Posted on 11/20/2020 9:28:51 AM PST by Kaslin
Long before the coronavirus hit our shores, our society’s focus on instant gratification has in many respects made acts of self-sacrifice a lost art.
On Monday, Rep. Alynna Pressley, D-Mass, claimed canceling student debt represents a “racial justice issue.” The following day, I submitted a contrary piece of evidence: I paid off my mortgage — with a balance far exceeding the average American’s student loan balance — seven years early.
At a time many Americans remain unemployed or underemployed, I recognize the economic hardship millions of families face, through circumstances (i.e., a global pandemic) not of their own making. Given the recent growth in coronavirus cases, extending the suspension on student loan payments past its current Dec. 31 expiration date seems an entirely fair and reasonable move.
But as someone who specifically decided against going to an Ivy League school due to the additional debt that would rack up, I recognize that incurring student debt ultimately represents a choice. Indiscriminately negating the effects of those choices does an injustice to those students who made tough decisions — working their way through school or starting out at a community college to save money — to avoid taking on massive amounts of student debt in the first place.
Likewise, my decision to pay off my mortgage as soon as possible also represented a choice. The real experience of spending the past four-plus years running my own business further motivated the drive to become debt-free as soon as I could. Can I obtain, and retain, clients? Will I have enough money to pay the bills? Those were just a few of the many questions about the uncertainty of entrepreneurship.
Paying off my mortgage early came in part due to luck. I got a very fortunate break when I went on a game show nearly eight years ago, the winnings from which put my savings into overdrive. But even with that lucky break, achieving such a milestone came down not to any single big decision, but to many small ones, most of which involved four words: I can’t afford it.
That attitude meant skipping dinners out, or paying bills at restaurants and bars with cash to discourage over-spending. It meant not traveling to the 2012 Olympics in the city I had lived in and loved, because doing so would have depleted most of my emergency fund. And it meant second-guessing, and ultimately forgoing, a lavish vacation with my game show winnings.
I’ll admit that I occasionally took this attitude to extremes, like the time many years ago I woke up to a frigid apartment and found the thermostat read 48 degrees. (I did turn the heat on immediately.) But as with many goals, I wouldn’t have accomplished mine without focusing on the main priority (paying off my mortgage), and subsuming other financial goals to that bigger picture.
Our society’s focus on instant gratification has in many respects made acts of self-sacrifice a lost art. Congress has shown such little discipline in failing to set spending priorities that our nation faced trillion-dollar deficits well before the coronavirus ever hit our shores. Even after the pandemic fades, and the restrictions on social life ease, a renewed appreciation of self-sacrifice would serve American society well — provided we leaven it with the proper perspective.
Unlike some contrarian millennials, I don’t plan to embrace the “Financial Independence, Retire Early” mantra and settle back into a work-free lifestyle. While I recognize the pull of an independent lifestyle — it’s why I started my own business — I can’t envision myself retiring now, and possibly not ever. I find the work I do mentally stimulating, and enjoy the vast majority of it, so why should I quit?
That said, both the maturity that comes with entering one’s fifth decade and the financial independence of a debt-free lifestyle have led me to an important lesson: the opposite of “more” is often not “less,” but “enough.” That could mean not taking an additional client or project, because the extra work isn’t worth the time and hassle when money isn’t an issue. It could also mean overcoming one’s inherent desire to save every penny and forcing oneself to splurge and travel more (and yes, I had to practically force myself to do this several years ago; I eventually learned my lesson — and am glad I did.)
Most importantly, I look forward to giving back in both time and treasure to the people and causes that matter to me. That means taking more time to spend with friends, and hopefully (post-pandemic) travel with them too. It also means increasing my charitable contributions now that I don’t have a mortgage payment.
If financial advisor Suze Orman calls money a vehicle to provide security, then paying off a mortgage (or student loan debt) provides a much-needed safety blanket to sleep easier in insecure times. Ticking that accomplishment ticked off the financial to-do list means I have eaten my proverbial vegetables — providing a chance to savor dessert. The rent-free and mortgage-free lifestyle should give provide time and space to enjoy many of the things I wanted to experience in prior years but felt uncomfortable doing so.
Therein lies hope for all of us, as this year we’ll all remember and yet want to forget slowly winds to a close. While we all wish the pandemic would have disappeared months ago, it will in time recede, and we can enjoy the things we’ve longed for over the past eight months. Just as soon as the sun rises in the east every morning, sticking to a course of action will in time prove to be its own reward.
Pffftttt. Uncle joe&ho gonna take care of everything.
My wife and I got into Dave Ramsey a while back. The one thing we did that I thought didn’t make sense until he explained it - and we did it - was pay off the small debts first, even if they had a low interest rate. And it really does work because it attacks the psychological aspects of this thing.
But as we get older, we find we just don’t really desire to spend money as we did when we were younger. It’s absurdly cheap for us to live, and we have pretty much everything we want.
Getting rid of TV a couple of decades ago and all the ads it presented may have helped. We are not very active “consumers”.
I recently discovered Dave Ramsey’s radio program. It’s pretty darned good. He and his crew have done more good for more people than that dotard Biden and the entire Democrat snakeoil team.
Christopher Jacobs obviously has no future in government...
