Into Debt And Out Again – Overcoming $40,000 Of Debt

Posted by The Happy Rock on May 20, 2010

The following is a guest post by a dear friend and colleague Ed who is just months away from finally getting out from under $40,000+ in debt. Give him a warm welcome in the comments or a shout on twitter(@ed_bruner):

The First Step Into Chains

When my wife and I got married, we were debt free with money in the bank (minus my student loans…which I wasn’t even thinking about). When she got pregnant, we decided it was time to buy a house. The year was 2001. The Housing bubble in NJ was already ballooning. We had difficulty finding anything that wasn’t a “fixer-upper”x2. Mistake #1: the mortgage loan officer realized that I didn’t want to borrow all the money I was qualified for, so his advice was: “When you buy your first house, you want to borrow to the point that the payments are difficult to make because over time it will get easier”. I believed it. And so, our first house was a challenge. Our savings were wiped out because there was no extra money. In 2003, we moved to our current house. It too was a stretch. Over the course of years our debt was slowly becoming unmanageable.

Journey into the Red

To be honest, I tried to create a budget, but there was no room for savings. If something unplanned occurred, we had to put it on a credit card. We used an ATM card for our purchases, not cash. We would set an amount to spend, but would easily go over the small amount when tallying receipts. So, when I would “do the bills” I would have to juggle things to make it work. I would have to estimate the days it would take for a check to get delivered/processed so it wouldn’t bounce. We were living without a budget and the credit card debt was beginning to get stressful. 2005 brought pregnancy with child #3, the harsh reality of a needed minivan became apparent. Mistake #2: I reasoned in my mind that I could make the loan payments on a used vehicle if I took advantage of just 4 hours of OT a week. The vehicle was purchased in 2006, a month before the child was born.

Crisis

In May 2006, I suffered two strokes a week apart. I am thankful that I have made a full recovery, but I was on disability for several months….needless to say, no OT was happening. Debt was piling up, and for the first time in our marriage my wife begun managing the bill. I was mentally “checked-out” due to recovery. She realized the financial house of cards, I built for us was crumbling. When I returned to work, either OT was not available or I was still too mentally “checked-out”, either way, I wasn’t doing any. Between my medical costs, car loan, student loan, new baby we found ourselves 40k in debt with increased monthly expenses. Failure was imminent.

Hope and Change

Because I have the best wife in the world and because of several positive influences in my life, we realized that managing our debt was not the way we wanted to live the rest of our lives. Two main positive influences: 1. The Happy Rock, because I know him personally I was challenged and inspired to embark on this journey toward debt freedom. 2. Duggars, as corny as you may think the show is, it has made a resounding positive influence on my family. For those who don’t know, the Duggar family contains 19 children and boasts that they live debt free. If they can do it in AR with 19 kids, why can’t I do it in NJ with 3? These influences allowed me to see that not only is debt freedom possible, but it is essential to a successful family.

Resolved

I began to see debt as the enemy of our success and dreams. In addition, because of my faith, I began seeking Scriptural verses to confirm this avenue I felt God was directing me. “Owe no man anything but love” Romans….”the debtor is a slave to the lender” Proverbs…. Seeing debt as slavery brought more clarity and resolve. Large sums of debt keep us from enjoying things like much needed vacations, car repairs & maintenance, and proper heath care among other things. With debt, we are not free to pursue our dreams because we are tethered to a lender. I want freedom, don’t you?

Roll Call

Credit card = $10,000

Auto Loan = $4,000

Student Loan #1 = $5,000

Student Loan #2 = $6,000

The First Steps Out of Debt

After expressing my intentions to the HappyRock, he gave me a copy of Total Money Makeover – D.Ramsey. We began by creating a budget. We started using Ramsey’s Debt Snowball method. Mistake #3: we wanted to get started immediately, we didn’t start with a $1,000 security fund first. I recommend the security fund. Basically, we stopped adding to our debt using a good budget. We started making minimum payments on all loans except for the one with the lowest balance. Finally, we began living on cash. My wife and I each divided a modest amount for each other for each week. When that money was gone, the spending stopped.

The Journey is almost Over

After two years of intense debt reduction, we have paid off all non-mortgage debt, except for Credit card #2. My father felt bad about not helping me out with college and started sending me money to pay the Student loans. With his help, we wiped them out. When you get to the point where we are at now, it is amazing to see how much money we could be keeping instead of sending to creditors. Never did I dream about so much available money.

