Just a Rant, feel free to add your 2 Cents

[Franco]

So I'm going to be 41 in January, I got 2 years left in my CH13 BK. I have $25K in my 401K, and just took out an early withdrawal of $7,000. I payed the 20% Federal Taxes, and will owe 10% Early Withdrawal Penalty come tax time. I did this because I still need to pay $2,400 in taxes from when I went exempt a bit too much in 2020. Rent is going up $200, even switched my 401K contribution from 6% to 0%. 4 months ago I had to go to urgent care because I felt really odd, turns out I have extremely high blood pressure & diabetes, type 2. My BP was 207/120, my blood glucose was 370! I had an A1C of 10.4! 350lbs I weighed.

Now, my numbers are better, my blood pressure is still high, even on meds, my BP is 170/100 in the morning, but afternoon it's around 150/90. My A1C dropped to 5.7 which is amazing, huge drop. I am now 300lbs, and my goal is 250lbs. I gave up Beer, and all stupid sugars like Coca Cola & Candy.

Now here is the Rant part. I Honestly don't know if I'm going to live another 10 years, who knows right? I've been living pretty much check to check in this Bankruptcy. Sure I treat myself from time to time, with a bottle of Whiskey or some Chinese food, but still I'm very frugal most of the time. I had only $25,000 in my 401K, and just took out some $$$. Is it that bad that I did that? Maybe it is? One of my coworkers told me I was being irrational to do that. My other coworker lost his parents in a car crash 8 years ago, and said literally "they died with $70,000 in their 401k, enjoy the money NOW"!

You see, it's a nervous way of thinking when you actually think of life and what can happen. In a perfect world, we can all imagine we will retire at 65 years old, and we're in good health. But, we will never know, life throws us curve balls all the time.

Rant/Over.....

[shipo]

So, I'm one of those annoying "Glass is Half-Full" kind of guys; as bad as things have gotten for me, I've always believed "better" was around the corner, if I only got creative enough to exploit it. In my life I've been relatively wealthy, financially destitute, light, heavy, in good health, and in poor health, and somehow, through it all, I've reached my mid-60s. With this kind of mindset, I would council you to work toward both better physical and financial health. Yeah, I know, easier said than done, been there, done that, got the freakin' tee-shirt.

Financially, I don't have a lot of advice other than getting through your Chapter 13 as best as you can and then buckle down and save, save, save.

Health wise, I actually have a lot of advice; taking one episode of my poor health as an example, I was morbidly obese back in 2013, weighing well over 250 pounds (I'll never know how much over as I was too afraid to get on a scale), and that weight was on my relatively short 5'8" frame. In addition to the weight, I had many of the other health related issues brought on by being heavy, including, but not limited to blood pressure, cholesterol, severe sleep apnea, and numerous other maladies. In April of that year I saw a picture of myself standing with my new co-workers and was like, "Okay, that's enough!"

I decided to start exercising, first walking, then really slow walk-jog, then mixing in a slow jog for, geez, a whopping quarter of a mile. The weight started coming off, and I kept at it. Eighteen months later I hit 190 pounds without a single day of dieting; in fact, I actually had to start eating a little more to keep from feeling light headed.

To be sure, I'm not saying you should follow my lead, there are many other ways out there to get one's self into better condition, however, if you really want to shoot for a longer life than just 50, I honestly believe you can be successful in that endeavor.

[sophieanne]

I hope you continue getting your health issues Under control..you’re doing great. I’m personally torn on the saving for the future issue. We’ve been doing a great job..but 2020 has really made me challenge both sides of the equation..it’s more of a philosophical issue I’m trying to work through. I’m sure many are wondering the same thing.