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Thought I might pop by and say howdy. I don't know if anyone remembers but I used to maintain a debt thread here a few years ago. I had just separated from my ex-wife and was bleeding money at a prodigious rate. At the start of the thread I was about $35,000 in debt to a combination of credit cards and a 401k loan. Over the course of a year long thread I managed to change course and was making regular monthly progress towards a debt free life. This is an update. Hopefully a conclusion, really, to that crisis and time in my life. In December 2015 two things happened. I got my bonus, enough to paid off the last of my credit cards and leaving only $9,000 in 401k loan. And I got fired. It was one or the other. One of my projects was way over budget and I was told I would eat the overrun from my bonus. After some heated debate they paid me the whole bonus but decided to call it a severance. Rather than pay off the credit cards I hoarded the cash and set all payments to minimum. I went on unemployment, $650 a week, for the full six months. Having sold my car I used the unemployment to cover the $2,450 rent and my girlfriend covered food for us. Credit debt crept up slowly as I would use the cards in place of my cash hoard. I also had to spend through my HSA on a case of turf-toe and a secondary infection which kept me off my feet for a couple months. All in all I think it was a useful and sobering time which let me reflect and plan my next phase of life. That next phase began with my accepting a position in Southern California working for an old client from my previous consulting days. Pay was decent at $110k + bonus (more loaded toward base salary than consulting had been). They had offered relocation money but I never got it in writing and they balked when I wanted to revisit the subject after signing. Moving costs built up fast, and I added extra cost by making a nice two week road trip down the coast out of the experience. In May 2016 when I accepted the position I had about $15,000 in credit debt and $9,000 in cash. In June 2016 when I started the new job I paid off what I could, leaving $7,000 in credit debt and $1,300 in cash. The next two years in SoCal have been... Quiet. No grand vacations. No elective surgeries. Vastly less drinking. My girlfriend became my fiance. After a couple raises in my first year I take home $3,000 every two weeks. I've kept regular expenses under $4,500/mo consistently and I don't budget my bonus (a recurring recommendation from the last thread). There were some unexpected expenses here and there (mostly related to the junker car I bought when I arrived here). Finally, in April 2018, I paid the last of my debt and enjoyed a couple months of true zero debt for the first time since 2011. I've continued to hoard cash through it all (set a floor of $10,000 in checking after my first year at the new job) - a habit I attribute to the financial panic I felt when I lost my first "real" job. In June 2018 I took on an auto loan of $12,000 for a used Hyundai Genesis (after a 9k down payment). This remains my only debt, and I have $26,000 in checking that I'm considering using to fully pay off the car. My retirement accounts are at $100k with no loans against them. The plan is to maintain this lifestyle for another year and build up another $50k in savings as a down payment on a house. The fiance makes decent money as a chemist for a giant corporation (30k/yr) and is looking to double that by moving from a contract position to full time salaried. So there it is. Four years after I first admitted I had problem with debt I'm finally truly out of the woods. Thank you to everyone who encouraged me, yelled at me, or laughed with (at) me. If it weren't for the motivation of that thread I would have not been in a place to pull through unemployment. And I probably would have taken a construction job and lost my career focus. Seriously: Thank you guys. I hope this post provides some closure to the Slow Motion saga. I'll try to check back a few times to answer any questions y'all might have.
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Sep 19, 2018 03:47
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Holy poo poo. Good work man. Sometimes (often!) it takes a large shock to get things in motion, I'm glad it worked out for you.
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Sep 19, 2018 05:04
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Get a div... no wait, that's the other guy. Good for you cleaning your life up, fellow cash hoarder!
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Sep 19, 2018 07:32
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Nice! Keep it up buddy.
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Sep 19, 2018 10:53
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Congratulations! It's a good place to be.
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Sep 19, 2018 11:57
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still going to the opera?
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Sep 19, 2018 14:26
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:still going to the opera? Nope. No more opera. Which also means no more $15 opera cocktails and no more opera suits. It's an expensive hobby that I won't pick up again till I have my other priorities locked down.
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Sep 19, 2018 15:01
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i didn't think they'd start marketing bojack horseman's next season already...
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Sep 19, 2018 15:16
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good job and also lol zaurg is gonna have a meltdown today.
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Sep 19, 2018 15:32
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I didn't realize how much I posted in your thread until re-reading it recently. Glad things are slowly getting to a better point and hopefully you feel much better about life and what not.
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Sep 19, 2018 17:26
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BUG JUG posted:i didn't think they'd start marketing bojack horseman's next season already... Back in 2013, I was in a very famous BFC thread I'm SlowMo the Baller (Slowmo!) SlowMo the Baller Don't act like my debt's smaller
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Sep 19, 2018 17:41
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evobatman posted:Get a div... no wait, that's the other guy. Good job man. Glad to see you coming out ahead after your Slowmo's Wild Ride.
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Sep 19, 2018 19:05
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Congrats on cleaning up your finances. Seriously. It's awesome.
