How Does This Sound's Journal

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How-DoesThisSound
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How Does This Sound's Journal

Post by How-DoesThisSound »

I'm starting from a deficit so getting to a net worth of $0 will be an accomplishment for me. After I conquer it I will set my eyes on Lean FIRE (one day)

Here is my "State of Personal Finance Key Points"
-I'm living in the urban northeast portion of the US with family at the moment
-Age: Mid-twenties
-Education: Some college
-Work Experience: 4 years AD in the military & various odd jobs.
-Assets: $1,030.01
-Liabilities: (CC Debt) -$19,341.47 (Note to self: The only way to eat an elephant is one chunk at a time. . and a sound plan)
-Monthly Education Stipend: $2,800
-Work: Not currently, but I am in the process of seeing how I can earn money from home, at least an extra $1,000/month.
*Note* This month I should be set to receive money that is owed to me so that I can get out of delinquency with my CC and potentially make a steep payment on my CC balance.

The goal for the next post: Establish what my monthly expenses are in an excel spreadsheet and then figure out how to lower and/or eliminate the fluff so I can pay down my debt faster.
Last edited by How-DoesThisSound on Thu Mar 25, 2021 5:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

sky
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Re: How Does This Sound's Journal

Post by sky »

That sounds like the right way to get started.

AxelHeyst
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Re: How Does This Sound's Journal

Post by AxelHeyst »

I was deeper in the hole than you only a few years ago. Once you build some momentum, it can evaporate quicker than you think. Right on!

not sure
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Re: How Does This Sound's Journal

Post by not sure »

Hey, How-Does-This-Sound,

Welcome to the forum!

You made a start by recognising the issue. Keep going, look forward to your plan!

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How-DoesThisSound
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Re: How Does This Sound's Journal

Post by How-DoesThisSound »

AxelHeyst wrote:
Fri Mar 26, 2021 1:06 pm
I was deeper in the hole than you only a few years ago. Once you build some momentum, it can evaporate quicker than you think. Right on!
Axel, that really means a lot! Thanks for telling me that, it really does put things in perspective. My goal here is to be brutally honest with myself on this forum. I've lurked for more years than I care to admit. The important thing (I think) is that I'm no longer allowing myself to delay in living the life I want to live. I'm not gonna fluff numbers or embellish anything. It's all about growing and getting break-even, then I'll have the base to build off of. I should accomplish getting out of debt well before the year is over.

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How-DoesThisSound
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Re: How Does This Sound's Journal

Post by How-DoesThisSound »

not sure wrote:
Sat Mar 27, 2021 10:16 am
Hey, How-Does-This-Sound,

Welcome to the forum!

You made a start by recognising the issue. Keep going, look forward to your plan!
Not sure, thanks a lot! You're spot on, if I keep good habits going forward it will only be a matter of time before I'm in the clear. I'll keep you all posted. I should be done with the budget later today!

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Lemur
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Re: How Does This Sound's Journal

Post by Lemur »

If you play it right, you could eliminate your debt just using the gi-bill monthly stipend and come out with a degree on the other end - probably around the same time. Prior military here as well - that GI bill is nice ! :D It made my life so much easier when I left the military years ago. What are you studying btw?

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How-DoesThisSound
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Re: How Does This Sound's Journal

Post by How-DoesThisSound »

Lemur wrote:
Mon Mar 29, 2021 4:01 pm
If you play it right, you could eliminate your debt just using the gi-bill monthly stipend and come out with a degree on the other end - probably around the same time. Prior military here as well - that GI bill is nice! :D It made my life so much easier when I left the military years ago. What are you studying btw?
That's right Lemur!

That's part of my plan. I'm going to be switching to a BS in Cyber Security. When I have 60 credits I'm going to apply for the BS to MS accelerated program so that I come out with a Bachelor's and Master's in CS, this is it: https://www.tesu.edu/ast/programs/bs-ms-cybersecurity. Along the way, I plan to use some of that G.I. Bill money to get my A+, Net+, and Sec+ certifications so I have a good base of certs to work from. If all goes well, I'd like to get into pen-testing so I'm doing CTF (capture the flag) challenges with my friend so that I can eventually get the eJPT and. . eventually OSCP certs under my belt.