Our goal to reach debt freedom (minus the mortgage) this September.

» Filed Under Debt Elimination, Financial Succes, Guest Posts

Your Life Is A Story, So What Does The Back Of Your DVD Say?

Posted by The Happy Rock on May 6, 2010

I have been listening and reading through A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life(affilaite link), and in it Donald Miller provides a very simple framework for thinking about your life: your life is a story.

The basic premise is that the same rules apply to your life as they do to stories. The stuff that makes a good story makes a good life. If your life feels boring then the story that you are telling is probably boring. Nobody sets out to tell a boring story, they often just happen because we aren’t intentionally trying to tell a good one. The idea is to live a page turner.

A simple question that really helped me gauge where I am at in my story is “what would the back cover of the ‘Your Life, the DVD’ say?

This is what I came up with for mine:

From food stamps and a young but devoted mother, Frank “The Happy Rock” successfully navigates a turbulent childhood into college where he meets his wonderful wife. Together they conquer $70,000 in debt, get good jobs, and create a beautiful life for their two children. You never know what kind of action his days will bring as he attempts to have patience with his children and tries not make his wife mad at him. Tune in to watch as he earns money and buys stuff. Will he make it? Will he survive?

I know that doesn’t speak to how blessed my life is right now(it really is), but it is true to how I feel and yet still accurate at the same time. As I look back at my life as though it were a story it was a real page turner. Being born to a young mother and addict father, escaping poverty into the middle class, moving from isolation into marriage, and journeying from selfishness into parenthood is the stuff of good stories. It didn’t feel like it at the time, but somehow that part of the story now reads like best seller.

When I look at where the story is heading now, the picture is much less engaging. We ‘made it’, but the irony is that’s the problem. My wife and I have pretty much the freedom, money, and skills to do most anything we want, yet our life consists of Target, Netflix, Gardening, and going to the park. Don’t get me wrong, it is a good life, but it isn’t one that keeps you on the edge of your seat. There is virtually no conflict, no plot twists, and no chance of failure. It isn’t a page turner and it certainly isn’t sending the message I want to my boys.

One motivating part about framing your life as a story, is that you are the author. You get to change the storyline. In life you can’t change what happened, but you get full control over where the story is going. The question is: What are the new story lines that you want to tell?

I would love to hear what everyone else thinks about their story lines?

» Filed Under About Me, Chasing Dreams, Financial Succes, Living with Purpose

What’s Happened To The Happy Rock?

Posted by The Happy Rock on April 7, 2010

Anyone who checks in regularly can tell that things have been shriveling around here for months. I know it is not out of the ordinary for a blog to disappear into the internet graveyard with barely a whimper, but I still really like this blog and thought things needed a little bit of an explanation.

The New Red Huffy

Picture a 4 year tearing the wrapping paper from a brand new bike on Christmas morning. He jumps for joy and hugs anyone in sight. He rushes out and spends some time learning how to ride. He is grateful for the training wheels as he totters around for the first few months. He spends the next year riding his bike everywhere. He can’t walk out the door without trying to convince his parents to let him go for a little ride. It is even cute watching him try and convince people who have no interest in biking how great it is.

Gradually though the circumstances begin to change. He gets older and bigger. The bike starts to get a little rusty and just doesn’t fit as well as before. New toys, friends, hobbies, and responsibilities enter into the picture and in a few years the bike just sits around and collects rust. He occasionally watches kids on their bikes zoom down the street laughing, doing cool tricks, and getting air of sweet jumps, but it only moves him to lament rather than to action.

Eventually one spring Thursday his dad puts the bike out to the curb for donation pickup. The son sees the bike in its sad shape and all the memories come rushing back. He argues with his dad to keep the bike, but his father knows that it will just be right back in the shed. Dad lovingly suggests three options. They could take the next few weekends and work on a special father and son project together where they would clean the rust off the bike, replace some parts, and take off the training wheels. The bike would then be ready to be useful for the next few years. The other options are to give the bike to someone who would love it like he used too or let it rust away in a landfill in Topeka.

