Three days ago I reached a savings goal of $10,000. 1 year ago I couldn't manage to save more than $1000, and my saving account was like the ebb and flow of the tides, highs and lows every month. 2 years ago I was so embarrassed by financial situation I couldn't talk about it to my girlfriend of 4 years who lived with me. 3 years ago we were almost evicted from our apartment because I forgot to pay rent for 3 months and didn't have the cash reserves to cover the rent I had missed, luckily my girlfriends bailed us out and stuck with me. I read my first BiggerPockets book 3 years ago and since then I have been desperate to get into the game. I attended Meet Ups, I read multiple books, I've listened to a gazillion podcasts about Real Estate Investing and Financial Freedom. I know I have the charisma, the drive and the willingness to learn new skills to become a real estate investor, but so does everyone else who reads a BiggerPockets book and attends a Meet Up or two. You know what separates the wannabe's from the actual investor's? Capital. I knew I needed to get my money right. Managing your money requires you to stay on top of it with regular check-ins and set long-term goals and plan for the future. As a person living with ADHD, I struggled with all of those things. However ADHD is not a crutch, I worked at it and I got a lot better with my money. In two and a half years I paid off $32,000 of consumer debt. However, I still couldn't seem to save more than a few hundred bucks at any time, so I went to go see an expert. The Financial Gym is a startup financial planning service, they have locations in NYC, Los Angeles and Washington DC, but even if you don't live in any of those locations you can still use their services virtually. Their services cost about $80 a month and in my opinion are well worth it. They we able to analyze my income, my expenses and my spending and came up with a financial plan for that didn't feel like I was sacrificing anything. Sure I had to make some big changes, but all of the cuts I made in my spending were impulse buys that didn't bring any fulfillment to my life. They also gave me the tools to automate my saving, budgeting and bill paying. I still have a ways to go as far as tracking my spending, and I still have an Amazon addiction, but since February of this year to now I saved $10k. That's just 5 months! Now I'm going to try to save my next 10k in 4 months. I still have big real estate dreams, and I don't have a seat at the investor's table yet, but this time next year I'll be looking for my first deal with the capital to back it. If anyone has questions/comments/suggestions about paying down debt, saving and knowing when to to consult an expert let me know!
