Here’s how this social worker has paid off $28,000 of student loan debt in 15 months.
Today, I have a great debt payoff progress story to share from Taylor. Taylor is a social worker who is working on paying off $277,000 of debt and retiring early. She shares tips on how she is cutting her expenses, the ways they’ve increased their income through various side hustles, house hacking advice, and how she qualified for an $88,000 student loan award.Enjoy!
Now, don’t let the title deceive you into thinking we are debt free; we most certainly are not.
As of this writing, we still have $251,195.39 of debt (all student loans).
This is our story about the debt payoff strategies we used in paying off $28,026.02 of debt and our goals for the future!
Who are we?
My name is Taylor, and I am a 29-year-old medical social worker who finished grad school in 2018. I am also a part-time social media coordinator and with both jobs combined, I make $96,000 (gross).
I live with my husband, Bret, who I have been with for 11 years and married for 3. He is a full-time student and has been in grad school since September 2020 (he has about 2 more years left). We love to travel, try new restaurants, hang out with our friends and family, and just have a good time.
I also have a blog at Social Work to Wealth.
Related articles:
How did we get here?
First, I need to give you some background before we get into the nitty gritty of our debt numbers and payoff strategies.
2012: We met when both of us were in college. I was 18 and Bret was 22. Soon after we met, Bret took a few years off from school while I finished my bachelor’s. I relied entirely on student loans, and don’t remember applying to any scholarships. When Bret returned to school to finish his bachelor’s, he did receive some scholarships and worked a summer job to pay forhousing but still needed to rely on student loans to pay the bulk of his tuition.
I will speak for myself when I say I didn’t take the time to calculate how much loan money I actually needed and blindly accepted the total amount. Looking back, maybe I would have needed it all or maybe not, but I wish I would have at least done the exercise.
We have always been open with talking about our debt and money in general, but I remember us both expressing the thought that we would probably always have our student loans. We would just live our life, pay our minimum payments, and that would be that. There was never any talk about debt payoff strategies, or any money management strategies, really.
We went through many life transitions. Living apart for two years while I went to grad school, him returning to school to finish his bachelor’s, various jobs, and a post-bach program.
2019: Bret was finishing up his post-bach program and got accepted into grad school. We were newly engaged and began planning and saving for our wedding scheduled for July 11th, 2020. Such exciting stuff!
March 2020: We got the news our wedding venue was closing for the foreseeable future due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and we decide to cancel our wedding. We switched gears and used the money we saved for a down payment on a new home. Then, we had a small intimate wedding featuring a hot-air balloon with 18 of our closest family members! We personally saved a ton and also had tremendous help from our family.
September 2020: I start a new job and Bret starts grad school. We are newlyweds and settling into our new home in a new city.
I wish I could talk more about 2020 because it was a HUGE year for us with buying a home, moving, getting married, Bret starting grad school and me starting a new job, but that’s a conversation for another day!
From frugal to spenders
When we were saving for our wedding, we were very frugal. Any extra money we had, we put toward our wedding savings (which again, ended up being used for the down payment on our house and a smaller wedding ceremony).
We went from frugal to swiping our cards left and right to prepare for our wedding and furnish our house. It was sooo nice to finally be able to spend the money we had been saving for so long! But this continued into 2020… and 2021…
We were mostly spending on eating out and experiences. We do like to buy “things” but we definitely value food and experiences a lot more. We even decided to put a trip to Hawaii on our credit card costing us around $5,000, along with other expenses, because why not? We deserved it!
We didn’t have much of a budget, our bills were getting paid, but the credit card bill kept increasing. Since I was the only one bringing in income, we took out some student loans to help with a portion of our living expenses. And the credit card bill continued to increase.
The “wake-up call”
The “wake-up call” is such a theme throughout many debt payoff stories. So, here’s mine.
I went to breakfast with two friends in December 2021, and one of them brought up high-yield savings accounts (HYSA). I had never heard of this type of account before and was shocked to learn that these savings accounts had a way better interest rate than a regular savings account.
How was I just hearing about this at 28 years old? My mind was blown!
I thought, what else don’t I know? So of course, that led me to deep dive into the world of personal finance. I consumed any book, video, blog, or podcast I could get my hands on. I read stories after stories of people paying off thousands of dollars’ worth of debt, leveraging credit card points for free travel, investing, and so much more!
It was so motivating. I was hooked! (And still am.)
Bret was open and willing for me to share with him what I was learning. We started realizing that for the last year and a half, we hadn’t been telling ourselves “No”. We had just been buying whatever we wanted, and we had the credit card bill and no savings to show for it.
We learned that we could pay off all our debt and it didn’t have to stay with us forever. We learned there was a way to use a credit card responsibly (we thought we were). We learned that we could even retire early. That one sounded real nice! We dreamed of having more time doing our hobbies, traveling and being with our friends and family. And if we ever had kids, we dreamed of being able to work part-time so we could be home more with them and available for school activities.
Knowing this, we started reining in our spending, trying to just be more “mindful”, but no major change was made.
We take on more debt
April 2022: People in our neighborhood were getting new fences. We started thinking, “Hey, we need a new fence, too…” In some areas it was broken, it hadn’t been stained so was rotting, and was 15 years old. We were also going to get an updated appraisal to see if we could get our primary mortgage insurance (PMI) removed after just two years of owning our home and thought a new fence might help.
A coworker told me she was using a home equity loan to buy a fence and to do some other home renovations. We investigated options and ended up opening a $20,000 home equity line of credit (HELOC) instead with about a 4% interest rate. We buy our fence which ends up being about ~10,000 and we were set on it…
The second “wake-up call”
When it was all said and done, we loved our fence. We still love our fence, it’s beautiful! (And it better be at that price!) We stained it and we believe it will last us for many years.
But we start talking again about our debt and how we probably didn’t need this fence right now. We know we didn’t need this fence right now. Our PMI was removed, and it could have maybe happened even without the fence. Who knows.
We began thinking we need to make some serious changes in the way we manage our money. We need to do more than just be “mindful” about our spending. We make a real plan. We plan to make an actual budget, stop taking on unnecessary debt, and take a break from using our credit cards for the foreseeable future.
May 2022: Beginning of our debt payoff journey
Since we were serious about our new money management changes, I documented how much debt we had so we could track our progress.
$277,721.41
Here was the breakdown:
$260,390.25 in student loans, Bret & I’s combined – various interest rates
$10,676.24 HELOC – 4% interest rate
$5,430.76 is from credit card spending – 4% interest rate*
$449 for furniture – 0% interest rate
$775.16 for Peloton bike – 0% interest rate
*We moved our credit card debt to our HELOC since our credit card was around a 25% interest rate.
July 2023: Current debt numbers
Our current debt balance is $251,195.39, * which are all student loans.
We have paid off a total of $28,026.02 of debt!
*Our current balance will increase to ~$255,000 once Bret gets his final student loan disbursement (more on that later).
I want to also mention that we do have our mortgage, but we aren’t trying to pay that down as quickly as possible for a few reasons: we have a 3% interest rate, we don’t plan on this being our forever home, and one day we might rent it out or sell it.
Actions that helped us pay off $28,026.02 of debt in 15 months
We found a budgeting method that worked for us
We realized we could live off my income alone and not take on anymore debt, but we would have to have a somewhat rigid budget.
Finding a budgeting method that worked for us took some time. I don’t know how many times over the years I have tried to track my expenses in a budget app or an excel sheet, only to find out it was too overwhelming and that I was still overspending!
I am a visual person and learned about the envelope budgeting method, so we decided to give that a try, but use a digital variation.
So, for our entire money management system we have 4 checking accounts and 2 savings accounts (short-term and emergency fund). Our checking accounts include bills, food and miscellaneous, and two personal spending accounts.
This may seem like a lot of accounts to some, but it has worked tremendously for us. I love having a separate account for each major category in our budget so I can easily see how much money we have left in a certain category without having to add every expense into an app or Excel spreadsheet. We are joint owners on all of these accounts.
We then use the zero-based budget method to determine how much goes into each account.
We do have multiple cards to manage, but the pros VERY MUCH outweigh the cons here.
And with our own spending accounts, we have a certain amount of money allotted to us each month, so we individually have some spending freedom. We don’t have to feel guilty and know this money is set aside specifically for our personal spending.
Cut expenses and increased our income
I know some people are tired of hearing about this recommendation, but it’s something that really did help us! We reined in our spending a bit but mostly we had to increase our income. At a certain point, there wasn’t much more to cut.
We didn’t have many streaming services, started to limit our eating out, we didn’t have car payments, and we meal planned and prepped. We did (and still do) aaalll the things. We had to increase our income somehow.
Ways we increased our income
My income increase
I continued with my second job as a social media manager and then started dog sitting.
I have been dog sitting for about 5 years and have primarily used the Rover platform to list myself as a dog sitter. I like this app because it’s easy to use and I can specify various services to offer (e.g., house sitting, boarding, drop in visits, day care, or dog walking).
It also allows me to mark which days I am available and then people reach out to me if I seem like a good fit and my availability matches with their needs! Setting up my profile took some time, but now that it’s done, everything else is fairly low maintenance.
I now just have to respond to inquiries in a timely manner and set up a meet and greet if it seems like a good fit.
I currently only offer house sitting and on Rover and I charge $65/night. Rover takes a cut, so I end up pocketing $52. I also have private clients who pay me directly, and I have gotten those by referrals from past Rover clients. I charge my private clients $40/night.
I recently increased my rates on Rover and have been slow to increase my price with my private clients because they’re loyal.
I don’t make a ton of money dog sitting, but I am able to make a couple hundred dollars a month. My schedule is very limited, but there are people with better availability who make significantly more than I do!
I love animals and we don’t have any due to our sporadic work schedules, so it’s a great way for me to spend time with pets and get paid, too!
Bret’s income increase
Last year, Bret decided to take a break from grad school and soon after, he was offered a summer job in Alaska.
