Every year, I make the same resolutions, and every year, I stick to them faithfully until about the third week of January. Some of the resolutions are personal, and some are financial. I'll just talk about the financial ones here.
Last year's financial resolution was to make a profit of $X at my solo law practice. I purposefully posted the number as X on my personal blog because I was raised to view talking about money as kind of crass and taboo, and I still have a hard time getting past that. Unfortunately, I don't remember the value of X that I chose.
Either way, I'm certain X wasn't a negative number, so I can confidently say that I didn't manage to keep that resolution. I ran a loss this year at my solo practice. I know business experts say it takes two years of a new business to turn a profit, so I'm not too demoralized by that, since I've only been up and running for 15 months. This is the year I'm going to make a profit!
I've completed training at the firm that I contract with for my solo practice, so I'm going to start getting a higher percentage of the fees that I bring in. It's been a slow process, and I kind of feel like the potential income was oversold to me when I interviewed, but I can see some money on the horizon. So my goal/resolution this year is to bring in enough doing the contract work to quit at document review and spend the time focused on finding and building my own clientele. That way I can have my own clients and clients from the firm I contract with and be free of the soul-sucking job of document review.
I'm also setting a goal to not get any deeper into debt. My student loan payments don't even cover the interest, so my balance grows by the day. But I'm hoping to attack my credit cards with a vengeance to offset that. I'll deal with the student loans later. If the boat is on fire and leaking slowly, I figure put out the fire before plugging the leak. I can keep bailing out water in the meantime.
Happy New Year. May 2017 be better than 2016.
Saturday, December 31, 2016
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Broke Urban Lawyer Does Laundry
You know that old saying "Don't air your dirty laundry in public"? Well, I'm airing mine, metaphorically speaking.
Laundry makes me feel like Sisyphus. Just when I get it all washed, something else gets dirtied up. And don't get me started on ironing, folding, and putting it all away. Sometimes I live out of laundry baskets full of clean clothes. I have some organic anti-wrinkle spray I use to get the wrinkles out while I shower. (It's like the kind you can buy from a major fabric softener manufacturer, but it's made of all natural ingredients, so there are no fake stenches to pollute the air.)
My apartment has a 1/3 size washer but no dryer, so laundry is a lengthy task. I wash my clothes and then hang them to dry. I live in the desert, so drying is fairly speedy, but it still takes up space and requires planning. For larger items or when I get backed up, I go to the laundromat, where I can get everything done in two hours.
This past month, I got pummeled with deadlines all at once and spent three weeks working 16 hour days. By the end of it all, I was left with only gym clothes and pajamas, and I was too exhausted (and busy) to spend two hours at the laundromat. I decided to use the local wash and fold.
I felt like it was a decadent expenditure - I viewed outsourcing housework as something reserved for the rich. And I'm definitely not rich!
I got over my guilt (and my awkwardness about the thought of someone else laundering my underthings) and dropped my clothes off on my way home from work. The kind older gentleman who owns the laundry was very helpful, and when I asked about unscented detergent, he assured me that he only uses unscented because he washes the laundry for the hospital as well.
My laundry was ready the next day after work, and it was all pressed and folded. I put it away in about 10 minutes.
Cost comparison breakdown:
I went into this thinking I couldn't afford to send out my laundry. Now I've realized that when things get into crunch time, I can't afford not to send out my laundry.
I'll still probably do most of it myself, especially because I can be doing other things while my little washer that could spins away in my apartment. But when I get swamped with deadlines and the choice is between billing another hour or washing my clothes, I'll bill the extra hour and pay someone else to do the laundry. I'm helping a small business owner and relieving myself of the burden of a household chore that never ends.
Does anyone know if I can send my dishes out to be washed? :-)
Laundry makes me feel like Sisyphus. Just when I get it all washed, something else gets dirtied up. And don't get me started on ironing, folding, and putting it all away. Sometimes I live out of laundry baskets full of clean clothes. I have some organic anti-wrinkle spray I use to get the wrinkles out while I shower. (It's like the kind you can buy from a major fabric softener manufacturer, but it's made of all natural ingredients, so there are no fake stenches to pollute the air.)
My apartment has a 1/3 size washer but no dryer, so laundry is a lengthy task. I wash my clothes and then hang them to dry. I live in the desert, so drying is fairly speedy, but it still takes up space and requires planning. For larger items or when I get backed up, I go to the laundromat, where I can get everything done in two hours.