That is where I am at. A lot has changed since I started this blog. I have become 100% debt, adopted two children, sold a house and moved, finished my MBA and grown quit a bit. Things look much different than they did three years ago and I am asking much different questions in my life:

Three years ago we were fanatic about getting out of debt and were a few months away from kicking $70,000 of debt to the curb. Early on I was eager to write about debt reduction and those type of thoughts swirled around in my head constantly. After the debt was gone and I had an emergency fund, I had a hard time writing about that stuff with a fresh perspective. Now, money isn’t an issue. It is amazing how much things looks different with absolutely no debt, 1.5 salaries, and safety cash. You are free to move wherever you want or take whatever job regardless of pay. You can start asking the Why questions of life rather than being stuck on the How questions like how to I make more money or get out of debt. It is an awesome yet uncomfortable place to be.

Before I was asking how do I create a successful blog and make some money off of it, but now my question is what purpose is the blog serving in my life and in yours. I was more focused on gaining readers, not losing readers, making money, and trying to “figure out blogging”. I don’t feel that is authentic enough anymore. It doesn’t really connect with where I am in my journey and it doesn’t connect me to people on similar journey’s. Before I was around motivated folks in my MBA program and other debt destroyers that helped encourage me to stick with it. Once they were gone and I moved on but I didn’t forge any relationships for the next stage in my journey.

My Christian faith is the thing I think about most and I barely ever mentioned it. The blog was meant to help people out of debt, but it really only ended up being something I wanted to succeed at. Fear of alienating people and losing readers kept me from including it in the discussion in any meaningful way. I was probably scared, who knows, but I often wanted to connect with people on that level. This blog was my primary means of expression and pouring my energy and heart into money and life hacks just to create a semi-successful blog is not an authentic experience. Articles weren’t designed to connect with people they are created to be ‘successful’. That is passion draining rather than inspiring for me.
I haven’t posted anything meaningful in months and I don’t think I haven’t gotten a single email asking about why. I don’t say that to make you feel guilty or conger up pity, but the sad fact is that I wrote OK articles but I wasn’t connecting with anyone. Now I feel a drawn towards forming deeper and more meaningful relationships. I want people to matter. Not in a distant 3rd person way that let’s me execute my plan to be comfortable and safe without ever having to really get involved. Detached, very comfortable, and debt free isn’t enough. It is time to figure out how to get my hands dirty and face some fears.

Now don’t read this wrong, I am very grateful for the paths that have led to this point. I thank the readers for stopping by and being a part of things. The experience I gained is invaluable and it is was a blast most of time. The question is…now what? Do I clean off the rust and change things so that they can meet the demands of the next stage of life’s journey or do I take all the growth and knowledge and pure it into bigger and better things? I leaning towards tailoring the blog’s direction to be more authentic and true to my journey and away from being aimed to please Sitemeter and Google. I just don’t know exactly what that looks like…

» Filed Under About Me, Chasing Dreams, Financial Succes

A Tale of Two Athletes – Phil Coke and Antoine Walker

Posted by Debt Destroyer on November 4, 2009

Late October is an exciting time for sports fans. Football is in full swing, we get the World Series and the NBA season tips off as well. A little something for everybody.

With that in mind a couple of stores in today’s news caught my eye.

The first is nothing new. It is one of seemingly limitless talent being greatly rewarded with riches beyond most of our dreams.

Antoine Walker was an NBA superstar. In his 13 year playing career he made $110 Million dollars. The Boston Globe is now reporting that he is trouble for writing $1 million in bad checks to Vegas casinos. Not only that but it also tuns out that he owes other creditors upwards of $4 million. Even his old agent is after him for unpaid bills.

Off the court, there were the cars, the jewelry, the houses, the suits, the gambling. He liked to move in an outsized entourage; his mother estimates that, during his playing days, he was supporting 70 friends and family members in one way or another. And speaking of his mother, he built her a mansion in the Chicago suburbs, complete with an indoor pool, 10 bathrooms, and a full-size basketball court.

Maybe he can move back in with his Mom.

In the middle of stories of Walker living the high life there was a line in the article that stood out to me:

NBA agents and players contacted for this article say an annual “burn rate’’ of $2 million to $4 million isn’t unusual for the living expenses of an elite player.

Yowsers! ”Burn” rate is right.

While I shake my head when hearing stories like this one, I also can see why this sort of thing happens. A lot of superstars (not just athletes, take Nicolas Cage for example) are elite at what they do, but they don’t know squat about money. They don’t spend their time perusing PF blogs.

A good example of this can be seen on the show Hard Knocks.