When we first started dating, he used to spend almost every summer there working for a family who owned a set-netting fishery. His uncle had spent many summers in Alaska working for this family and one summer brought Bret to work with him. They would catch salmon and sell it to a buying station in their area.
He went up there for about 6 summers in a row, until he got too busy with school and couldn’t go anymore.
He hadn’t been to Alaska in over 5 years, but someone who worked for the buying station remembered Bret, called him, and asked if he’d be interested in working at the buying station! Since he was already on a break from school, he said yes and worked up there for 8 weeks.
We were able to put every paycheck he earned towards our debt because we could manage all our expenses on my income alone. It was also a great way for Bret to spend part of his summer and I was finally able to visit as I never gotten the chance in previous years.
House hacking
We also started house hacking! We had a spare bedroom and bathroom I would use for my office and occasionally, for guests. A friend of mine and her husband are really into the real estate space and gave us the idea to rent it out.
We weren’t comfortable with the idea of having a long-term roommate, and with both of us working in healthcare, we knew there was a need for short-term and furnished housing for travelling healthcare professionals.
For us, short-term meant renting for 1-6 months, but we were open to individuals staying longer if it worked well for everyone involved!
Some questions we had to address before renting:
Did we need a permit?
How much should we charge for the deposit, rent and pets?
What furniture and amenities are important for travelers?
Where should we list the room?
How to create a lease agreement?
In our county, we did not need a permit to rent out the room if we were renting for at least 30+ days at a time.
After researching rental prices in our area, I found rooms that were of similar caliber listed for $1,100 per month or more. We wanted to be competitive and so we initially settled on $900 per month and have steadily increased it. We have now landed on $995 per month which includes all utilities and internet.
We set the deposit at $995, with an additional $300 for a pet deposit, and no ongoing pet rent.
We wanted to upgrade the furniture in the room and IKEA was a great place for us to find affordable, durable, and aesthetically pleasing furniture. We made sure the room had a bed, large dresser, bedside table, and we kept my desk in there too.
I read it’s important for travelers to have their own TV available so they can unwind in their room. We were able to find a decently priced smart TV off Facebook Marketplace.
Furnished Finder is where we decided to list our room, which started out as a platform for traveling nurses to find furnished housing. It is now used heavily by many healthcare professionals, students, and professionals in other fields.
Travelers reach out to us through the Furnished Finder website and if the dates work out, we move forward with scheduling a video interview. It’s important for us to be able to talk to the person, even if it’s just over video, and we want them to see our faces and home in real time as well.
For the lease agreement, we used ez Landlord Forms, because they have leases for each state with specific information on what’s required to include.
We don’t ask for anything major from tenants. The most important things to us are that they are respectful of our space, don’t smoke in the house, and pay their rent on time. We also added a page at the end for tenants to add two emergency contacts in case we need to call someone on their behalf.
We have had 4 renters so far with the room being occupied for 13 out of the last 14 months. It has really helped us with our debt payoff goals and we have also met some awesome people through the process! We plan to continue renting it out for the foreseeable future.
Applied for in-state student loan help
My state offered a program called the Oregon Behavioral Health Loan Repayment Program where they help minorities in the behavioral health field, or those who serve them, pay back their student loans.
This program is funded by The Behavioral Health Workforce Initiative which has the goal of recruiting and retaining behavioral health providers who, “Are people of color, tribal members, or residents of rural areas of Oregon, and can provide culturally responsive care for diverse communities.”
To apply, I had to show I was employed and actively providing behavioral health services and give them detailed documentation about my student loans. I also had to answer two essay questions related to being a part of and/or working with communities who are underserved and how my training has equipped me with supporting these communities.
I applied last year and was a recipient of an award!
As a recipient, there is a two-year service commitment which means I have to continue providing some sort of behavioral health service during that time frame (which I planned to). Over the next two years, I will be getting ~$88,000 in quarterly disbursements to put towards my student loans. So far this year, I have received ~$11,000, and it’s been life changing to say the least!
Alongside this support, I am also pursuing Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) for additional student loan relief.
Managing our mental health while paying off debt
Since I am a social worker, I often think about how money and debt affect individuals’ mental health. It’s one of the reasons why I started my blog in the first place.
I realized managing money is a universal task and many of us don’t know what we are doing because talking about money is taboo. And when you have financial stress, it can really take a toll on your mental health. So, I wanted to share our journey in hopes of helping others.
Bret and I aren’t those individuals who want to avoid eating out and fun experiences until we are debt free. And, we are also privileged to not have to take those extreme measures either. It has been important for us to make this journey sustainable and not deprive ourselves of experiences while we are going through it.
Here’s how we are making our journey sustainable:
Still going out to eat
Budgeting for personal spending money, aka fun
Setting realistic debt payoff goals
Putting aside money for travel
Not comparing and thinking other people are better than us because they’re able to pay off their debt quicker
Tracking our debt payoff progress (we use Excel). With so much debt left to pay off, being able to see our progress is really motivating
Openly talking about our debt. Avoidance is a coping mechanism for many, for us, acknowledging and addressing it has been so freeing (but it wasn’t always this way).
Talking about our dreams and reminding ourselves why we want to do this in the first place
We know that if we eliminated going out to eat, budgeting for fun, or both, we could be paying off our debt much quicker. However, that sounds miserable to us. It’s worth it to still go out to dinner, travel, or buy plants (in my case) than to deprive ourselves of the joy these things bring.
We are making great progress and we know in time, we will be debt free.
Our debt payoff journey is not linear
A few months ago, we decided to take out $6,000 of student loans. Bret currently has a full tuition scholarship, so we are tremendously lucky in that regard, but he just learned about some conferences that would be really helpful to his professional growth. We have gotten $1,500 of this loan money already which is included in our current debt balance, but we haven’t received all of it yet.
We could have pinched and saved to avoid taking on any of this debt, but that would have caused me to work more than I currently am. Again, not in line with our current goal of making this journey sustainable!
We were very intentional about how much to take out. We estimated how much he would need for a few conferences and declined the rest. We even opened a separate savings account for the money to make sure it didn’t get accidentally spent on anything.
I’m SO proud of us for that!
The goal here is progress not perfection. So cliche, I know. But we are learning how to think critically about our money, spend thoughtfully, use our money as a tool to reach our goals, and enjoy our life along the way. And right now, that meant taking on a little more debt.
We are moving in the right direction, and we know when he starts working, that will really accelerate our debt payoff journey since we have proven to ourselves we can live on my income alone.
Our plan going forward
Bret is still in school which means his loans are on deferment, so we currently have his on the back burner.
With the loan payment assistance I am receiving, it’s allowing us to put any extra money we have each month towards our savings. Our priority right now is building up a good emergency fund of about $16,000 (~4 months’ worth of expenses).
This has been difficult because of inflation and just little emergencies that keep popping up, but we are slowly making progress.
I am also prioritizing investing in my employer retirement plan, but only up to the amount that gets me my employer match which is 6% of my income.
Bret will be graduating in 2025, so at that time, we will pivot to incorporating his loans into our budget. Our goal is to be debt free by 2028.
It will take a lot of discipline and persistence, but I think we can do it. I am manifesting it!
We want to continue to learn, implement, and grow. We want to keep having transparent discussions about money and building our money foundations. And I personally want to continue sharing our journey with hopes of inspiring, encouraging and educating others. Here’s to sharing the wealth.
Do you have debt? What are you doing to pay it off?
Taylor is a social worker and personal finance blogger at Social Work to Wealth where she shares tips, resources, and lessons learned on her family’s journey to paying off $277,000 of debt and retiring early. She hopes to inspire and empower social workers with financial education so they can have a better relationship with their money. When she’s not working or blogging, you can find her traveling, gardening, trying a new restaurant, or buying too many plants.
A significant portion of the millennial generation now believes they will not have the opportunity to be a homeowner, indicating that mortgage originators may need to provide more education as part of their marketing.
Affordability remains the big hang-up, a Redfin survey found. But it’s not just millennials that are being impacted; besides the 18% of this cohort no longer thinks they will buy a house, 12% of the up-and-coming Gen Z, one already described as the largest and most diverse to enter the housing market, believe similarly.
First-time buyers already have a significant share of purchases this year, Zillow previously reported.
Breaking the list of affordability-related responses down further, high home prices, which have endured even as the U.S. economy has slowed, was the most cited reason why both groups felt this way.
A separate Redfin report issued on Thursday found that home prices gained 4.5% year-over-year for the four-week period ended Sept. 3.
As a result, the typical monthly mortgage payment of $2,612 is $18 below the all-time high set in May.
“If folks can figure out a way to buy instead of rent, they will,” Redfin agent Niko Voutsinas said in the home price release. “Some buyers are cutting back on other expenses to up their housing budgets because they believe home prices are only going to increase.”
Negative perceptions about their ability to save enough to make a down payment was cited by 46% of millennials and 33% of Gen Z. More than a third of both groups said mortgage rates are currently too high.
Meanwhile paying off student loan debt will take precedence for 21% of Gen Z and 16% of millennials over the purchase of a home, the survey found.
Of those survey participants that are planning to buy in the next 12 months, 36% of millennials and 41% of Gen Z members are working a second job in order to fund the down payment.
A cash gift from a family member is expected to help contribute to the down payment from 23% of millennials and 28% of Gen Zers.
Over 20% of both groups said they will tap into their investment portfolios by selling stock, while 15% will divest cryptocurrency.
“Many young people don’t have a choice between renting and buying,” said Daryl Fairweather, Redfin chief economist, in a press release. “They’re renting their home because even though rent payments have increased, too, it’s still more affordable than buying in much of the country–and renters don’t need a down payment.”
In turn, with private mortgage insurance, consumers can get a conforming loan with only 3% down. For first-time and other buyers, various forms of down payment assistance programs are available. Yet awareness of these alternatives has been lacking among the target audience.