This past month, I got pummeled with deadlines all at once and spent three weeks working 16 hour days. By the end of it all, I was left with only gym clothes and pajamas, and I was too exhausted (and busy) to spend two hours at the laundromat. I decided to use the local wash and fold.
I felt like it was a decadent expenditure - I viewed outsourcing housework as something reserved for the rich. And I'm definitely not rich!
I got over my guilt (and my awkwardness about the thought of someone else laundering my underthings) and dropped my clothes off on my way home from work. The kind older gentleman who owns the laundry was very helpful, and when I asked about unscented detergent, he assured me that he only uses unscented because he washes the laundry for the hospital as well.
My laundry was ready the next day after work, and it was all pressed and folded. I put it away in about 10 minutes.
Cost comparison breakdown:
- Doing laundry in my apartment: Cost - free (my water is included in my rent, and the electricity from the washer is negligible). Time - 6 hours
- Doing laundry at the laundromat: Cost - $8. Time - 2 hours
- Sending my laundry out: Cost $27. Time - 15 minutes
I went into this thinking I couldn't afford to send out my laundry. Now I've realized that when things get into crunch time, I can't afford not to send out my laundry.
I'll still probably do most of it myself, especially because I can be doing other things while my little washer that could spins away in my apartment. But when I get swamped with deadlines and the choice is between billing another hour or washing my clothes, I'll bill the extra hour and pay someone else to do the laundry. I'm helping a small business owner and relieving myself of the burden of a household chore that never ends.
Does anyone know if I can send my dishes out to be washed? :-)
Thursday, November 17, 2016
Smartphones for the Broke
This post is a reprint from a few years ago on my other blog. The only update I have is that I use a Tracfone for my solo law practice because I need clear voice quality to contact clients. But I still have a FreedomPop smartphone for everyday non-work use.
---
Cell phone plans are quite expensive. An average smartphone plan can cost $50-$150 per month. My monthly smartphone bill? $0. And yes, I do have a smartphone.
What’s my secret? Two acronyms – MVNO and VoIP.
MVNO stands for Mobile Virtual Network Operator. A MVNO is a company that purchases wholesale bandwidth from a larger carrier (usually from Sprint, though some MVNOs buy from Verizon) and resells it to consumers at a discount. Most of the phones from MVNOs are Android, but some of them also offer the iPhone. VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol, and it's basically using the internet to make phone calls.
There are several MVNOs out there. The ones I have experience with are FreedomPop, Ting, Republic Wireless, and Virgin Mobile. All of them are no-contract plans. That means that devices are full price instead of the free or cheap prices on the contract plans, but you can cancel at any time with no penalty. You pay more upfront but save over time.
FreedomPop
Currently, I use FreedomPop, and I’m pretty satisfied. It’s a freemium service, which means that the basic plan is free. They make their money with add-ons, hoping that people will purchase those. But if you’re careful and a light user, you can get your phone service for free. The free plan is 200 minutes, 500 texts, and 500 MB of data.
I use Google Voice for my texting, so that doesn’t count against my texting allotment. I’m a light user on actual phone calls, so I rarely even come close to my minute cap, but if you’re a talker, there are two other options. There’s a $9.99 per month unlimited minutes plan, or you can take advantage of VoIP and get your virtually unlimited minutes for free. There’s an app called Groove IP Lite that allows anyone with a Google Voice number and a wifi connection to make and receive phone calls over wifi. By using this app, it doesn’t count against your minutes. (I don’t recommend the paid version of the app because it also works when you’re on mobile data, and VoIP eats data for breakfast. You’re better off using your minutes than your data at that point.)
I do sometimes run close to the data limit. The free plan is supposedly 500 MB, but it’s actually 400 if you want to keep it completely free because if you don’t enable the “auto top-up” feature (where they automatically charge $10 to keep in your account for overages when you get close to the limit), they suspend your account when you get to only 100 MB left for the month. However, getting extra data for free is pretty easy if you know how to work the system. First, there’s a social aspect to the endeavor, where you can connect with other users as “freedom friends”. For each friend you have, you get an extra 50 MB per month. Plus, you can give or receive data from your friends. If you have multiple devices, you can even be friends with yourself. (I have a mobile broadband modem from FreedomPop, too, so I get to share my data between the two accounts.) When you sign up, be sure to read all the fine print so you don’t get added to any paid service that you don’t want.
