Interests > Living Off of the Grid & Survivalism

personal debt

<< < (2/3) > >>

fatboy:

--- Quote from: Mr Mannn on November 12, 2021, 01:56:39 PM --- :cheersmate: Hi Five! I got out of debt myself. There is just a 1000 bucks left on one card, after that I am free!
without debt I am amazed as to how much money I have to spend.

--- End quote ---

I share in your joy Mr Mannn!

It is correct, it is amazing the amount we have when we have little or no debt to pay off. What a great feeling to have that burden off our shoulders.

Without having to make large debt payments it is a lot less stressful paying for things like car repairs that would normally cause intense grief. Plus there is more money to spend on beer!

fatboy:
Just to update on the current situation. I started this in Nov 2021, at that time we still had some debt and I didn't calculate a car payment and we also had a 403B loan and personal debt. All totaled we paid off between March 2018 and Dec 2022 $136K debt.

On Dec 6 2022 Sue and I were officially declared debt free mortgage and all. Everything. January 2023 started phase 3 of our plan that is to put some money into savings to have a cash reserve and adding a significant amount to our 401/403s. Instead of saying "wow we have no debt lets live a little" we buckled down even more and were able to save about 50% of our income. Some of that savings was one off stuff so that will make 50% a bit more difficult 2024 so to counter that we are looking for ways to make further cuts in spending.

The main thing for us was we stopped spending and started living below our means and made saving a priority. We just don't buy stuff unless we absolutely need it. This is hard to do.

Old n Grumpy:
Congratulations, being debt free is fantastic. I have learned to live below my means a long time ago and it’s not that hard or painful as long as you realize keeping up with the Jones’s is not important.

I am not a believer in buying gold, you pay a premium when you buy it and you pay one when you sell it.
If you bought it 15 years ago when it was about $600 an oz then it was a good investment. The theory is if there is a total collapse of the economy you can use it to buy what you need, to me that’s a fallacy.

If you want something to get you through a collapse of the economy get a gun and ammunition, then you can get what you need for a couple of rounds.

Texacon:
I love reading stuff like this. I want everyone to be financially successful. It’s a great feeling and it’s one of the ways to make others wealthy. My wife and I own a real estate company and the only way we make money is selling property to those who can afford to buy.

Amazing stuff. Keep up the good work!

KC

fatboy:

--- Quote from: Texacon on December 18, 2023, 08:56:51 AM ---I love reading stuff like this. I want everyone to be financially successful. It’s a great feeling and it’s one of the ways to make others wealthy. My wife and I own a real estate company and the only way we make money is selling property to those who can afford to buy.

Amazing stuff. Keep up the good work!

KC

--- End quote ---

Thank you. And you are correct it is a great feeling and we likewise want others to have this experience. And I think most people (or couples) could get out of the debt pit, I mean we are not special, but it was a long difficult struggle, 5 years to pay off debt and a year now saving and investing.

When I look back at where our heads were before we started this endeavor, spending without any plan or thought and on that day when we looked at our dismal financial situation it looked really hopeless. I think the hard part was facing the reality and making the commitment to ourselves, from there on it was basically learning how to budget and handle money.

On the day that we made the last payment on our last debt, when I think about it, it brings tears to my eyes, but another big milestone was when our savings account balance exceeded our total credit card debt (credit cards were 1/5th of our total debt portfolio) that amount was $35,000.00 which is insane but that was where we were at.

The one beautiful thing that we learned and has become our habit now is living below our means and always putting something into savings. I'm maxing out my 401K, Sue is 15% on her 403B, we have a brokerage account, money in savings and we just started a new car sinking fund so we will not be going back into the pit for a new car.

We basically followed the Dave Ramsey 7 Baby Steps. Not to the "T" but close. For the last 3 years or so I have been reading a lot and always have a book that I'm reading on some aspect of personal finance. Most of it is actually simple but it is the hardest simple thing to do.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page