Hard Knocks is a show that gives you an inside look at an NFL team during training camp. This year the Cincinnati Bengals are the featured team. Chad Ocho Cinco is their star wideout. They show him talking with his coach about what to do with his money. Check it out here. (Go to the 4:57 mark…WARNING, there is plenty of explicit language)

I don’t know about you, but after watching that clip I have a feeling that he isn’t set up for retirement (although maybe he will be fine since he doesn’t waste money on contraptions).

But something tells me that Phil Coke will be.

Phil Coke is relief pitcher for the New York Yankees and according to a Yahoo article he is also one of the lowest paid members of the Yankees. Granted his salary of $400,000 is way out of my league, but I’m still impressed with how down to earth he is.

His first full season of big league paychecks doesn’t mean he’s moved into a penthouse suite on the Upper East Side. Coke rents a furnished apartment in New Jersey, one that runs him about $2,500 a month.

Now that is something that I can relate too.

He may never end up making HUGE money, but something tells me he’ll be just fine when he is done playing baseball.

The lesson these two stories demonstrate is simple. Live within your means.

Until next time,

-DD

» Filed Under Careers, Financial Succes

The Happy Rock And The Carnival Ride – Financial Childhood Lessons

Posted by The Happy Rock on March 16, 2009

Below is a post describing a fun frugal experience from my childhood written by The Happy Boulderette(The Happy Rock’s Mom). The story itself is neat, but what makes it even more interesting is the striking similarity it has to a post that I wrote about Teaching The Happy Pebble about the value of a dollar. It is great to see that lessons learned as a child are still bearing fruit almost 30 years later. You can change your family tree.

The Happy Boulderette has 2$ in her pocket and the local carnival is set up in the supermarket parking lot around the corner. She shares this info with The Happy Rock(age 6) – he is super excited and they attend the carnival that evening.

Quality time was spent between mom and son as they walked around and laughed and talked about how to spend their 2$. The process was long and they eventually decided to ride one particular amusement ride prior to heading home. Woohoo!!! It sure was fun!!!

Much later in life, the Happy Boulderette is pondering years back and realizes that many valuable lessons were taught that evening. Many of them were definitely financially related. At the time, she hadn’t even known she was having an impact on her son’s life.

Our children’s watchful eyes are upon us and financial lessons are being learned even when they are not intentional.

» Filed Under Children and Money, Financial Succes

In Search Of Financial Perfection Or Seeking Honesty And Growth?

Posted by Debt Destroyer on March 3, 2009

I guess I’ve arrived.

I knew I’d catch hell when I posted that I spent $180 in January on Pearl Jam related expenses. But I was surprised by how much that little morsel caught on with others.

A couple of weeks ago LuLuGal asked if I was a frugal fraud (She chose the Happy Rock too – for the $400 stroller).

To tell you the truth, I was honored to be on the list. She was poking a little fun at some fellow bloggers and I’m tickled pink that my act of super fandom made the cut.

A few days before that, Simplyforties used my love of all things Pearl Jam to make a point between wants and needs. I kinda dug where she went with it (Especially since I thought she was going to bury me like everyone else did).

And just the other day Pants in the Can was inspired by my Pearl Jam purchase to see how much he spends in a month.

But all this attention to my act of “unfrugalness” got me thinking…

Do readers of PF blogs expect perfection?

I have to admit that I’ve only been reading these type of blogs since I’ve been writing for one (8 months now). And in that time I wouldn’t say I’m looking for perfection, but I do have things that I am looking for:

Money Saving / Debt Reduction / Investing Tips – Heck, who wouldn’t be looking for these.
Inspiration – This is a big one for me. I mean really, lets face it, we all know how to live within our means. But for one reason or another some of us struggle with it, and occasionally we need a “wake up call.”
Community – I know “misery loves company”, but it also feels good to know that a bunch of people are working on the same “positive” goals as you are.
Entertainment – We probably are all reading the same blogs. If you are anything like me you like it that some of them use a little humor to help make their point.

When I accepted the gig as a writer here at The Happy Rock, I knew that people would be constantly judging me and my behavior. And I’m OK with that (for the most part). I guess the point of this post is to remind people that I’m here to share my journey out of debt. But keep in mind, that if I knew what I was doing I wouldn’t be writing about being in debt would I? (probably good advice to keep in mind when reading a lot of PF blogs).

So if you lost confidence in me because I spent too much money on a CD, I totally understand. I realize that some of you can’t spare $180 a month on such frivolous expenses (If this is the case, I hope you’re reading this on a library computer).

I think one of the best ways to learn is to make mistakes and then learn from them.