However, with a free service, there are also drawbacks. The biggest is that customer service is a bit lacking. They try to avoid ever opening helpdesk tickets, and if you are able to open one, they’re not always that responsive. Unless you tweet about it. Once you take to Twitter, they resolve the problem right away. So if you’re ever stuck, and the forums can’t help you, tweet your problem to @freedompophelp.
Sometimes call quality can be lacking if you’re on 3G (instead of 4G) or a slow wifi network, but otherwise, the quality is pretty good.
As far as the hardware goes, I have the HTC Evo 4G. When I joined, the service was still in beta, and it was the only phone available. I’m satisfied with the phone. I paid $99 for it, refurbished. Now, they’ve opened it up to several other Android phones, and they’re launching the iPhone soon. You can even bring your own Sprint phone from a list of select models, so if you have an old one lying around, you can save even more.
Ting
Ting is a great cell phone company, and if I hadn’t gotten the free deal with FreedomPop, I would still be with Ting. There are no monthly plans with Ting. You pay $6 per month as a flat rate, and then your usage is billed into tiers. There’s a separate tier for data, text, and voice. My average bill was about $15 per month, though it went as high as $20 some months when I used more. I eliminated the texting cost by using Google Voice.
Customer service was very responsive. My hardware was good – they allow users to bring their own Sprint device, so I bought a purple LG Optimus S off of eBay for $20. The only drawback was that I wasn’t able to root the device due to some proprietary firmware. That ended up really bugging me, and I probably would have switched devices to something rootable if I had stayed with Ting.
Virgin Mobile
Virgin Mobile was the first smartphone company I used. At the time, I was on a plan that was $25 for 300 minutes and unlimited texting and data. (They have since raised the price on that plan to $35, but existing plans are grandfathered in. I bought a grandfathered plan off of eBay from someone who wanted to cancel.) There are plans with more minutes as well. There isn’t a monthly bill – you pay only for the months you use. So if you pay for a month on June 10th, your month will last until July 10th. Then, if you decide you don’t need service for 10 days, you can wait until July 20th to pay, and your next month will run until August 20th. However, don’t let it lapse for more than 60 days, or they’ll cancel your account. They don’t make it obvious, and my friend found that out the hard way.
My phone was the LG Optimus V, and I bought it on sale for $60. It was a good starter smartphone. They offer other models as well, including the iPhone.
Republic Wireless
I used Republic Wireless for about a year. Their deal is an unlimited everything plan for $19 per month. The catch is that the phone is programmed to use wifi whenever possible. It’s a good idea in theory, but at the time I was using the plan, it worked very poorly in practice. (It was still in beta at the time, so things may have improved.) Call quality was terrible. The hardware was awful. Because of the proprietary software, I had to buy the phone from them, and they only sold them new. It was a Motorola Defy XT, and I spent $150.
Overall, I wouldn’t recommend Republic. Ting and FreedomPop are better options for light users, and Virgin Mobile is a better option for heavy users. Republic has a cool technical model, but ends up being the worst of all worlds.
---
Cell phone plans are quite expensive. An average smartphone plan can cost $50-$150 per month. My monthly smartphone bill? $0. And yes, I do have a smartphone.
What’s my secret? Two acronyms – MVNO and VoIP.
MVNO stands for Mobile Virtual Network Operator. A MVNO is a company that purchases wholesale bandwidth from a larger carrier (usually from Sprint, though some MVNOs buy from Verizon) and resells it to consumers at a discount. Most of the phones from MVNOs are Android, but some of them also offer the iPhone. VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol, and it's basically using the internet to make phone calls.
There are several MVNOs out there. The ones I have experience with are FreedomPop, Ting, Republic Wireless, and Virgin Mobile. All of them are no-contract plans. That means that devices are full price instead of the free or cheap prices on the contract plans, but you can cancel at any time with no penalty. You pay more upfront but save over time.
FreedomPop
Currently, I use FreedomPop, and I’m pretty satisfied. It’s a freemium service, which means that the basic plan is free. They make their money with add-ons, hoping that people will purchase those. But if you’re careful and a light user, you can get your phone service for free. The free plan is 200 minutes, 500 texts, and 500 MB of data.
