Nicholas
Appearances
The Ramsey Show
Delayed Gratification Is a Key Ingredient to Building Wealth
I'm good. How are you, Dave?
The Ramsey Show
Delayed Gratification Is a Key Ingredient to Building Wealth
So I just graduated college, took my last final today, and I have a job offer that I've actually taken already for $130,000 a year.
The Ramsey Show
Delayed Gratification Is a Key Ingredient to Building Wealth
Wow, okay. Yeah. And on that note, I have absolutely no idea how to structure this income and how I can save it the best. I have the blessing that I can live with my parents for a while after starting this job. So I think for the first six months, I'll probably be living with them and just saving up as much as I possibly can.
The Ramsey Show
Delayed Gratification Is a Key Ingredient to Building Wealth
But I'd love your insight on whether I should be maxing out my 401k, any other investment tools. I do have debt. I have roughly $30,000 of debt. Okay. All right.
The Ramsey Show
Delayed Gratification Is a Key Ingredient to Building Wealth
So I know that roughly my take home after taxes will be, uh, around seven and a half thousand a month.
The Ramsey Show
Delayed Gratification Is a Key Ingredient to Building Wealth
I I'm ready to start my life. But on that note, uh, what, what should I be aiming to pay for rent? Because this is a very expensive area, uh, kind of hence the large, uh, salary. Um, and. One-bedroom apartments in the area of where I work go for around $2,500. Is that something you think I can afford?
The Ramsey Show
Delayed Gratification Is a Key Ingredient to Building Wealth
A fourth of his take-home, okay.
The Ramsey Show
Delayed Gratification Is a Key Ingredient to Building Wealth
Do you think I should be maxing out my 401k?
The Ramsey Show
Be Prepared: Math Doesn’t Care About Your Life Situations
I only had my mortgage, um, which is 1400, which in Massachusetts is, you can't even rent for 1400 is just nothing for the more the mortgage is nothing. Uh, at the time it was 1250, but during the divorce, I had a refinance. So it went up to almost 1500. But, I mean, all my money got drained. She spent $72,000 in 2020, the year of the divorce.
The Ramsey Show
Be Prepared: Math Doesn’t Care About Your Life Situations
She just kind of drained the accounts and left me with that. And then the tax liability, I'm in huge tax troubles. I owe six figures to the government and then $30,000 to the state. And I'm just kind of lost.
The Ramsey Show
Be Prepared: Math Doesn’t Care About Your Life Situations
No, definitely, definitely. And there's a whole other part of this, which is like I'm trying to push through. I've got two young children, five and six years old. And I'm with them 60% of the time paying, you know, paying the, you know, 400 a week in support. It's just kind of, it is what it is. I don't have an issue with the support. I don't have an issue with the support or nothing like that.
The Ramsey Show
Be Prepared: Math Doesn’t Care About Your Life Situations
It's just, I'm, you know, I feel like I'm pushing myself further into that because I'm trying to give them everything they need. So my credit, my personal credit cards, along with the business, I mean, everything's, everything's just, you know. Hold on.
The Ramsey Show
Be Prepared: Math Doesn’t Care About Your Life Situations
No, no, no. I got destroyed. How?
The Ramsey Show
Be Prepared: Math Doesn’t Care About Your Life Situations
It was just my lawyer, the representation during it. There was just a lot of things that just did not go my way, and I was not in a mental state. So at some point after them just coming at me and coming at me with demands and demands, I just wanted it done with. So I said, all right, that's it. I agree on this, and let's go.
The Ramsey Show
Be Prepared: Math Doesn’t Care About Your Life Situations
No, I still, I'm still running, still running the business. Okay. Do you want to hear my personals?
The Ramsey Show
Be Prepared: Math Doesn’t Care About Your Life Situations
Yeah. So, I mean, I mean, weekly, my, my weekly check is like 12, 1200 a week.
The Ramsey Show
Be Prepared: Math Doesn’t Care About Your Life Situations
Yep. Yep. But but then you got to, you know, right now is our slow season. So there's going to be a couple of weeks where I'm not taking a check. And then, you know, subtracting, you know, for 387 and support.
The Ramsey Show
Be Prepared: Math Doesn’t Care About Your Life Situations
Yeah. Yeah. Eleven ninety eight a week. Yeah.
The Ramsey Show
Be Prepared: Math Doesn’t Care About Your Life Situations
Uh, personal or with the business included?
The Ramsey Show
Be Prepared: Math Doesn’t Care About Your Life Situations
Uh, yep. So I got the, I got the vehicle, the vehicle, the, uh, home and, um, the, you know, about 8,000 in credit card debt.
The Ramsey Show
Be Prepared: Math Doesn’t Care About Your Life Situations
So, yeah, I just wanted to, you know, first, I appreciate you guys, you know, putting me on. But I wanted to just kind of, you know, put my situation out there. In 2020, I'm a small business owner. In 2020, we had a great year. We're a fence installation company. We were doing really, really great around the time 2020 into 2021. At that time, my wife had an affair.
The Ramsey Show
Be Prepared: Math Doesn’t Care About Your Life Situations
Last time I checked, it was worth $14,000.
The Ramsey Show
Be Prepared: Math Doesn’t Care About Your Life Situations
Yeah, so the work's always been there. I never paid for advertising. With the work, we've always been very busy. Last year was very slow. I put $14,000 over the year into a marketing agency and just...
The Ramsey Show
Be Prepared: Math Doesn’t Care About Your Life Situations
I was working probably 50 to 60 hours a week just because I had to keep up with the demand for the business at the time. After that, you know, that hit me mentally. And going into a divorce process, it killed me financially. And I've just not been able to recover. It's just been a tough few years. The business, since that, it was kind of like almost like a peak period.
The Ramsey Show
Be Prepared: Math Doesn’t Care About Your Life Situations
in 2020 into 2021 with the work the business slowed down after I don't know if it's partially due to the economy or or just my state in general of you know pushing forward lack of funds for the business and so on but just been a struggle since since that time so man sorry brother No, it's all right. And, and, you know, with, um, you know, pre-divorce around 2020, I had six figures in the bank.