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Debt Free?

bgjohn
I'm free of debt and it is great! Anybody else?
JM[^]
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38 comments

Date Votes
  • idsman75
    I joined the Army owning the contents of three duffel bags and two guns back home at my parents' house. That's it. I've done the financing bit and I hate the notion of ever having to pay someone else extra money for the priviledge of owning something that should be mine. I don't condemn anyone else for financing something but I'm going to do my damndest never to owe anybody anything ever again. I like being able to pay a couple of bills and then save or invest the rest of it. You'd be surprise what you can save for future major purchases if you have a written budget and can watch where every dollar goes. I did mine on an Excel spreasheet and have a 12-month rolling evolving plan. 12 spreadsheets for the current and future 11 months.

    Broke is normal. I want to be weird.
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  • jimdeere
    quote:Originally posted by sabb0007
    Not debt free but working on it, we have almost $30,000 in school loans, army pays for my half, my wife and I pay for her half. I just finished paying off her wedding ring and our first bed.

    Now here's a man who has his priorities right.[8D]
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  • iluvguns
    quote:Broke is normal. I want to be weird.


    Spoken like a true Dave Ramsey disciple! Me, too! We owe on the house, but that's it. Paying an extra payment every other month on it to get it paid off as soon as possible. Then the "real" fun will start! Both cars are paid for. To me, a car is nothing more than something used to get from point a to point b. Don't need a new one, don't want the payment. $400 a month will go a LONG way to repairing one that is paid for instead of just treading water on the loan.
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  • idsman75
    iluvguns--Yep. Dave Ramsey was a slap in the face for me---a much needed one. I had financed and paid off 2 new vehicles and a new motorcycle by the time I had heard his voice. Now I own and have read three of his books which seem to keep walking off and into someone else's hands. That's fine. You can buy 10 copies of "Financial Peace" for $100. When I'm done with TRADOC and back in a line unit I'm going to give every brand new soldier that comes to my squad or platoon a copy of that book. I don't know how many countless soldier issues I've had to deal with or help resolve that had everything to do with financing this or paying off that (failure to do so).
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  • iluvguns
    ids...if you let Dave know what you're doing with the books, I bet he will cut you a better deal than that. He is a great guy. Had a chance to talk to him in Louisville a couple years back at one of his "talks." Went through FPU at my church a short time later, and am now a certified instructor. I wish more young people would listen to him. I was like you and just got tired of chasing the wrong "American dream." I got the slap too when I first heard him!
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  • Permanently deleted user
    Congrats!!!! I've got less than $200,000.00 to go...I think. I hope to be debt free within 14 years.
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  • pickenup
    Debt free? Nope. Still have a mortgage on one of my houses. Everything else is free and clear. May rent out that house, may not, haven't decided yet.
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  • dlrjj
    Debt can be a very productive and constructive mechanism if used properly, just not very often if it is used for consumer purchases. There are always circumstances that exist where people have to buy something on credit that they really need, or must replace, right now, but in general consumer debt is a poor and expensive trap to enter.

    Business debt, on the other hand, can often be a useful tool and, as such, is no different than any other tool that is used. Many times there is more money to be made by some form of business investment than what the cost of the money entails, and then the use of credit can be a good thing, if it is not stretched to the point that any adversity will cause failure.

    A good rule of thumb when evaluating a situation is "What's the cost of being wrong?" If you make a good analysis of a situation, but turn out to be wrong, can you survive the result at a reasonable cost? Is the potential cost too great in relationship to the potential gain? Can you live with the level of loss if you are wrong?

    All are questions to be answered, but credit is not a bad thing if used to move you forward, but if just used to satisfy your whims, it is very, very dangerous.
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