A Real Tough Financial Wake Up Call – How to Stop Being Another Broke Millennial
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This is where hard work meets the pavement. Circa 2015
Only in retrospect that life seems easier. 2015 was the year of Furious 7, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Star Wars: the Force Awakens and a lawsuit.
I was suing my ex-girlfriend at the time since we broke up at the end of 2014 and long story short, she owed me about $2,000. If it was even $200, I would of let it go but since it’s was two stacks – civil court it was. Swallowing my pride and logic, I moved into a 5/2 home in Columbia Heights paying $1,000 per month plus utilities.
The entire ordeal was stressful to almost no end. She even tried to lie to the judge and insinuated “abuse”. It was wild. Lesson: Break up can make the other person crazy so be really careful out there. You never know what you will get in the dating game.
2015 was a massive wake up call
Since this was a short term least, I reached out to whoever I could to partner up as a roommate to save money. This ultimately led me to the last station on the metro, Largo. I was away from the action but I was saving money. My total housing cost fell to about $750 per month.
With the additional savings, I was rapidly paying down debts and coming out on top.
Payments, Fees, and Travel
The cost to break my original lease was $1,706.50. A nice chunk of money that I didn’t really have. I was in it for the long haul while reading about people that were making a way out of less. I started seeing the benefits of increasing long term saving i.e. 401k, IRA, and HSA.
Consequently, I learned the benefits of living a life in excess without spending on things that I didn’t care about. Like most people I was learning my boundaries and growing happier for it. You really can’t spend yourself to happiness.
*I found a stronger connection with being myself. Finding adventure and gratitude along the way.
Embrace the Bad to get to the good Parts
In the end, I took home about $44,110 and spent less than $30,000 on expenses. The rest went to investments and travel. Compared to the prior year expenses of $34,000 vs income of $43,503; I honestly can’t express how much you can do without reaching for the wallet each time. And it’s OK to even do nothing at all.
2015 ended up being the year that set up travel and home ownership in 2016.
Got to Pull It Together
Here is a great video that you need to hear and a great story that you can learn from. Nothing is impossible if you give yourself a chance to change.
Ever heard of the story, How Four Millennial Sisters Joined Forces To Demolish $182K Debt Within Two Years
The four sisters – Noemi, 34, Damaris, 33, Ana, 32, and Rufina, 30 – from Dallas, Texas, had a combined income of $106,00. The sisters’ combined debt had ballooned to $182,000, thanks to student loans, car payments and credit cards. It’s truly is amazing what working together can get you versus working apart. It goes back to the idea that we need to re-embrace family over the nuclear loner model.
https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/sisters-team-eradicate-200k-debt-33502976
2015 Month to Month Breakdown
| Ending Net Worth | Growth/Loss in Dollar Value | Growth/Loss as a Percentage | |
| January 2015 | -$85,646.33 | -$345 | -0.40% |
| February 2015 | -$84,674.09 | $972 | 1.14% |
| March 2015 | -$84,835.22 | -$161 | -0.19% |
| April 2015 | -$73,353.09 | $11,482 | 13.53% |
| May 2015 | -$67,883.50 | $5,470 | 7.46% |
| June 2015 | -$65,898.29 | $1,985 | 2.92% |
| July 2015 | -$60,600.78 | $5,298 | 8.04% |
| August 2015 | -$59,790.79 | $810 | 1.34% |
| September 2015 | -$60,241.28 | -$450 | -0.75% |
| October 2015 | -$50,032.24 | -$10,209 | 16.95% |
| November 2015 | -$44,665.89 | $5,366 | 10.73% |
| December 2015 | -$44,464.27 | $202 | 0.45% |
Jump Start Your Journey
- Investing $1,500 per month in M1 Finance Brokerage focused on Growth and Dividend Income that generates at least $1,000 in passive income in 2021. Check out the portfolio in real time. If you like the platform and want to start investing, I have the $20 for $20 referral if you need it – https://m1.finance/SYdqDJ2SyADC.
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- Build out Financial Literacy Workshops – Setting new goals and pushing the community forward.
- Choose to constructively pay down debts.
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