‘I’m paycheck to paycheck.’ I make $350K a year, but have $88K in student loans, $170K in car loans and a mortgage I pay $4,500 a month on. Do I need professional help?

Question: By the end of 2022, I will have made $350,000 before taxes as the sole breadwinner and head of household. This is a great starting point and I’m very aware how blessed we are to be in this position, but I’m always looking ahead on how to improve.

I currently have $88K left in student loans (originally close to $150K) and very little credit card debt (less than $2K with more than $25K available). I have two auto loans totaling $170K for two electric vehicles at 5% interest.

I’ve recently been offered a $200K HELOC at 9%, which would help me bring down some of my monthly payments and do some small home repairs and improvements, but I want to make the right moves. And I’ve also been presented with a few long-term real estate investment opportunities that are rental properties out of state and are currently bringing it 10-12% ROI.

But my biggest concern is that after taxes, 401(k) contributions, bills, savings and mortgage ($4,500), on paper I’m paycheck to paycheck. I’d like to use this HELOC to consolidate debt while also participating in some of these investment opportunities. I’m the first of my generation to own a home and the first to earn this much annually and don’t want to mess this up. How, specifically, can a financial adviser help me?

https://www.marketwatch.com/picks/im...lp-01664544530

170k in car loans? I am guessing it is those higher model teslas.

Don't worry homie. Your father is out there, just need to keep searching.

I don't really consider it paycheck to paycheck when we're talking about cash flow after things like 401K and plugging money into savings, but it's a prudent way to think about it

Only an absolute moron would carry 50% of their gross annual income in car notes. A nice number would be closer to like 10%.

You can get a perfectly respectable and reliable car for $25K. Guaranteed that a financial advisor would advise them to sell the cars and buy a couple Toyotas. Snowball everything into the student loans until it's just the house debt.


Also how is this guy paycheck to paycheck? a 350K salary should be something like $20K takehome each month. Even with two $1,000 car notes and a $4,500 mortgage and your typical living expenses he should have literally thousands left over each month.

170k in car loans, lmao

There are many many people in this situation. With many.....the more you make the more you spend.
The real hack is to find balance as you make more. Thats how you get to financial freedom quicker.

The salary is livable, as long as you're not trying to keep up with Jones's. What a disgrace.

Stop reading at " $170K in car loans"

[QUOTE=Goat_187 post_id=1670796113]Stop reading at[b] " $170K in car loans"[/b]

[img]https://media.tenor.com/_8EgS50huAsAAAAC/nicholas-cage-laugh.gif[/img[/QUOTE]Yep, absolute fuking retard.

Depending on state but its more like $14k take home after all the investment stuff.

I can see how that is close to paycheck to paycheck if he has a family. If they have those types of car notes and house payment on that salary they probably also have kids enrolled in all sorts of activities etc. Life adds up quickly.

You're not paycheck to paycheck when you have close to have a milli in assets, a 401K, and a liquid savings account. What a retarded way to look at your financial outlook srs.

I knew one fella who was making 350K a year, and still poor. And then he died. Nobody knows why. I have a suspicion though...

Think it's because they're calling it paycheck to paycheck after also maxxing out 401K, putting money into savings, looking at buying out of state rental properties, etc

When I think of paycheck to paycheck, I picture that as struggling to put food on the table and supply the basics

I suppose a big chunk of his income is in a different tax bracket than mine, but I take no deductions and withhold additional, max out an FSA-D and 10% to a 401K and I take home like 65%. For him that would be $19K and he is probably in a much better position from a withholdings standpoint if he is the primary earner. Also he would max out his 401K with only 6%, even without matching. He's probably only dumping like 3-4% into 401K.

I suppose he could be socking away thousands into savings, or his whole family could be balling out to the tune of some 10K a month in living expenses. Either way I'm still kinda scratching my head. My family of four runs on about 5-6K a month in living expenses (excluding notes and mortgages, etc) and that includes $1,600 a month in day care.

Definitions and perspectives shifts between people.

