Intro & Advice Needed

[moiselles]

Hello everyone!  My name is Heather, I'm 23 years old.  I work for Chase bank (formerly WaMu) in Portland, OR.  Here is my intro and some additional info on my savings/debt below.

Step One: $1,000.00 to start Emergency Fund - DONE
I currently have $3,244 in my Emergency Fund.  I also use this account to save my 3-6 months of expenses.  It's nowhere

Comments

[itsajhthing]

How much can you put towards the debt each month?

I'd stop the savings transfer and pay off the WaMu CC and the Nordstrom card. Say that takes 2 months? You already have enough in savings to cover a couple of car payments and personal loan payments. So can you estimate how much it will take for you to move? Are you renting a U-Haul or selling everything you can and packing up the car? After those two small debts are paid off, I'd make sure you had enough in savings to cover the move and 3 months of living expenses.

Yeah the interest on the personal loan sucks but a couple of months of minimum payments isn't that big of deal.

Then once you find a job I'd follow Dave's advice and take everything in your savings over $1,000 and pay down the personal loan.

[moiselles]

Yeah, the WaMu card is super easy to get rid of. A month ago, I took almost $2,000 out of the General savings to get it paid down to where it is now, so that was a huge improvement. The Nordstrom debt is brand-new, as I just bought the plane tickets two weeks ago. I will probably take the money out of the general savings to pay off the WaMu card and put the rest towards Nordstrom

[newsbean]

If you rent a truck - do NOT rent from U-Haul! Their trucks are chronically unsafe. Check in to Budget instead.

I second getting rid of the two lowest loans now. Also, if you know when you're moving, start looking for a job now. With the economy in the shape it is, it's never too early to get a jump start. (I know some people who looked for months to find a decent job.) Also, if you're moving for the job market, why not wait until your man finds a job? With the internet, it's pretty easy to do a job search from afar. Also, you'll know if the market really is better in Boston, or if it's just as bad and you should save the money from moving across the country.

Either way, good luck! I hope it all works out well.

[moiselles]

Thanks for the advice on not going with U-Haul. I'll look into it. ;)

I do plan on submitting my resume to several banks in the area before we move. My fiance has a couple of relatives in the banking industry that are already asking for my resume. I just have to sit down and do it.

As far as his job goes, he is a licensed electrician with the state of Mass., but when he moved out to Oregon, he found out the license couldn't carry over and he didn't want to go through the pain of getting another license. So he can either go back to Boston and work their as an electrician or he's thought about joining the law enforcement field, but we'll see. At least he can always do the electrician stuff because his father is a contractor.

[carli410]

Since this is a Dave Ramsey forum, Im going to answer as Dave would :) please know Im not being unkind

[leenabeana]

I just moved to Boston a few months ago, so once you get here... welcome!

I would say definitely get rid of the car. Public transportation here is great, and you can look for a job that would allow you to use it. Parking costs an arm and a leg if you are in the city as well.

Does your fiance KNOW he'll have a job? Have you guys thought about him going ahead and getting a job before you move out too? The cost of living is much higher here and with no jobs and limited savings that could be scary. Let alone the costs of moving itself. I loved from Illinois and it cost me over 3k and that was moving one room of furniture.

I do think the job market is good here, I'd just make sure you'll both be able to get something before moving. I used a "head hunter" to find me my job before I got here. I had several interviews the day after I arrived and had started my job by the second week I was here.

I rambled... a lot... good luck to you though!!

[minimumwager]

Hope this isn't too hard to hear, but I would put off the wedding