Who I Am and Why I'm Ascending to Zero
Hi, I’m Max Hughes. I’m 35 years old, a Business Development Manager working in the energy infrastructure space, and just a regular guy who happens to see the world through an engineer’s lens. Math has always come naturally to me, which led me to pursue engineering—twice, actually. I’ve always been drawn to solving complex problems by breaking them down into manageable pieces, and that’s exactly how I’m approaching my financial life today.
This blog, Ascending to Zero, is my personal journey to becoming debt-free. I’m not here as a financial guru with all the answers. I’m here as someone who’s in it, sharing what works for me, what doesn’t, and how I’m making progress without sacrificing the things that make life enjoyable. If you're climbing your own mountain of debt, know that you're not alone.
The Current Debt Snapshot
I mentioned this in my first blog post (you can read it here if you'd like) but here's some more detail on my current debt situation. As of 01 May 2025 here's how my debt breaks down.
- Student Loans: $136,098.03 (it was MUCH worse)
- Credit Card 1: $5,244.45
- Credit Card 2: $1,321.49
- Total = $142, 663.97
- Minimum Monthly Payment = $1,232
I know I know...that's a crazy high number. Trust me...I know. It's not as high as some that are out there especially in the category of credit cards, but a lot of people would look at these numbers and be shocked.
I'm not ashamed of posting this information though. For a long time I didn't want to talk about my debt in any specific way because then it made it real for me. It slapped me right in the face.
No longer could I hide behind my month payment number (which as you can see from above is also high) and tell myself "as long as I make the monthly payment I'm fine."
The part of this whole thing that pisses me off is that I've been paying on my student loans for the last 12+ years. Read on to see what I originally started with right out of school but when I start to think about how much interest I have paid throughout the life of my student loans I get furious.
How did I get here with so much debt?
I finished my undergraduate degree in 2011, right during the Great Recession of 2008. As you can probably imagine, it was impossible to get a job in any sort of field that interested me but I tried anyway. After, no kidding, 100+ job applications and only hearing back from 2 companies to tell me no I knew I was screwed. My dad convinced me to go back to school and get my master's degree so that's what I did. I'm glad I did because it led me to where I am today but oh man did I pay for it.
I finished my master's degree in December 2013 and when I downloaded all of my loan data it shocked me how much I had.
Wow that's a depressing number now that I look at it. It didn't really affect me at the time but that's because I was young and didn't pay attention to my money as much as I do now.
In my 20s, I honestly didn’t pay much attention to the amount I was borrowing or the interest that was quietly piling up behind the scenes. I treated student loans like Monopoly money—something I’d eventually deal with but didn’t feel real at the time. Around that same time, I got introduced to credit cards, and ever since graduating, I've pretty much always carried some level of credit card debt. Looking back, I realize how disconnected I was from the long-term impact of those financial decisions.
In the spirit of this blog and being honest with you all, I'm really upset with myself for letting things get this far out of hand. It’s embarrassing to admit how long I ignored the warning signs and just kept coasting. I know better now, but that doesn’t take away the frustration I feel when I think about how much more progress I could’ve made if I’d taken this seriously sooner. You have no idea how pissed I am at myself but that's life.
The Turning Point
All of that being said, no more.
No more will I go down this journey of blissful ignorance of my finances. No more will I hope and pray that one day I'm doing to get rich via "somehow."
A couple of years ago, I went through a divorce, and that experience forced me to re-evaluate every part of my life—especially my finances. For those of you that haven't been through a divorce, congratulations. If you didn't pay attention to your finances before a divorce you certainly will during and after one. I realized I didn’t want to keep living paycheck to paycheck; I wanted my money to finally start working for me instead of for someone else and against me.
After the divorce, something shifted in me. I stopped floating through my financial life and started getting intentional about where I wanted to go. I wasn't scared anymore—I had already been through the second shittiest thing a person can go through (first being death of a loved one) and taking control of my money suddenly felt not just necessary, but empowering. That shift from passive to aggressive wasn’t overnight, but once it clicked, there was no going back.
After the divorce, I also took a hard look at where I was living. I just wasn’t happy in Las Vegas anymore—the excitement and distractions that used to appeal to me didn’t fit the version of myself I was becoming. I realized I wanted to live somewhere that truly brought me peace and joy, and for me, that place had always been Washington State. It took me roughly a year and half to get those pieces in place but once I found a new job that allowed me to work completely remote within a year I was packed up and heading to the upper left of the map.
Why “Ascending to Zero”
Fast forward a year, I was finally in a place where I felt settled. I didn't need to worry about where I was going to live, what my income would be (I'm salaried with commission), and didn't expect any major life changes anytime soon so I knew now was the time to take my finances seriously. There was just one problem...I didn't know where to start.
I had been maintaining somewhat of a budget for quite some time but it was just to keep track of what my monthly bills were. It didn't give me any insight into how much I was putting towards debt, investing, saving for whatever I wanted, or anything like that. It was just showing me how much money was being drained out of my bank account every month.
Frankly...that sucked.
After listening to some finance gurus I figured I should probably get an idea of what my net worth is and so I got to work. Once I had everything lined up in Google Sheets document I saw a giant negative number staring back at me. At first I was upset at the amount of effort it would take me to pay this off but then I broke down the problem into something that wouldn't scare me anymore.
You can do a quick google search and see how many people in the modern world have a negative net worth (meaning they owe more in debt than they own in things worth money). It's crazy to see the stats on this but I realized in laying out the snakes in my brain that if I could just make it to a net worth of zero, I'd be doing alright and on the right track and then it hit me hard and clicked...
...Ascending To Zero was born.
Ascending to Zero represents the idea that while the journey to becoming debt-free is tough, it doesn’t have to be miserable. To me, it’s like a hike—some stretches are grueling, frustrating, and uncomfortable, but that doesn’t take away from the beauty of the overall climb or the sense of accomplishment when you reach the summit.
Let me be clear: this blog IS NOT about perfection. I'm not looking for the perfect way to budget, invest, make money, consolidate, or anything like that. This is my journey to figure out what works for me and STAY CONSISTENT. If I'm going to pay off this debt early (no matter how long it takes) I need to be consistent. Any tips, tricks, guides, or anything else I find that could be helpful to you I'll be sure to share it.
I Hope I'm Not in this Alone
Every payday, I’ll drop a new tip or insight I’ve learned from managing my own money. At the start of each month, I’ll recap my spending, budgeting, and how much progress I’ve made. My promise is to keep everything transparent and authentic—this is real life, not a highlight reel. I hope you’ll climb with me and even share your own journey. We can learn a lot from each other along the way.
This journey is mine, but I know I’m not the only one climbing this mountain. If you're on your own path to becoming debt-free—or even just thinking about taking that first step—I’d love to hear what sparked it for you. Drop a comment, send me an email, find me on Threads and share your story, no matter where you're at. Just because we’re each walking our own trail doesn’t mean we can’t cheer and help each other along the way.
Cheers
Max