“We’re very proud of the fact that we can enable people to buy a home with less than 20% down, we’ve been doing that for a long time,” Radian Group CEO Rick Thornberry said in an interview. “But it’s also something that we feel a strong corporate purpose to do, not just for the sake of volume, but to do it responsibly and sustainably from a borrower perspective.”
The Redfin survey was conducted in May and June; this portion of the study just concentrates on responses from 1,340 Gen Z and 1,973 millennial participants.
As of the end of the second quarter, it was cheaper for households to rent versus owning both on a nationwide basis and in 27 of the top 50 U.S. markets, a First American Financial analysis found.
But there’s no blanket answer to this challenge.
“Given current dynamics, more young households may choose to rent in the near term as the cost to own, excluding house price appreciation, has unequivocally increased,” a posting from First American Economist Ksenia Potapov said. “Yet, once you factor in house price appreciation, or depreciation in some markets, to the cost of homeownership, the decision to rent or buy will depend on local real estate market dynamics, which will determine if a home is likely to cost more or less in the near future.”
The conundrum about the housing market in general is recorded in Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index for August, which at 66.9 is 0.1 higher than it was in July. Compared with August 2022, the HPSI was up 4.9 points.
“The overall HPSI is maintaining the low-level plateau set a few months back, and we don’t see much upside to the index in the near future, barring significant improvements to home affordability, which we also don’t expect,” Fannie Mae Chief Economist Doug Duncan said in a press release. “While renters are slightly more pessimistic than homeowners, for two years now a large majority of both groups have told us that it’s a bad time to buy a home, and they’ve continuously cited affordability concerns as the primary reason.”
Only 18% of those surveyed said August was a good month to buy a home, unchanged from July. But those that called it a good time to sell increased by two percentage points to 66%.
Ironically, the shares of respondents that believe rates will go up in the next year increased by 1 percentage point to 46%, while those that think they will move lower gained two percentage points to 18%.
That is because fewer respondents, 34% versus 38% in July, now think rates will remain unchanged.
Mortgage rates have hit a 20-year record high, but buyers are still eager to purchase homes in South Bend, Indiana.
“People want to buy a house even though the interest rates are up right now,” said Jan Lazzara, a real estate agent who has worked in St. Joseph County for more than two decades. “As long as we’re not overpriced, we’re seeing multiple offers.”
Although mortgage rates are slowing the home market across the country, buyers still face competition in South Bend due to limited inventory.
The South Bend-Mishawaka area placed ninth for best emerging housing markets, according to the Wall Street Journal and Realtor.com. The summer ratings indicate areas with appreciating home prices, a strong local economy and attractive lifestyle amenities.
Many cities which placed in the top of the rankings were affordable Midwestern cities. South Bend is no exception. According to Realtor.com, the median housing price in South Bend was about $188,000 in July 2023, compared with a national median housing price of more than $400,000 this year, as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau.
“Generally speaking, I expect home prices in South Bend to be lower than most of the country,” said John Stiver, a Notre Dame finance professor who teaches macroeconomics.
After a 11-year incline, housing prices in the U.S. began falling on an year-over-year basis this April. In South Bend-Mishawaka, prices are still increasing, though not as quickly as in 2022. Between the second quarter of 2023 and the second quarter of 2022, the South Bend-Mishawaka all-transactions housing price index increased 9.2%, the slowest year-over-year increase since the beginning of 2021, according to data from the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency and the St. Louis Federal Reserve.
“It looks like the rate of change of prices is going down,” Stiver said about South Bend-Mishawaka.
The average South Bend home value at the end of July was 4.6% higher than the same time last year, according to a Zillow report. The majority of homes in South Bend were sold for equal to or more than asking price in August, according to a Rocket Homes report.
“It’s been wonderful, one of my busiest years yet,” Lazarra said about the market. “The problem that we’re having is that there’s not a lot of inventory.”
Across the nation, housing inventory is down about 8%, according to data from the St. Louis Federal Reserve. In the South Bend-Mishawaka area, housing inventory decreased about 5% between August 2022 and August 2023.
Due to record-high mortgage rates, many existing homeowners don’t want to put their homes on the market and give up low interest rates.
“People are afraid to list because they have a low interest rate,” Lazzara said.
But the high interest rates aren’t strangling buyer demand.
On a home she listed last week, Lazzarra received three overbid offers in less than a couple days. Another one of her listings received 27 offers.
She said a large portion of demand is from first-time home buyers looking for homes in the $150,000 to $300,000 price range. Many are moving to St. Joseph County for jobs at Notre Dame and the local hospitals.
According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of South Bend and St. Joseph County remained relatively unchanged between April 2020 and July 2022.
Even though the local population is not increasing and the costs of borrowing are high, limited inventory is keeping prices high. For those who are moving, finding a home near South Bend is difficult.
Tim Travis, chief executive for a local medical foundation, closed on a home in Granger, Indiana in March 2023. Travis, his wife and three sons moved from Louisville, Kentucky because of a job promotion that came with a significant moving package.
“I couldn’t have moved up here and benefited from it for less than $100,000 probably,” Travis said.
Although Travis traded a 3% mortgage rate for a rate of about 5%, he said the promotion justified the higher mortgage payments.
Still, “it would make a huge difference in my mortgage payment if rates came down,” he said. “I’d like to put those couple hundred dollars towards something else.”
Last spring, Travis had a hard time finding homes for sale, especially in his desired school districts. Travis moved to Indiana in November 2022 before his family joined up with him. He spent months looking for the right home.
“I was on it two to three days a week. It was like a second job, looking for housing,” he said. “It’s like going into a department store to look for clothes, and there’s no clothes.”
When he finally found a 5-bedroom, 5,400 square foot home in a school district his family liked, he quickly put in a competitive offer just under $600,000.
Travis got the house. He also gained a deeper understanding of limited housing inventory in St. Joseph County.
“The interesting thing about it all is that the housing supply has gone down because people can’t move,” Travis said. “I wouldn’t want to be looking right now,” he said a few months after his March 2023 closing.
Tags: home market, housing inventory, local economy, Mishawaka, mortgage, mortgage rates, Realtor.com, South Bend, St. Joseph County, Zillow
‘It’s a bloodbath’: the UK homeowners on variable rate mortgages
As the cost of borrowing rises again, we speak to some of the 1.4m people on variable rates dreading the effects
Full story: Bank warns rates will remain high for at least two years
Analysis: tough-talking Bank raises rates and a few eyebrows
Explainer: interest rate rise: what it means for you
“It’s a bloodbath, that’s the way I’d like to describe it,” says John*, a father of two struggling with the ever-increasing interest rate on his home loan.
He is one of the 1.4 million people in the UK on a variable rate residential mortgage, who have watched the monthly payments soar after the Bank of England raised the base rate to a 15-year high.
After a 50 basis point rise last month, policymakers lifted rates again on Thursday by 0.25 percentage points, to 5.25% – leaving homeowners such as John having to find hundreds more pounds to cover future bills.
The software engineer, who lives in Slough, Berkshire, says this could leave him with no choice but to get a second job to make ends meet. He is looking into zero-hours options such as delivering for Uber Eats, so he can still spend some time with his family.
He is the sole earner, with an annual salary of £80,000, which he says had been comfortable, but the pressure of rate rises and the increasing cost of food and energy bills have made it hard to make ends meet.
There are a number of reasons why a homeowner may be on a variable rate. They may not have wanted to lock in to a fixed deal when rates were high, believing interest rates would drop.
Roughly half of those on such mortgages are on a tracker or discounted rate deal, which are directly linked to the base rate, with the remaining 50% on a standard variable rate. SVRs rise at the lender’s discretion, and most will go up, though not necessarily by the full rise implemented by the Bank of England.
“When I took the variable rate I had no option because at the time Liz Truss was in office and fixed rates were not attractive at all,” John says, speaking before the latest increase.
“I was originally paying £1,400 when I took out the variable rate mortgage. I received a letter a couple of weeks ago and my new payment is going to be £2,770 … another interest rate hike or two will mean I have to get a second job, this is how bad it is. It’s not like it’s just the mortgage, it’s the energy prices; it’s the food prices that are still high.
“If there weren’t these interest rate hikes I’d say I’m making a very comfortable living. Even with that salary I’m finding it hard to survive.”
He is now on a 5.89% rate after speaking to his lender about his financial worries and securing a 3.3% discount. “Every day I wake up and I check what the analysts are saying [about interest rates] because this is the centre of my world right now.”
Sophie Mohamed, 38, had planned to sell her flat to move to a bigger home after becoming pregnant in March 2021. However, she is unable to sell the property in Bethnal Green, east London, until cladding inspections have been completed.
The TV producer secured consent to let out the two-bed shared ownership property but was able to get only a variable deal after her fix ended, meaning her rate has soared from 1.68% to 6.68% – and will continue to go up in line with the Bank measure.
The £1,500 rent she charges her tenants no longer covers the £900 a month mortgage on her 35% share of the property and the £800 service fee and rent on the portion of the flat still owned by the housing association. “It’s doubled in the space of around six months,” she says.
“I’m not somebody who bought that flat to become a landlord and let it out, I’ve been forced to become a landlord. I have good tenants in that flat but the rent that they pay no longer covers that mortgage.
“It’s very difficult because I don’t want to lose those tenants, I don’t want to be a landlord, I’ve got good people in there and I don’t want to jeopardise that relationship but I have my own home to pay for as well.
“Essentially, I will have to increase their rent but if I do I risk losing them and that puts me in a difficult position.
“We’ve also had a baby so we’ve got childcare costs on top of that. So we’re both working and although our salaries aren’t bad salaries, because of the increases that have happened it is definitely more of worry.”
Liz*, a journalist, relocated from London to Cardiff last year for work, and she and her partner have also been unable to sell their flat in the UK capital or rent out it, because it is a shared ownership property.
As rates increased, so did her mortgage payments – from £810 a month to £1,147 – as did the rent and service charge she pays to the co-owner, a housing association, which comes to £850.
The mother of two says she and her partner have used up £20,000 of their savings and have had to borrow from parents to make ends meet, as they must also cover the rent on their home in Wales.
