Allseeingeye Needs YOU!

[Allseeingeye]

Hello everybody,

Before I start and in a moment of the deepest grattitude, I want to say thank you with all my heart for all the knowledge and the inspiration this website and the people here have given me.

You have truly helped me stay in the present and I have felt a warm welcome here since I began, I have also learnt how truly precious this wonderful forum and its people are.

I know, Im a big soppy monster! :shruggie:

So why do I need your help guys and girls?

Well its been about 5 hours trying to sort out the shortest and quickest debt repayment plan to get me going in the fast lane, and in all honesty I am dumbstruck :smx4:
As good as this feels trying to organise myself, I have truly hit a brick wall. I cant see how I am going to survive with this debt plan, I want to pay it back ASAP, but this comes with huge consequences. Part of me writing this plan is to feel good and know I am going to reach my goal, I just want to be happy in the process, after all this is why I am doing this.

I have attached a copy of my plan below, if anyone could spare a few of their precious minutes helping me out with this, it would be awesome:groove:

Obviously I am not an accountant and despite me being a bit of a genius kid with maths, I cant figure this one out. What a mess I have got myself into, I am also feeling quite depressed with the time I have to wait. I am very impatient and to have to wait till next year June to get a Digial SLR is really upsetting, I want to start a beautiful portfolio of my photography and artwork as I believe the best business to promote is yourself and this will bring in a second income.

I really would have liked to have enough to purchase some kind of vehicle whether it be a moped or cheap second hand old banger, being 24 years old I crave my freedom and since Im starting work I will actually have the money to put credit on my phone to ring the girls I meet when im out (I have had a few missed opportunities ... ), this plan is without car expenses, I will be riding everyday at 5.30 something like 14 miles and in honesty I cant relax on my bike. I have been hit already once and it is very dangerous on the roads, people have a tendancy to try and hit you or forget that indeed a real human being with a life is on the bike.

I NEED YOUR HELP!

Blessings

P.S Also please pay attention to the TAX I have to pay, I used an online calculator so I am unsure whether this is the total after my tax returns or the actual monthly sum, so there is a possibility I will be taking home less.

 

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[tchandy]

First, calm down. You came off a little rattled in your post. There are worst things in life than this. Trust me.

I looked over your spreadsheet and commend you for mapping out your plan. If you want to decrease some of your expenses, try searching for another insurance plan if you can. $50 is a lot for an insurance plan. Look for a term life plan and not whole life. This would dramtically cut your costs.

I can't decipher everything. Can you cut back on your hobby and try every other month to spend on this?

Lastly, instead of saving 10%, pay put that towards your debt.

NOTE: Since I'm not a financial planner, these are only MY recommendations. Feel free to think these over rather than taking my advice word for word.

Tom

 

[andviv]

I could not understand completely what your spreadsheet reflects. This template seems to be good for a general budget, not for a payments plan.

Well its been about 5 hours trying to sort out the shortest and quickest debt repayment plan to get me going in the fast lane, and in all honesty I am dumbstruck

I would suggest that you keep the 'rules' simple.

When I was starting I had a similar issue... many accounts that needed to be paid, and it seemed like I was neve able to eliminate any of them.

I found out about the "snow-ball" tactic/formula.

It basically says, focus on repaying your account with the smallest balance, until it is paid off. While doing this, only make the minimum payments for the other accounts.

Once that first account is paid off, focus all your money on paying the next account with the smaller balance.

See the pattern?

The idea is, pay off the smallest-balance accounts first, and once you are done with one, roll that amount you were putting to pay that one into the next one, until all are paid.

You can google that term and get a better explanation of how it works and why.

I can only say it did work for me at that time.

In your case, if these are the accounts you have and their balances:

AA Credit Card (520)
Halifax Credit Card (1210)
AA Loan (8200)
RBOS Loan (3000)
Hostgator invoice (62.94)

Then I would make all my efforts to pay the smallest one (hostgator) while keep making minimum payments to the others.

Once done with Hostgator, move on to the next smallest one: AA Credit Card. Make the minimum payment there plus the amount you were using to pay Hostgator. do this until that one is paid off.

Next, focus the money you were using from hostgator and AA CC to pay the Halifax cc, and do this until that one is paid off.

Next, RBOS and, after that, AA Loan.

See the order?

I hope this helps, and good luck.

P.S. see for templates like this, it may help...
http://www.vertex42.com/Calculators/debt-reduction-calculator.html
I prefer the snowball strategy. you may pay a little bit more in interest, but you will have the motivation to get going as you see rapid success and accounts being paid off one after the next in a faster way... or at least it was like that for me.

 

[biophase]

While this is all great and everything you are missing a very important concept. Your monthly income is the same. The Fastlane strategy is about making money, not squeaking by by saving more.

