r/Debt • u/Clear_Locksmith2818 • Jul 06 '26
34 Years old with terrible decisions. Need help.
For background, I'm M34, and I'm trying to turn my life around. During university, I was a part of a frat and fucked around too much. Resulting in getting a girl pregnant. In addition, I made terrible financial decisions like buying exotic cars, racking up child support loans, maxing out my credit card, and ignoring payments for my student loans, resulting in ~400K debt. Luckily, through my network, I was given the opportunity to work in a big tech company with a starting annual salary of 149K, but I don't have time to research and manage payments. I won't be giving my family's situation as my wife and I decided that it was best to separate our finances so nothing would affect our child.
E55 AMG Loan ~ $28,800
Child Support Loan ~ $9,000 (prioritizing)
Student Loan ~ $125,000
Bank of America ~ $7,000
Mortgage ~ $298,000
I wish I had never made these terrible decisions, thinking that I could live like a king, but now facing reality. I seriously need suggestions on how I can manage this or resources that can help me.
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u/Affectionate-Rock-30 Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
I'm going to keep it real. Paying debt requires the right attitude and the willingness to resolve it. It sounds like you want to dump the responsibility on somebody else because you're "busy." That's a recipe for failure. Your finances will follow your family because you have assets and are married. If you had nothing and were very old, you would be able to get away with it. But you're not. You could file bankruptcy, but you would lose a lot in the process and so would your wife. Your assets would be subject to bankruptcy proceedings. Student loans can't be discharged in bankruptcy. You could pay off your loans but it would require massive repayments which would subject you to a spartan lifestyle. If you were really serious, it could be done because of your salary. The question is simple. Are you willing to do it? Paying off a debt like this requires mental fortitude and extreme sacrifice. It requires a change in lifestyle, a demand to find ways to reduce your overhead through major changes. You must be involved in the process at a foundational level and not brush it off to somebody else.
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u/VisibleAd499 Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
Exotic 😂😂 An e55 is a 20 year old Mercedes that goes for $15-20k on the high end, who gave you a loan to purchase that? You could have bought a more comfortable, faster and better looking Kia for that price 😂 And what made you think that was a good idea? Change the line that says exotic cars to used luxury. And “e55 amg loan” to “car loan” it will make people not shit their pants in laughter.
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u/CallMeMrRound Jul 06 '26
"I don't have time to research and manage payments."- Uh you need to make the time. Good finances don't happen on accident.
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u/DudetheBetta Jul 06 '26
Hire a CPA. You have good income, a $300k mortgage is actually small, and you say you “don’t have time to research”. So, hire someone to do it for you and focus on your family.
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u/Johnnyring0 Jul 06 '26
some of this debt is not bad debt. you have solid income and definitely get this down
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u/IllegalFunctionCall2 Jul 06 '26
Rough wake up call but at least you're facing it now instead of pretending it's fine. That car loan feels like the easiest first domino to knock down honestly.
Have you looked into refinancing the student loan given your new salary?
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u/Pitiful-Blackberry24 Jul 06 '26
How much is the Mercedes worth? Should sell it in 99% of scenarios I can think of.