———
Debt Status
Current Debt: $15,637
Change From Last Post: Debt is $189 Higher
Note -- I made $160 payment and took on no new debt this week. The increase is due to interest from the last few months that I just calculated in. I'm making the next payment in 6 days.
———
Personal Finance Epiphany
Working on my Instagram Quest gave me a Personal Finance Quest epiphany.
You may know that my finance quest has been difficult. It’s hard to work your way from being flat broke to my medium-term goal of being debt-free and comfortable. You are probably doing something similar to this, earning money on Steem and hoping it pays off big time later on. You know how hard it can be.
What I noticed about Instagram is how much simpler my goals there are. I have one goal on Insta: Get more organic followers. Every few days, I post an update, and that one statistic tells me everything I need to know. On Instagram, if I get more organic followers I win, otherwise I am losing.
On Personal Finance, I have failed to maintain the same rigid simplicity.
Simplifying to the Max: All I Care About Is Paying Debt Now
No other goals are relevant. I am not allowed to claim any “progress” for any kind of “win” other than paying off debts. If I pay off my debt faster than expected, I win big. If its slow, I lose.
Thinking about Steem Power or other fancy stuff is off the menu for now (I’m holding 1k SP as my “moon fund,” but no more). None of it helps those of us who are in debt. For us, all we can do is pay off the debt.
When you have debt it’s tempting to think about anything else. It’s a lot more fun to think about the possibility of big cryptocurrency gains. You can get hyped up on crazy ideas, like putting your money into steem and bitcoin rather than paying off debt. None of that stuff makes sense.
What does make sense is to become a “debt maximalist,” where the full obsession is on paying off debt.
I WANT THIS DEBT GONE!!!
All of the other stuff in my life - trips to NYC, buying better music gear, vacations or adventures - it’s all secondary to paying debt. The debt is due.
I want to pay off all of my debt before the end of 2018. That is not realistic by my current income, but if I do my best, who knows what could happen in the next 8 months to make it possible.
The first step is to set the goal and clear out space for something good to emerge. My debt is on borrowed time.
This post has received a 25.00 % upvote from @sharkbank thanks to: @sammosk.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
It's gonna be okay man! Debt sucks big time. I know how that feels. You won't have that total sense of freedom to live the life until it's all gone! Keep on counting down to $0 debt bro. Cheers!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Thanks naira! I will feel better when I can share a real progress update for once -_-
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Have to agree with you, debt is evil. Hope you dont have any credit cards, they are worse. I have two of them, both with a debt of £0.00. The CC people dont like me much.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Well some of the debt is old credit stuff, some is personal debt. No active credit cards tho, I couldn't take out any new credit even if I wanted to which is a blessing in disguise.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
May I ask what the debt is for and what the interest rate is? Not all debt is bad and 15K is really not that much money. It would take one small surge in crypto and you could have more than enough to pay that off and then some. I've seen it happen. I know that debt can be financially and emotionally crippling and I understand why you might not want to have it but you might be cutting your nose off to spite your face right now. I'm not saying to stop making payments but there is real money being made in crypto and you could potentially earn enough to make that debt disappear overnight. It sounds like a pipe dream but I personally know people who have done this and seen the surges in my own wallet.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I dont want to put a bunch of money into high risk investments instead of paying off my debt, that seems like a bad idea. I already have 1000 steem tokens which is plenty of investment for now.
Like you definitely could put a bunch of money into crypto and hope that it pays off, but, thats just not my strategy. Paying off $15,000 doesnt need to be a lottery, I'd rather pay it off with a slower and steadier approach. It sounds smart to just ride the "inevitable" crypto wave, but in my experience, this does not work.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Understood. I lived for many years with lingering debt that caused me a lot of anxiety. My interest rates were high and my credit was lousy. But I got out. Being free of debt is the greatest feeling and I certainly don't want to detract from your efforts. I'm not even saying invest money in crypto. Just keep doing what you are doing and maybe this summer when Steem goes crazy you will be able to wipe that sucker out.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Could you move the debt to an interest free account while you are paying it off or negotiate that no further interest is added to it?
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
nope
edit: ok to be more detailed -- I've seen a lot of finance articles suggesting you call and follow a script of some kind, asking for the manager, saying you aren't satisfied yet, etc, until they offer a lower interest plan or other deferments. It hasn't panned out for me despite repeated attempts. At this point most of my debt is at a very very low interest rate anyway (like 3%) this was more of a fluke due to me tracking it badly. Thanks for the idea tho
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Okay - we get a lot of offers for interest free credit if you transfer an existing balance. Sometimes the transfer fee is a bit questionable - you're not necessarily paying much less! We also have debt management processes here where you ask that interest is stopped and then you negotiate a payment schedule based on your incoming/outgoing budgets. But I accept that's the UK 😎
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
An old man is dying of cancer. He goes to his favourite pub and charges up $5,000 on his VISA buying drinks for everyone. After an evening filled with drinks, laughs, and fun for all, he passes out drunk and never wakes up.
What happened to the $5,000?
I'm sad that your debt burdens you. Debt shouldn't burden anyone. It's fake money. All money is fake money. It doesn't actually exist... and if you think I'm a crazy person, I'm not; people make it disappear all the time! It's called bankruptcy... or as I pointed out, death.
Crypto is the closest thing to real money that exists.
Why? Crypto assets cannot be seized. Crypto payments cannot be censored; crypto wages cannot be garnished by government mandate. If you own crypto, not owning it is as easy as forgetting the private key. Owning it is then as simple as remembering it again.
Try doing that with a bank note... or a gold bar, for that matter. Yes, yes... I know about the boating accidents.
Still, everyone has to do things their own way. Hopefully the moon rocket waits for you to pay off your debt, so you can get back to powering up with the rest of us :) Wishing you the best in your quest.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Thanks for sharing this friend, it's been really helful for me, I've been scammed recently and now I need to do everything to help my personal finances, anyone else should read this https://cascadebusnews.com/why-is-scamming-still-a-thing-in-the-forex-market/ , to pay atention on fishy deals and help yourselfs from being scammed.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit