24-Year-Old Is Drowning In Terrible Decisions

0:00My name is Genesis. I'm 24 years old. I'm from New York City. I currently live in Jersey. What do you do in Jersey for a living? I'm a leasing agent For like an apartment complex? A real estate company Oh, okay, so what do you bring in doing that? I make 60k 60k? Yeah 60k, any types of commission? I'm not exactly sure what this job is exactly No, no commissions So you're just trying to lease out properties for this company? Yes, we actually work in the public sector So we're like low income housing So$60 ,000, Jersey City Jersey City, expensive I'm assuming I mean it's right there, right across Whatever that body of water is That's pretty much a river from New York City Yeah, I'm a little bit north from Jersey City But I'm still like, like I said Like 15 minutes from the city Yeah, what's your rent?

0:53I pay$500 What? How? I live with a very, very, very good friend of mine Oh, that must be a very, very, very good friend Because Yes. Her parents, they know me my whole life. And yeah, so. Now you live that state income tax life. You live in like the highest tax state, if I'm not mistaken, across everything. Well, maybe California. I haven't looked at that in a while. Let's see a paycheck come in. Okay. 1 ,529. Yeah. Yeah. At that point, I was making 50K. So I got a raise recently. Oh, very good. So is that, are you paid bi-weekly or semi-monthly? Bi-weekly I work in Brooklyn, so I commute Jeez, so you have to commute through Manhattan And then into Brooklyn?

1:40What does that commute? It's not terrible I think I've been used to worse commutes It's like 50 minutes to an hour But I'm going to be relocated to the main office now Which is? Which is in Midtown So I'll cut it by like How are you commuting? I take the bus and then I take the train okay how much does that cost in here um monthly it's like 3 15 jeez it's actually crap yeah so that's what's it gonna be ish once it's relocated the same the same it's just less time well it sucks because it takes you down to like just below that takes you like three thousand and$400 all of a sudden you have left.

2:29Luckily, your rent is fantastic. Again, I mean, that's going to blow my mind. Now, before we just get into your money and stay tuned because it's going to get interesting. By the way, feel free to subscribe. I'm trying to get 250 ,000 subscribers, and we're getting pretty close because all of you amazing people, so please consider that. I want to hear from your perspective where you think your financial situation is. It needs vast improvement. It's not good. have a spending addiction um oh geez yeah um yeah i need to i need to get it together spending addiction so that's self-diagnosed if you know it's self-diagnosed why are you still spending have you tried to do anything therapy are we uh any kind of budgeting what have you attempted to do i haven't attempted attempted therapy but um i tried budgeting i tried twice i didn't stick to it what kind of budgeting have you tried just sitting down just you know tracking my monthly in like a spreadsheet yeah so you haven't tried an app you haven't tried like an envelope system no um i did try the envelope system go on many years ago but i didn't stick to it like after a month i just why didn't you stick to it i'm curious we kind of need to know what's going on in order to get over the hump once and for all i don't know i just resorted back to spending like a maniac what do you think's triggering that what is what is it like Like, it's a symptom of what?

3:58Do you think it helps with anxieties or just boredom or depression? Or what do you think it is helping? That's a good question. Boredom? Maybe some underlying sadness? I don't... Where are you spending the money? Are we going out and spending money? Or are we just sitting there clicking, clicking, clicking, clicking? in um so i have i've realized um doing some introspect i have like cycles so like i'll have for months i'll like do amazon now it's uber eats um that is yeah oh that's bad for a couple reasons because one typical the majority of options you can get you can get healthy options but the majority options probably not gonna be the best for you i know this yeah so i mean that helps that hurts in two ways, typically health and wallet.

4:51Yes. So what does that look like to you? Uber eating every day, Uber eating multiple? Multiple times a day. Multiple times a day? Yeah. That's intense. Yeah. What are you Uber eating? Are these meals or are you Uber eating everything? Because then I can get stuff from convenience stores and grocery stores and prescriptions. What are you doing? Just meals. Okay. Now why do you think? Do you cook at all? No. I'm lazy when it comes to that but I need to get cooking because I'm obviously living above my means and so that's an insanely hard habit to break once you're in the convenience of it yeah okay well I mean nothing better to do at this point than just jump in and see where things are looking like we have a checking account with Capital One you started the month with$158.

5:50Terrifying balance for checking account. Automatic payments happen. End of the month,$268. I'm glad it went up, but that's still a terrifying ending balance. Yeah. Do you feel like you have wiggle room? Just like out of the gate. No. No. I don't feel that. No. Yeah. I mean, I'm going to go through a lot here. It can be a little repetitive, but it's just, I need you to know just how insane this is. This pile, pile of stupid spending. And the only way for me to do that, I think, is just to scream them out and for you to know just how chaotic this is. We're doing Uber Eats. And these Apple bills, I'm starting to think, are these like Apple Pays of Uber Eats?

6:37Yes. Okay. Okay, so because again, I don't know, they could be app purchases, they could be Uber Eats, I can't see. But we're just going to call them like an Apple payment for now. But we have Uber Eats and Apple Payment, Apple Payment, Amazon, Amazon, Ruben Lunch, Wines, Uber Eats, Uber Eats, Uber Eats. Asaya, Uber Eats, Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, Uber Eats, Uber Eats, Amazon, Cash App and Someone, Golden Corral, KFC, IHOP, Ross Stores, Uber Eats, Uber Eats. Zellen out, Zellen out, Zellen out, Uber Trip, Uber Trip, Cash App, PayPal, Fashion Nova, Rubin, Uber Eats, Uber Trip, Uber Eats, Uber Cash App and Out, Amazon, Uber Trip, Bagels, Dunkin' Donuts, Fresh Italian something, Uber Eats, Uber Eats, Instant Car, Uber Eats, Y Deli Liquor, Lyft cancellation fee.

7:29We're getting a$7 cancellation fee. Great. And something, bagels and UberTrip and IbonPain and HudsonDuncan and UberTrip. We're just going crazy. We're zelling money out. We're getting Chick-fil-A. PayPal-ing out and Uber Eats and LyftRide. Cash app-ing out. Uber Eats. JetBlue. Zelle. Zelle-ing out$300 and an Apple payment again. Amazon, Apple Payment, JetBlue, Wingstop, PayPal, Uber. Well, that's Uber. So you're paying Uber through like different methods sometimes just depending on. Yes. Yeah, that's not a good sign. And Boss Revolution, PayPal, Restaurant, Calm, Uber Trip, Lyft Ride, Apple Payment, Uber Eats, Uber Trip, Uber Trip, Uber Eats.

8:25and if we've just looking at these just looking at these you're not getting a single healthy meal it's all crap you're just putting crap into your body I try at times I don't get fast food so I get I don't see an example of that in here I mean the Apple Payment some of the things that are hidden like the PayPal or the Uber I can't see what was ordered from there but the restaurants that you go to that aren't through Uber this is crap, crap, crap crap yeah have you noticed anything with your health weight since you started this uh uber eats addiction yes um i have gained weight in the past year or so okay so yeah but i'm trying to get back down but it's hard i mean i struggle with my weight and eating as well but this is bad when it's coming from both the health perspective and the financial perspective because overall the finances are not in a good place but let's talk about a couple other things that i noticed in here What is this?

9:23We have afterpay. We have Klarna, affirm, afterpay. They just continue through here. Klarna, Klarna, afterpay, afterpay, affirm, Klarna.

9:44Klarna, Klarna, afterpay. I mean, this is insane. Klarna, Klarna, afterpay. Klarna? Klarna? What the f***? So I have paid off. Today I have paid off most of the afterpay and the Klarna balances. What were they? What were you even doing? I think it was shopping. That month I actually went on vacation. I shouldn't have for obvious reasons. Yeah, very obvious. So I shopped. Yeah. I had. So what were you shopping? like oh was this beyond uber eats this was just other bonus shopping yeah it's just like clothes and you know non-food related things how do you feel about all this this is i need to make sure we're seeing this from the same perspective here like i'm beating in only to just show the extent of how terrible this is yeah um it's bad at the you know a couple months back i knew i had a problem but i never addressed it um i just thought well it is what it is that's what i thought but now i've really really like i really want to like fix it this is not you need a wake up acceptable yeah can't live like this forever well i'm glad you're not trying to justify it because Because there is no reason to justify this, especially as we go throughout the finances.

11:17This is just delaying your inevitable financial failure, essentially. Yeah, I agree. What can you do in your own life to stop this? What can you do? Well, definitely to eliminate Uber Eats. I need to delete that app. I still have it. Well, you can easily redownload it. That's true. but um i need to start cooking and also just really be conscious of every like every purchase i make and you know do i really need this and yeah um i need a budget i definitely yes have to you need a budget that's the name of an app you need a budget great app i recommend it it's worth the ten dollars a month that it is because this just starting here we just started and i'm i'm scared.

12:10There's a couple other things I wanted to mention. Withdraw from earning active pay trep what's this? What is this? Because it pops in a lot. So earning it lets you borrow before you get paid. You knew it. Yeah. I've been doing it I don't even remember when I started.

12:40How long have you been doing it? A year, maybe more How much do you do it? Because in here, this is insane We have it This is just from December 7th $103,$103,$103,$104,$104,$104 That's crazy That's just a day that you're borrowing from your future self Yeah And then here on the 22nd,$100,$50,$104. And he continues$100,$100,$104. To do what? Just so you can buy more Uber Eats? Or is that to pay rent? Or like what? What is the situation you're in? Shopping is hard, right? But I found a better way. Stitch Fix online personal styling makes it easy. I just give my stylist my size, style, and budget preferences.

13:28I order boxes when I want and how I want. No subscription required. and he sends just for me pieces plus outfit recommendations and styling tips. I keep what works and send back the rest. It's so easy. Make style easy. Get started today at stitchfix.com slash Spotify. That's stitchfix.com slash Spotify. Where you're like, I need to borrow for my future paycheck in order to do this. I guess it's to keep buying Uber Eats when I'm low on money or if I need to pay a bill or something.

14:03that is definitely an addiction and that is hard I can talk about personal finances all day any day I cannot talk about mental health like I'm not even close to being licensed to speak on mental health but there are there's some stuff here and I think a therapist I recommend it to everyone no matter their situation but I think you need to see someone to get over why these habits are building and why you can't stop them because they have these addictive tendencies you're showing these addictive tendencies and that is not something that i can specifically say all right just don't do it but that's a scary start to the situation but let's continue going forward i mean this your credit score in general is usually well it's not always the best indicator of your financial situation, but when we see 5.74, we know that something's up.

15:05Yeah. Okay. I don't see more than that. We might have you pull up some stuff, but we know that's where your score is sitting at, at least through Discover. That's what they think your FICO's at. We have a couple credit cards, and then we have some other debts. So let's start with Capital One. Well,$1 ,530 you owe on this with a minimum payment of$142. But guess what? We only made a payment of$68, which means you were given a late charge of$40, a late charge on the credits card that's only$1 ,530. That's not a crazy credit card balance in terms of, you know, the American standard. And certainly when it comes to your income and what comes in a month, that's practically a third of your income.

15:53You know It's closer to a half of your income Is the entire balance Yet we can't even make the minimum payment Which is barely a percentage of your income Why? Why the f*** are we not having a minimum payment done? I don't know Why? I guess I chose to pay less Is it not auto? No Why? I haven't enrolled in the auto pay So to be clear You have chosen being able to order in extra Uber Eats instead of them making a minimum monthly payment on a debt that you have. I think so. And then we have interest charge of$31.37. So not only are we making, you know, having late fees because we're not paying a minimum monthly payment, which by the way, for your take home pay, take home pay is just around three to 4 % of your income for your take pay.

