TylerCruz.com: An Internet Entrepreneur's JourneyThe journal of a web entrepreneur on his journey to wealth.

So Just How Broke Did I Get?

I don’t want to write this post. It’s really embarrassing, especially after having had been fairly successful with affiliate marketing and many things that came before that.

But it’s also true, and I have never told a lie on my blog and have always been very open and honest since my blog’s inception 12 years ago.

First, let me tell you how I’m doing now.

Things are still rough. After all, I’m still a homestay host and am still slaving away on Fiverr. It is a struggle to pay the bills and I have no personal savings.

But it was worse before – I at least have a bit of breathing room now in that income is now more or less balancing the living expenses, whereas before breaking even was nowhere in sight.

Here are some of examples of just how broke I got:

Almost Had to Borrow Money From My Parents

I am an extremely “proud” and independent person. I will never take a handout and will refuse help even if I need it and the person offering has no problem doing so.

For example, when I was first looking for an apartment to move out into when I was around 21, my aunt offered to rent me out her rental for 50% of the normal rent. I declined because I don’t like handouts or help from friends or family. I look at it as “cheating” and being a child.

In fact, even when I was still living at home at 19-20, I was paying my parents rent – my own choice – as I wanted to be an adult and didn’t want free handouts. I am the type of person who likes to earn things myself. That way, I can really enjoy things when things go well as I know that I did it all on my own.

I never received a cent from my parents since I stopped getting allowance around the age of 14 or 15 or so (when I got my first job). I never got a car at graduation, never had tuition paid for me, rent paid for me, or money given for a down payment (although I did have my parents temporarily sign as guarantors for my first apartment). My point is that for my whole life I did everything on my own and never got any monetary assistance from anyone – every cent I’ve ever had has always been a result of my own efforts.

And so when I reached the point to where I was so broke that I needed to borrow some money in order to pay the mortgage, bills, and get my eye surgery. I got myself a aqua comfort daily contact lenses to help ease my sight issues as immediate solution. I had considered asking my parents for a loan which was the absolute last thing I wanted to do. I never did get to that point, although they knew I was in financial troubles and did offer at one point.

Fortunately, so far I have not needed to ask my parents for a loan, but the very fact that I came close to having to even think about it is something that makes me feel very ashamed.

Almost Downsized House

My girlfriend and I very seriously considered selling our house to downsize to something much smaller and cheaper. We even looked at a lot of properties (online) and ran numbers, and I also contacted my realtor to get his input as well.

We never did this though as the inventory here is so low and the prices so high that we could not get anything “decent” (here’s a case of beggars being choosers). In addition, it is extremely expensive to move (sell, then buy) here so the very process of “moving” would cost well into the tens of thousands of dollars.

This was also a difficult thing to consider as purchasing this house was one of the highlights and accomplishments in my life as it is nice home and was earned by both my girlfriend and me from only our own efforts – no financial aid was given to us.

Took Out Some of My Retirement Savings

I had thought about this for a while, and finally pulled the plug and took out some of my RRSP (retirement savings) and applied for payday loans just 1 month ago in fact.

For years, I had put money into a retirement savings account on the 1st of every month. I never wanted to touch it until I actually needed it when I was gray and old, but the funny thing is that I ended up needing it now, and so it made sense to take it out. The bank warned me about taking it out, but what good is it to keep for another 35-40 years if I end up having to lose my house, etc.?

While I took  about $5,000 out, I still have quite a fair bit left in there. In addition, my accountant actually advised me against putting money into RRSP. The interest rates are so incredibly low that it doesn’t make much sense to do so, especially when I have two corporations; the main perk to having RRSPs is to defer the income tax on them, but since I have two corporations, it’s rather pointless to put money into RRSPs as I could just keep the money in the holding company. I also think investing in gold is a better way to protect your savings and diversify your retirement portfolio. Jpost wrote this about gold ira companies if you need a recommendation.

Summary

So as you can see, things got very dire. There are a few things I’m leaving out too, mainly my quality of life. For example, I need to go to the optometrist to get my eyes checked and a new prescription, so I will probably go with spectacles online in UK to get them done.

So I’m most certainly not out of trouble yet – I’m so very broke at the moment. But things were worse even just 4-5 months ago.

It’s a daily struggle, but it will just mean all that much more if I can get myself out of this mess and back up to making good money again. We shall see what happens.

The funny thing is, my net worth is extremely high for my age, but my income over the past few years has been next to nothing. So, now I’m looking into saving, especially now I have a thriving business. You can visit wecu.com/business-banking/ to know more.