I use Google Voice for my texting, so that doesn’t count against my texting allotment. I’m a light user on actual phone calls, so I rarely even come close to my minute cap, but if you’re a talker, there are two other options. There’s a $9.99 per month unlimited minutes plan, or you can take advantage of VoIP and get your virtually unlimited minutes for free. There’s an app called Groove IP Lite that allows anyone with a Google Voice number and a wifi connection to make and receive phone calls over wifi. By using this app, it doesn’t count against your minutes. (I don’t recommend the paid version of the app because it also works when you’re on mobile data, and VoIP eats data for breakfast. You’re better off using your minutes than your data at that point.)
I do sometimes run close to the data limit. The free plan is supposedly 500 MB, but it’s actually 400 if you want to keep it completely free because if you don’t enable the “auto top-up” feature (where they automatically charge $10 to keep in your account for overages when you get close to the limit), they suspend your account when you get to only 100 MB left for the month. However, getting extra data for free is pretty easy if you know how to work the system. First, there’s a social aspect to the endeavor, where you can connect with other users as “freedom friends”. For each friend you have, you get an extra 50 MB per month. Plus, you can give or receive data from your friends. If you have multiple devices, you can even be friends with yourself. (I have a mobile broadband modem from FreedomPop, too, so I get to share my data between the two accounts.) When you sign up, be sure to read all the fine print so you don’t get added to any paid service that you don’t want.
However, with a free service, there are also drawbacks. The biggest is that customer service is a bit lacking. They try to avoid ever opening helpdesk tickets, and if you are able to open one, they’re not always that responsive. Unless you tweet about it. Once you take to Twitter, they resolve the problem right away. So if you’re ever stuck, and the forums can’t help you, tweet your problem to @freedompophelp.
Sometimes call quality can be lacking if you’re on 3G (instead of 4G) or a slow wifi network, but otherwise, the quality is pretty good.
As far as the hardware goes, I have the HTC Evo 4G. When I joined, the service was still in beta, and it was the only phone available. I’m satisfied with the phone. I paid $99 for it, refurbished. Now, they’ve opened it up to several other Android phones, and they’re launching the iPhone soon. You can even bring your own Sprint phone from a list of select models, so if you have an old one lying around, you can save even more.
Ting
Ting is a great cell phone company, and if I hadn’t gotten the free deal with FreedomPop, I would still be with Ting. There are no monthly plans with Ting. You pay $6 per month as a flat rate, and then your usage is billed into tiers. There’s a separate tier for data, text, and voice. My average bill was about $15 per month, though it went as high as $20 some months when I used more. I eliminated the texting cost by using Google Voice.
Customer service was very responsive. My hardware was good – they allow users to bring their own Sprint device, so I bought a purple LG Optimus S off of eBay for $20. The only drawback was that I wasn’t able to root the device due to some proprietary firmware. That ended up really bugging me, and I probably would have switched devices to something rootable if I had stayed with Ting.
Virgin Mobile
Virgin Mobile was the first smartphone company I used. At the time, I was on a plan that was $25 for 300 minutes and unlimited texting and data. (They have since raised the price on that plan to $35, but existing plans are grandfathered in. I bought a grandfathered plan off of eBay from someone who wanted to cancel.) There are plans with more minutes as well. There isn’t a monthly bill – you pay only for the months you use. So if you pay for a month on June 10th, your month will last until July 10th. Then, if you decide you don’t need service for 10 days, you can wait until July 20th to pay, and your next month will run until August 20th. However, don’t let it lapse for more than 60 days, or they’ll cancel your account. They don’t make it obvious, and my friend found that out the hard way.
My phone was the LG Optimus V, and I bought it on sale for $60. It was a good starter smartphone. They offer other models as well, including the iPhone.
Republic Wireless
I used Republic Wireless for about a year. Their deal is an unlimited everything plan for $19 per month. The catch is that the phone is programmed to use wifi whenever possible. It’s a good idea in theory, but at the time I was using the plan, it worked very poorly in practice. (It was still in beta at the time, so things may have improved.) Call quality was terrible. The hardware was awful. Because of the proprietary software, I had to buy the phone from them, and they only sold them new. It was a Motorola Defy XT, and I spent $150.
Overall, I wouldn’t recommend Republic. Ting and FreedomPop are better options for light users, and Virgin Mobile is a better option for heavy users. Republic has a cool technical model, but ends up being the worst of all worlds.
Friday, November 11, 2016
Health Insurance Update
I posted last week about my plan to avoid the "too poor to buy insurance" fine by joining a health care sharing ministry to get a waiver of the fine. I put the paperwork off because paperwork is boring and I'm busy.
