Hi all, I’m 25 years old (F) and have just started a new job as a nurse grossing about $82k a year. I made some poor financial decisions when I was in college and struggled to manage money on my own as I grew up extremely poor. Long story short, I have accrued approximately $11k in CC debt. I’ve only been working for two months but so far I have chipped away at three credit cards (~$2500 total) and have put away about $800 in savings. I’ve been seeing a lot of videos with comments of people around my age already having thousands saved and no debt. I’m doing my best but it’s been very discouraging to try and dig myself out of this hole. I’m also starting to save for a wedding and home with my partner and I’m starting to feel overwhelmed. Does anyone have advice on managing debt and ways to get ahead?
Thanks in advance.
Feeling Behind with Savings & Finances
byu/Calm_Level4355 inpersonalfinance
Posted by Calm_Level4355
4 Comments
if you stick around here youll see lots of 25-30 year olds with 5 figures of CC debt and 6 figures in student loans
stop focusing on everyone else; much like any other aspect…..some people are doing better than you and some people are doing worse.
keep working at it and itll be gone before you know it and a big brick will be off your chest
You are miles ahead at 25, imo. Pay off your CC debt and then start putting $$$ a HYSA + retirement.
Ive been using Rocket Money to help me track monthly expenses and its pretty cool
You’re 25 and just started your career. You’re totally fine. Saving and building wealth is a slow process.
The biggest things you can do right now is what you’re doing, saving money, paying off debt, and not taking out a big car loan.
That’s a really good job that will get you on the right path, so reminder to do what got you there- hard work and dedication to a goal.
Good news is with that income 11k of cc debt can get erased. Depending on the APR and size of each debt I’d suggest tackling the highest first but if they’re all around the same then okay to stay the course. 800$ in savings when you have this level of debt doesn’t strike me as a wise use of that money as the interest will accrue. I’d suggest throwing that at one of your CC debts unless you will need that cash. A better way to think of this is once you erase the CC debt that monthly payment becomes available to either tackle the next debt or rebuild your savings.
Relative to the noise and feeling behind? Reddit and the world will definitely make you feel that way, but the great news is you’re 25 presumable with another 30-40 years of working so yo have tons of time to build, and time is your strongest ally.
Beyond that follow the flowchart in this sub- make a budget, stay on target to clear your debt and then. Building a 3-6 month emergency fund after that there’s plenty more options like saving for retirement and investing but most importantly take your time to learn.
You’re not as behind as you think, keep your head up and stay focused.