“We knew we were going to move and so when our mortgage came to the end of its term in May last year, we didn’t renew on a fixed rate, which is how we ended up on a variable mortgage,” she says.
“We were on a 1.45% rate until 30 April and on 1 May we moved to a standard variable rate, which is 3.49% above the Bank of England rate which took us to 4.24%. Our payments went from £588.65 to £810.19. It was already quite a big jump, if only it had stopped there.
“According to the latest letter from the bank, we have a rate of 8.49% from the 1 August. It was 7.99% before, which was £1,147.26.”
She was waiting for Thursday’s announcement with “trepidation, because every little rise is reflected in much higher terms for us”.
“It has wiped out our savings because we are double paying [the mortgage and to rent a home], it has literally wiped them out over the last year, and unless we can sell, we are getting in a more and more difficult situation.”
A few months back, I noted that Millennials, those born between 1980 and 1995, purchased the most real estate between July 2012 and June 2013.
It sounded like good news, a positive trend that should bode well for the housing market on into the future. After all, these first-time buyers are critical to the ongoing health of the real estate market.
But there’s a problem. Nearly half of would-be Millennial home buyers today don’t have enough money saved up to purchase a home at today’s prices.
For that reason, nearly half plan to ask mom and dad for the required down payment money (and some will even ask their grandparents), according to a new survey from Trulia.
At the same time, 37% said they plan to work a second job in order to save the necessary cash, while 22% said they would turn to the state or federal government for help to achieve the American dream of homeownership.
Down Payments Are an Issue for All Ages
Either way, the message is clear – down payments continue to be an issue for prospective home buyers.
Last week, I pointed out that nearly half of recent home purchases required mortgage insurance, so it’s not just the young that are struggling with down payments.
Interestingly, Millennials aren’t even trying to buy McMansions, but rather modestly priced homes. In fact, 68% indicated that they were looking to buy a home under $200,000, which you think wouldn’t break the bank.
But that would still require a down payment of $40,000 to get down to the magic 80% LTV threshold, which would allow these home buyers to avoid private mortgage insurance and a higher mortgage rate.
But how can we expect young generations to set aside such a large chunk of money when there are so many other pressing costs, like monthly iPhone service plans and Starbucks.
Sure, I probably sound like a grumpy, no-fun Gen X’er, but upon seeing this top 10 list I lost hope in humanity.
Top 10 Expenses Millennials Would NEVER Give Up to Save for a Down Payment
1. Car 2. Smartphone 3. Cable TV 4. Netflix subscription 5. Vacation money 6. Eating out 7. Shopping for clothes 8. Organic food purchases 9. Gym membership 10. Morning latte/cappuccino
Don’t Worry, Trulia Is Giving Away Money
Luckily, Millennials, or should I say one Millennial (or someone of any age for that matter) won’t need to give up their favorite things because Trulia is giving away $50,000 via a new contest. Wells Fargo also has a contest going on now.
Don’t fret. If you aren’t the lucky winner, you can still get a mortgage with next to nothing down, which while extremely flexible, kind of sends the wrong message to the youth and the rest of America.
You don’t really need to save because there’s always going to be a home loan program out there that eliminates the need for a down payment. Heck, the FHA still only requires 3.5% down and the money can come in the form of a gift.
I’m not trying to get rid of no- and low-down payment options, because they obviously provide tremendous value to many responsible buyers nationwide, but I do wonder if it sets us up for yet another housing rollercoaster while disincentivizing the need to save.
A lack of home equity (and zero down financing) was clearly the problem during the last crisis, and we don’t seem to be addressing it much differently this time around.
Worse yet, today’s homeowner will know they can walk away from bad investments in the future with little recourse or consequence.
Financial goals are meant to help you live your best life, whether that means helping you buy your dream home, affording your child’s education, or taking your mother on a cruise for her 60th birthday. To help you get there, it’s vital to have a budget that works for your situation and aspirations.
Having a budget can help you see where you are financially, know whether you’re on track for reaching your goals, and identify ways you can adjust your spending.
Once you have a budget nailed down — and the math is not as scary as some people think — you can reconfigure and adjust. After all, a budget is meant to work for you so you can reach your money goals, not the other way around. It can evolve right along with you, your needs, and your goals.
Why Is Creating a Budget Important?
Creating a budget is important because it allows you to see where your finances stand: You see how much money is coming and how much is going out, plus what it is being spent on.
It can provide you with a snapshot of your financial life, and it can illuminate any issues you need to address. Think about it: If you don’t know where your money is going, you can easily spend more than your means, leading to more debt than you can handle. Not budgeting can also prevent you from reaching your goals, such as having enough in retirement savings or being able to afford that kitchen renovation you’re pining for.
Although some people think a budget will cramp their style, the truth is that a budget doesn’t have to hold you back, restrict you from fun, or sour your lifestyle. It can eventually set you free from the financial burdens that are keeping you from setting and reaching your ultimate life goals.
Next, learn the step-by-steps.
💡 Quick Tip: Make money easy. Enjoy the convenience of managing bills, deposits, transfers from one online bank account with SoFi.
1. Determine Your Financial Goals
Setting financial goals is a crucial first step to being more intentional with your money management tactics. As in, having a purpose can give you more motivation to stick to your budget and get you on your way to creating smart financial goals that suit your life.
How to set financial goals? Start by taking time to come up with a clear idea of your short-term and longer-term aspirations. What kind of things could you dream about? Anything that’s ultimately important to you could be a financial goal example, including:
• Having $1,000 in the bank
• Hosting an amazing 30th birthday party for your partner
• Buying a home
• Starting a family
• Getting some new wheels
• Taking a dream vacation
• Getting out of credit card debt
• Starting your own business
• Planning for retirement
• Establishing and maintaining an emergency fund.
2. Calculate Your Income
Before allocating money for various spending categories and goals, you need to know how much money you have to work with each month. Calculate your after-tax income — you can look at your paystub and/or other earnings from your side businesses or second job. Or maybe you are the lucky holder of an investment account that generates dividends. Perhaps you regularly receive bonuses or tips at work. Add it all up.
3. Review Your Expenses
To make a solid, workable budget, you also need to know exactly how much money is typically going out. Pull together all your financial statements and look at how much you typically spend per month in the following budget categories:
• Loans (such as student or car loan payments) and debt (including credit cards)
• Insurance premiums
• Housing
• Utilities
• Monthly food expenses
• Childcare, child support, or related family obligations
• Transportation-related expenses
• Healthcare
• Savings/investments (for instance, 401(k) or IRA automatic savings deductions).
In addition, think about some other spending categories that are more about discretionary purchases. You can also track:
• Dining out (even those lattes to go)
• Entertainment, such as movies, books, concert tickets, and streaming services
• Personal care (manicures, yoga classes, etc.)
• Travel
• Gifts or treating friends to birthday drinks or dinners
• Non-essential clothing, electronics, home furnishings, and any other fun things you might go shopping for.
As you gather this information, you may want to look at a couple of months’ worth of records. For example, your credit card bill may vary considerably, so averaging a few months will give you a more realistic picture than checking a single month.
Once you have an idea of what you spend, it’s time to take a look at where you may be able to make adjustments. Many people look at their spending as “needs” versus “wants.” A need is something required for basic existence, while a want is discretionary spending. Needs also include debt payment, so if you have a student loan or similar monthly expenses, include that in the need category.
Also consider looking at each spending category in terms of fixed and variable expenses. For instance, your mortgage is a fixed expense since it typically won’t change from month to month, whereas entertainment would be a variable expense since it can change. Don’t forget to look at occasional expenses — like semi-annual car insurance payments — so you can set aside money in your budget each month to account for this expense.
4. Choose Your Budgeting Method
Subtract your monthly expenses from your monthly income. How are you doing? If there’s money left over, it means you may be able to meet your financial goals. Otherwise, you may need to either cut your expenses a bit or earn more money (or try a combination of both).
Whichever direction your money is trending in, you can benefit from a budget to get your cash aligned with your goals and provide guardrails for your spending and saving.
While there are a bunch of budgeting methods, what’s most important is to find an organizing principle that works for your personal and financial style. Some options to consider:
The 50/30/20 Budget Rule
The 50/30/20 budget rule breaks up your budget using the following percentages:
• 50% on essential expenses. This category could include housing costs, utilities, car payments, debt payments (student loans, credit card minimums due, etc.), education costs, food, basic clothing, childcare, and medical expenses.
• 30% on discretionary expenses. Your discretionary expenses could include shopping, entertainment, personal care, travel, and other expenses that may not necessarily be considered essential.
• 20% toward your goals. This amount of money can go into savings and investments as you work toward things like an emergency fund, a new car, retirement, and/or your child’s college education.
Recommended: Discretionary Income Explained
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The 70/20/10 Budget Rule
The 70/20/10 rule is another budgeting method. It’s similar to the 50/30/20 one but allocates more money toward your needs (70%) and less to the wants and savings areas. This budget can be a good variation for those who are just starting their careers or anyone who lives in an area with a high cost of living.
Zero-Based Budget
The zero-based budget system gives every single dollar a purpose so that every bit of your income is accounted for. You start with your monthly income then keep subtracting expenses (even savings or a sinking fund counts here) until you get to zero. This system can help you be more mindful since you know how your money is allocated.
The Envelope Budget System
With this technique, you write the name and cash amount you have for each spending category for a month. For example, you allocate $2,000 for housing for one envelope, and $600 for food in another. You can only spend the allocated amount in each category.
If there is no more cash in the envelope but the month isn’t over yet, you will need to wait until the next month to replenish it or borrow from another category and spend less there. For instance, if you need cash for an insurance premium that went up, you could save on streaming services by dropping a platform or two while you adjust your budget.
This method can be adapted to use debit card payments. You don’t have to literally only use cash.
5. Make Adjustments
A budget is a dynamic, living entity. Some months may be more expensive than others. For instance, you might have an emergency one month (your laptop dies) and wind up spending more (or even going into debt) to make ends meet. Life happens: use these situations to learn and readjust.