I see you have a hosting account, graphics tablet and camera. That is really all you need to make money online. Honestly, it looks like $50/mo would help you out alot and $50/mo is fairly easy to do online. I suggest you spend some time during Aug-Dec this year and give it a try. While you are doing this DO NOT spend any money on any programs. The only thing you can spend money on is a domain name.

 

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[ITiTanium02I]

Are you currently shooting and are you currently making a profit from those pictures? If not, just because you buy a DSLR does not mean that you will instantly start making money at it. Photography is an art and it takes many clicks of a shutter to develop an eye for award winning/money making shots. Did you know there is a picture hanging in a gallery shot from a $30 Holga toy camera?

One of the worst traps a beginner photographer can fall into is chasing all the newest and badest equipment but then never really focus on what makes a great picture. Photography is one of my passions in life and I have a camera practically glued to my face. I am telling you this based on my own experiences as an amateur photographer. Good luck with your debt pay back and I hope to see you achieve some award winning shots.

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

I want to say something, and I do it out of love not out of just giving you a kick in the a$$...

You MESSED UP!

13,000 bucks is a sizeable amount to have invested instead of spent on whatever. Now I do not know what it was all for (medical bills, consumer debt, whatever), and some of it could be justified, BUT with this knowledge now, you cannot go into that kind of credit card debt again.

I like Andviv's idea of paying off with the snowball method, except one thing you may want to consider is the interest on those credit cards. If there is a ridiculous interest rate (such as 29.990 like us punk kids get hit with), then that needs to be taken care of.

The best debt repayment plan I've heard of? Dabasear the Camel trader!

One tenth of all you earn is yours to keep. ($100 for savings)
Two tenths of all you earn goes to pay off your just debts. ($200 toward debt)
Seven tenths of all you earn goes to living, housing, food, clothing, etc. ($700 towards bills and entertainment)

But this cannot be the only step like Bio said. You have to earn more. Increase your ability to earn by providing something of value to the market place. Offer to do some freelance jobs on Elance.com or something like that. Start a business. Learn to trade. Do something even if it's wrong!

A word of advice: Do NOT buy anything for your business unless it is absolutely imperative and you need it to make money right now. You'll find you don't really need much to make some money.

 

[Allseeingeye]

Hi everyone,

OK Let me just clear a few things up, firstly Kung Fu steve you are 100% correct and I totally agree with you. I was in a job which I was told would be long term, the manager told me he was going to make me a supervisor and even advised me that getting a loan for a car would be better to ensure I arrived early each day.

2 days later, me and Steve were cleaning up the whole place, we spent 6 hours on it and ensuring that customers were being looked after. THe manager lost his trolley and went off on a mad one and started to call Steve "A fuc*** useless cu**", at this point I had to say something, as this 28 year old had a tear in his eyes.

1 week on and he stopped my hours, all because I stuck up for Steve and told him is was wrong and disrespectful. I actually only had the largest loan at this point which was for a cheap car and the insurance, the loan was originally £6000 but they have bumped it on the interest.

I have been on a bumpy ride with work, which has again been my fault, I am learning on my own and have made my mistakes, but it has also made me more wise and more determinded than ever.

All interests has been stopped, and the reason I am paying the first two smaller credit cards off in a 3 month period is because it is a settlement fee with a reduced sum of 25% which makes sense.

I like the Babylon Law of Riches advise too, you will see I have a 10% fund in the plan for a savings account, maybe I should try and implement or adapt a different approach once I have snowballed the heck out of my debts.

Andiv, funnily enough I have never heard of this Snowball effect, and if you look at the sheet you will see that I have done exactly this all but with the exception of the hostgator bill. I will try and squeeze that in for the first month.

Biophase, thanks for the reminder this was my biggest worry. All I need is business hosting which is cheap, a graphics tablet, and a digital SLR and I believe I will be able to supplement my income.

I chose to take the quickest route to payback the debt, I believe this might bite me in the a$$, I am considering purchasing my tools of the trade earlier on so that I can earn more of an income.

iITanium, in all honesty the camera will save me alot of money in the long run, I wont have to purchase stock photos, and I can also start sharing my view on the world through my lens, I have only ever taken photos for fun, but I feel confident I am a natural at this. How will my photos be worth anything unless I have some?

Anything media, marketing, design, or music orientated are my strengths.

Thanks everyone for all your feedback, Im gonna get back to the drawing board on this one, but first need to relax, just done a 6 hour bike ride and my legs and a$$ feel numb.

Blessings

 

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[Anon3587x]

2 days later, me and Steve were cleaning up the whole place, we spent 6 hours on it and ensuring that customers were being looked after. THe manager lost his trolley and went off on a mad one and started to call Steve "A fuc*** useless cu**", at this point I had to say something, as this 28 year old had a tear in his eyes.

As I've said before I don't care to have power over anyone else. I just don't want anyone to have power/leverage/control over me.

