All Forum Posts by: David Hurt

Your current housing situation can also come into play, but unless you are in a dire circumstance, it will be hard to justify not knocking out the credit card debt as quickly as possible.  So pay that off asap.  If your current housing is stable then hunker down, trim expenses, and save.  Whether you pay off the student loan early or not depends on the interest rate (fixed or adjustable), and personal preference.  I tend to lean towards paying them off, especially since it is a manageable amount.  I'll take those "small" wins any time I can.  Build up that emergency fund.  Keep learning, finding, and analyzing properties.  

I haven't used Mint yet, but I've had Personal Capital for several months based on recommendations here.  It makes reviewing multiple accounts about as easy as I can imagine.  

Hey Zach,

First off, hello from St. Augustine, and welcome to Bigger Pockets.  There's a lot of information here...I've barely scratched the surface myself.  

There seem to be a couple schools of thought as far as student loans and investing.  One camp will make the argument to save your money and invest as long as you can get higher returns on that money.  Others will encourage a more conservative approach that focuses on paying down the debt as quickly as possible.  Then there are some hybrid thoughts, like Ian's above, that mesh the two....he seem pretty logical by the way.  In the end you've got to weigh your own risk tolerance and other life details.  Ask yourself how quickly can you honestly pay it down.  Depending on income and expenses, I've seen people pay off that much debt in less than a year.  In that case I tend to lean more toward the conservative side.  Then again, if you're able to refinance it into a low fixed rate then you may be better off taking advantage of that.  

Either way, earn and learn.  Take advantage of what your broker offers and build your business. Build you some cash reserves, because like Ken mentioned, you're going to have some slow times that you have to survive.  In the end, the market may make this decision for you.  

Good luck, and if you are interested there is a REIA group that is meeting next Thursday in St. Augustine. https://www.meetup.com/JAX-Cashflow-Community/events/fqmzmlywlbfb/

https://reif.memberflow.com/Event/Register?Id=2063&cal=true This group meets in St Augustine on the first Thursday of every month. Good networking gathering. I've enjoyed the ones I've been to, and will continue to go as I'm able too.

I'm in a very similar position, and I'll admit it is a little frustrating to try and adapt the "ideal" investment plan to our situation. That said, me being the chronic optimist I am, I'm glad I came around to the idea of investing now instead of right before retirement.

You can also call your credit card company and ask how often you can request a credit limit increase without pulling credit. Do that at the specified intervals, and that will help as well.

You guys are kind of depressing me. 😜 I've enjoyed the thread though.

I've been messing around with Lending Club for a couple years now.  Quite literally got started with the pocket change I had been collecting for years.  I started out buying the straight forward $25 notes they offered through their main site.  I tried various strategies, as far as which grades and purposes I'd focus on, but I haven't had much luck.  I've taken a beating from a constant slew of defaults, but then again I'm only playing with pocket change.  So far I've managed to keep my principle, and it is fun.

Over the past year or so I've switched to only buying notes through their partnership with Folio Investing.  Here you can buy notes  that other investors are selling for whatever reason.  The thing I like about this platform is I can see a payment history.  These are existing (performing) notes, at least the ones I look at, that give me some confidence of making a profit.  These aren't guaranteed or anything, but my numbers do look better so far.  

Either way, I like getting payments each month that I can turn around and repurchase more notes with.  

Great job working down that student loan debt. Keep that up, and study in the meantime. With the student loans out of the picture, and keeping with what appears to be a heathy savings habit, you two will be able to get in a great investing position in a short amount of time. Great choice in career by the way.

Anyone planning on coming out tomorrow morning?