As I've mentioned before, my financial situation was pretty dire in the not so distant past. I finally sat down and did my accounting yesterday for the past few months. (My solo practice accounting, not my personal budget. I'm very on top of my personal budget.)
About half of my caseload is on contingency. I do the work, get the good results, and then I get attorney's fees if I win. My clients don't pay me directly; I get a check from the Social Security Administration. Unfortunately, as one might imagine from a large and appallingly inefficient bureaucracy, it takes forever to get paid. One of my colleagues got paid on a case over a year after she won it. That's on the late end, but I have some that I've won that I've been waiting over 6 months to get paid on. And that's not even counting the waiting time before getting the decision.
I just won a bunch of cases last week that I've been waiting for decisions on for months. I checked how many cases I've won and haven't been paid on yet, and the amount that the feds owe me is almost exactly equal to the amount I owe on my credit cards. As soon as I get my checks, I'll be able to pay them all off.
I'll still have my student loans and a loan from my parents, but it's one more milestone toward freedom. I can almost taste it!
Once the credit cards are gone, I'll just have the small parental loan and then six figures of student loans. I might be able to pay this stuff off soon!
