Progress

Here is where I stand on my debt:

On my student loans, I'm down to $1,085 remaining. Should take about 3 or 4 months to pay that off. My  car, sitting at $24,000, about 3.5 years. My next purchase is going to be a house. Not really in a hurry so will keep saving and putting money back; let my credit continue to improve and probably start looking in about a year or so.

As far as savings, I told myself when I started saving that I wouldn't stop or use that money unless I absolutely needed it. I'm going on 4 months and I'm ahead of where I figured I'd be. It's nice because parents and uncle have helped me really make progress the last 6 months. I'm getting there, and it's a commitment, but I'm wanting to be debt free and start my little girl with that mindset when she gets older.

Investment beginner

Okay, so I have done a lot of research these past few months. I wanted to do something more than just put money in a savings account. I wanted to get some kind of investment going but knew minimal of what to do. My bank offers investment services but their fees are high. I did some reviews, comparisons, and read articles and found the company to use. They are called Betterment (click to be redirected) and have some of the lowest fees in the industry. The best part? No minimum deposit to set up an account. A few companies offer lower fees but it may take $1,000 just to start.

How does it work?

With betterment you link your bank account after signing up. After it's activated - usually after 3 days - you are able to deposit. Deposits. It has advice on what to do in what order. You start an account (IRA, Safety Net, Wealth, Big Purchase, etc) and answer some questions. Afterwards, you will get some suggested allocations which is the ratio of stocks and bonds. It suggested I begin with a Safety Net. Well, I've been transferring money into my savings for the last 3 months or so, but this would be a good way to learn how it works. I didn't change the allocations to test it out. You can change your allocations once a day. It was a 60/40 Bond to stock ratio. It's safe, but takes longer for money to gain. I kept it like that for about 2 weeks with a $100 deposit. After 2 weeks, I had gained 4 cents. Now, this is faster than most savings accounts, but like I said, this is a trial run. Next thing I did was change it to 50/50; which from reading, is the best way to grow your savings. It's diversified so the chance of you taking big losses is slim for extended periods of time. I am currently invested in miniscule parts of hundreds of stocks.

The next step is an IRA. I am going to stop the deposits in my safety net goal for the time being. I still have auto deposits into my savings account, and that account should be high enough to maintain itself and grow or I may withdraw it. My IRA will receive my deposits going into my current account to grow. This will be something that I will not stop once I start. I will also keep money going into my savings account to be backed up for emergencies.

This is, like I said, a beginner strategy that I developed.

The ball is rolling.

Had my finances in order, starting to make progress, being smart with my money. At my job, as I mentioned before, I wasn't going to be able to do a whole lot. Make progress, sure, but it was going to be drug out.

Anyways, I was getting tired of monotony and figured it was time to move on. Started looking for jobs in Oklahoma City and around where I lived. Had a few interviews. One company offered me a job but it was nothing close to what it said on the job board and they offered no benefits. Anyways, I was deciding where to take my next step at. Then it happened...

A company I had been doing training for called and offered me their Safety Director position.Company had everything I was looking for: better pay, benefits (health, vision, and dental insurance - which they pay 70% of, retirement, life insurance) you name it! Best part, it was a little closer than where I was currently working. I thought about it so I wouldn't make a rash decision and consulted with family, the answer was yes. I called them the next day and told them I could start in a couple weeks. I had already given my company a notice and was in the final week of that but was wanting a week to relax for a bit, after all, court was coming up for my divorce and custody.

I started with them and the next week was the mediation date. At mediation it was decided that I would get my girl on every weekend and any time I had off. Thanksgiving and Christmas we'd split the day. Considering I live in a state that a vast majority of custody decisions end up in the usual "father gets child every other weekend and 2 weeks in the summer" I made out great!

Since then, my stress has gone down a lot. My life is going great and I am starting to provide for my little girl a better life than I could've imagined just a year ago. I am down to 2 things in my debt, a student loan, and a car. My uncle wiped out my personal loan just a week ago and my parents have chipped in regularly. Talk about a support system, right? I have started to invest towards my future. Once I get those two things taken care of I'm going to look at houses.

