Another Grand Bites the Dust

I put down $1,000 today towards my student loans and it got me thinking that I haven’t updated you fine folks on the numbers in a couple of months. Here is where I am at:

As I stated back in March, I was able to get a consolidation (praise!) and my new outstanding loan total that I financed was 43K. As of today, my total balance is around 36K. I have paid off approximately 7K since the beginning of April.

For those of you following me since my first “holy smokes I am in some deep water and am about to drown” realization back in 2010 (73k in the hole), then to my “okay, I am pissed about this debt and I am about to tackle it” phase in 2013 (79K in the hole):

I HAVE PUT DOWN 54 THOUSAND DOLLARS 

IN A MATTER OF 28 MONTHS.

(About 43K being principal, the other 11K being ridiculous interest)

I say this not to brag. I say this to motivate you. I say this to say that If I can, you can. Get mad. Get motivated. Get started!

You don’t have to have a consolidation to win with this. You can tackle this on your own without a consolidation; yes, it may cost you a bit more if your interest is high like mine was, but if that is the case, keep trying to consolidate in the background, but move! move! move! at all times on extra payments. Paying down that smallest debt first needs to be your priority.

All that motivation aside, allow me to get real with you for a moment. There is great joy found in paying down a debt you owe, but there are also the ever present Smith’s, and their besties, the Jones’ – aka, the modern day wants:

My current pain point: I want a new car like bad.

I still have a positive outlook overall on my debt management, especially in comparison to where I was a couple of years ago; however, here lately, it has been really hard to keep driving my Honda. And when I say 'I want a new car like bad', I do indeed mean somewhat used. I have had the same Honda since I was 16, so after driving it for 12 years, I am REAL ready for something different. It has relatively low miles (150K) so I know this thing will last me another year or two, but I just want to trade her in like pronto.

On the contrary, I read a chapter out of 'Total Money Makeover' the other night and there was a line in there that struck a chord. It said something to the effect of how Dave passionately believes that he and his wife were able to win with money due to their willingness to drive old beater cars in the beginning of their makeover. I know this is true because I am projecting to be completely debt free in about 18 or 19 months; again, completely debt free!! However, if I cave and get a new car now, I will most definitely be looking at 30+ months before I would be debt free. That’s 10 or more months of having to stay in the same job that I am not super fond of, that’s 10 more months of ‘edge living’ by delaying the start of a fully funded emergency fund, and the list goes on.

Help reassure this wordy birdy that I can indeed put on my mature pants and WAIT a while before I go purchasing something I know I cannot afford yet. I need not to finance another thing, even if the payments would be completely doable and relatively low. Amen? Amen! 

How to Handle Past Financial Mistakes for Better Future

Nobody is perfect in life as everyone tend to make good or bad decisions. People do good deeds as well as bad deeds in their life as per the situation. We often made some mistakes in their personal life related to personal relations and finance. Somehow you can easily manage to cope up with other mistakes but financial wrong doings are quite difficult to fix up. We all made fiscal mistakes that have profound effect on the future and to realize them and to correct them should be your important goal.

At some point you spend beyond your income, save less that leads to your biggest financial mistake that has to be fixed at once. Proper planning, self-discipline and a perfect execution are the best keys to correct the fiscal mistakes for the better of the future.

Proper education about the financial mistakes you commit is necessary matter to take further steps in correcting them that ultimately shape up the future. What you can do is, to realize the mistakes and take steps to fix them up.

Here are some of the common monetary mistakes that most people do in the past that can be analyzed, corrected for the betterment of the future: 

No Emergency Funds for the Future

Earlier people had the habit to make use of monthly income to the fullest with not saving even a single dime for emergency circumstances that can crop in the future. As per the past 2013 report, about 75% of Americans did not have enough cash reserved for the future. The main reason was of thinking having low source of income or paying all the debts at one go.

Fixing up this issue is quite important that demands you to save at least 20% of your income by minimizing the expenditures after creating a balanced budget.

Getting into High Interest Debt

Most people made the decision to go for any loan that can be like Disability Loans – Same Day Loans For Disabled - Loans For People On DSS Benefits, title loan or any other just throw the money down into drain. This makes their future goes into jeopardy with not having any savings as major part of the income goes into debt settlement.

Getting relief from this fiscal hardship is possible if you work on the issues that lead to financial borrowing from externals source of finance.

Worst Career Mistakes

Many people think feel bored or disgusted about the current employment with least chances of growth and no scope for getting a raise. This seems to have a direct connection with your wrong career choice in the past as a result for which your financial future is cloudy.

Instead of thinking of doing mistake in the past, it is better to do the right thing by improving work at present to acquire favorable financial gains.

Start Implementing the Saving Plan

Thinking about financial mistakes of not saving enough money, to control overspending and not actually executing these plans into action is itself a financial mistake. So, you better to act from now onwards to minimum the budget, control the expenses and save more.