Five years ago, at the tender age of 25, Nathan Drake of Whittier found himself separated from his wife and starting life over, but with an anvil around his neck.
Drake was nearly $25,000 in debt after spending got out of control in the emotionally rocky marriage, which ended in divorce. With just a car and a computer to his name, he moved on and into an apartment, buying everything anew from a shower curtain to a couch.
Drake eventually mended his heart, and he remarried last July. But his finances are still broken, and that anvil got much heavier.
The Canadian transplant, who nets $36,000 a year, is $54,000 in debt and considering bankruptcy.
"I'm at my wits' end," said Drake, 30, who works as a product manager for a Whittier microfiche storage and industrial furniture company. "My paycheck is spent before I get it."
Starting over -- and buying a truck and a sparkling wedding ring for his new wife -- put Drake further in the hole.
He dug it even deeper, splurging as a newlywed to show his Canadian wife, Jodi, 23, around Southern California. He and Jodi dined out on $100 seafood dinners, took trips to Las Vegas and, on weekends, went out to dinner and a movie.
All of it added up. Drake carries $29,000 in debt on six credit cards. He owes an additional $16,000 at his bank. And he has borrowed $9,000 from his 401(k) retirement plan, which is worth $14,000 and was his only unencumbered asset.
Each month, he spends nearly $2,000 more than he earns. Any financial mishap and he's further in the hole. Recently, Jodi needed a root canal, forcing him to put $900 more on plastic.
"He's in terrible shape," said Linda Barlow, a certified financial planner in Santa Ana who reviewed Drake's situation.
His credit score, a numerical value that ranks a borrower's credit risk, has plummeted to 593 out of a possible 850, making it impossible to get a loan without a co-signer. The interest rates on his credit cards are as high as 30% -- among the steepest Barlow has seen. And twice in the last month, he has invoked his bank's overdraft protection.
Only recently has frugality entered Drake's budget. He moved from San Dimas to Whittier to cut his commute and save on gas. Because most of his cellphone use is for work, his employer agreed to cover his cellphone bills. And he and Jodi no longer dine out on crab legs.
But until a few months ago, Drake was spending as much as $225 a month on gas and $300 a month on restaurant meals.
