Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 53:30 — 24.8MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | RSS | More
How much would you sacrifice to pay off $30,000 in less than a year? Would it be worth it? At what POINT would it be worth it?
Today’s guest is the amazing Whitney Hansen (from whitneyhansen.com), a personal finance coach for millennial females. She backstory is absolutely amazing and will inspire and motivate you fo. sho. We were particularly impressed by her ability to hustle (a trait she still seems to have in her day job and business) and make short-term sacrifices.
You’ll love that story.
We also chat about…
- Buying a house at 19
- How to support yourself in college
- Coming back from $30k in student loan debt
- The benefits of hiking 🙂
- Competing in figure and bikini competitions
- loads more!
She was an absolute delight to speak with! Enjoy this chat with Whitney, and please subscribe to us in iTunes if you enjoyed it!
Show notes and links from today’s episode
- Whitney’s blog
- Kristie Wolfe and the Hobbit House!
- Mad Fientist – who? Jk. He’s been talked about a lot, and was on our podcast here.
- Zion National Park
Key takeaways from our chat with Whitney Hansen
1 – The power of Hustle (and sacrifice)
Whitney’s story is definitely an exception. She paid off $30,000 in something like 10 months.
Who does that??
Well, as it turns out, someone who hustles and is willing to sacrifice. In addition to working her new job as a staff accountant, she decided to KEEP her job at the nail salon, working between 70-80 hours a week…AND she gave up eating out and going to Starbucks.
While this might be an extreme….wait, is it extreme?
For one, it was only temporary pain, and it allowed Whitney to sock away an extraordinary amount of cash to put towards debt.
The question Whitney had to ask herself…and WE have to ask ourselves when it comes to hitting a big financial goal like this, is
Is the sacrifice worth it?
Whitney: “It wasn’t a lot of fun, but I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
‘Nuff said.
2 – Little things add up.
Little annoyances in your life could add up to an emotional overload. Small chunks of change stored away a few bucks at a time can add up to serious cash. A short dose of exercise every single day can add to wonderful things for your health.
Small things add up, and it’s way too easy to lose sight of that w/ short-term thinking!
This is especially true when it comes to finances, especially paying off debt.
If you’re struck with 10k, 20k, 50k, 100k in debt (especially high interest CC or student loan debt), every little bit counts!
Don’t get overwhelmed looking at the total amount due. Focus on being aggressive in the short term and contributing what you can reasonably afford to pay!
Every little bit counts, and will add up in saved interest over the long run.
3 – Renting vs buying a house:
- When you rent, the amount you pay monthly (i.e. your rent. $1,000/month) is the ceiling of your monthly expenses.
- When you buy, the amount you pay monthly (i.e. your mortgage, $1,000/month) is the floor of your monthly expenses.
Meaning, you never pay MORE than your monthly rent when you rent an apartment/condo/home. Your landlord pays for most repairs & maintenance, capital expenses, taxes, insurance, etc (generally speaking of course). You’ll rarely pay more than you’re mandatory fee, the rent.
On the other hand, you’ll never pay LESS than your mortgage payment. You’ll pay for upgrades, R&M, taxes, insurance, PMI, etc.
This may not be life-changing information to you. Or us. But to non-personal finance folks who might look at a $850 mortgage payment and say “Hey look honey! We should totally buy a house! Our rent payment is $950, so we’ll be saving so much money every month by buying!”
Buying a house has tons of benefits, but that’s not one of them. First-time homebuyers often get blown away by how much owning a home actually costs them.
Let’s help those people when we can 🙁
4 – Getting a Masters Degree for $450(!)(?)
Student loans = bad.
College education = good.
That said, we could either count on the bank of mom and dad, or figure out a way to get free college. Geez. So hard!
However, Whitney found out first hand that university employees often get free (or very cheap) tuition as a perk of working there. If you fit the profile of going to college for any reason, this could legitimately be something to consider.
Most colleges and universities likely have some form of benefit like this, often called tuition reimbursement.
Would you take a university job for 2-3 years to get an education on the cheap?
Questions? Like or dislike? Leave us a comment!
Want to support the podcast? Here are three things you can do.
Join the FIRE crew and change your life
Subscribe and get emails about new episodes of FIRE Drill Podcast.
Leave a Reply