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Sep 19, 2018 20:00
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Congrats! I can't believe it's been 5 years since you started that thread. Most important question: Which wall is the scorpion mural on in your new place?
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Sep 20, 2018 01:49
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Goddammit I hadn't finished your thread yet. Where was the spoiler warning?
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Sep 20, 2018 01:57
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Holy poo poo. He’s back. We were just talking about you in another thread. I reread the end of your saga, where you were picking out the best suit to go to the abortion in, and the thread descended into fan fiction and Photoshops. It was glorious. Your tone certainly seems to have changed. It sounds like you got beat up a little, then made real progress. Will SloMo be the success story zaurg never could? I will stay loving tuned to find out.
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Sep 20, 2018 04:33
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slowmo has succeeded in ways that zaurg can't even comprehend edit: in fairness zaurg can't comprehend making ice so the bar is real low
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Sep 20, 2018 12:39
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But the real question is do you still have your special USA GO AMERICA testing outfit?
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Sep 20, 2018 13:17
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Can you take a picture of the sick rear end tiger on the wall in your house?
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Sep 20, 2018 20:30
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Wait til you get our invoices for our financial advice.
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Sep 21, 2018 01:01
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It's good to hear that you've made meaningful and positive changes in your life.
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Sep 21, 2018 01:32
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I wanna know what happened to murderknobs
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Sep 21, 2018 13:13
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I wanna know what happened to that book your friend was writing about you.
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Sep 21, 2018 17:03
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I think about that scorpion mural sometimes. ... It was a scorpion, right?
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Sep 21, 2018 18:32
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I’m glad you figured your poo poo out, but I’m sad I never actually got to run into you in Seattle.
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Sep 21, 2018 19:18
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tumblr hype man posted:I’m glad you figured your poo poo out, but I’m sad I never actually got to run into you in Seattle. Same.
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Sep 21, 2018 19:53
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I was sure this was going to be another zaurg thread where I'm really going to get it this time, guys. Good for you SloMo
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Sep 22, 2018 04:15
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Congrats SlowMo.
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Sep 30, 2018 13:50
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Slow Motion posted:I don't know if anyone remembers but ... You are a legend on BFC, and anybody who doesn't know your thread should be banned from this part of the forum. Good job getting your poo poo together. Isn't SoCal awesome? I hope I get to stay here forever.
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Sep 30, 2018 17:29
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I remember when someone called you a melon baller and you got upset. Good times, and thank you for sharing the intimate details of your financial life.
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Oct 3, 2018 01:51
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Grumpwagon posted:Congrats! I can't believe it's been 5 years since you started that thread. gently caress, I forgot about the scorpion mural. The juxtaposition of seeing that mural while collecting unemployment. What a wild tale.
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Oct 3, 2018 16:55
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Slow Motion, I read all of your threads and I'm really proud of you. It sounds like you're in a much happier and healthier place and I'm stoked that it all turned out. I'm glad that you're taking care of yourself and wish you the best of luck in your marriage.
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Oct 4, 2018 02:48
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I clicked on the thread with my scrotum tightening in anticipation and excitement only to be incredibly let down. That’s good, congratulations, I’m glad you finally got a handle on your life and have made great progress. It sucks that it took real pain to ram home what hundreds of faceless internet voices couldn’t, but you seem to have recovered well and developed some lasting beneficial habits. Echoing the sentiment that Z is gonna poo poo himself and throw his toys out the pram when he sees how well you’ve recovered in the time he’s achieved nothing.
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Oct 4, 2018 02:54
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Hurray!! Seriously, I'm so happy for you.
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Oct 4, 2018 03:29
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Congraaaaaats I remember everyone giving you poo poo for your orange pants but they were actually pretty cool.
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Oct 4, 2018 07:17
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Congratulations on all your forward momentum. Part of being a fully formed human is realizing limitations, and financial limitations are a big part of that. Sounds like you made the right choice to exit your prior position. Keep up the hard work.
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Oct 4, 2018 13:15
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Reading this makes me all warm and cozy inside. Good job!
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Oct 4, 2018 23:13
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Slow Motion posted:Nope. No more opera. Which also means no more $15 opera cocktails and no more opera suits. It's an expensive hobby that I won't pick up again till I have my other priorities locked down.
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Oct 5, 2018 02:42
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Throwing my congratulations on the pile for you not having thrown the towel on your future! Your maturity really shows, SloMo. No, Slow Motion. I won't make a crack about your past since you seem to have definitely put that part of your life behind you, as insane as it was. Good luck on your future endeavours and savings goals! Also haha your situation was so much worse than Zaurg's and you did a complete 180 in perspective while he didn't. You are not BFC's secondary whipping boy anymore!
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Oct 5, 2018 19:29
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Good job man, and with a salary over $100k plus bonuses you should have no problem building up a healthy retirement portfolio.
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Oct 5, 2018 22:04
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