16:48You could easily make that minimum monthly payment. And I am very upset that you did not. I'm not upset when people don't have cards or I'm upset. I'm not upset when people have debt. Like I try to make it very clear to people why. And I go hard on people so that they know how bad the situation is because a lot of people come in here and they're just like, oh, that's that. What is this? But I am upset seeing a not making the monthly payment and seeing you get knocked $40 because you chose to order something on Uber Eats instead of just being a responsible adult and make a minimum monthly payment.

17:25Yeah, it's... I'm ashamed of that. I should have just paid the whole minimum. Your next payment's in a few days. How's that looking? What's in your checking account right now at this exact moment? I believe$300. Okay, so about half of that would have to go to this. Are you going to pay the minimum monthly payment on this? in a few days? Yes. Yeah, 24.42 % interest on this. And if you only did the minimum payments, which we're not even doing that, it would take you 10 years to pay off and you'd pay a total of$3 ,453 and$1 ,533. So it's time that we start making progress and we'll talk about the light at the end of the tunnel at the end, but right now we're deep in the tunnel.

18:11We're in the worst of the worst of this. So January, when did you open this card? This was a couple years ago, maybe. Because I think it's looking back interest chart, you're just continually paying like 25 bucks of interest like forever. Yeah, I didn't even know that. I didn't even know interest on this card. I just been very ignorant. I didn't know You just didn't know interest was accruing? No Did you not know there were interest on credit cards and balances? Yes, I just didn't know the amount I never decided to even look into it Yeah, I mean It feels better to be blissfully ignorant, right?

19:02Yeah, I guess so I'm slightly happier about this Discover card But I'm not happy about the overall situation And obviously you're not either, which is good I'm happy that you're having that wake up call moment and we're going to start doing things. But 703 bucks, not the craziest balance. That brings your entire credit card. Unless there's, I think this is your last credit card, right? There's one more card that's not there. Ah, okay. But interest charge 1411. You at least made your minimum monthly payment due of$70. Now this is where minimum payments become kind of hard. You only have$300 in your checking account and we're getting pretty close.

19:35Just the minimum payment on these two cards equaling what you have in your checking account. Yeah. That's unsustainable, completely unsustainable. And the purchases on here, the interest rate is subject to 2.24 % in variables. So that's where it's at right now. I would love to see the interest that was charged last year, but it's only showing the year we're in, of course, which is fine. Let's start keeping track because we need to get out of this. Okay, so we have something here. I don't know exactly what this is for. and you can tell me. It's a personal loan. We have a personal loan. Why do we have a personal loan?

20:14I took this out about two years ago when I got fired from that job I had. And so... Because you didn't have an emergency fund, I'm guessing. No, I did not. That's why I talk about emergency funds being an emergency. So you had to borrow to survive. Yes. 23.47%. This is a real good story about Bronx and his dad, Ryan, real United Airlines customers. We were returning home, and one of the flight attendants asked Bronx if he wanted to see the flight deck and meet Captain Andrew. I got to sit in the driver's seat. I grew up in an aviation family, and seeing Bronx kind of reminded me of myself when I was that age.

20:56That's Andrew, a real United pilot. These small interactions can shape a kid's future. It felt like I was the captain. Allowing my son to see the flight deck will stick with us forever. That's how good leads the way How are you doing this? Are you making the minimum monthly payments on this? Yes Yeah, it's on auto pay so take it out I believe it's like 83 every month So you finance the total of 2 ,444 But the total you will pay is 5 ,027 This is the first time Okay, I can't say this is my first time seeing this Because I signed that form, I didn't read it And I wish I could just, you know, go back in time And really talk to myself Yeah, this is going to go all the way through 2026, three years from now, September three.