Procrastination sometimes pays off. Now that Donald Trump has been presumably* elected President, I'm going to sit tight for a bit and see how it plays out. He's made some noises about repealing portions of the ACA, including the individual mandate, and it looks like Congress is on board with it. Of course, he's changed his position on things before, and I don't find him particularly trustworthy, so things may stay business as usual.
Once the dust settles and I know whether or not there's still a povery fine in my future, I'll come back with an update.
*I say presumably because technically until the Electoral College meets on December 19, nobody has been elected President. At this point, it's generally a rubber stamp, but everything about this election has been weird, so who knows anymore.
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
Broke Urban Lawyer Talks Health Insurance
Ah, health insurance - who ever thought that something so mundane could be so controversial?
What's a broke person to do?
A few things before we start:
Health care - Medical or wellness services to treat or prevent injury or illness.
Health insurance - A program that will indemnify an individual for part of the cost of one's health care in exchange for payment of a monthly premium.
Note - Health insurance and health care are not the same thing. That's a huge pet peeve of mine when people say "health care" when they mean "health insurance". For example, I don't have health insurance. But I see the doctor multiple times per year and see the chiropractor weekly - I just pay for it myself. No health insurance, excellent health care.
Prior to the passage of the ACA, I had no health insurance because I decided that my limited money could be better used for other things, and nobody objected to my rational choice. After the passage of the ACA, I still had no health insurance because I decided that my limited money could be better used for other things (like doctor's visits - I could afford health insurance or health care but not both, so I skipped insurance, preferring to pay for care), and suddenly the government thinks my poverty is worthy of a fine. Only a massive bureaucracy could come up with something so perverse as a fine for being poor.
I saw three options:
1. Pay the fine - lining the pockets of the IRS.
2. Buy insurance - lining the pockets of the insurance companies.
3. Think like Captain Kirk and come up with a way to win the no-win scenario.
What's a broke person to do?
A few things before we start:
Health care - Medical or wellness services to treat or prevent injury or illness.
Health insurance - A program that will indemnify an individual for part of the cost of one's health care in exchange for payment of a monthly premium.
Note - Health insurance and health care are not the same thing. That's a huge pet peeve of mine when people say "health care" when they mean "health insurance". For example, I don't have health insurance. But I see the doctor multiple times per year and see the chiropractor weekly - I just pay for it myself. No health insurance, excellent health care.
Prior to the passage of the ACA, I had no health insurance because I decided that my limited money could be better used for other things, and nobody objected to my rational choice. After the passage of the ACA, I still had no health insurance because I decided that my limited money could be better used for other things (like doctor's visits - I could afford health insurance or health care but not both, so I skipped insurance, preferring to pay for care), and suddenly the government thinks my poverty is worthy of a fine. Only a massive bureaucracy could come up with something so perverse as a fine for being poor.
I saw three options:
1. Pay the fine - lining the pockets of the IRS.
2. Buy insurance - lining the pockets of the insurance companies.
3. Think like Captain Kirk and come up with a way to win the no-win scenario.
Sunday, October 30, 2016
Where I am now
As the title of the blog indicates, I'm a broke urban lawyer. I decided to elaborate on that in this post so you can get an idea what I'm up against here. (And what I'm up against isn't really all that unique. Most law school grads over the past several years are living some version of this story.)
I graduated from law school in 2011. I worked full-time during school in the HR department of a Silicon Valley tech company. I attended classes mostly at night, but sometimes I was able to take a day class because my boss was very flexible. My work schedule prevented me from taking advantage of summer associate positions and many internships, which are a major recruiting tool for after graduation jobs.
Even with full-time work (and a second almost full-time job my first year), I still graduated with over six figures in student loan debt. It took me a long time to find a job as a lawyer, so I kept working in HR for a few years. Then I got laid off from my HR job, and I relocated to another state with a lower cost of living.
I graduated from law school in 2011. I worked full-time during school in the HR department of a Silicon Valley tech company. I attended classes mostly at night, but sometimes I was able to take a day class because my boss was very flexible. My work schedule prevented me from taking advantage of summer associate positions and many internships, which are a major recruiting tool for after graduation jobs.
Even with full-time work (and a second almost full-time job my first year), I still graduated with over six figures in student loan debt. It took me a long time to find a job as a lawyer, so I kept working in HR for a few years. Then I got laid off from my HR job, and I relocated to another state with a lower cost of living.
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
I'm back!
