[USER]

Hi everyone, I’m looking for advice from those who’ve rebuilt and managed to achieve fire after hitting financial rock bottom.

A few years ago, I got a significant raise, paid off my debts, and was living comfortably, I upgraded to a newer car and bought a house within my means.

After a major setback, I found a lower-paying job and relied on savings to cover gaps, especially since family renting part of my home was often unreliable.

Now my savings are gone, I’m behind on my mortgage, in credit card debt again, and unsure if selling the house or car is even viable as my credit is now awful.

Any advice on climbing back to stability would mean a lot.

[John]

What was the major setback? Does it affect what you used to do for your career?

What are the dollar amounts of your debts, assets, income before and now, you skipped over the most important parts.

[Ln]

It’s hard when family is involved but if I could do anything, I’ll downgrade the home to a small apartment to minimise mortgage payments.

Having a stable roof over your head can reduce stress by a lot.

And when you do manage to climb out of the hole, learn to keep expenses the same.

Lifestyle creep is the worst enemy of FIRE.

[Darrell]

It’s doable just hard.
My ex-wife went through a mental health crisis and devastated our finances and family.

In 2008-2009 the market took a major downturn and real estate dropped out as well.

Trying to come up with enough money to buy her out required me to refinance the house for more than it was worth at that time.

I became a single dad with a mountain of death that she created including extremely large medical bills for both her and myself.

All the regular things apply.

You have to learn to live on less than you make and if you have family taken advantage of you you have to cease to allow that to happen.

Don’t allow the word family to make you a doormat. They step up or they step out.

It took me about 5 years to fully have my feet back under me. It was a hard 5 years.

But without that bone anchor around my neck the next 10 years made a huge difference.

With all that happened I was still able to retire at 55 and life is good.

You can do it. Don’t give up. Don’t lose the focus or let the spare win.

[Author]

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