You can also look for trends in your money. If you find you are living paycheck to paycheck, you might find ways to economize (such as getting a roommate) or to earn more money.
After using your new budget plan, you should review and update it regularly. You may need to do it more often at the beginning of your budgeting journey when you’re getting used to looking at your finances in a new light. Still, it is typically useful to review your spending at the end of each month to see if your budget is still working for you. If not, then take the time to see what may be happening and tweak your spending as necessary.
Another reason you may want to make adjustments is if your life situation changes, such as you have a baby or get a divorce. Or your income may have gone up, so you will need to think strategically about how best to allocate those dollars to help you reach your financial goals.
Monthly Budget Example
Here is an example of a family’s monthly budget:
Total monthly income: $4,650
Monthly breakdown of expenses:
Monthly income
$4,650
Monthly expenses
Rent
$2,000
Groceries
$400
Student loan payments
$337.50
Car payment
$150
Credit card payment
$300
Discretionary spending
$232.50
Utilities
$330
Auto & renters insurance
$150
Career enrichment class
$60
Savings
$400
TOTAL:
$4,360 ($290 surplus)
How to Handle Unexpected Expenses in Your Budget
You know how it goes: Life can be filled with unexpected expenses, such as a car repair or larger than expected medical bills. Instead of letting these derail you, work unexpected expenses into your budget.
There are several ways you can go about it, one of which is to have a bit of a buffer in your account. Meaning, you can allocate some extra cash each month just in case — any money that isn’t spent, you can roll it over onto the next month. It can act as a cash cushion in your checking account.
You can also consider building up an emergency fund, a separate set of savings in case you have unexpected expenses. The amount will vary, but a good rule of thumb for how much to have in an emergency fund is to save three to six months’ worth of basic living expenses.
How to Work With Your Family or Partner to Create a Budget
Creating a budget with others means being open to a conversation about what each one needs, and how you can keep each other accountable. It can start by having a meeting about family spending. You can discuss and agree to budget goals and reasonable expenses and use a budget planner to help you solidify things.
Once a preliminary budget is created, find a way to ensure that everyone sticks to it. Some tactics include having one joint account to ensure everyone can track spending or having an app where your partner or family can see an overview of the finances. Whatever you choose, it’s important to meet regularly to review your budget to see whether adjustments need to be made.
💡 Quick Tip: An emergency fund or rainy day fund is an important financial safety net. Aim to have at least three to six months’ worth of basic living expenses saved in case you get a major unexpected bill or lose income.
The Takeaway
Creating a budget to set and reach your financial goals doesn’t have to be hard, and it can be a great way to guide your spending and saving. While there are many approaches and techniques to try, what matters most is finding one that is a good fit for you personally and helps you feel in control of your cash. By learning how to manage your money well, you can be on track to crush your personal and financial goals, whether short- or long-term.
Interested in opening an online bank account? When you sign up for a SoFi Checking and Savings account with direct deposit, you’ll get a competitive annual percentage yield (APY), pay zero account fees, and enjoy an array of rewards, such as access to the Allpoint Network of 55,000+ fee-free ATMs globally. Qualifying accounts can even access their paycheck up to two days early.
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FAQ
What is money management and why is it important?
Money management involves making a plan to help you reach your financial goals, such as getting out of debt, saving for a vacation, or buying a new home. Without sound money management, it can be hard to understand your personal finances and reach your goals.
How do I prioritize my expenses?
You can prioritize your expenses by making sure you have an effective budget and sticking to it. You’ll likely want to prioritize basic living expenses and debt payments. Discretionary spending on the fun stuff of life (entertainment, eating out) can be an area to rein in, if needed.
What are some common mistakes people make with their money and how can I avoid them?
Some common mistakes people make with their money include not establishing clear financial goals, not building a budget that works, and not tracking their spending. To avoid them, it’s a wise move to find a budget technique that works for you, to regularly review and tweak your financial goals, and make adjustments when necessary.
What are some resources available for improving my financial literacy?
Your bank likely offers articles and tools to help improve your financial literacy. You can also head to government or reputable sources like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or buy books or listen to podcasts by respected sources. You can also seek the help of a financial professional.
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Financial Tips & Strategies: The tips provided on this website are of a general nature and do not take into account your specific objectives, financial situation, and needs. You should always consider their appropriateness given your own circumstances.
SoFi members with direct deposit can earn up to 4.40% annual percentage yield (APY) on savings balances (including Vaults) and 0.50% APY on checking balances. There is no minimum direct deposit amount required to qualify for the 4.40% APY for savings. Members without direct deposit will earn up to 1.20% annual percentage yield (APY) on savings balances (including Vaults) and 0.50% APY on checking balances. Interest rates are variable and subject to change at any time. These rates are current as of 7/11/2023. There is no minimum balance requirement. Additional information can be found at http://www.sofi.com/legal/banking-rate-sheet.
Whether you’re new to tech or an experienced professional, upskilling with a bootcamp can help you advance in your career and potentially increase your earnings.
The average salary after a coding bootcamp is around $70,000 per year, according to a 2017 analysis by Course Report, a website that researches the coding education industry and reviews bootcamps. This average salary could include graduates with an associate degree or higher.
Your earnings can depend on the following factors:
Specialization.
Years of experience.
College education.
Here’s what you need to know about salaries after coding bootcamps and how to maximize your earnings.
What impacts salary after coding bootcamp?
Location
Where you live affects how much you make after completing a coding bootcamp. Tennessee has one of the highest average annual salaries for bootcamp graduates — $72,650 — according to ZipRecruiter, an online job board. Georgia has the lowest average post-bootcamp salary: $46,571 per year.
Here are the top 10 states with the highest salaries after coding bootcamp in the U.S., according to ZipRecruiter.
Average Annual Bootcamp Salary
Massachusetts
Connecticut
Rhode Island
Washington
Source: ZipRecruiter
Specialization
There are several areas to choose from when deciding what to study in a coding bootcamp. Each area requires a different level of tech knowledge and different responsibilities — like managing a team, strategic thinking and interacting with clients.
All of these factors can impact your salary. Generally, the more responsibilities you have — and the more you interact with direct reports, clients and other stakeholders — the more you’ll make.
For example, a development operations engineer — responsible for leading teams in addition to writing code and maintaining software — earns on average $125,636 per year, according to Indeed, an online job search platform. Keep in mind that these jobs could also require college degrees.
A technical support specialist — who is more likely to be behind the scenes developing, monitoring and troubleshooting digital products — earns on average $44,239 per year, according to Indeed.
Experience level
Coding bootcamp graduates can progress in their careers and earn more money post-bootcamp as they gain additional experience.
The median starting salary for bootcampers is $65,000 per year, according to a 2017 study by Course Report. By their second job, graduates make $80,943, on average. The average salary jumps to $99,229 by a bootcamp graduate’s third job.
College education
Most bootcamps do not require a college degree to enroll. That’s one reason it can be attractive to beginners wanting to learn technical skills. But having a four-year degree — in addition to completing a bootcamp — could help you earn more.
Bachelor’s degree holders who completed a coding bootcamp received an average salary of $71,267, according to a 2020 survey by Course report. That’s more than the average post-bootcamp salary of $61,836 for those with no college degree.
Salary could increase with more advanced degrees. If you have a doctorate and complete a bootcamp, you could earn around $83,250 per year, based on the 2020 average post-bootcamp salary reported by Course Report.
But a four-year degree may be significantly more expensive than a coding bootcamp. Think about your learning and career objectives — in addition to your earning potential — to determine if a degree program is worth it.
How to increase your chances of a higher salary after coding bootcamp
The salary an employer offers you should be based on your expected value — something your previous experience will help them measure. Fortunately, a major selling point of coding bootcamps is the experience you’ll gain from practical, hands-on training.
Here’s how to leverage your bootcamp skills to land a higher salary.
Build a portfolio. Your bootcamp work is valuable. Don’t hesitate to show it off. You can even go a step further and develop personal projects to show just how dedicated you are to your career field — and demonstrate a skill set that justifies a higher salary.
Don’t be afraid to negotiate. Even when you put your work in front of employers, you may not get an offer that reflects your value. But you don’t have to take the first offer you get. You can ask for more. Some bootcamp schools offer career services to help you negotiate your salary and get closer to the pay you deserve.
Frequently asked questions
What are coding bootcamps?
Coding bootcamps are short-term training programs designed to teach practical, in-demand tech skills, like coding and web development.
How do coding bootcamps differ from a degree?
Coding bootcamps typically focus on specialized skills, while a bachelor’s degree in computer science, for example, will cover more general knowledge. Many coding bootcamps are also much shorter than four-year degree programs — but bootcamps are not accredited. That means you won’t graduate from a bootcamp with a degree.
Do coding bootcamps pay you?
Students do not earn money for attending a coding bootcamp. Instead, you’ll pay to attend a bootcamp, like other career-training programs.
How much do coding bootcamps cost?
Tuition for a coding bootcamp can run between $7,800 and $21,000 — with an average tuition price of $13,584, according to Course Report. Some can be free, however. Costs vary by the program’s length, whether it’s in person or online and any additional student services the school offers.
How much can you make after a coding bootcamp?
Bootcamp graduates make $70,000 per year on average, according to a 2017 study by Course Report. Your salary will depend on your location, experience level, specialization and level of education.
Is it hard getting a job after a coding bootcamp?
Your job search after completing a bootcamp will look a lot like any other job search — including networking, highlighting your experience and showing what you’ll bring to the company. Some bootcamp schools offer career services to help students post-graduation.
Disability insurance is the most underrated type of insurance, and one that I routinely would see clients skip. Who ever thinks they will become disabled?
Hard truth – According to some statistics from the Council for Disability Awareness, 1 in 4 workers who are 20 years old will be disabled before they retire. That’s a shocking number for most people to consider. If you can’t perform your job, you can’t earn money, and that’s where a disability insurance plan can save the day.