This is my career "roadmap" I'm using: https://danielmiessler.com/blog/build- ... ec-career/

Once I get out of debt this year, I'd like to be able to lean FIRE in five years.

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Lemur
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Re: How Does This Sound's Journal

Post by Lemur »

Solid plan. Cybersecurity is very hot right now. BTW your clearance will really help you in the job market too if you decide get into contracting/government work...it was for me at least - my ticket into white collar office work with full-time benefits.

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Re: How Does This Sound's Journal

Post by How-DoesThisSound »

*UPDATE*
-Assets: $3,211.23 = $1,000 emergency fund and $2,211.23 in my checking account.
-Liabilities: (CC Debt) -$17,803.16

For the first time in a long time, I am under my credit card threshold ($18,000) and have a $1,000 emergency fund! I haven't even gotten my $2,850 BAH stipend for this month yet. Once it hits my checking acct I'll have $5,061.23. I need to sit down tomorrow morning and figure out the entirety of my reoccurring expenses and be sure that I leave myself with enough for the bills.I hope to plunk down about $3,500 from the $5k and put that on my CC balance to pay it off aggressively.

I should also try to get my spending (while I'm living at home) to about $1,000 a month. That's my new goal.
For the next 30 days, I plan on eating vegetarian + kosher. I've never eaten exclusively that way before so we'll see how it goes : )

Studying for the Network + exam is going well so far! I'm learning a ton at the moment. Also working on Python via Codeacademy and HTML + CSS through Free Code Camp.

If I think of more, I'll post tomorrow.

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Re: How Does This Sound's Journal

Post by How-DoesThisSound »

Today i invested $27.74 in wooden gymnastic rings. I haven't touched rings since I was in the military.

My fitness plan will include bodyweight calisthenics, some kettlebell work with my 32lb/16kg kettlebell, rings, and some parkour training for cardio & creativity. I'm going to schedule how I want to do those activities over a 6 day regimen.

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Re: How Does This Sound's Journal

Post by CDR »

Welcome to the forum!

I've been using the same post to model my Cyber Sec career, but it's a bit too late for me to get a degree is CS :lol: . I completed my A+ and Network+ last year, and successfully got an IT job just last month!

I highly recommend Professor Messer's vídeos if you don't know about them around. These were my main source of learning (besides past experience).

Also, if you browse the CompTIA subreddit, you will find a lot of people think they failed the test when they write it, only to pass. I did a lot of practice tests on my A+ and did NOT feel I was failing, I had a lot of confidence and it was a great experience. I didn't do as many practice tests for Network+ and I did feel like I was going to fail. Of course, I still passed by a large margin. So if you don't want to experience that feeling, take a lot of practice tests! That's at least my viewpoint on the issue :lol: .

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How-DoesThisSound
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Re: How Does This Sound's Journal

Post by How-DoesThisSound »

CDR wrote:
Wed Apr 21, 2021 10:09 pm
Welcome to the forum!

I've been using the same post to model my Cyber Sec career, but it's a bit too late for me to get a degree is CS :lol: . I completed my A+ and Network+ last year, and successfully got an IT job just last month!

I highly recommend Professor Messer's vídeos if you don't know about them around. These were my main source of learning (besides past experience).

Also, if you browse the CompTIA subreddit, you will find a lot of people think they failed the test when they write it, only to pass. I did a lot of practice tests on my A+ and did NOT feel I was failing, I had a lot of confidence and it was a great experience. I didn't do as many practice tests for Network+ and I did feel like I was going to fail. Of course, I still passed by a large margin. So if you don't want to experience that feeling, take a lot of practice tests! That's at least my viewpoint on the issue :lol: .
That's very reassuring, thanks! Congratulations on the new job, that's amazing.