On my own

I moved all  of my stuff out with the help of my brother-in-law. Stayed with her parents for a couple weeks until my place was ready and then I was good to go. Moved out latter part of May and moved into my own place in mid-June. It was weird.

Here I was 25 years old and for the first time in my life I was officially on my own. I had roommates all throughout college and then my ex and I lived together until then. My family helped me get started. Gave me money for food and to get my utilities and everything, which was great! I was finally going to fully delve into getting my financials in order as well.

First thing I did - gathered every bill I had and created a spreadsheet. Put all of the bills in order from date due as well as what their estimated cost was. Next I split them up first to middle of the month, then second half of the month. I did this since I got paid every two weeks. What I've been doing ever since is as soon as I get paid I open up the budget sheet and pay everything due in that period. After around 4 days everything's clear then I control my spending until the next period and rollover everything. Another way to control spending is the envelope method where you put a certain amount in envelopes for "eating out", "play", etc. Once an envelope is empty, you're done in that category until the next payday. 

At my job I was able to pay just a little on everything to make a little progress, but even on my own I was not going to get caught up anytime soon. Was nice that on my next pay period I was able to roll over a little bit. Was ready to start the push and start the next chapter of my life!

Getting things going

After Ronnie left the company I then started going on my own. My boss would schedule the classes and meetings and I'd go do them. Pay wasn't great but it was consistent and enough to pay bills. I was with my family back in my part of the country!

This job was nice in the sense that I got to travel the region and visit parts that I'd never been to. It was a far cry from Wyoming in that there is civilization all around. I went to museums and visited other things when I had the chance; my cup of tea!

I gained a lot of experience speaking in front of people for hours (see: 8) and teaching them different things related to safety, oil-field, and construction. Got to see operations of a few multinational companies (Exterran & Halliburton) and find out a little about every aspect of the oil field that I didn't have experience with.

What's funny is that in high school I very rarely talked in front of class. I was introverted except to my friends. When I went to college the one thing I hoped to be able to get over was my fear of public speaking. I minored in communications and took every kind of speech class I could. In the end, I am very confident when I get up to talk. As I speak I gain more confidence because I get a feel for the listeners mannerisms and personality and start implementing those.

Anyways, I traveled Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, and Arkansas on a regular basis. Learned a lot of things and it was fun, but then I was lied to. When I started I was told "between 3 and 6 months you'll get a raise, afterwards you'll receive another one at the 1 year mark". Well, as 6 months approached I asked about it. Was told that the company didn't make enough money and was going to do things differently.

I was livid. One of those 8 hour classes covered our salaries at the office. I was doing about 2 a week and giving up home time. Then things happened...

Things at home weren't dandy either. Started arguing more and she refused to go to counseling because "it was a waste of money". My thought was she was done. I found out some things a little later that made me done as well. Can't trust someone after a certain point...

Second time's a charm?

Something I didn't mention in my previous posts was that my relationship with my wife was terrible. We didn't think it was going to work out since I wasn't going to be able to get back down to Oklahoma. Matter of fact, we had started discussing who gets what in a divorce. Terrible things personally. I was getting more determined to get down there and it was finally going.

My parents and I loaded up and got me moved down there. I had an apartment lined up but it wasn't going to be ready for a month. My in-laws were letting me stay with them, store my stuff, etc. I was going to a football game with my MIL to watch my youngest brother-in-law play. My wife was going to go and ride with us. We talked a lot, got things sorted out and aired out a lot of things that needed to be said. After a bit, I canceled my apartment and moved in with her into the apartment we got originally. Things were great!

I started my job about 4 days after I moved back. Had a man, Ronnie Hays, train me in how to do everything. He was alright, but he lacked a lot of minute details to get stuff to stick. I went smaller oil companies and conducted safety meetings. Fun to see things that I hadn't really got to see. Pay was better than I'd ever made in Oklahoma but was quite a cut from Wyoming. I was happy. I was home, able to support my family, and still on track.

Life is good...