I didn't even get three posts before dropping off the face of the earth. September was kind of a bust. I started a newish job (same people, different firm), and a few days later I had a personal emergency that required me to move with no notice. I'm all settled in to my new place, though my rent is a bit higher now.
On the upside, I have a balcony, so I'm going to try to grow some vegetables or herbs at some point.
I also need to amend my previous statement about my blog being the only one of its kind. I ran across Double Debt, Single Woman, who speaks my language. She has student loans and credit card debt along with chronic illness - just like me. I recommend her blog. I also ran across Paying My Law School Debt, where the author is doing exactly what he says in the title. He's single and saddled with debt from law school, too. My misery has found company.
More to come soon, I hope!
On the upside, I have a balcony, so I'm going to try to grow some vegetables or herbs at some point.
I also need to amend my previous statement about my blog being the only one of its kind. I ran across Double Debt, Single Woman, who speaks my language. She has student loans and credit card debt along with chronic illness - just like me. I recommend her blog. I also ran across Paying My Law School Debt, where the author is doing exactly what he says in the title. He's single and saddled with debt from law school, too. My misery has found company.
More to come soon, I hope!
Saturday, September 3, 2016
Welcome to Broke Urban Lawyer
There are tons of "how I got out of debt" blogs out there. It's a whole genre. As a result, I can imagine that many of you are wondering what I could possibly say that's new and fresh. To be honest, I'm kind of wondering that, too. But there's a big void in the debt blogging industry that I think needs to be filled with the stories of people like me.
The idea for this blog came from a conversation I was having with friends recently. I was lamenting that all the debt blogs out there didn't seem relevant to me because they came in two types
The first genre isn't all that useful to me, either, because I'm on my own. My family lives 700 miles away in a different state. I have to earn all of my own income and manage all of my domestic tasks. If I don't do it, it doesn't get done. I live in an apartment with no yard or balcony, so I can't grow produce.
I feel like I'm in between the two types. I'm responsible but cash-strapped like type 1, but I'm single and city-based like type 2. I'm a Broke Urban Lawyer. This blog will be my story. I hope to have a happy ending, consisting of throwing off the shackles of my student loans and building a law practice that supports me and brings me joy. But if I don't, I'll write that, too. I'm going to be keeping it real.
The original title I jokingly proposed to my friends was "Tales of a Broke, Single, Apartment-dwelling, Underpaid, Deeply Indebted Urban Lawyer Trying to Eke out an Existence and Maybe Retire Before Age 100", but I decided that was way too long. Given my blogging track record, I'll probably write 3 posts this week, another 3 next month sometime, 3 next year, and then abandon it for 3 years until I repeat the process. Maybe I'll do better this time.
Future planned posts include a summary of how I got here, where I am, and where I'm going. I may end up with some guest posts in the future, but noting concrete is planned yet.
Happy Reading!
The idea for this blog came from a conversation I was having with friends recently. I was lamenting that all the debt blogs out there didn't seem relevant to me because they came in two types
- the married couple with either two incomes or one income and one person free to devote full-time efforts to raising goats, cooking from scratch, etc., who live somewhere rural and can often live with extended family
- the single person with a lavish spending lifestyle and a high-paying job who got into debt because of poor money management and plans to get out of it by selling lavish purchases and cutting back on luxuries I could never hope to have afforded in the first place
The first genre isn't all that useful to me, either, because I'm on my own. My family lives 700 miles away in a different state. I have to earn all of my own income and manage all of my domestic tasks. If I don't do it, it doesn't get done. I live in an apartment with no yard or balcony, so I can't grow produce.
I feel like I'm in between the two types. I'm responsible but cash-strapped like type 1, but I'm single and city-based like type 2. I'm a Broke Urban Lawyer. This blog will be my story. I hope to have a happy ending, consisting of throwing off the shackles of my student loans and building a law practice that supports me and brings me joy. But if I don't, I'll write that, too. I'm going to be keeping it real.
The original title I jokingly proposed to my friends was "Tales of a Broke, Single, Apartment-dwelling, Underpaid, Deeply Indebted Urban Lawyer Trying to Eke out an Existence and Maybe Retire Before Age 100", but I decided that was way too long. Given my blogging track record, I'll probably write 3 posts this week, another 3 next month sometime, 3 next year, and then abandon it for 3 years until I repeat the process. Maybe I'll do better this time.
Future planned posts include a summary of how I got here, where I am, and where I'm going. I may end up with some guest posts in the future, but noting concrete is planned yet.
Happy Reading!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)