I did it this week

I understand that time’s been incredibly hard for everyone, this current timeline feels like a hellscape. I hope everyone can feel this some day.

76k paid off over the last 5 years, just checked my site and saw the 00.00 balance finally processed.

In 2022, my mom died suddenly, and I inherited about 30k from her insurance policy. I invested it pretty early, and used 20% as an emergency savings buffer for my life for 2 years, making about 80k doing sales, saving money to invest and use on my SL’s. Spending about 2.5k to live in Seattle, not great for my savings rate.

Then in August of last year, when interest resumed, I through everything I had at it. 4k in a HYSA and zeroed my savings, checking, investments (not retirement) & crypto. Took the loan down to its last 11k, and paid it off on Friday. I’ve been at a new company since 2024, and have been promoted a couple of times, so I had 10-20% more income as buffer to take it on. I’d also moved in with my girlfriend, so my cost of living went from 2.5k to about 1.5k.

It takes a lot, I know I’m really lucky too. I’d give anything to have my mom here instead, but life had other plans, so this is my way to honor her and my past. I’m eternally grateful for her help in setting my payments up, and helping me consolidate my loans into a lower %.

I hope you all can have your moment in the sun like this. I know we’re all at different places, but I hope that this post helps you not feel alone in your journey. I felt like you, I had a negative net worth for a long time, working shitty jobs that didn’t make a dent. Please keep upskilling, keep a robust budget, keep yourself honest for as long as you can.

I can’t wait to sob like a baby this weekend when I get some time to rest and reflect. I hope everyone has a safe week.