FI is a journey that requires sacrifices.
Some people aren’t willing to make these sacrifices as it means that they’ll have to give up some of their comforts. Being able to make these sacrifices is being financially responsible! Some would call it financial maturity, or being able to delay gratification today in an effort to move closer to your end goals.
Anyone that’s working towards financial independence knows that foregoing gratification today to focus on our goals of getting out of debt, saving for retirement, and investing towards our future is not easy!
A few years ago, my wife and I decided we wanted to pay off all of our non mortgage debt as fast as we possibly could. We ended up paying just shy of $60,000 in consumer debts off in less than two years!!! It was not easy, and we knew going into it that we needed to make it happen. We didn’t sell anything to pay off the debt, rather we did it the old fashioned way: through blood, sweat, and tears! We worked long and hard hours, many nights of the week and weekends…all while having a newborn at home. Did we enjoy it? NO!!! (Not at the time anyways).. but today when we look back it was such a small sacrifice we made compared to the joy and freedom we have together now!
Either way you cut it, you have a price to pay! There is a cost to getting into debt, the same way that there is a sacrifice to getting out of debt! Eventually, anyone that lives beyond their means will have to make a painful sacrifice. We’ll either get into a situation where all of our money is going towards our debt payments every month and we won’t have any money for anything else, or our spending will be so out of control that our life is no longer yours and we become slaves to the banks and credit agencies as we try to figure out how to move forward!
It’s better in my opinion to tear the bandaid off quickly and proactively move towards FI! What we gain in exchange for our short term pain and suffering is not just a few extra dollars in the bank at the end of the month. Rather it’s the liberty of not being a slave to the lender, and moving closer towards our financial goals and freedom! The stress and anxiety that’s also lifted off of you once you’re debt free is another reason in itself!
Wherever you’re at on your journey to FI right now, if you’re facing any debt at this time, what’s holding you back from paying it off and why??!
Send me a line, I would like to hear from you!
RAFI