The best disability insurance companies make it easy to get a quote online. Below you can quickly get a quote from top rated disability insurance companies we recommend, or keep reading to learn more about disability insurance and its uses.
Table of Contents
Quotes From Top Rated Disability Insurance Companies We Recommend
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Quotes from the top disability carriers to ensure you find the best rates
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What is Disability Insurance?
The idea behind disability insurance is simple.
It operates similar to a traditional life insurance plan, but instead of paying out upon your death, it pays out if you become disabled.
Coverage for these plans can vary in the size. Just like with other kinds of insurance plans, every disability policy is different.
If you already know what you want and just want to browse different rates from several carriers, click here.
Some plans are going to replace 45 %of your income, while others are going to give more replacement at 65%.
The more replacement coverage you want, the more you’re going to pay for your plan.
The Differences with Workman’s Compensation
When an employee suffers an injury on the job, oftentimes their employer will compensate them through worker’s compensation.
It is important to understand the difference between disability insurance and worker’s compensation – because the two are not the same thing.
The key difference between workers’ compensation and disability insurance is that workers’ compensation (or workers’ comp) pays for injuries that are work-related. Employers will obtain workers’ comp insurance in order to pay for incidents that occur on the job.
If workers sustain injuries on the job, it is oftentimes up to the employer to pay for the person’s medical bills, as well as for the individual’s lost wages if the employee must take time off work because of the injury.
An employee who collects payment via workers’ comp will typically, however, not have a long-term disability, but rather a temporary injury from which he or she will soon return.
On the other hand, disability insurance pays for a percentage of a person’s earnings if the insured is not able to work due to an injury or illness – regardless of whether that injury or accident happened at work or elsewhere.
In addition, if the disability insurance policy is an individual policy (versus an employer-sponsored group plan), the insured will be covered under the policy regardless of who he or she is employed through.
According to the Council for Disability Awareness, less than 5 percent of disabling accidents and illnesses are work related.
This means that the other 95 percent are not – and that these other 95 percent are also not covered by workers’ compensation insurance.
What About Social Security Disability Benefits?
It can be extremely difficult to qualify for Social Security’s disability benefits. For example, Social Security will only pay benefits if a person is considered to be totally disabled. This means that the individual cannot do work that they did previously, nor can they do other jobs either.
In addition, the person’s disability must have lasted, or be expected to last, for at least one year or result in death.
An individual must also have collected enough work credits in order to qualify for Social Security disability benefits.
You can take a look at the 2019 Social Security Administration limits and rates for OASDI and social security here.
The number of credits will be dependent on the age that the individual is when he or she becomes disabled.
With that in mind, the importance of disability insurance becomes even more clear.
This type of insurance can provide you with the additional funds that you need to help pay living expenses – without the need to dip into savings, retirement assets, or worse yet – use credit – for the purpose of paying day to day bills until you are back on the job.
If Social Security deems that a person’s situation qualifies, there is still a five month waiting period before benefits are paid.
This, too, can create a financial hardship for many people in terms of paying living expenses – especially if there are added medical costs due to the illness or injury that has been suffered.
So, we know Social Security won’t give the money you need and workman’s comp probably won’t cover it, so now what?
This is why you should explore a private disability insurance policy.
Types of Disability Insurance
The two main types of coverage are long-term disability and short-term disability.
You can probably guess from the name, but short-term policies are designed to cover employees for a much shorter time, anything shorter than two years.
Long-term disability, on the other hand, is built for anything past two years. A long-term disability insurance policy could continue to pay out for the rest of your life if it’s needed but typically runs from 5-10 years.
Some of the common causes for short-term disability insurance include:
having a baby
a severe illness
a major injury.
Long-term disability could include a lot of things, but some common causes are:
cancer
muscular disorders
cardiovascular complications
or serious injuries
Long-Term Disability vs. Short-Term Disability
Aside from the obvious, there are a few key differences between long-term disability and short-term disability.
One of those is the waiting period for a payout.
With short-term, policyholders can start receiving weekly checks as quickly as a 1 to 7 days after you file a claim for the policy.
With a long-term disability insurance policy, on the other hand, it can be anywhere from 90 days to 180 days.
If you’re looking at the cost difference between the two plans, short-term policies are going to be significantly more affordable than its long-term counterpart. Long-term plans can give you years more coverage which could translate to thousands and thousands of additional coverage from the insurance company.
Another key difference between the two kinds of plans is how you can get the coverage.
A lot of companies offer their employees short-term disability insurance, but almost no companies have a long-term disability insurance program.
If you want to get the long-term coverage, you’ll have to purchase a plan through a private insurance company. If your company offers any type of short-term disability insurance, you should always enroll in the program.
Group, Individual, Multi-life
Inside of the two main types of disability insurance are several “sub-types” of coverage.
One of those is group coverage.
These are policies which are offered through an employer and are offered to all the employees. Group coverage could be either short-term disability or long-term disability.
Employer-sponsored short-term plans are designed to pay for any disabilities which occur outside of the workplace. Short-term disabilities are much more common than long-term disabilities which could impact you for the rest of your life.
Individual Disability Insurance
If your company doesn’t have any sponsored plans, you can purchase a private policy through an insurance company.
You’ll be required to answer some medical questions and depending on the plan, take a medical exam.
Multi-Life Disability Insurance
When you’re shopping around for a disability insurance policy, you’ll probably come across plans being sold as “multi-life plans.”
The idea of these plans is to get several key people in a business (think of several doctors in a practice) to all apply at the same time with their plan.
The insurance company markets these policies as multi-life so they can offer simpler underwriting processes and pass some of the savings onto the policyholders.
Is Group Disability Enough?
For the employees who are lucky enough to get disability insurance through their employer, you still might be lacking. Just because you have a plan through your job, it might not be enough.
Let’s say you’re not able to go to work because of an accident. You can’t get to your job and pull in your paycheck, are you going to be able to pay for all of your monthly bills without having to make any extreme sacrifices.
To determine if your group disability insurance is enough, you’ll need to do some basic math.
Look at your plan and see how much coverage it provides.
For this example, let’s say it pays 50% of your salary. Now, take a look at your bills and expenses.
If the total of those numbers is more than 50% of your income, then your group disability isn’t enough.
If you’ve crunched the numbers and came to the jarring realization your group plan isn’t enough, the best choice is to purchase an additional individual plan.
Both of the policies can work together, and your individual plan can pick up the slack left behind.
What’s the Difference Between Owner-Occupation and Any-Occupation?
One of the most important things to understand about disability insurance plans are the differences between an owner-occupation plan and an any-occupation plan.
They may sound the same, but they completely change how your plan operates and the coverage it will give you.
First, let’s look at owner-occupation (sometimes called own-occupation protection). Policies with this protection will only pay out if you can no longer to the duties and tasks required to you by your job.
If you’re an electrician, but you can not do the simple tasks required on a day-to-day basis, then an own-occupation plan will pay you the benefits.
Any-occupation policies will only pay the benefits of the plan if you can no longer perform any occupation based on your education and work experience.
As you can tell, any-occupation policies have much stricter rules on the circumstances in which they will pay the policyholder.
Type of Disability Insurance
Description of Disability Insurance
Short-term disability insurance
Provides coverage for a limited period of time, usually up to 6 months, and replaces a portion of your income if you are unable to work due to illness or injury.
Long-term disability insurance
Provides coverage for a longer period of time, typically until retirement age, and replaces a portion of your income if you are unable to work due to illness or injury.
Group disability insurance
Provided by an employer as part of a benefits package, group disability insurance offers coverage to all employees and may be offered as short-term or long-term disability insurance.
Individual disability insurance
Purchased by an individual, this type of disability insurance offers customized coverage and can be either short-term or long-term disability insurance.
Own-occupation disability insurance
Offers coverage if you are unable to work in your specific occupation due to illness or injury, even if you are able to work in a different occupation.
Any-occupation disability insurance
Offers coverage only if you are unable to work in any occupation due to illness or injury.
Residual disability insurance
Offers coverage if you are able to work but have a reduction in income due to illness or injury.
How Much Does Disability Insurance Cost?
Now for the part everyone wants to know, how much is a disability insurance plan going to cost you?
Well, there are a lot of different factors which are going to affect how much the premiums are. It’s difficult for me to give an exact number without knowing your exact situation.
For example, the age of the applicant is going to play a major role in the premium rates. If a 25-year old applies for a policy, it’s going to be significantly cheaper than a plan for a 45-year old.
The general rule of thumb for disability insurance is the premiums are going to be anywhere from 1% to 3% of your gross income.
If you are making $100,000, you can budget for $1,000 – $3,000 every year.
As I mentioned, there are dozens of different factors which will completely change how much you pay.
If you’re a smoker, then you’re going to pay much more for your plan.
If you have a riskier job, you’re going to pay more.
The rule of thumb is exactly that.
How Much Disability Insurance Do You Need?
I alluded to the amount of disability insurance earlier in this article, but now let’s take a hard look at how much coverage you should have.
Not having enough disability insurance protection could cause some serious financial strain if something were to happen.
First, let’s look at your living expenses. If you don’t already have a budget, take some time to look at all of your monthly bills (power bill, water bill, mortgage payment, etc.) and your spending (groceries, gas, etc.).
On top of those monthly expenses, add in a few “unexpected” bills as well. You never know when something is going to break or an extra bill is going to pop up.
You want to have some cushion in your budgeting. Otherwise, you end up living paycheck-to-paycheck.
After you have the monthly expenses number, you can do some subtracting.
If you aren’t working, your expenses are going to look very different than they do now. For example, if you aren’t driving to work every day, you probably won’t be spending as much on gas.
You won’t be spending money on work clothes, and you will probably cut out some additional “entertainment expenses” as well.
Now you have a new number, your monthly expenses minus some tweaks.
The next number you want to add to the equation is any income you’ll make from other sources besides your disability insurance plan.