21:39So three years from September of this year. It started in 2021. Wild. So we have 83, 82 a month. Okay. And then we have more goodies. These look like student loans to me. Yes. Okay. Are these all federal? Yes, they're all federal. Okay, so they are in COVID-19 pandemic forbearance. Okay, these interest rates are not crazy, which is good. One's creeping up to about 5%, a group of these loans. The rest are between 2 and 4, it looks like. Yep, okay, yes. So the highest one's 5. These are not insane as far as loans go. So we have$23 ,358. Where did you go to school? What did you study? I went to SUNY Empire.

22:38I studied business administration. So I got my bachelor in that. Good. Very good. Okay. Did you work at all throughout college? Yes. And I guess these minimum payments are going to be around like$200, something like that? Yeah. That's actually the estimate it said on Nelnet once they start, I guess, like two something. Yeah. Okay. You said you had another credit card that I just don't see? Yes, I have a Macy's credit card. What's owed on it? Right now, I believe it's like$370. $370? Yeah. What's your minimum monthly payment? I don't know at the moment. I like stopped paying it. Why? What? $370?

23:22You're so close. What? Yeah. So now I'm not even sure about the minimum. Pull it up. Do you have it on your phone? No. I don't. I requested a statement, but I didn't get it. Requested? It wasn't just downloaded? Okay. Do you have a credit card on your phone? I do. Okay. Go ahead and pull that up. Yes. Score is even worse on here. 548. Oh, let's take a look here, shall we? Because, yeah, you saw payment history 96%. 12 late or missed payments on your report. My gosh. I'm not upset with debt because it is just a part of our... Well, okay, debt upsets me in general, but I'm not angry at someone for getting into debt because our culture is very debt-driven and it's just things that people can fall into.

24:13But missed payments, six missed payments on Macy's, six missed payments on Capital One, one missed payment on Upstart is just irresponsibility. And that actually upsets me. I am upset at you for that. Yeah. Why? Why do you think you're so irresponsible? That's so many mispayments. Yeah, I don't... I believe I didn't understand the severity of how that can really impact my credit. I don't know. It's just been... Credit card usage, 103%. You're at 3 % over... Credit age is low. 24 accounts yeah student loans a lot of accounts in there so that let's see these total accounts let's take a look at this macy's thing why why'd you decide to stop paying this macy's thing did you give me an answer i because i don't really know what what do you mean i just decided like i'll deal with it at a later time maybe at that moment i didn't have it what is this city car.

25:18Is that the Macy's? Yeah. That's the city. It's up to 59 days away. The upstart. What's the upstart? That's the personal loan. Dude, it's also late right now. You're not making the freaking payments on that thing? I am. Wait, it's late. It's late. Oh, the Macy's. Macy's, you owe $479, not$370, by the way. Fun fact. On a$400 limit. Yeah, those late fees. Also, yes, I know I'm digging into her, and I know the thumbnail's going to be like, because you've got to play the game or whatever that we're forced to play. However, a big shout-out to you for coming on the show. One, to get help, and two, to show other people in your situation or similar situations that, you know, you're putting your situation out there for people to relate to.

26:20And that's incredible. So thank you for being here. I feel like that needs to be said. I need to know your minimum monthly payment. I don't think I'm a credit card person. I want to get rid of them. I don't want to. I feel like I shouldn't have any more credit cards. No, you shouldn't. Do you have them right now? No, they're all on my phone, actually. except the Macy's one. I don't know where that card is, but I haven't shopped there. So you just use Apple Pay? Yeah, with my other cards. But I actually, as you see, I haven't been using my cards at all because I just want to tackle that debt. Yeah.

27:01So if you want to tackle that but you haven't even come close to even starting, why have you not started? Why have you waited until this moment?

