Today will be the first time I started a blog. I wanted a way to show people in almost real time how I will become debt free and therefore financially independent. I want to show that if an average Joe can do it then anyone of us can. If I fail then we can learn from my mistakes and continue with our goal to become free from debt and build wealth.
I have seen books upon books on this subject; the authors/experts have great lessons but does the average person or family, which lives paycheck to paycheck, even think about buying those books? I didn’t; only way I learned or bumped into the subject of financial independence was on the radio while driving to my next duty station at the time. In fact I was debt free for about 1 year back in 2007 while I was in the Air Force, stationed at Davis-Monthan AFB AZ. It was a great feeling; I was rolling in more money than I was used to. In 3 months of just going about my daily life; I had about 3k saved up! I had no credit card debt, bought a used car that was reliable and shared the rent/utilities on a home with a roommate.
So what happened? Well I spent my hard earned cash on a trip to China and the Philippines but that was not the bad part. The way our society is built or the way we have grown up to think is, we can buy anything we want; just FINANCE it! So that’s what I did, I financed me a new Yamaha R-6 at 12k with tax and financed several accessories for the bike. Total financed was 13k at $99mo payments. Well I didn’t read the fine print so when the economy crashed and I missed one payment, it shot up to almost $500mo! I also was caught up with the booming home prices and bought a 230k home. Again economy crashed and I had to short sale the house when the military sent me to Las Vegas for my next assignment. Furthermore I ended up giving the bike up and settled on a payment plan to pay back my debt.
Have you heard the statement “can’t build credit without a credit card.” “You have to take out a small loan and pay it back to build credit.” Well that’s all bs if one can manage their income and live within its limits.
How did I arrive at this crossroad in my life? When my kids were born and realized that I have worked since 18 years old and have little to show for it. If only we learned about personal finance in high school; if just one person taught me how to manage my income. Another is when my dad passed away and left his family with financial hardships. When seeing my parent’s home being foreclosed. A home of almost 20 years with so many memories going away forever is just heartbreaking. Lastly knowing that my dad thought he had life insurance to pay the house off before he passed just kills me inside.
It is now my goal to not repeat my parent’s financial situation and conduct my own research. All I can do now is read, read, some YouTube and read some more; so that I can learn as much as I can and pass it onto others. Right now I’m studying and taking classes on life insurance, personal finance and debt management.
Stay tuned and thanks for visiting my blog.
Great post, looking forward to read new ones.
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