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All Forum Posts by: Thomas Branson

Thomas Branson has started 2 posts and replied 2 times.

Post: Should I get rid of my car debt?

Thomas BransonPosted
  • Atlanta, GA
  • Posts 2
  • Votes 0

I bought a car about 4 months ago, thinking it was the right decision, and I'm still thinking it may be. I drive about 3,000 miles per month for work. It works out because I get paid twice as much from my tax breaks for living over 50 miles away. And I actually enjoy the drive because it gives me more time to listen to books. I know it sounds odd, but I make a lot more money living the distance, and I'm okay with it. It's between 45 mins to an hour.

My concern is I'm trying to get rid of my debts to pay myself more, but I obviously need a reliable car for the distance I'm driving. We're talking almost 40,000 miles a year being put on a vehicle.

I bought a Dodge with 10,000 miles for $13,000. Practically new, good on gas (33 mpg average), and reliable. I've already put $3,000 down and I owe right at $9,000 currently.

I'd like to think this was still a good purchase. For $5,000, I could've gotten something reliable but with 150,000 miles and putting 36k+ on it per year would make me think I'd need another vehicle after a year and a half.

I thought just spending the extra money and paying it off ASAP was the right idea for my specific situation, but now I'm thinking maybe not. Opinions?

Post: Leave my high paying job to be an agent?

Thomas BransonPosted
  • Atlanta, GA
  • Posts 2
  • Votes 0

First off, I made this account to stay anonymous first and foremost. I'd hate for my employer or a coworker to see something with my name on a post like this and get myself in a sticky situation. Hope that's understandable.

Basics:

I'm 23.

Work 60 hours per week. I only have 2 hours of free time on work days, and most of that time is spent making my lunch, showering, and getting to work.

I have no credit card debt, no loans, no student debt. Simply a car payment and rent.

I make around $5,000 per month. Not ridiculous, but to be 23 with no responsibilities or much debt, it's fairly decent.

Long story short, I work a lot of hours and don't want a corporate job. I was considering saving up about 1 year's worth of expenses (minimum) and leaving my job on a good note, then taking up being an agent.

I would like to do start up businesses to sell, and do real estate on the side. I currently own two LLC's. One is a clothing brand (just launched, making approx. $300/mo, but have only been in business for 3 months) and I've already made back my initial startup cost. The other company is also a brand more based on accessories. No sales yet, just starting the website, legalities, etc.

Honestly, just doing some smaller side businesses from home to kind of get the basics down on what it takes to operate a small business. I figure it's better for me to work with sales, taxes, legalities, paperwork, shipping, etc through a small t-shirt company before jumping into something I can't handle.

I feel like working generally from home as an agent would give me more time to focus on my side businesses. My only concern is that I eventually want to, you guessed it, buy rental properties. I know this is going to be a challenge without a steady and consistent job.

I could go on and rant out the pros and cons forever. I would just like to know what you think.