 

[Allseeingeye]

After being in the Army I will never allow someone to talk to me like this again.
I'm getting big enough to where most people wouldn't dare anyways.

So many people have this lost sense of power.

As I've said before I don't care to have power over anyone else.
I just don't want anyone to have power/leverage/control over me at all what so ever.

Tell me about it, he was having a bad day and despite the fact that me and steve had done more than what was expected of us, including cleaning the toilets, sorting out the stock room, stratching blue tack off the walls, cleaning the bins outside, and a whole lot more.

This punk comes in and starts ranting and raving because someone took his car parking space, OHH big fricking deal! Steve was not all there, sometimes his mum used to ring up the store to tell me to remind Steve he had forgotten to brush his teeth lol and once he even told a female customer that she looked like Jean Claud Van dam hahaha Yes he was 28 years old!

Ever way, this fat obnoxious and greedy fool has no right to talk to any human being like that, he looked at me and my face went red with rage, I could not help it, it upset me. I looked him in the eyes and told him "I am not Steve, you dare talk to me like you have him and there will be trouble"

We was already 1.5 hours running late unpaid, it didnt matter, no matter how much you do for this guy it was not recognised, instead it was always a problem.

Your comment is exactly how I feel on this matter, I just want to be left alone to work hard, not pushed because someone likes to get drunk on authority.

From there I lost my job, it spiralled downhill and got myself into more debt, I am on the rise and starting my new job, nothing is going to stop me, like the lamborghini bull I will tear through any walls or blockades that try to stop me.

Blessings

 

[biophase]

Biophase, thanks for the reminder this was my biggest worry. All I need is business hosting which is cheap, a graphics tablet, and a digital SLR and I believe I will be able to supplement my income.

I'm sorry, I thought that your spreadsheet was for this year. Now I see that it's for next year. Anyway, I thought you already had the two. If not and you just have hosting that is all you need. You don't really need the camera or the tablet anyway. Making sites with a few of your own photos is better, but you can get away with doing no photos.

 

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[Allseeingeye]

I'm sorry, I thought that your spreadsheet was for this year. Now I see that it's for next year. Anyway, I thought you already had the two. If not and you just have hosting that is all you need. You don't really need the camera or the tablet anyway. Making sites with a few of your own photos is better, but you can get away with doing no photos.

Its actually the start of this month going over to next year, this would have been when I would have got the tools. The tablet is not a priority out of the two, but the camera I have been scratching for like a needle on a record player for quite some time. I do miles of walking and cycling every week and even today went out for about 35 miles, there were so many picture perfect moments if you know what I mean.

My intentions is to start a nicely designed portfolio website, one that shows off my photography, design, and possibly media if I can get a cheap keyboard too.

I have some really creative ideas that wont cost much to do, and really want to start my portfolio. I also am thinking of starting some kind of information shop selling digital goods, I am just a little worried about my time and energy into such investment, will it be worth it?

I certainly am going to start a blog, which will provide help and guidance for people wanting to change their lives, I will talk about positive thinking, depression and how to kick the s*** out of it, debt and peoples rights, give away loads of free things, showcase my creative mind, my site will be like walking through another dimension.

I am at the start of my real journey, I know ahead of me I will be faced with storms and thunder, but the sun will be shining once and for all at the end. These steps I am taking have been documented, this is going to be part of my book, I think its important that people know where I came from and the limitations I was faced with so that they know an excuse is just an excuse for an excuse. If I can do it, any plonker can.

Any ideas on great investments that wont cost much and are proven to work would be great? I have decided to spend the 10% of my wage on actual gold or silver, not the digital type. I have been wanting to start my collection for quite some time, umm gold, all I will need is a green suit and a big black pot! :great:

Blessings

P.S I have decided to follow the guidance of The Babyloninan Law of Riches and Kung Fu Steve, I intend to snowball all of my smaller debts out the way, then reduce my payments on the larger loan. The interests have all been frozen so no worries about me putting money into the abyss of the financial blackhole.

I need to start on my business before trying to payback the big loan, who knows I might be a very wealthy and prosperous man by the end of the year!:banana:

 

[max momo]

Hi, If I were in your shoes I would work a second job with a steady paycheck to pay off the $3,000 loan. Your debt:income ratio is just about 1:1 - that is a MAJOR DRAG on your finance.

Get another $200 month ASAP and you will shorten your long term debt considerably. Short term pain for long term gain. Give up an hour and half of sleep for six months, you'll make it.

Don't let that sword of Damocles hang over you, credit debt into next year and beyond -blah! IF you pay off that RBOS 3,000 debt ASAP you will free up $200 a month in cash flow. Can the hobby and magazine (go to the library) and you have and extra $232 a month, which is %350 of your current savings! Add the savings to the extra cashflow and now you have $312 a month ADDED to the $200 a month for the other credit card for $532 a month debt payment! See how powerful that is?