And I make plenty of them. So please, PLEASE, keep pointing out things that I could be doing better (Trust me, I need all the help I can get). And if you thought me spending money on Pearl Jam was bad wait until you see what I did in February.

I end almost every post I write by asking you readers for feedback. This isn’t some gimmick I use to get comments. I REALLY want to know what people think and how everybody else goes about doing the things that I do (I’ve already changed my phone/internet provider thanks to the feedback I got).

So…

What do you look for as a reader of PF blogs? Do you get anything from my ramblings about my finances? What type of topics do you wish were written about(not just here but in general)?

And I know I probably have never said this before, but thank you very much for taking the time to read this blog. I know how busy we all are, and it means a lot that you took a moment to read what I have to say. I hope you keep coming back.

Until Next Time,

-DD

» Filed Under About The Debt Defier, Financial Succes

Your Money or Your Life? Choosing Between Family and Career

Posted by Debt Destroyer on January 27, 2009

As I mentioned in my About Page, “Your Money or Your Life?” is my favorite personal finance book that I’ve read. But this post isn’t about the book.

This is about a decision that my wife made today.

As you long time readers know, I’m going back to school, so we’ve been depending on my wife’s wedding photography business to bring in the bacon around here for the past 6 months or so. And while we’ve had to tighten our belt to make it work, so far it has been just fine.

Today I took a message for my wife from a potential bride who was wondering if her date was still available (a tip for those of you getting married, it’s never to early to line up the photographer). After I passed on the message I had to go to work so I didn’t get to hear whether or not she booked the gig. But before I left, we joked that it would be the weekend that we’re trying to reschedule our NYC trip (late Aug-Early Sept).

I told her if that’s the case that she should book the wedding because we’ve already canceled the trip once, and it’s questionable if we’ll be in a position to go this year.

During supper tonight she brought up the call. Instead of the NYC trip weekend, it was for the weekend after.

The weekend of my cousin’s wedding.

My wife & I are quite found of this cousin. Her parents were wonderful to us when we lived in the Twin Cities. During that time we became very close to their family. But we’ve moved back to SD five years ago (OMG! it’s been that long) and now we only get to see them a couple of times a year.

We were quite pleased to hear the good news over the holidays. This particular cousin had once been the “black sheep” of the family. But as she matured she changed her friends, her surroundings, and her lifestyle. In a very short time, she turned into the “normal” one (if there is such a thing in my family).

In an ironic twist, when my cousin first told me the good news, her original wedding date conflicted with a wedding my wife is shooting. I figured that me and the kids could take a fun little road trip without Mommy around, but my wife was devastated. But when my wife called to inform my cousin that she couldn’t make it, she found out that the date had changed.

So now we have a cousin’s wedding with a moving date. Would she book the wedding or go to one? What would you do?

It’s a tough call for me. As much as I’d like my wife to come with us, I’d also like her to have a few more weddings booked too. That’s one of the problems with this line of work. All the early calls are for the dates you don’t want to work, but you feel pressured to book them in case the phone stops ringing. Especially in a recession where you are the sole bread-winner.

My wife told the bride that she was unavailable.

While I’m quite proud of her choosing family time over working, I’m also nervous that phone won’t ring and that we’ll regret this decision later. But that’s just who I am. In reality it’ll probably just mean that our NYC trip will transform into a trip to the Twin Cities.

And that wouldn’t be all that bad.

Until next time,

-DD

» Filed Under About The Debt Defier, Careers, Financial Succes

Student Debt…How Much is Too Much?

Posted by Debt Destroyer on December 10, 2008

According to the local public radio station, South Dakota students carry the highest debt load in the nation. I was shocked to hear this for a couple of reasons:

South Dakota Universities (public ones) are very affordable. For example, I’m currently enrolled in 17 credits (6 graduate, 11 undergrad) and tuition & books totaled slightly less than $4000.
South Dakota incomes aren’t that high. So if these students are going deep in debt only to get a low paying job, they are setting themselves up for disappointment.

Perhaps because of #2 above, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that students are needing help to afford school. Most people here don’t make much money, so of course they’d need help to pay for school. Heck I just took out a $7750 loan to help me go back to school (and me & my wife still owe around $6,000 from our first go around with school).

So I probably shouldn’t be shocked at all.

According to the Quick Fact Section at The Project on Student Loan Debt, borrowing is becoming more prevalent.