27:12I don't know. I feel kind of stuck. I feel like I just need a little bit of guidance and yeah, I don't, I don't know. What do you think I can do to help? What do you think I can bring to this table? The world moves fast. Your work day, even faster. Pitching products, drafting reports, analyzing data. Microsoft 365 Copilot is your AI assistant for work. built into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other Microsoft 365 apps you use, helping you quickly write, analyze, create, and summarize so you can cut through clutter and clear a path to your best work. Learn more at Microsoft.com slash M365 Copilot.

27:55Well, that you have not been able to do yourself. I definitely need a budget or budgeting method that will work for me. And also, you know, I want to build up an emergency fund and, you know, start putting into like a Roth IRA and really just. Yeah. Well, are you ready? Because it's time to turn the shit around. Do you agree? I'm ready. Are you ready? Are you going to make sacrifices? Yes. Is it time? OK, let's do it. Let's do the budget then. All right. So budget. Here's what's looking out here. Are required payments that we have to make in order to survive? One, do you have a car? No. Public transportation is good up there.

28:32You are spending a lot on it, but that's essentially a car payment that you spend on transportation. Yeah. Well, let's talk rent. $500. $500. Then we have transportation,$350. Then we have your Capital One, minimum monthly payment of$142. Then we have a Discover card,$70. Then we have a personal loan,$83.82. And then the Macy's is unknown currently. Yeah. For whatever that minimum payment is. It's bad that you don't know. What else for necessities did you have to pay besides food? Do you, uh, do you pay for your own health insurance? No. Under my mom's. Yes. Cause 24, you have a couple of years.

29:14Okay. Renters insurance utilities. What does that look like right now? Um, I don't pay utilities. Um, I don't have renter's insurance. Um, pretty much that's pretty much it in terms of the, you know, what I have to pay, like monthly expenses. Um, yeah. So right now, just the minimum monthly payments you are forced to pay are$1 ,145.82. And that is with the unknown Macy's. Meaning after take home, we now have$2 ,604.18. Which is, congratulations, a good number. Where does that all go? Uber eats multiple times a day right now. Uber Eats will drain it, and it's crazy how much you spend there. And it is not surprising looking through that checking account that easily that$2 ,600 goes directly to them.

30:13I'm going to be generous with this grocery bill. I'm going to be generous. Let's just talk. So we have the minimum of payments. From here, I think$604.18 in general, we'll just call it$600, can go to groceries getting things that you need to survive just that's your survival money outside of the minimum monthly payments you already have that's groceries, that's toilet paper that's this, that, this go into a doctor's appointment go into a therapy because you have health insurance go to therapy and have the copays and everything so I think $300,$600 could be groceries $400 and then maybe the rest is therapy it's up to you how you divvy that out Well, we can talk about that afterwards once the show's done in terms of how to divvy that up as well if you want.

31:02But I say$600 goes to groceries and other necessities to survive. Does that make sense? Yeah, I believe that's really reasonable. Very incredibly reasonable. If you all have been following along with the math, we now have$2 ,000 left. Yes? I think for you, when it comes to baby... Well, I almost said baby steps. I mean, you could follow those. I think they would help in your situation. But I think the snowball method works more than avalanche or consolidation or anything like that in your situation. So I think, I mean, we start this right now. At the end of February, there is no reason, no reason why Macy's is not paid off$479 from the$2 ,000.

31:55I mean, it would probably be like$1 ,500 because we're already a little bit in. But there is no reason why Macy's is not paid off any of an extra$1 ,000. Maybe the$1 ,000 you set aside. So that's it. We just worry about Macy's this month. Macy's is paid off. Paid off and cut up. You delete all the other crap from your Apple wallet and everything. We're just using your debit card now. It might even work to use the envelope system. for you but by the end of the month you have a thousand dollars saved up and because you're in such a fantastic rent situation normally i think that is way too little to start with i think for you because we can i i think we can start getting through this stuff pretty quickly and you have thousand dollars you'll actually be able to last for a month if you have to we'll keep it there so then we're looking at march what does march look like well now Well, one of our three credit cards is gone.