over - what should I prioritize first? Investing in look, paying off debt?

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    Default Starting over - what should I prioritize first? Investing in look, paying off debt?

    I'm moving back in with my parents soon, not because I can't afford bills, but because I hate living alone and I want to figure out what I want without the burden of bills. My parents and I get along well, they want me to live with them, they are financially very secure and I have no problem staying with them for a while until I figure out what direction I want to go in. I have no problem with it, and they don't either. I'm not really interested in moving in with my current friends because they are all pretty unstable alcoholics with severe personality disorders and I'm trying to heal from that and have quit drinking.

    I already know that I want to move out of state later, maybe not permanently, maybe so, I'm not sure at this point. I have about $5500 in student loan debt that I want to pay off, as well as about $3000 in other debts owed that I simply haven't prioritized due to depression (which I am now in therapy for, which has helped ***immensely***).

    To put it simply, I'm starting off on a new foot, and I am trying to figure out what I need to prioritize. I want to make the most out of stripping. I am good at it, I make good money and I am a consistently high earner at every club I've set foot into. I haven't been able to genuinely prioritize making money until now because of mental illness, but now I feel that I finally have things under control and have turned over a new leaf. I have begun working more in the past couple of months, something I simply could not do when I was depressed, and I would say I average between $450 on a slow night to $850+ on good nights in a pretty average, even shitty, state. I have only recently begun working consistently, whereas I would only work once a week, or every two weeks (and still be able to pay bills, but not really much else), now I find I can work 3-5 days a week.

    My budget with bills is $2500 monthly including taxes (not including savings). Without rent and bills and home needs, my budget drops to $800 per month for car ins, gas, groceries, work needs (basically outfit essentials like holdups and thongs, makeup, gym membership and tanning), car maintinance, entertainment.

    My goals are:


    1. Pay off all debts
    2. Emergency fund/ moving out fund
    3. Investments (gold, BTC, stocks, etc)
    4. Retirement account
    5. Car
    6. House
    7. Body enhancements/ work investments
    8. Travel


    My question is mainly: in what order do I prioritize these things? I know that investing in my look will net me MUCH more money, but so will travelling and getting a new car (so that I can travel and drive which my current car is not quite reliable to do). But I do think it's important to pay off debts first, and to invest in things that will make me money long term. Any advice?
    Last edited by babb; 03-07-2017 at 02:21 PM.

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    Default Re: Starting over - what should I prioritize first? Investing in look, paying off deb

    If your parents are cool with you dancing while living under their roof, then I say go for it. Also, as a side note- I do not personally see gold as a good investment. I know plenty of people will disagree with me and it is just my opinion but for what it is worth my degree is in economics and I work in finance now.

    If it were me and I wee able to give this same advice to my younger self it would be this:

    First and foremost, you do not have a lot of debt. I wish my student loans were under 10K. You can pay this off in 6 months or less if you try hard.

    I say paying the debt off first should be the biggest priority. Pay the non-student loan debt first as it likely has a higher interest rate, then tackle the student loans. Put 10-20% into rainy day savings. This should not be the same as "moving out" funds. If you can stay with your parents as long as possible do it.

    Then, make an appointment with an advisor wherever you bank. Where I bank they have "private client" services and I have a financial planner that helps me with my brokerage (retirement/investment) account and even helped me with a budget. I recommend you do the same right away. You can open a brokerage account with little to no money and then devise an amount to deposit every month.

    I see you have "car" listed but it seems you may already have a car? If you are thinking of getting a nicer car... I may be a bit hypocritical in my response but unless you have the type of job where you have to have a nice car to impress clients (real estate, broker, talent agent.. etc.) a car is a liability and an expense and not an asset and not a wise place to spend money. Once you are completely financially stable you can get a nice car but TBH (not judging) you are considering moving in with your parents to pay off debt and better yourself, getting a new car is the opposite of this. .... Nevermind, re-read. If your car is unreliable then maybe consider a new one but still a normal car and not like a Mercedes or anything like that.

    As far as investing in your self and "body enhancements", if there is something you think will help you make more money as in FIXING something, not just improving or adding, it is an investment IMO. You will need to be spending money to look good at work- outfits, hair/makeup/ tanning (if you tan), nails, teeth bleaching, botox- what ever it is). Try and figure out what your average monthly spending is on this and consider it a "bill".

