So I just came to a pretty shocking realization this morning: This is the first time in my life where I’ve been 100% completely debt-free since I was a kid (!!!).
No credit card debt, no car loans, personal loans, Bank of Mom and Dad loans, no mortgages*, nada. Pretty wild to think about, and even more so considering it took 20 years to get back to that point!
But before we get into all that, just have to take a quick moment to thank you guys again for all your support and encouragement from the Big News we dropped on Monday! You never really know how any of it will play out in the real world (even after weeks of thinking and obsessing and planning!!), but to say I was overwhelmed by all the responses would be a huge understatement…
YOU GUYS WERE SO POSITIVE AND UPLIFTING!!!
THANK YOU FOR MAKING ME FEEL SO GOOD!
I’m not sure if anyone was holding back the hate, but we literally didn’t get a single piece of negativity across the entire board (Budgets Are Sexy, Rockstar Finance, ESI Money) which just blew me away..
So thank you! And if you’ve been waiting to tell me how you really think, now’s your chance while I’m feeling strong and confident! Haha.. Only a 1% chance of me going off in the corner and crying about it ;)
But speaking of going in the corner and crying about it, << enter smooth transition here >> how about that DEBT y’all? How much does that suck having? ;)
Have I ever told you I’ve been carrying some around for the past 20 years?!
It’s true.
Check out this official breakdown of my life:
- Ages 0-18 (kid): no debt
- Ages 18-21 (college student): little credit card debt (damn free t-shirts!!)
- Ages 21-27 (young adult): little credit card debt, little car loan debt
- Ages 27-37 (“adult”): no credit card debt, little-to-big-to-medium-to-none-to-medium-car loan debt, tons of mortgage debt!
- Ages 37+ (adult): no credit card debt, no mortgage debt, and now no car loan debt, officially making me debt-free for the first time since being a kid :)
What a ride…
When you’re done reading this you totally need to copy these bullet points and do the exercise yourself :) But might wanna make sure you have a pail around in case the desire to throw up arises!
Gotta give a love/hate shout out to USAA too real quick as their loan repayment center had me screaming at the computer screen there for a hot second!
I went to pay off the remaining $11,000 of my Lexus loan with my new found money, and came across this gem of a screen after selecting “pay off the complete balance” or whatever it was…
See if you can spot my concern:
Notice anything?? Let me help you out…
THERE IS NO OPTION FOR JUST WANTING TO BE DEBT-FREE!!
As if it’s totally normal to carry around loads of debt, and the only way to get rid of it is by paying it off in order to secure even more of it!
What a joke!! An accurate one, but still – lame.
It took me everything not to submit this over :)
Haha… But I settled on this. Because you know, manners:
Maybe if enough of us puts “DEBT-FREE” into notes like this though, they’ll actually start listing it out, thereby encouraging (and motivating!) others to do the same!!
And I’m not just poking at USAA here – I love them and trust them with over 10 of my financial accounts – but this is more so a jab against the entire industry that’s notoriously bad at this stuff…
I’d like for just once banks to put some thought and human touch into such big occasions like this for their customers, as you know for DAMN sure any of them would be celebrating their asses off if it were them on the other side of the screen killing their debt! And we’re really not that picky!! We’ll take a stupid little gif and be THRILLED about it!
Here – just take this one and run with it:
I would DIE LAUGHING if I saw this after hitting submit! Haha… And then I’d share the $hit out of it to every last person I know until they all switched banks ;)
Wouldn’t you???
It really doesn’t take much…
Though I applaud the effort, guys ;)
(It’s something!)
Anyways, all this to say that getting out of debt is huge, and if you’ve been fortunate enough to reach that point again in your life since being a kid, I give you all the props in the world and hope you realize what a fantastic accomplishment that is.
I know I can be blasé about it from time to time on the blog, at least when it comes to consciously choosing to hold onto debt for one reason or another, but deep down I really do think most of the world would be better off not even messing with it, and I wish nothing but a debt-free life for all y’all :)
Think about copying my stages of life up there and comparing it to your own debt journey, and if you’re feeling good about it all you’re on the right track, and if you’re not, it’s a good time to make some tough choices and re-position yourself in the new year…
In the meantime, I’ll be out launching my Congratulatory Gif Campaign so it’s all set up and ready to go for you! Pass this note far and wide so all your bank CEO friends see it! :)
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*Something to note: we don’t have mortgages because we paid them off, it’s because we sold our house and went back to renting ;) So if you’re in your 30s and still have mortgage debt, that’s perfectly okay!
[We’re not broke / We’re pre-rich from @SmartsNCents]
Via Finance http://www.rssmix.com/
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