Win Too Wednesday

What a beautiful mess running two blocks is. And then I came home, and cried. And cried some more. I got Owen to the bus stop, and we talked. How do you fall more in love with a child that you are so…

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Brunch with Aric Jenkins

Name: Aric Jenkins

Debt load: $54K

Location: A diner in Williamsburg (even though I suggested a place in Fort Greene.) (The diner had terrible service.)

•

Xavier Harding: I feel like there’s two lines of thinking — live for the moment or plan for the future. Where do you land on that scale?

Aric Jenkins: Our philosophies vary greatly. There’s no right or wrong way, but my way is definitely the wrong way. Or at the very least, not what you’re supposed to do.

My goal is to pay as little as possible for as long as I can. The way I see it, that sliding scale of how you’re gonna live your life, you only have so much time that you’re at your peak where you can move freely and travel around and do things with fewer responsibilities. I’m just gonna make the minimum payments so I don’t default on my loans — which I have before — basically pay the minimum until I die -laughs-.

XH: At that point it’s just sort of taxes.

AJ: Exactly. Just factoring that minimum payment into my expenses. Or get rich and pay it off in a lump sum. I’m so saddled with debt. Even if I went out of my way to double down, there’s an argument to be made that progress would be made for sure.

XH: When you say saddled, how much debt are we talking?

AJ: I’m $54K in debt.

I feel like if I were to make that concerted effort to pay off loans, at my salary, living in expensive NY —

The waiter brings out my chicken and waffles and Aric’s french toast

XH: This looks good

AJ: There really should be a lot more than this

XH: -laughs-

AJ: Two pieces of bread for $15! Where the syrup at??

XH: So $54K, minimum payments only. At your salary, living in NY, anything more would be doing a lot.

AJ: I chose life. I chose to make the most of it and to deal with that later. I’m in a career where people do get book deals and are able to write for TV. And those people get advances. It’s a possibility. I’d rather live life.

Obviously the book deal is a combination of work, luck, circumstance. It feels hard to say “that’s my goal,” as you know, people have gotten book deals for random reasons, there’s no one path but — god damn. This bacon is terrible! This shit is literally…

-sighs-

You were right.

XH: Next time we’ll hit up Fort Greene.

AJ: The book deal thing is an aspiration. If I got one, that’s definitely what I’d do with the money.

XH: You mention a good point about choosing life. Earlier in my career I felt like I didn’t have enough to live in NY, hang with friends and also pay loans. I didn’t have $200 to spend on autopay and spend on the basic — rent, hanging with friends. Hence me going into default.

AJ: That’s why I defaulted too. This fear of addressing something I knew I couldn’t do. It seems silly to say now that I’m older but there was really no plan. My thinking was I’ll ignore this and we’ll see what happens.

XH: Part of it’s just math. If you don’t make enough to pay for it then, obviously, you won’t pay for it.

So now you’re out of default.

AJ: Yeah I was, and I guess I still am now? It lasts for seven years right?

AJ: Yeah, I’m out of it. I decided to finally address it. I eventually consolidated my loans.

XH: Why’d you do that?

AJ: I just had a bunch of different borrowers, which made it feel intimidating to pay, trying to go through five different banks and everything. Which I’m sure is on purpose.

XH: -nods head furiously- It feels daunting for no reason.

AJ: So, I decided to consolidate it into one loan. I don’t know the interest rate, but luckily I had only federal loans not private. So the interest rate is fair enough compared to private loans that really get you with the crazy interest rates.

XH: I remember a year ago when we were at the bar and I told you about my plan to pay off my debt by 30, you mentioned how you almost got private loans.

AJ: Yeah, one year during college I had to make a choice: either transfer to a different school or spring for private loans.

XH: So what did you do?

AJ: I dropped out for a semester. I resumed once I had the money again, once I could get more federal, non-private loans.

XH: If you would’ve done the traditional 4-year route, you would’ve had to dip into private loans?

AJ: The thing is, we tried. But my parents credit wasn’t good enough for the private loans. We tried everything — getting family members to cosign my loans. Which is risky because, as we’ve seen, you’ll default on your student loans and not be in a place to pay them back.