This category can include any money from your investments, money from your spouse or partner’s job (or a second job if they decide to add another job) and any additional disability income you may qualify for.
If you’re the main income earner in your home, then having disability insurance is one of the most important purchases you can make.
Key Man
For most people, they purchase disability insurance for their family and loved ones. for others, they buy a plan to protect their business.
If you’re one of the foundational workers in your business (ex. an owner, CEO, etc.), then you should consider buying a disability insurance policy for your company.
Key man plans operate a little differently than a traditional disability policy. With these policies, the business pays the premiums for the plan, and if something were to happen to you and you couldn’t perform your job, then the business is going to get the money from the payout.
These policies are a way for the companies to protect themselves against financial struggles if a key person in the business were unable to work because of illness or injury.
The company can use this money to outsource those duties or to hire someone to replace the key person while they are out with the disability.
Disability Insurance for High Income Occupations
There is a certain group of people which disability insurance could have some serious problems.
If you are a high-income earner, the standard disability insurance policy simply may not be enough. Just about every insurance company which sells one of these plans is going to have an income limit.
Regardless of the percentage they replace, they are not going to offer more than that limit.
Typically, these are doctors or lawyers who own their own firms, for example.
Some policyholders may find the insurance company’s limit is below the 60% they offer in income insurance.
If you’re one of these people, there are some things you can do to get the protection you need, regardless of how much money you make every year.
One option is to choose a company who offers higher limits. Each company has different coverage limits on their policy. We can help you shop around until you find one with a high enough limit for your needs.
Another route is to buy two separate plans from different companies. Sure, you’ll pay more in premiums every month, but you’ll have the protection in place if you ever need it.
Where to Get a Disability Insurance Quote
You now know the basics of disability insurance coverage, it’s time to go out and find a policy of your own.
There are more than 40 insurance companies which sell these plans. As I mentioned, they are all different. Some are going to have higher limits, offer a larger percentage, or have cheaper rates.
You need to find a company which suits your needs.
Before you pick a company, compare the rates and plans from several companies. You don’t buy the first house you see, why would you buy the first policy you find?
Sure, you can use your own time to contact those 40+ companies individually, or you can use a tool which will do the dirty work for you.
If you’ve decided you want to get disability insurance or supplement the coverage you already have from work, check out PolicyGenius. They are one of the few companies out there which can gather quotes from dozens of companies for disability insurance, all in one place.
PolicyGenius allows you to tailor your quotes to exactly the kind of policy you’re looking for; the perfect amount of coverage with the proper waiting period.
They know shopping for insurance isn’t easy, but they make it as quick as possible.
FAQs – Best Disability Insurance Quotes
How can I get the best disability insurance quotes?
To get the best disability insurance quotes, it’s important to shop around and compare policies from different insurance companies. You can request quotes online or by speaking with a licensed insurance agent. Be sure to provide accurate information about your occupation, income, and health to receive an accurate quote.
What factors can affect the cost of disability insurance?
The cost of disability insurance can be affected by several factors, including your age, occupation, health status, and the type and amount of coverage you select. Policies with longer benefit periods or more comprehensive coverage may be more expensive.
How much disability insurance coverage do I need?
The amount of disability insurance coverage you need depends on factors such as your income, monthly expenses, and savings. A general guideline is to have enough coverage to replace 60% to 80% of your income, but this may vary depending on your individual circumstances.
Along with closing costs, the down payment on a house can be a substantial upfront expense. Find out how much is required for a down payment on a house, why you might want to make a larger down payment and which options you have for obtaining the necessary funds.
What is a down payment on a house?
A house down payment is the upfront cash you put down toward the home’s purchase price. The minimum down payment percentage depends on factors such as the mortgage program, your credit score and the lender. The down payment is usually paid at the closing meeting.
Since this initial money helps offset some of the mortgage lender’s risk, it can improve your chances of mortgage loan approval. Additionally, the amount you put down contributes to your home’s equity.
How much is required for a down payment on a house?
Like many homebuyers, you may think you need to put a hefty 20% down on a home. But based on data from the National Association of Realtors, the average down payment on a house actually stands between 6% and 7% for first-time homebuyers and 13% for repeat homebuyers.
Your minimum down payment percentage ultimately depends on your financial situation, the property, your lender and the specific loan program. The lowest down payment on a house is none at all, and some government-backed mortgage programs offer this for primary residence purchases. Other loans require down payments ranging from 1% to 20%.
0% down mortgage loans
If you’re trying to find out how to buy a house with no money down, your options include U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) loans and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) loans. These loans target specific types of borrowers.
VA loans
VA loans involve no down payment requirement when the home you choose costs no more than its actual value. However, you can only apply for one if you or your spouse has an approved military affiliation, since the organization requires a Certificate of Eligibility. These loans offer additional benefits such as competitive interest rates, no mortgage insurance premiums and flexible use options. You would need to pay a VA funding fee based on the down payment amount, your military affiliation and the number of VA loans already taken out.
USDA Loans
USDA loans also have no minimum down payment, but you’ll need to pick a property in an approved rural location. Your options include USDA Single Family Direct Home Loans and the USDA Single Family Housing Guarantee Program, both of which have income, asset and property restrictions. You’ll also need to show that you don’t already have a suitable home.
USDA Single Family Direct Home Loans have the lowest income limits and most restrictive property requirements. But if you qualify, you can also get temporarily reduced mortgage payments. The USDA Single Family Housing Guarantee Program provides more options for buying or building a property, sets no property price limit and admits applicants who earn up to 115% of their area’s median income. However, it requires a loan guarantee fee.
1-3% down mortgage loans
Backed by either Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae, conventional mortgage programs for primary residences can allow for down payments as low as 3%, and they usually require good credit. The Fannie Mae HomeReady and Freddie Mac Home Possible programs don’t have a first-time homebuyer requirement and can help you get a mortgage even with a low income. The income limits for these programs are 80% and 100% of your area’s median income for HomeReady and Home Possible, respectively.
Some lenders such as Rocket Mortgage and Riverbank Finance offer programs that give you 2% toward the minimum down payment so that you only need to come up with 1%. While these offers can come with restrictions on the down payment amount allowed, they can make homeownership more accessible. Plus, lenders may offer other perks such as waiving the private mortgage insurance (PMI) which usually applies to conventional mortgages.
If you don’t meet the HomeReady or Home Possible income limits, 3% down conventional programs exist, too. These include Fannie Mae’s 97% Loan-to-Value (LTV) Standard program and Freddie Mac’s HomeOne program. You’ll need to be a first-time homebuyer to qualify.
3.5% down mortgage loans
Backed by the government, Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans require a 3.5% minimum down payment for a house as long as you have a credit score of at least 580. The minimum rises to 10% with a credit score of 500 to 579.
While these loans have lenient credit requirements and no income restrictions, they require upfront and ongoing mortgage insurance premiums. You can also only use an FHA loan for a primary residence.
10-20% down mortgage loans
You might make a 10% or higher down payment to make yourself more appealing to the lender or to qualify for a larger loan amount than a smaller down payment allows. And if you’re buying something other than a primary residence, the lender will likely want 10% down for vacation homes and 15% down for investment properties.
You may also need a larger down payment — up to 20% — if you plan to take out a conventional loan that exceeds the conforming loan limits that the Federal Housing Finance Agency has set. Depending on the location, these usually range from $726,200 to $1,089,300. In that case, you would need to seek a jumbo loan to borrow enough funds. These loans also require good credit and sufficient cash reserves.
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The pros of larger home down payments
If you can afford it, making more than the minimum down payment on a house has its advantages. You can have more manageable monthly payments, pay less in the long run and benefit from having more immediate equity in your home.
More affordable monthly mortgage payments
Since the down payment reduces the mortgage amount needed, you’ll have a lower monthly mortgage payment if you put more money down.
For example, if you buy a $250,000 home and take out a 30-year mortgage with a 7% interest rate, a sample monthly payment — excluding PMI, taxes and insurance, which can all vary widely — may look like the following:
3% down: $1,613.36
5% down: $1,580.09
10% down: $1,496.93
20% down: $1,330.60
Not only does a smaller payment mean more room in your budget for other expenses, but it could also help reduce the risk of defaulting on your mortgage and losing the home. You may also find it easier to pay off your mortgage early.
Less interest paid
Mortgage lenders consider the down payment amount as one factor for determining mortgage interest rates. By putting more money down, you reduce the risk to the lender, who may reward you with a lower interest rate. While these interest savings especially add up over time, the lower rate matters for your closing costs, as well, since they include some prepaid interest.
Higher upfront home equity
Your home’s equity equals its value minus the money you owe on it. Meeting only the minimum down payment requirements could mean no immediate equity at all. But by putting down a significant amount, you can reduce the risk of going underwater on your home loan, where you owe more than your house’s value. If you try to sell a home with an underwater mortgage, you may not make enough money off the sale to pay off your lender.
Having more equity also helps if you need home equity financing later for home improvements.
Lower fees
Some mortgage programs require upfront or ongoing fees that you can reduce or eliminate with a sufficient down payment. For example, the VA funding fee goes down as long as you make a 5% minimum down payment. You can also avoid having to pay private mortgage insurance for conventional loans if you put down 20%.
The cons of larger home down payments
While making the ideal down payment for a house offers financial benefits, having the cash tied to the home comes with drawbacks, including:
Lower cash reserves for emergencies
By using much of your savings for your down payment, you can experience financial struggles if a job loss or other emergency occurs. You may end up needing to borrow money to cover unexpected expenses, and you could even default on your mortgage if you run out of cash for payments. To reduce the risk, make sure you have a sufficient emergency fund before purchasing a home.
Potential delays for home shopping
If you use a house down payment calculator, you’ll see how large the target amount can be. Obtaining this lump sum may require delaying your home-buying plans for a long time.
In the meantime, property prices or interest rates could rise, or the home inventory could fall so you can’t find what you want. If you currently rent, delaying buying a home means not reaping the benefits of owning such as building up equity and having more stability and control over your home.