Similar to the answer you get when you ask different people what the definition of "rich" is
A bum
Someone making $40k a year
Someone making $2M a year

I just always considered it to mean quite literally that you would be pretty screwed financially if you didn't get your next paycheck. A situation which a vast majority of America falls under, I'm sure.

For the record....I dont disagree with you on the fact that this dude in the OP's article is not doing it right.

But for perspective when I was still in corporate america and building my nest egg....I was maxxing out the 401k then maxxing out the after tax contribution as well which would be like $100k all in just in that.

It also depends on if he pays a state income tax and how much. Didnt read the article but it would make a big difference if he lived in NYC vs Tx.

He's an idiot

If I was in that situation, I'd try to find roommates for my current living situation (4500/mo divided by 2 or 3) or try to sell and live in a cheaper area, do nothing but pay off my student loans, sell all my cars and keep or buy a car that's no more than $40k (outright if possible). If you're not debt free within 6 months at $350k/yr, doing what I just said, you're messing up.

From the article
"While having a high income is great, there’s a concept called Parkinson’s Law, which essentially states that your spending will always rise to meet your income no matter how high that income rises, explains Paddock. “Working with a money coach will help you defeat Parkinson’s Law, eliminate your debt and then enable you to supercharge your investing and life planning with a financial adviser,” says Paddock."

I believe it, I had that same issue when income was higher. But I also knew that most of the income can go away.

Hard to when you see others driving fancy cars or having luxury items. But comparing to others and trying to compete is a complete negative.

mm I didn't really know about post-tax contributions to 401K, hell if that man is doing that, he could be eating up a ton of income.


Also I live in GA - a relatively low-tax state. True his state taxes could be tearing him up.

poor is a mindset, not how much money you make.

Trying to make the right moves

$170k in car loans


Pick 1

You really expect him to drive a Altima like some pleb and not pull up at work in a Porsche 911? I’d rather rope.

I gamafied it......my friends called me "slow pimpin" and thats my style in real life. Admittedly I think I took it a bit too far in my 20's. But that was also because I was travelling my butt off on the company dime and not paying for any of the high end meals etc. I literally drove an old honda accord while my colleagues were driving cars like in OP.
I respect the people who you meet in real life who you would NEVER know by looking at them.

My mindset when building the nest egg (non high risk investments) was take full advantage of tax benefits as much as possible.
Drug dealers feel rich because they dont have to pay taxes. Thats a 30% increase in whatever they were making right off the top

The founder of the company I work for right now is like this, not rocking an old Accord but would be driving a old used Lexus SUV while he was worth like probably hundreds of millions


Then you go to his house and he has Fine Art lamps that were worth $15k. I think everyone has stuff they splurge on, key is to figure out what adds value to your life and focus on that. I'm guessing people driving cheap cars just see it as something to get you from Point A to B, other people are passionate about automobiles and choose to put their money there moreso.

I drive a used car.
I live in a smallish house.

I can buy a new car
I can buy a bigger house.

but then i'll end up with less money to do the chit i enjoy doing.
what sense does that make?


opie knows the answer to his problems.
he just wants someone to not tell him to get rid of his stupid expensive cars or tell him something other than what he doesn't want to hear which is stop pissing your money away on needlessly expensive chit and you won't have money problems.

170k in electric cars?
lol fukk'n lol.

Yup, I love that mentality. I have a buddy.....not sure what hes worth (hard to tell) but hes like this. Doesnt drive a beater by any means but has a Ford F150. Similar to me wears what seems to be the same clothes every day. No branding, nothing flashy but if you look at details its high quality.

First time he took me to Vegas he took out a marker for $3M for 2 nights of gambling. I thought....damn thats a lot for 2 nights but maybe he just loves to gamble.
Did a last minute dinner with the families back home and got a private table at some place that tpyically takes weeks to get a reservation to. We took our young kids....and it was definitely a place that most just would celebrate their birthday or anniversaries at.

I asked "how on earth did you get this room on short notice"
He said my dad and I was invovled with developing this place
I asked "you are part owner of XyZ restaurant"
He said "no, we developed the commercial real estate for which this place resides" (That high end shopping area is HUGE....like a small city.

I was inspired.