Frustration

I've been feeling a little bummed lately about my finances. I make good money and had been consistently meeting my goals of putting 10% in my Roth 401(k), a (very little) bit in savings, and a large chunk towards my student loans every month. So, slowly but steadily, my e-fund was building up and my debts were going down. And now I've hit a little bump in the road because of a few things coming together all at once: like English Major, I had a hefty security deposit due on my new apartment on top of having to pay the first month's rent early, getting the utilities switched over led to the realization that we owe some back payments on gas, and last but not least, my computer is nearing its end and will need to be replaced. I have some money coming in from my taxes and I wanted to put most of it towards my student loans and some of it towards my Roth IRA fund. I know the better thing right now would be to put it in my e-fund and push back my loan repayment a month or so but I don't want to! That said, I am still likely going to rethink some of my plan because that e-fund is getting pretty low and as much as I don't want to see my loan repayment slow down, I also don't like seeing so little in the bank. It makes me feel like I have nothing to show for my dedication to financial freedom.

On a related note, I was thinking how things would be so different if I didn't have these loans (and believe me, I know they could be much, much worse). But, a year out of college and over 6 months into the work force, I don't have very much to show for my financial savvy compared to a lot of other people my age who went to less expensive schools or had their parents pay their whole way. I thought, these people may be in the same place that I am (i.e. a year at a well-paying job behind them and not very much in savings) but they have other stuff to show for it: not stressing about how they are allocating every paycheck, nicer apartments, nice clothes, more dinners out, cool trips, and the list goes on. Or, they have been able to save more than I have because they don't have debt and are well on their way to a nice down payment or capital for starting a business. But what I realized is that you can't compare yourself to anyone but yourself and my other "self" could have had all of those "fun" things this past year but she would also have $12,000 more in debt and an even smaller 401(k) balance. I don't have quite the head start that some people have upon graduation but it could be a lot worse and I have to remember that I'm very lucky to have the education, job, and, most importantly, people in my life that have put me in such a good situation. Plus, when I do reach my goals, it will be nice to know that they weren't handed to me, that I worked to achieve them.