Risk of your home losing value
While putting down the best down payment for a house helps build equity right away, declining property values could cut into it quickly. This can happen due to economic changes or local factors in your neighborhood. If this happens, you may feel uneasy knowing you put so much cash in the home and can’t get it back.
Less cash for other goals
Making a high down payment comes at the cost of not having the money to use for other goals. This could mean having to wait to pay down other debts or not having enough to save for your retirement or make home renovations. A lower down payment could allow you to accomplish multiple goals.
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How to come up with a down payment for a house fast
You could get a second job, sell unneeded items or cut expenses and put the money toward your down payment. You might also borrow or withdraw from a retirement account, but you should first consider potential penalties. In addition to asking for down payment gifts from people you know, check into state and local down payment assistance programs that offer grants or loan you the funds.
Can you buy a house without a down payment?
If you’re wondering how to buy your first home without a down payment, you could accomplish this if you qualify for a VA or USDA loan. Otherwise, research down payment assistance programs that may cover the minimum down payment for your mortgage type. Just keep in mind that you’ll still need funds to cover your closing costs or else roll them into the loan.
How to buy a house with low income and no down payment
USDA mortgages target homebuyers with no down payment funds and low incomes. If you don’t qualify for one, you could consider a co-borrower with sufficient income.
As long as you don’t need to purchase a home immediately, you can get more loan options if you work on your finances. Actions could include reducing other debts, raising your income, improving your credit and seeking potential down payment sources. You can also seek advice from the best mortgage lenders about how to get the down payment needed for a house and qualify with a low income.
Who gets the down payment on a house?
At the time of closing, you’ll use a cashier’s check or wire transfer to provide the down payment to your loan officer or settlement agent. The home’s seller eventually gets the down payment and other money left over from the home’s sale price after reductions for costs such as their past mortgage payoff, real estate agent’s commission and other fees.
Summary of Money’s how much is required for a down payment on a house
If you plan on buying a house with no down payment or a very small one, carefully explore your mortgage options and understand the ongoing costs. While the low down payment may get you a home faster, it can also mean ongoing fees such as private mortgage insurance or a higher upfront fee for certain mortgage programs. A large down payment can offer long-term savings and lower payments, but it leaves less money available if you experience any hardship. Work with your lender to explore the pros and cons of your options and determine what works best for you.
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People love saving challenges to earn. So, we are going to layout some of the ways you can do the 200 envelope challenge.
In case you have not heard, the 100 day envelope challenge originating from TikTok has taken off!
Let’s be honest… you need to make saving fun! Saving just to save money can get boring after awhile.
Here at Money Bliss, we have plenty of money saving challenges to help you find the perfect one for you.
Today, we are going to bring you a spin of a super popular envelope challenge.
Have you seen the popularity of this money saving challenge take off on TikTok? If not, then you are missing out.
This saving hack has been going viral and does not seem to be going away anytime soon. In fact, more and more variations of the original challenge have sprouted.
In this post, we will break everything you need to know about the 200 day envelope challenge.
What is the 200 Envelope Challenge?
The premise of the 200 envelope saving challenge is a very simple hack to start saving money.
For many people attempting the 100 day challenge, they learned that saving envelopes from 51-100 were more difficult as the dollar amount was harder.
So, here is the 200 envelope challenge spin.
You start off with 200 envelopes. You will label each envelope with the numbers 1 through 50. Repeat this process 4 times.
As such, you will have four envelopes with the same number on them.
Then place all of the envelopes in a special place like a container box, basket, file folder, or bag.
Each day, you will choose a new envelope, and you must put that amount of money in the envelope.
For example, if you draw the number 12, then you would put $12 into that envelope and seal it. Then the next day, if you draw the number 35, you would put $35 into that envelope and seal it. Then, continue this challenge for over 200 days.
And the best part is by the end of the 200 envelope challenge, you have saved $5,100.
Now, after 200 days, I would call saving $5,100 a huge win when saving only $1-$50 per day.
200 Envelope Challenge Chart
How much money do you save with the 200 envelope saving challenge?
You need to the numbers behind everything so you truly understand how the 200 day money challenge is set up.
Let’s break down how the math works with this 200 envelope challenge chart.
At the end of the 200 day money challenge, you will save $5,10!!
Here is the math if you randomly pick an envelope each day:
Most saved in one week: $200
Least saved in one week: $4
Even if you do not finish the entire 200 days and quit on day 100, you will save at least $2500. More than likely, it will be a higher amount (unless you are great at just picking numbers under $20).
This challenge is great for somebody who gets paid with cash on a consistent basis, like servers, bartenders, drivers, caddies, etc – any tipped employee.
Advantages of the 200 Day Money Challenge
This is the #1 benefit of the 200 envelope challenge over the 100 day envelope challenge…
It is much easier to save under $50 a day than having to save $51-$100 a day.
You can simply cut out spending purchases to hit your goal.
That is easy.
Plus with the fun saving challenge you walk away with over $5000 saved in less 29 weeks! In just over half of the year, you can save $5k.
If someone said, you would save over $5k in less than 7 months, verall, would you accept the challenge?
That should be a resounding… YES!!
Supplies Needed for the 200 Day Envelope Money Saving Challenge
The supplies needed for the 200 Day Challenge are not complicated and you should have most of them around your house.
Supplies Needed:
Envelopes – Plain old white envelopes work, but colored envelopes makes everything more fun.
Sharpie or Marker Pens – You need something to write with in order to keep track of those envelopes.
Cash – You need to figure out where you have the extra cash to stuff those envelopes. You may need to run to the bank quite a few times.
Stickers or Rubber Stamps – To make sure you don’t cheat and reopen a finished envelope.
Box or Container – Just make sure you have enough space for your envelopes!
Related Read: Best Cash Envelopes – Pick Your Favorite
Don’t want to make your own? Then, pick up these handmade envelopes from Desire Your Curves. Check out these 200 mini envelopes!
Also, it is super helpful to have a free printable 200 day challenge to keep you accountable! Don’t worry… we have you covered!
At the bottom of the post, you have the opportunity to download a free 200 envelope challenge PDF.
Printable 200 envelope challenge PDF
The 200 Envelope Challenge is a printable tracker chart that you can download and print.
Think of one friend you want to do this challenge with and share this post
The idea of saving over $5000 in less than 7 months is reason to participate in this challenge!
Tracking your progress is very important with any money saving challenge. Plus it is a powerful motivator.
Check Out: Free Printable 100 Envelope Challenge
200 Envelope Challenge App – Do It Digital
As of right now, there is no envelope challenge app developed to make this cashless. However, you can do this challenge digitally and we will show you how to do it virtually.
In case you utilize a cashless envelope system, you may be wanting to do this challenge, but are not sure of the best way to do it.
Here is how to do the 200 day challenge digitally:
Instead of using 200 envelopes, you could write on 200 pieces of paper, fold them up, and put them into a bag or box.
Every day you would draw out a new number (just like the normal challenge).
Make sure you have separate savings account for the challenge.
Instead of placing cash into the envelopes, you will move money from your checking account to that separate savings account.
For example, on the first day, you pull out the number 8. Well, that means you would move $8 from your checking account into your newly open 200 envelope challenge savings account.
You are taking money from your normal spending and moving it away and into a savings account.
That way you are setting aside money, virtually into a different account.
200 Envelope Challenge Variations
Not everyone can complete the 200 envelope saving challenge as we discussed in this post.
Here are some alternatives to make the envelope challenge work for you:
Pull an envelope weekly instead of daily.
Save $25 for every envelope.
Pull 3-4 envelopes a week.
Save the amount of the envelope $1-200 and save over $20K!
There are many ways you can spin the 200 envelope challenge to work for you!
At the end of the day, the goal is just to save more money.
Many people prefer one of these challenges instead:
Ready for the 200 day Envelope Challenge?
All in all, this is the one great thing that social media can offer.
It brought around the envelope challenge as a new spin for you new hack for you to start saving money.
The 200 day envelope challenge is a fun way to kickstart your money saving journey.
The 200 day money envelope challenge is perfect for everyone to complete!
If you are looking for something different, check out one of these…
If you like the idea of this challenge here are some other money saving challenge ideas that you may enjoy more:
One of the best ways to improve your personal finance situation is to increase your income. Here are a variety of side hustles that are very lucrative. With time and effort, you can start enjoying the lifestyle you want.
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…no matter how much or how little experience you have.
Our friends Cody & Julie of Gold City Ventures are experts at creating five figures of passive income selling printables. Learn how to create your online printables business from scratch with our programs and templates.
Are you passionate about words and reading? If so, proofreading could be a perfect fit for you, just like it’s been for me! I’m excited to share how you can create a freelance business as a proofreader, just like I did.
The ultimate discounted bundle of my 4 best-selling courses and WordPress theme on how to build and grow a profitable blog.
Learn the best SEO practices and how to monetize your blog quickly!
Designed as a 101-level course on freight brokerage, you’ll learn the basics of freight brokering in this online course.
This course is designed for freight brokers in any setting, regardless of their employment status.
If you want to start your brokerage, we’ll show you exactly how to do it. If you are an agent or employee of a brokerage, we’ll take you through sales and operations modules designed to help you source more leads and move more freight.
You can make money as a freelance writer. Learn techniques to find those jobs and earn the kind of money you deserve! Plus get tips to land your first freelance writing gig!
This is the perfect side hustle if you don’t have much time, experience, or money.
Many earn over $10,000 in a year selling printables on Etsy. Learn how to get started by watching this free workshop.
The Empowered Business Lab teaches you how to sell your digital products naturally with strategies that just make sense.
Monica helped me find my momentum and my want to pursue my business again.
After taking a second job as a driver for Amazon to make ends meet, this former teacher pivoted to be a successful stock trader.
Leaving behind the stress of teaching, now he sets his own schedule and makes more money than he ever imagined. He grew his account from $500 to $38000 in 8 months.
Check out this interview.
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