I've Been Unemployed For A Year And $77,000 In Debt!

[Music] brought to you by the every dooll app start budgeting for free today um so I'm calling because um I'm 30 years old I live in Philadelphia um and I've been unemployed since last August so it's year what happened I know the job the job market right now really sucks um yeah it's just exhausting to even speak about it so right now currently I am in debt of 77,500 and this includes student loans personal loans credit cards and car loans and I really don't know what direction to go into because I don't have any money to pay back the debt because I am unemployed so I wanted to see do you guys think I should file for bankruptcy or should I strategize like a payment plan once I get um employed again to start paying off my debt um yeah I mean I would say the latter I mean 77,000 is not being I I think you can get out of this it's going to take for sure some time and um it life is going to probably look different for a bit while you climb out of this but I would not if you had 700,000 or something we were talking then that probably would be a different story but 77,000 you can do this like you can we see it every day this is a number that is manageable I know it feels probably so overwhelming to you and especially since you haven't been earning an income it feels like I'm completely underwater but just hear us on this side say we talk to people every day that have more that have you know six figures and they're do doing it okay so I do want to give you hope aah that you can you can do this I think my biggest concern uh is the income side and so what's been um yeah has there not been anything that You' found since you said last August so it's been almost a year I mean even you know uh like Target Walmart I mean any retail anything possible um so I'm in the legal support field so my rules have been like a paralal legal assistant okay so I was more so trying to get back into that field because it will bring in like a great income where I can get back on my feet yeah what were you making so as of um my previous position I was making 55 okay and how many how many pargal gigs have you tried to to to get in the last year ballpark oh goodness um I've been on several interviews and I've been ghosted um by a lot of recruiters I want to say maybe since January till now I've been on maybe like seven or eight interviews that's defeating I'm so sorry what were you making did okay what were you making 55 okay so here's a question for you um in the last 3 seconds while you were talking I went on my computer and I typed in Virtual pargal and I saw all kinds of sites have you looked into doing virtual paralal work um not necessarily I don't really I don't know if I don't really trust those like type of ads so I haven't really looked aah this isn't an ad this isn't an ad I pulled up th this is this is an an actual company that supplies virtual pargal for people who need them it came to me immediately that um when you've got a virtual opportunity like that the barrier for entry might be a little bit less I don't know I don't know what's going on in your interviews I will tell you that uh I I hear stories every day of people that have been ghosted and I'm sorry about that but but I Leah I'm telling you there are no more well I I've Holden out for that pargal job I'm give you some tough love here hopefully in a non- tough way you need to be working at Walmart or Target or or driving or doing something uh you your target is $20 an hour $25 an hour if you got to do some manufacturing you are doing whatever it takes is that below uh the the professional level you've been on the past yes is it beneath you no that is dignified work you know men and women all over Philadelphia that do that work it is not bene you but right now to Rachel's Point uh you can actually dig out of this but I believe you can make the equivalent of $55,000 an hour with a good job like I just described even if it's an hourly rate uh and then a second job you're going to have to work your way out of this and and I believe you actually can and and Rachel can walk you through what you would do on the snowball side of things if you're not familiar with it but I'm telling you right now there is no reason someone as sharp as you are is not working for one year other than the fact that you've been defeated and you've been rejected and that's really really hard and it and it stinks and let me also say this the research from psychology studies show that losing a job being laid off or fired is the same emotional impact of losing a loved one mm so I want to acknowledge to you that it's okay for you to be down cuz that's normal but you're you're 12 months into this and you're calling us saying should I bankrupt myself and the answer is no so I want to bring in Rachel here but I but I I going to tell you Leah you've got to get serious about doing any job right now and then look at maybe that virtual paralal and some things like that to get to get maybe a little bit more momentum okay yeah so yeah and I think Aaliyah I think the I think the the hard reality that you're going to face like anybody in a situation like this is that in order to get a different result you have to change 180 everything that you've been doing so the the leaning on debt uh leaning on credit cards leaning on just this idea that you know I hope I get a job and I'm going to try but if I don't I'm just going to keep trying while not doing something else like it's it's going to be a 180 to the point Ayah that you know I I want you to call us a year from now and be like people are accusing me that I'm a workaholic right I've been I have three jobs and I'm working 700 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. I'm exhausted and all of it because to get out of this debot there's going to it's going to be tough like it's going to be long hours a lot of different things you may peace meal you know a retail job here Uber Eats there um you know maybe you're maybe you tutor someone that's that's trying to be a paralal to on the side for four for four hours a week here I mean like anything you can do to peace maill while you hopefully land a $55,000 job somewhere and then while you're doing that you're still probably going to work part-time somewhere else again just to climb out of this debt so the way we the way we help people get out of debt is like it is it is Vengeance like you are you are everything is going towards this every amount of energy time and if you do that for a short amount of time if you put that much work and that much focus and that much intensity this 77,000 is going to be cleaned up I mean it will it'll be cleaned up in 24 months if you just say you know what I I'm doing this I'm living on nothing I'm working hard and I and I'm going to be Focus so what I want you to do aiyah is I want you to write out all of your debts separately so if you have five credit cards write them up in five separate debts personal loans write those out uh your car loan and I want you to list them out smallest amount to largest amount regardless of the interest rate I want you to pay minimum payments on everything okay with this job that you're going to be getting you I want you to stay current on all of your bills uh from the debt and your your food shelter utilities Transportation making sure all that's covered and I want you to pay off that smallest debt first so if it's a $22,000 credit card that's your number one goal we're going after that um get a $1,000 emergency fund before you do all this but um hold on the line Christian's going to pick up and I want to give you uh Financial Peace University this is our our um seven lesson course that really is going to be nine lesson cour that's going to be able to walk you through how to really start this process and to get you on the right pagely CU I believe you can do this I really do I think your life's going to look different but I think that's such a good thing it's going to bring dignity back youah you're doing great 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