XH: So what’s the rest of the money picture look like? Credit card debt?

AJ: Nope, actually about to apply for my first card. I’m trying to build my credit score since going into default ruins it. I’m thinking I’ll start with a secured credit card.

XH: Great.

AJ: And I’ll put things like my loan payment on the credit card to get the points.

XH: Nope. They don’t let you do that. That was my thinking too, initially. But yeah, nah.

AJ: Really?? Well I still want it to bring up my score. Most of my financial knowledge came from my parents. My dad would teach me about the importance of credit but it largely felt like a made up concept. Like, really? Your whole life is dependent on this one number?

XH: It felt abstract.

AJ: They should really teach us financial stuff in high school and have it not feel abstract. Teach us about how if you don’t repay your bills, they will repossess your car and what not. Not that I have a car or property or things to be repossessed.

Luckily I’m in a city, it’s not expected to own property. If I went a more traditional route — trying to get married and start a family like other folks my age — I’d be fucked right now. I would not be able to do it in my current situation.

XH: What do you know now that you wish you knew last year?

Even though I paid thousands last year on loans, my total debt owed is now higher. I was just paying interest the entire time.

It really does just feel like a life tax at this point. Like you’re not going to break any ground unless you really go out of your way. Which goes back to that sliding scale: do I want to sacrifice living life for that?

XH: What would that look like? What would you have to sacrifice?

AJ: I’d probably have to move apartments, I’d probably have to move into a three or four-bedroom, I’d probably have to shave $300 to $400 off my rent. I’d have to switch cell phone plans and get Cricket or whatever. I can’t do the family plan since my parents are in Germany.

XH: You’d probably have to cut back on the travel to Europe too.

AJ: Exactly! I’d have to cut back on travel. Travel is one of the things that makes me happiest in the world. Would it be worth it to know that all the debt is gone? Or will I have regrets that I wasn’t traveling in my 20s. It’s impossible to know!!

XH: You won’t know until hindsight kicks in.

AJ: I think doing things the “right” way like you’re doing can be better. Your children will probably have an advantage because you’ll have more day-to-day to set aside for investments, their tuition, etc.

XH: Nah I’m keeping this shit for myself.

AJ: -laughs-

XH: Do you ever look into investment stuff?

AJ: I got a small inheritance once by my godfather when he passed away. It was one of those inheritances where if I didn’t touch it for 30 years it would be worth like a million dollars. So obviously I touched it and spent half of it on dumb shit.

By now the whole thing is cleared out, but the other half of it went toward something very important: moving to New York. I spent that half paying the first two months rent, moving my stuff up, and as savings to live off of when I was jobless.

As much as I would love to see that money saved somewhere still growing, I can’t say it was a waste. That investment affected my whole life path — becoming a journalist, working for a magazine, building a career. I don’t think it would have happened this way if I wasn’t in New York.

XH: It was its own investment.

AJ: It was its own investment. What if that half-of-inheritance and everything it allowed for led me to eventually score a book deal and get that 100K advance which could then pay off my loans. It could all come full circle! I really don’t think I’d be getting a book deal if I was living in Philly still, or anywhere else.

XH: And it sounds like you got priceless experiences since being in New York. Yeah, looking back at when I was 18, I definitely chose my college based on wanting certain experiences — wanting to be out of the city, wanting a certain experience.

AJ: You wanted that traditional college experience.

XH: Exactly. Yeah, there’s definitely a balance to strike between cost versus experience.

AJ: It’s one of the more fundamental questions that I think us younger people have to think about. I’ve seen people go about it in all sorts of ways. There’s the pragmatic view where you have to admit that life doesn’t end when you’re 30. Me personally, I’m generally an idealist. In my idealistic brain, I want to make the best of my youth and travel and see the world. I’m romantic about the whole idea of truly living life and really valuing experiences.

XH: Do you value this so-so food? Actually, my chicken was not too bad.

AJ: At least you got a lot, I need at least 2 more pieces of french toast. This shit was not filling at all.

Win Too Wednesday

Brunch with Aric Jenkins

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