I've been watching Messer's videos for Net +, after I finish his stuff on that and have read the majority of Myer's book on Net + I'll start taking those practice tests you mentioned.

My goal is to get the Net+ followed by Sec+ (They require it for a cybersecurity intern/analyst position I'm trying to apply to. I'll keep you updated on my journey here. If you have your own journal I'll put it down in my RSS feed :)

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Re: How Does This Sound's Journal

Post by How-DoesThisSound »

*UPDATE*
-Assets: $3,072 = $1,000 emergency fund and $2,072 in my checking account.
-Liabilities: (CC Debt) -$16,803.16
-Net Worth: -$13,731.16

Making some headway on my CC and about $1,200 below my credit limit. I'll pay an additional $1,000 down this month once I get my monthly expenses sorted. After I do that I'll have it down to $15,803. At this point, I'm thinking about how I can get down to $10,000 as soon as possible. After that my next goal will be to get myself within 30% max of my CC limit ($18,000). That means I'll need to get it down to $5,400 to be within that 30% range. Once I get there, if I continue to pay it down as I have been it'll just be 2-3 months from then before I'm at break even.

I started my Python programming course at uni. First-ever time taking a coding class. I hope to do really well in it! I need to pick up the books and continue studying for Network +.

I fizzled out this last week but have been doing very well on the fitness front of things. I've been consistent with all my workouts and am feeling good. I'm doing the Veterano routine from Convict Conditioning and just ordered a door frame pull-up bar. I'm doing this along with daily half-mile barefoot runs.

My bedtime has been fluctuating between 00:00 - 01:00. I should make a concerted effort to get to bed earlier, I'll feel much better if I get into this habit.
I recently got the idea to start journaling. I feel like having a physical journal will help me keep the moving pieces of my life together more easily.

That's it for now : )

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Re: How Does This Sound's Journal

Post by How-DoesThisSound »

Lemur wrote:
Mon Mar 29, 2021 9:57 pm
Solid plan. Cybersecurity is very hot right now. BTW your clearance will really help you in the job market too if you decide get into contracting/government work...it was for me at least - my ticket into white collar office work with full-time benefits.
I only held a secret when I was in, nothing special. I'll need to check on how long that is good for, might be something to look into. Good idea Lemur!

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Re: How Does This Sound's Journal

Post by CDR »

I'm a Python superfan. It's just a great language for getting stuff done. Was able to automate a bunch of things at my old job using it! The new job is a corporate place, so I cannot install python :lol: . I highly recommend writing scripts to automate things for yourself as practice!

Congrats on getting the debt down! It'll feel fantastic when you get to $0, and 2-3 months isn't far away at all.

RE Net+ and Sec+, that's great! There is also Examcompass, they have some free quizzes for Network+ and Sec+ I would do their topic quizzes after completing the relevant Professor Messer videos. Recommend, but take some of their answers with a grain of salt, I noticed one or two were incorrect for the A+.

I've seen the Convict Conditioning book before, never read it though. I am reading a similar book however, Never Gymless. It's the same idea, bodyweight exercise with little to no equipment. I'm fitness poor right now though :lol: . We don't have any barefoot trails here, otherwise I would be trying that out!

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Re: How Does This Sound's Journal

Post by How-DoesThisSound »

CDR wrote:
Tue May 04, 2021 9:29 pm
I'm a Python superfan. It's just a great language for getting stuff done. Was able to automate a bunch of things at my old job using it! The new job is a corporate place, so I cannot install python :lol: . I highly recommend writing scripts to automate things for yourself as practice!

Congrats on getting the debt down! It'll feel fantastic when you get to $0, and 2-3 months isn't far away at all.

RE Net+ and Sec+, that's great! There is also Examcompass, they have some free quizzes for Network+ and Sec+ I would do their topic quizzes after completing the relevant Professor Messer videos. Recommend, but take some of their answers with a grain of salt, I noticed one or two were incorrect for the A+.