    If you want to and like to travel- figure out how many vacations or trips you are willing to take this year; whether they will be working trips or not and the cost- then figure out how much you need to put aside every month or week. I think travel is important and when you are young with less responsibility you should do it. I would try and get the trips as cheap as possible and not go too high end though.

    Lastly, is "house". I think you should try and buy. Keep a good paper trail and pay our taxes for the next two years and try and buy your own home. I bought my house in my late 20's and wish I would have done it a lot sooner. I would be almost paid off by now.
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    Default Re: Starting over - what should I prioritize first? Investing in look, paying off deb

    IMHO:

    1. Pay off all debts
    2. Emergency fund/ moving out fund
    3. Car
    4. House
    5. Retirement account
    6. Investments (gold, BTC, stocks, etc)
    7. Body enhancements/ work investments
    8. Travel

    This assumes that you keep living with your parents for a while. I would put 5-8 as very distant to 1-4. Paying off debts and saving up moving money would both improve your credit score and allow you time to save up a healthy down payment for a house. If you like living with your folks, there is no reason to go back to paying rent anytime soon.

    As far as the car is concerned, I would never invest too much in one as it is a depreciating asset, meaning that it will lose value over time. But you need reliable wheels to get to work and eventually live back out on your own, so some investment in a car is necessary.

    Retirement accounts and other investments usually come AFTER you have a house and an emergency fund (6 months of expenses). Once money gets put in a retirement account, it is hard to get back if you need it.

    If you are already a top earner, then I'm not sure what "body enhancements" will do to add value. I'm sure that there are emotional elements to that too, but it doesn't sound like a priority given what you've already said. I would say "don't fix what ain't broke" but you may have other reasons for wanting it.

    Travel is a luxury. Now we all need to live too, so I'm not saying that you shouldn't travel at all while you save up. But traveling is expensive, so you may want to do so sparingly until you get other things in order.

    Anyway, just my fwiw and good luck!

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    Default Re: Starting over - what should I prioritize first? Investing in look, paying off deb

    ^^^ Very detailed and well thought out response from Gia2608 above. The only fine tuning I would add is that if you can find a house to buy with a rental apartment or a duplex, it will not only help you with your mortgage but if you decide to move you can typically rent both and have positive cash flow. It might be less glamorous than your dream house, but owning a property that floats itself, increases in value and throws off cash = priceless.
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    Default Re: Starting over - what should I prioritize first? Investing in look, paying off deb

    Quote Originally Posted by Gia2608 View Post
    ...If your car is unreliable then maybe consider a new one but still a normal car and not like a Mercedes or anything like that.

    As far as investing in your self and "body enhancements", if there is something you think will help you make more money as in FIXING something, not just improving or adding, it is an investment IMO. You will need to be spending money to look good at work- outfits, hair/makeup/ tanning (if you tan), nails, teeth bleaching, botox- what ever it is). Try and figure out what your average monthly spending is on this and consider it a "bill".

    If you want to and like to travel- figure out how many vacations or trips you are willing to take this year; whether they will be working trips or not and the cost- then figure out how much you need to put aside every month or week. I think travel is important and when you are young with less responsibility you should do it. I would try and get the trips as cheap as possible and not go too high end though.

    Lastly, is "house". I think you should try and buy. Keep a good paper trail and pay our taxes for the next two years and try and buy your own home. I bought my house in my late 20's and wish I would have done it a lot sooner. I would be almost paid off by now.
    Thanks so much for your response!! I'm not interested in a fancy car. I just want something nice, stable, reliable with affordable maintinance. Honestly, I'm hoping self-driving cars become a thing within the next couple of years so I don't have to get a car because I hate driving. I have a car, but it's old and has problems, so I can't travel with it, which is the main reason I want a new one.

    I want to travel and dance, mainly.

    I don't *need* a boob job, but I want one in the future, so I suppose I can put that in a longer-term savings account after I get my debts paid and an emergency fund going. I never thought of body enhancements as a bill. I really like that and it actually takes a lot of stress off of my mind, because I don't feel guilty about investing in my appearance as things like hair extensions DO make me more money and generally pay for themselves in one night.

