>Financial Planning?

>Living paycheck to paycheck stinks. Sure, at the end of the month all my bills are paid, but like just about everyone else, I’m one minor disaster (car repair) away from total financial annihilation.

Being independent and living on my own is great, but it’s making me poor. My entire financial plan has been based on the fact that someday soon I would get married and my income would be supplemented by his, thus I would have some money leftover at the end of the month to start saving up.

It’s time I grew up and faced facts. That is a stupid plan.

At my age, I probably have a better chance at winning the lottery than getting married. So, instead, I will move back in with my parents.

It’s not permanent. It’s only for a year. I want to reduce my liabilities so I can save up to buy a place. Sure, I could probably qualify to buy a condo right now with no money down, but I would rather have some cash in the bank should the toilet start leaking or my fridge stop working. I want to be able to fix those things as needed instead of weeping because I’m too poor to fix the condo I just bought.

Also, I’m not going to be living with my parents rent free. I have too much pride to do that to them. I’m already swallowing a bunch of it to move in with them, but it’s a smart financial move and I really can’t stand having roommates to whom I’m not related or married.

Of course, many people have already been through financial annihilation and are still reeling from it, so living with parents isn’t as weird as it was 10 years ago. Heck, one of the guys I went out with recently told me he lives with his grandfather. I thought that was sweet. He gets to save money and his grandpa gets help around the house.

Sometimes I wish I could have convinced myself to live with my parents when I first moved up to Sacramento 6 years ago. Of course, the economy hadn’t tanked yet, so buying a piece of real estate was out of the question. But if I’d known then what I know now… I would probably own two condos by now and would have a decent amount of money in the bank to boot.