I spent most of my early career being broke in an expensive area with a lousy paying job and yes, student loan debt.
In the end though, it broke down to two choices for me. I could stay in a similar position and struggle until some undetermined amount of time, working myself into an early grave with multiple jobs and multiple bosses. Or, I could go overseas, live tax free, have my living expenses paid and have myself on track in just a few years. Oh, and I could have a quality of life while I was doing it.
There are definitely sacrifices that have to be made, and yes it can be hard to find the time to research options when all your free time is spent at a second job just to make ends come together. But in the end I could spend sleepless nights worrying about a solution that would never come within my current situation, or I could be sleepless yet in control if I used that wake time to figure out what my options might be to get out of the debt (money and time) that I was in.
You also mention health, and I'm sorry you're burdened with issues in that regard. Feeling great is a huge asset when it comes to solving these types of problems. While overseas job options and living aren't for everybody, have you considered the option? Many places have free health care as well.
In the end, you may find you still want to come back home to the states (it sounds like that's where you are, so I'm just making the assumption - my bad if I'm wrong). I definitely wanted closer access to family as they age. So I made that one of my financial goals to be stable enough to function in a stateside economy. Its more expensive here, to be sure.
Anyway, I'm not trying to be judgemental here. Just offering some perspective. I hope things work out for you.
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Minimage W@ge
Submitted by Myscha Theriault on February 20, 2008 - 06:13.
I spent most of my early career being broke in an expensive area with a lousy paying job and yes, student loan debt.
In the end though, it broke down to two choices for me. I could stay in a similar position and struggle until some undetermined amount of time, working myself into an early grave with multiple jobs and multiple bosses. Or, I could go overseas, live tax free, have my living expenses paid and have myself on track in just a few years. Oh, and I could have a quality of life while I was doing it.
There are definitely sacrifices that have to be made, and yes it can be hard to find the time to research options when all your free time is spent at a second job just to make ends come together. But in the end I could spend sleepless nights worrying about a solution that would never come within my current situation, or I could be sleepless yet in control if I used that wake time to figure out what my options might be to get out of the debt (money and time) that I was in.
You also mention health, and I'm sorry you're burdened with issues in that regard. Feeling great is a huge asset when it comes to solving these types of problems. While overseas job options and living aren't for everybody, have you considered the option? Many places have free health care as well.
In the end, you may find you still want to come back home to the states (it sounds like that's where you are, so I'm just making the assumption - my bad if I'm wrong). I definitely wanted closer access to family as they age. So I made that one of my financial goals to be stable enough to function in a stateside economy. Its more expensive here, to be sure.
Anyway, I'm not trying to be judgemental here. Just offering some perspective. I hope things work out for you.