    I would love to buy a house eventually! My thing is, I'm not sure where I want to settle down yet, another reason for travelling, and I don't want to get a house just to get a house, but I do want to have the money to get one when I decide I want one.

    Thanks so much rick, as well!!!!!!!

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    Default Re: Starting over - what should I prioritize first? Investing in look, paying off deb

    Quote Originally Posted by CFMNH44 View Post
    ^^^ Very detailed and well thought out response from Gia2608 above. The only fine tuning I would add is that if you can find a house to buy with a rental apartment or a duplex, it will not only help you with your mortgage but if you decide to move you can typically rent both and have positive cash flow. It might be less glamorous than your dream house, but owning a property that floats itself, increases in value and throws off cash = priceless.
    You mean like renting out property? I think the idea is good for some people, but I have zero interest in being tied to something that is someone elses' home, having to deal w tenants and maintinance just sounds like slavery to me!

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    Default Re: Starting over - what should I prioritize first? Investing in look, paying off deb

    Quote Originally Posted by babb View Post
    I'm moving back in with my parents soon, not because I can't afford bills, but because I hate living alone and I want to figure out what I want without the burden of bills. My parents and I get along well, they want me to live with them, they are financially very secure and I have no problem staying with them for a while until I figure out what direction I want to go in. I have no problem with it, and they don't either. I'm not really interested in moving in with my current friends because they are all pretty unstable alcoholics with severe personality disorders and I'm trying to heal from that and have quit drinking.

    I already know that I want to move out of state later, maybe not permanently, maybe so, I'm not sure at this point. I have about $5500 in student loan debt that I want to pay off, as well as about $3000 in other debts owed that I simply haven't prioritized due to depression (which I am now in therapy for, which has helped ***immensely***).

    To put it simply, I'm starting off on a new foot, and I am trying to figure out what I need to prioritize. I want to make the most out of stripping. I am good at it, I make good money and I am a consistently high earner at every club I've set foot into. I haven't been able to genuinely prioritize making money until now because of mental illness, but now I feel that I finally have things under control and have turned over a new leaf. I have begun working more in the past couple of months, something I simply could not do when I was depressed, and I would say I average between $450 on a slow night to $850+ on good nights in a pretty average, even shitty, state. I have only recently begun working consistently, whereas I would only work once a week, or every two weeks (and still be able to pay bills, but not really much else), now I find I can work 3-5 days a week.

    My budget with bills is $2500 monthly including taxes (not including savings). Without rent and bills and home needs, my budget drops to $800 per month for car ins, gas, groceries, work needs (basically outfit essentials like holdups and thongs, makeup, gym membership and tanning), car maintinance, entertainment.

    My goals are:


    1. Pay off all debts
    2. Emergency fund/ moving out fund
    3. Investments (gold, BTC, stocks, etc)
    4. Retirement account
    5. Car
    6. House
    7. Body enhancements/ work investments
    8. Travel


    My question is mainly: in what order do I prioritize these things? I know that investing in my look will net me MUCH more money, but so will travelling and getting a new car (so that I can travel and drive which my current car is not quite reliable to do). But I do think it's important to pay off debts first, and to invest in things that will make me money long term. Any advice?
    First off, good on you for thinking about your financial situation and taking steps to plan for your future!

    That said, to help you moving forward I personally want to recommend the only person that I feel is genuine and gives absolutely fantastic financial advice and that would be David Ramsey. You can find him on YouTube, on the radio or you can buy his books used off Amazon.

    As far as paying off your debts I'm going to tell you the David Ramsey way and that is to pay off starting with your smallest debt and work your way up to your largest. So if you owe an $80 parking ticket you pay that off first before you hit the 5k student loan.

    To answer your question fully, what you need to prioritize is setting up 3 to 6 months emergency fund, pay off all your debts while you're living with your parents, and get yourself into a newer reliable USED car. Investing, a house, and traveling you're just not there yet.

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    Default Re: Starting over - what should I prioritize first? Investing in look, paying off deb

    I wouldn't totally put off travel. Not long touring trips, but a few days to a week a couple times a year are good. You can find great deals of Groupon. If not something foreign maybe a local trip to just get away. Once or twice a year. Set aside part of your income as more immediate needs and whatever you don't use that month could go towards a trip

    https://www.groupon.com/deals/ga-go-today-paris-rome-11

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