This world is full of fools.
Most of them have spent their entire Friday paycheck by Thursday morning.
Excellent post and advice.
I have to hide my “savings” in Retirement plans, and IRA’s, because my wife is a spend thrift.
Fine! No problem! I max everything out in savings (including a Cash account that never gets touched) and it’s taken out before the paycheck gets deposited.
“...My wife and I got into Dave Ramsey a while back. ...”
Yep...great guy. My family owes him a mighty big THANKS!!!
FWIW, the wife and I attended one of seminars many years ago. He was there in person. We followed the plan to the letter. We have been totally out of debt for several years now.
That includes our main home and a vacation home. We live frugally.
Both of our children have also followed the plan. My son had over $70K in student loan debt...it’s ALL paid off.
The key to making that work is to apply those payments to the next biggest debt bill.
When that is paid off, then use the two payments you no longer have but are used to paying and apply if to the third bill.
That way, you pay off the larger ones even faster because you have more cash to pay them off with.
It's a kind of snowball effect.
I don’t remember if it was FOX and Friend, or Bill O, Reilly who used to have him on regular several years ago.
If you have an iPhone 11 (or even an iPhone 6) you don’t need to spend $1000+ on an iPhone 12.
Just name me one thing (except brag) you can do on an iPhone12 that you can’t do on an iPhone6?
That's very similar to the approach I took many years ago when I found myself with a lot of debt. Back in those pre-Internet days, we had an array of department store cards like Sears, JCPenney, Circuit City, etc. Our kids were young and the wife and I decided it would be better for all of us if she stayed home so money got tight. It was so easy running up those department store cards. At one point, we had like seven of them with varying balances.
So what I did was make the minimum payment on all the cards except the one with the lowest balance (regardless of interest rate). I paid as much as I could on the lowest card until it was paid off. Then I cut it up and repeated with the next lowest card.
When we got to the big one (over $5,000 balance), we got it paid off in a surprising amount of time as we were by then able to put $1,000-$1,500 on the payment since we had no other ones to pay off. Lot macaroni and cheese dinners but it was worth it - and the kids loved mac and cheese anyhow.
It was so good getting out from under. I felt like I got a huge pay raise. But instead of splurging, I upped my 401(k) contributions at work and opened a Roth IRA account.
Never used a department store card again. Even today, we just have an AMEX and VISA and pay them off immediately when used.
There are two types of people in the world. Those that borrow money and those who lend money. Always better to be in the latter group!
“I spent half my money on gambling, alcohol and wild women. The other half I wasted.”
im actually a very frugal person ..
That should be taught in every high school along with how credit cards and loans work. I used this method after a divorce about 30 years ago. The method of paying off the easiest, then apply the money you were paying on that bill to the next easiest. Before long you have freed up a lot of money to go after the big ones. Soon, all the cash will be going into a savings or investment account. Getting rid of unnecessary things like cable, land lines if you have a cell, switching to a VOIP phone if you need a land line, buying a vehicle that is not the price of what a house used to be and so on. It's amazing how quickly things add up.
Thanks for the tips on watching Dave Ramsey. :D
Finance
Hard-Working Plumber Looking Forward To Paying For His Neighbor’s Gender Studies Degree
https://babylonbee.com/news/hard-working-plumber-looking-forward-to-paying-his-for-his-neighbors-gender-studies-degree
One of the big issues in our church is to be debt free because debt is a form of slavery.
I have seen a number of families transformed by eradicating their debt and then not having to worry about car payments, house payments, and credit card payments. Happiness increases as debt decreases.
For our family we saw huge income during the oil boom but now that things have gotten bad guess what? We want for nothing. We have money set aside and whatever we earn on the side is all gravy so we’re fine.
My husband even had enough money from his construction/paving business last year that he bought an old airplane and had it refurbished and upgraded. So we get to see him on the weekends now because he’s never more than a few hours away.
All because we’re debt free.
Lots of wisdom in the Bible about avoiding debt and if you try it you’ll see for yourself how wise these people were from 2000 and 4000 years ago!
I paid off my AMEX in 1986, and have never had a credit card since.
I have no major debt.
I have not used any payday loan services.
I live within my means, and have the roof over me, the lights to cook with, and the pantry not empty.
I’m not married, either.
Older electronics, limited eating out, cash for older cars (lower property and sales taxes) and don’t buy collision insurance, and used clothes.
We are Seniors, when we moved out of crime infested, over taxed Memphis, TN to next county, used hubby’s VA loan, 15 yr mortgage. Bought a new Malibu with bells & whistles. Paid both off early.
Thanks to OBAMA/BIDEN RAISING THE TAX DEDUCTIONS ON MEDICAL, WE NOW HAVE TO FILE SHORT FORM. EVEN WITH $10 k IN MEDICAL OUT OF POCKET. I want to know WHY A MEDICAL CONDITION, BADLY DONE CATRACT SURGERY, WRONG LENSE, IS FIXED WITH OUT OF POCKET YOU PAY FOR LASIX? THIS WAS A $5 k EXPENSE. MEDICARE/TRICARE LIFE. THEY COVER A BOOB JOB AFTER A MASECTOMY, IT IS A ELECTIVE SURGERY.
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