Its an ugly topic but one that we've all though about.
I have recently resolved myself to the fact that I have way too much debt and I need to pay it off.
I have excellent credit, and a really good job. But I have reached a level of debt that makes me very uncomfortable. Approx $22k in debt. Not including my car payment. Thats a low interest loan at 3.9% so I'm not including it here.
Why share this info with all of you? Well, because I think that people that are deep in debt sometimes feel ashamed of it. Don't want to face it. Procrastinate about it. etc....
I'm here to tell you that the sooner you have a plan, and stick to it, you'll start feeling relief. Just tallying it all up and making a decision to tackle it makes you feel a little better.
I've put myself on a 15 month plan and will be debt free June 2015. Like many others out there I've kicked myself for getting in this deep. It annoys me that all the money I'm gonna spend digging myself out could've gone to my 401k or another investment such as a mutual fund, college savings for my kid, etc... But once the debt is 100% GONE, then I'll be able to snowball money into such things.
This didn't all happen overnight mind you. It was a culmination of years of reckless spending, and telling myself I'd worry about it later. Well....later has arrived.
At first it was $5k in debt....no biggie. Then time passes and its 10k in debt....not to bad, I'll just throw an extra hundred at the monthly payment. Then $15k.....sticking head in sand. Now $22k.....Time to wake up.
I hope that my current experience can help some of you. And if you're in the same boat as me, I know it can fell incredibly overwhelming. Fear not my friends, we're gonna clean this mess up one way or another.
I have recently resolved myself to the fact that I have way too much debt and I need to pay it off.
I have excellent credit, and a really good job. But I have reached a level of debt that makes me very uncomfortable. Approx $22k in debt. Not including my car payment. Thats a low interest loan at 3.9% so I'm not including it here.
Why share this info with all of you? Well, because I think that people that are deep in debt sometimes feel ashamed of it. Don't want to face it. Procrastinate about it. etc....
I'm here to tell you that the sooner you have a plan, and stick to it, you'll start feeling relief. Just tallying it all up and making a decision to tackle it makes you feel a little better.
I've put myself on a 15 month plan and will be debt free June 2015. Like many others out there I've kicked myself for getting in this deep. It annoys me that all the money I'm gonna spend digging myself out could've gone to my 401k or another investment such as a mutual fund, college savings for my kid, etc... But once the debt is 100% GONE, then I'll be able to snowball money into such things.
This didn't all happen overnight mind you. It was a culmination of years of reckless spending, and telling myself I'd worry about it later. Well....later has arrived.
At first it was $5k in debt....no biggie. Then time passes and its 10k in debt....not to bad, I'll just throw an extra hundred at the monthly payment. Then $15k.....sticking head in sand. Now $22k.....Time to wake up.
I hope that my current experience can help some of you. And if you're in the same boat as me, I know it can fell incredibly overwhelming. Fear not my friends, we're gonna clean this mess up one way or another.