Forget investing in silver and gold right now, you need to clear your books first. Besides, what will 1 ounce of silver a month really get you anyway? (And this is coming from the biggest precious metal fiend on the boards!)

Good luck...

 

[Runum]

I looked over your spreadsheet and commend you for mapping out your plan. If you want to decrease some of your expenses, try searching for another insurance plan if you can. $50 is a lot for an insurance plan. Look for a term life plan and not whole life. This would dramtically cut your costs.

I somewhat agree with Tom. What is National Insurance? If it is life insurance why do you have it? Are you married and/or have kids? If not, you don't need life insurance. Just my opinion.:cheers:

 

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[Allseeingeye]

Get another $200 month ASAP and you will shorten your long term debt considerably. Short term pain for long term gain. Give up an hour and half of sleep for six months, you'll make it.

Don't let that sword of Damocles hang over you, credit debt into next year and beyond -blah! IF you pay off that RBOS 3,000 debt ASAP you will free up $200 a month in cash flow. Can the hobby and magazine (go to the library) and you have and extra $232 a month, which is %350 of your current savings! Add the savings to the extra cashflow and now you have $312 a month ADDED to the $200 a month for the other credit card for $532 a month debt payment! See how powerful that is?

Forget investing in silver and gold right now, you need to clear your books first. Besides, what will 1 ounce of silver a month really get you anyway? (And this is coming from the biggest precious metal fiend on the boards!)

Good luck...

Great Advice, I have been asking around for another part time job or evening job, so hopefully once I am in work another job will turn up.

The total for hobby and magazine is only 32 (£) by the way, and the books I read you cant find in the library unless it is The London Library who dont lend books, they only allow you to visit from 10 - 5 everyday.

As for sleep, all I need is a 3 or 4 hour deep meditation and I am back to my optimum, so an evening job just after I finish is an option. I dont mind sacrificing my life as much as possible, I have lived on nothing for the last 7 months so I know how to survive.

The only thing I have to disagree on is my investment, I must save 10% of my income, whether it is through investing or saving, for me this is a must. Money comes to money, having a savings account will attract more money, and if not then at least I will have some gold and silver thats price has risen a little. I am going old school, having paper is not wealth, having resources is.

RUNUM, Here is the UK we are taxed on taxes, we then pay tax on the taxes that we are taxed on lol Its mad, but the national insurance is like tax but the funds go for hospitals and other expenditure from big gov like if your made unemployed.

You have to pay it by law.

Blessings and thanks again everyone, this whole thing got me down, but with everyone's wise words I have managed to formulate the perfect plan that will fasttrack me out of debt and actually have savings.

:coffee:

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Let me ask you something ... if you were earning $20,000/mo would this be an issue in your life? Or would the debt disappear pretty quickly?

People's failure in wealth occurs when they focus on the wrong variable in the wrong wealth equation. While it's mindful to be cognizant of expenses as is the proverb "live below your means", the central thesis to a Fastlane is not expense dickery -- it is income and assets. Focus on income and assets and all the issues of debt will resolve itself assuming you do indeed, stick to "live below your means".

For the Fastlaner, live below your means with the intent to expand your means. For stuck Slowlaners, the focus on the proverb isn't the "means", but the "live below" which results in a lifetime of Slowlane hell resulting in mediocrity ... the old "settle for less". We aren't here to learn how to settle for less.

 

[Anon3587x]

I think MJ is saying do what your doing to pay off the debts. However don't focus on paying off your debts with the purpose of starting a business after. That is slowlane thinking. You can do both at the same time. If your business is successful, you can pay off that debt faster which is fastlane thinking.

 

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[Allseeingeye]

Let me ask you something ... if you were earning $20,000/mo would this be an issue in your life? Or would the debt disappear pretty quickly?

People's failure in wealth occurs when they focus on the wrong variable in the wrong wealth equation. While it's mindful to be cognizant of expenses as is the proverb "live below your means", the central thesis to a Fastlane is not expense dickery -- it is income and assets. Focus on income and assets and all the issues of debt will resolve itself assuming you do indeed, stick to "live below your means".

For the Fastlaner, live below your means with the intent to expand your means. For stuck Slowlaners, the focus on the proverb isn't the "means", but the "live below" which results in a lifetime of Slowlane hell resulting in mediocrity ... the old "settle for less". We aren't here to learn how to settle for less.

No of course I would have no problems with my debt on $20,000 a month, I understand your message.

Why focus more on paying the debt back, when I can focus more on earning more money, which will be used to payback the debt. I cant think of anything that is going to earn me $20,000 right now, capital is a must, so yes you are truly right.

I love and hate your reply, I love the truth, I hate the fact that this whole plan needs another revamp.

Blessings