By the time they graduate, nearly two-thirds of students at four-year colleges and universities have student loan debt (66.4% in 2004). In 1993, less than one-half of four-year graduates had student loans.

In addition to the number of students needing help increasing, the amount they need to borrow is also increasing.

Over the past decade, debt levels for graduating seniors with student loans more than doubled from $9,250 to $19,200 – a 108% increase (58% after accounting for inflation).

But at the same time the news is talking about South Dakota having the highest student debt burden, I also remember hearing stories about how this fall’s enrollment in South Dakota schools was the highest ever. So clearly people are OK with borrowing for school.

But are those days near an end?

During Thanksgiving, my wife’s cousin was telling us about her experience at college, she’s a freshman going into social work. This girl’s Mother joked that she should be on the lookout for a rich husband since social work is not a very lucrative field. But in all seriousness, I can see this being a concern for those low-paying fields that require a college degree.

I know that I hope to not have to borrow any more money just to land a teaching job.

But I guess it probably wouldn’t be so bad except when you add on credit card debt and a car payment, fresh college graduates can find themselves behind the financial 8-ball in no time.

So Happy Rock readers, what do you think about all of this? If you went to college, did you need a student loan? If so, was it worth it? And to what level do you think we’ll keep borrowing to go to school?

I look forward to your insightful comments.

Until next time,

-DD

» Filed Under Children and Money, Debt Elimination, Financial Succes

Financial Thanksgiving List

Posted by The Happy Rock on November 27, 2008

In the spirit of gratitude and thanksgiving I wanted to list all of the financial related blessings of the last year.

Another year debt free, except for the mortgage
The ability to provide for two wonderful children
Second adoption paid for with cash
$11,000 adoption tax credit
$2,000 adoption assistance from my employer
Two flexible, solid, well paying jobs
$5/hour raise for The Happy Rockette
Income and symbiotic relationships from The Happy Rock and other projects
Top %1 standard of living in the world – Check yours at Global Rich List
Warm, comfortable, home in a good neighborhood
The means to give to multiple different people, family, and organizations

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

» Filed Under Financial Succes, Giving

Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps Review

Posted by The Happy Rock on November 17, 2008

I have stated before that I am huge Dave Ramsey fan. I think his approach to debt destruction is the simpliest and most straightforward approach. It has broad application across all income levels and focuses on motivating people and changing their behavior. I used the baby steps and the and free access to Dave’s radio show to eliminate $70,000 in 4 years.

There are officially 7 baby steps(1-7), but there is an unofficial pre-requisite that I like to put in there.

Step 0 – Stop going into debt : If you don’t stop the leak you will never be able to repair the damage. Simple as that.

Step 1 – Save a baby emergency fund : Pay minimums on your debt until you save $1,000. The purpose is to keep you out of debt when unexpected costs arise. If you deplete this fund for anything, halt the baby steps and start at step 1 again.

Step 2 – Pay off all debts, except for a first mortgage : Do this using the ‘Debt Snowball’ which is paying minimums on all of your debt except the smallest regardless of interest rate. When that debt is gone, snowball all available money into the next smallest debt. The point here is that small victories create confidence and motivation. It changes your relationship with money and spurs you on to attack the rest of the debts. This step is designed to be a full out frontal assault not a leisurely stroll through the park. Sell everything that isn’t nailed down, cut cable, movies, eating out and use the extra money for to grow the snowball.

Step 3 – 3 to 6 Emergency Fund : Relish in being debt free except for a house while using the money to quickly store 6 months of expenses. The purpose here is to shield you from major catastrophes which do happen like job loss, disabilities, fire, theft, etc. Personally, accomplishing this was the single greatest feeling, even better than paying off our consumer debt.

Step 4 – Invest 15% of your income into your retirement : Use Roth IRA’s and pre-tax retirement accounts to purchase good solid mutual funds with solid track records.

Step 5 – Fund College Savings : Skip this step if it isn’t applicable or you aren’t planning helping the children financially. Education Savings Account and 529 plans are good options.

Step 6 – Pay off the house. Use all extra money to pay off the house what will most likely only take a few years.

Step 7 – Build Wealth and Give.

I know that sounds simple and obviosuly there are nuiances to each step which aren’t covered like budgeting, insurance, and picking good mutual funds, but once you develop the discpline, control your spending habits, and change your money behavior during step 2 you will most likely have the energy and behaviors that will make all the rest seem like a cake walk.

» Filed Under Debt Elimination, Financial Succes

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