I've seen the Convict Conditioning book before, never read it though. I am reading a similar book however, Never Gymless. It's the same idea, bodyweight exercise with little to no equipment. I'm fitness poor right now though :lol: . We don't have any barefoot trails here, otherwise I would be trying that out!
That's a big encouragement, thanks CDR. I'm really excited about the class and all the different possibilities. My goal by the end of the summer is to build a bug tracker written in Python with a corresponding database + log-in/authorization. I'm going to log my own bugs while I'm building the actual bug tracker. I plan to have that as my first "portfolio-worthy" project that isn't a toy like a calculator or hangman program.

I just downloaded Ross's book for $1 USD on his site, thanks for the recommendation, he's a beast and has one hell of a background!

I'll definitely incorporate those topic quizzes, another great idea : )

As far as the debt, I'm just going to keep paying it down and staying ahead as much as I can. I have 15.99% int on the balance so that comes out to roughly a $350 minimum payment plus about $200 in interest, roughly $550-ish a month. In the last 30 days I've paid it down 2k and hope to keep it up.

It may be small, but I minimized my cell plan from $65 down to $15 a month because I only need 2.5GB of data per month. I'm paying $500 a month in rent at the moment and will continue to look at ways to cut back so I can put more money down on my balance!

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Re: How Does This Sound's Journal

Post by white belt »

Your clearance is still good for 2 years after you leave Active Duty. Are you planning on working on the government side (GS or contractor) or in non-defense industry?

I think A+ and Net+ are unnecessary and you could just skip to SEC+. If you want to learn network stuff then do CCNA. They are all essentially entry level certs, but SEC+ carries way more weight because it gives you admin rights on the gov’t side. CCNA also carries more weight because it allows you to pivot to entry level network engineer positions (I know you’re aiming for pentest right now, but I think it’s useful to have a broad foundation and options).

Edit: I studied computer science in college and have worked in IT related fields while on AD for ~4 years.

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Re: How Does This Sound's Journal

Post by How-DoesThisSound »

white belt wrote:
Thu May 06, 2021 11:30 am
Your clearance is still good for 2 years after you leave Active Duty. Are you planning on working on the government side (GS or contractor) or in non-defense industry?

I think A+ and Net+ are unnecessary and you could just skip to SEC+. If you want to learn network stuff then do CCNA. They are all essentially entry level certs, but SEC+ carries way more weight because it gives you admin rights on the gov’t side. CCNA also carries more weight because it allows you to pivot to network engineer positions (I know you’re aiming for pentest right now, but I think it’s useful to have a broad foundation and options).
I got out in 18' so I'm about a year lapsed on that. I would consider GS work for sure. I don't have an overwhelming need to specifically work for the private sector so I'm definitely open to it.

I'm glad you said that about skipping to the SEC+ I was actually discussing this with a friend of mine that most entry-level job listings I've seen just require the SEC+. I think a more efficient route would be something like: SEC+, Pentest + CEH, (Potentially the EJPT as a stepping stone cert), then OSCP. I think this combined with work experience, a kick-ass Github + portfolio, participation in CTFs, and potentially the BS in Cybersecurity to satisfy gatekeeping could be very good. Let me know what you think of this instead whitebelt : )

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Re: How Does This Sound's Journal

Post by white belt »

I think CEH is a money grab, but if you see job listings that require it then it might still be worth getting. What you will find is there is a distinction between management and technical/engineer roles in cyber security so there are certs that tailor to each. If you want to do a hands on keyboard technical role, then focus on certs that cater to that. For example, to me things like CEH and CISSP cater more towards those on a management path. But what matters most for certs is what job listings you want are asking for.

I’ve heard good things about CySA+, PenTest+, and OSCP for hacking but that isn’t my area of expertise and I know it will also depend on if you’re trying to work on the red team or blue team side. If you’re looking at gov’t jobs, figure out which certs are required for certain roles: https://public.cyber.mil/cw/cwmp/dod-ap ... fications/

Expect more technical questions in interviews for technical roles. That’s where your experience working on projects of your own volition, your home lab setup, etc are going to come into play. Expect management roles to focus more on your experience working in group settings and leading others.

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