He contributed to the cost of his mother's care, and when she moved into a nursing home far from public transportation, he had to lease a car to visit her.
On the upside, he earns $80,000 a year and has $40,000 saved in his 401(k) plan, although he stopped contributing to it as the debt piled up.
"When I put the numbers down on paper, it seems that I should be in fine shape but for some reason I am broke at the end of each pay period," he says.
Food is one possible culprit: With his mom gone, he eats out instead of cooking, and has a generous tendency to pick up the check when dining with friends.
First, Joe needs to identify the black holes in his budget so he can earmark more money to paying down debt.
Because his salary is high and his credit score is still solid, Joe took advantage of a card offering 0% interest for six months and is rolling the high-interest cards over to the new one.
The lease, insurance and gas cost him about $570 a month, and he's got a little over a year left on the contract.
Joe can call Volkswagen Credit and find out the terms and fees for legally transferring the lease to another driver, and then connect with interested parties at sites such as leasetrader. com or swapalease. com.
By adjusting his withholding, he can get that money in his monthly paycheck right now, and use it to further eliminate debt or to restart his 401(k) contributions.
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