This is a guest post by David from LifeExcursion.com. For those of you who want to read about multiple topics, check out his blogging schedule below. You can also subscribe to his feed here.
Monday – Finance, Tuesday – Health, Wednesday – Minimalism, Thursday – Organization, Friday – Reviews (EOD review to come David?) 😀
The moral of his story is that you can kill the beast, you just have to DO IT! Enjoy!
David Versus Goliath A.K.A. DEBT
Like many of you, I have encountered the demon in the valley. It’s faceless, but we often can’t gain the courage to face it. It’s generally not physically imposing, but carries the strength of a million men. It’s story is simple, but it’s legend is demoralizing. Ladies and gentlemen, it has destroyed our towns, our cities, our families, and our friends. But today, I stand by your side to ask you all to take your sling and pebbles and help me slay that Goliath we call DEBT.
Okay, maybe that was a little dramatic. Understandable. But with the world in more debt than actual capital that exists, we must stop hiding from our mistakes and take down the debt industries and debt itself. Whether they be credit card companies, debt collectors, cash advances, or so forth, we need to stop accumulating debt and start creating wealth.
We all need to stop making excuses. I have made every excuse in the book and it took me too long to get out of debt. I understand we all have circumstances that may have led to us obtaining debt. However, we have made poor decisions when it has come to money management (or debt management) and the only people that are going to correct our mistakes are ourselves. It can and will be tough. There will be opportunities missed. There will be pleasures and conveniences left behind. There is good news though. There is freedom to be had once you have slayed the Goliath and taken control of your life.
Just think for a moment: If you had no debt and had your monthly bills covered, what would you be doing with your life? Think of the opportunities and experiences you could take advantage of. Think of your lifestyle and how it would improve. Just think of how much better your life could be without debt. When I was stricken with this enemy, I kept thinking of what could be. I decided to act and overcame the barriers of debt. I did this to be free to decide my own path in life. The greatest news I can spread to you all is that this is possible for you too. You just need to think of the great things that can come to your life by ridding that debt and act.
It all must begin somewhere. I know you may have small debts and some of you may have major debts. No size debt is too large to be overtaken. It just takes the continued motivation to free yourself from the stranglehold debt has on you and your family.
Let me provide you with a few ways to start becoming debt free today:
- Stop attaining debt. Cut the credit cards up before finishing this article.
- Stop making excuses. You know that excuses have only made the situation worse. Stop making them and you will be on the right path immediately.
- Talk with your family and friends. Tell them your goals and life aspirations. They, usually, want you to succeed and will do what they can to back you.
- Stop spending. Willy-Nilly spending is what got you into debt. It should be a habit you break now.
- STUFF is meaningless. Stuff doesn’t help you enjoy your kid’s soccer game. So stop accumulating STUFF.
- Pay debt down. Start paying your debt down and more than the minimum. The larger it is, the longer it takes to pay it off so today is a great day to start.
I am teaching you nothing new, nothing that you haven’t heard before. What I am asking of you is to stand with me in this great battle. I have seen the life after Goliath and it is amazing. It is free of worry and full of possibilities. I am here to show you that life. But I need your help to do so.
Friends from every corner of the world, hold firm. With one hand, pull that sling from your side and in the other, hold the pebbles. Load your sling and slowly aim at the Goliath. Pull your sling back as tight as possible. With complete focus and desire, release that sling and slay that Goliath. And if the Goliath is not conquered on the first try, do not give up. Continue slinging those pebbles, giving everything you can towards freeing you and your family from it’s inhuman grip. Because down the road, you will defeat that Goliath. All you have to do is pick up that sling and those pebbles and do not stop attacking that Goliath until he no longer exists and you have your freedom. Freedom you all deserve to have.
With you to the end….
David
LifeExcursion
Hope you all enjoyed! And hope you all are along for the debt fighting ride with Brad and I!
Dave
LifeExcursion
No problem Dave! Thanks for writing the post for EOD!
Every Dollar You Spend
Financial planning expert Jonathan Pond has often observed that “your best dollar is the one you don’t spend”. From the point of view of securing your and your family’s futures, there could not be a more accurate statement. Every time you spend a dollar, you give up the future value of that dollar. You lose the power that comes from possessing a sum of money. You also pay a very high price: you pay the “opportunity cost” of using that dollar in a better way. An example, though quite painful, will help you to see this concept in action in a way I assure you that you will not forget.
Had you invested about $10,000 in stock of chewing gum maker William Wrigley in April, 1986, your investment would have grown to $265,000 by early 2008. You would have been receiving cash dividends of over $7,000 per year. Yes, your annual cash receipts would have been 70% of your original investment. It does not end there. Earlier this year, Warren Buffett and Nestle purchased William Wrigley, Jr. Company for $80 cash per share. Warren and Nestle would have sent you a check for $360,000. This is quite a result from a $10,000 investment in a company that was well known in 1986.
How did you spend the $10,000 you had during the mid 1980’s? On cars, clothes, lunches, dinners, trips you can’t remember, staying at overpriced hotels and renting cars? Look around your house, in the basement and in the closets. That’s what you spent it on, that is, what’s not already gone to some poor landfill. Neither Buffett nor Nestle would send you a check for any of that.
To have made the Wrigley score, you needn’t have had the $10,000 all at once. You could have bought $500 worth and made additions through Wrigley’s dividend reinvestment plan. Many great companies had them then and have them now. Wrigley stock returned 16% or more per year for all the years from 1986 through the Buffett/Nestle buyout.
You don’t lose $1 million by carelessly misplacing it. You lose it $50 and $100 at a time, buying things you don’t really want and certainly don’t really need. You lose that future $1 million (or perhaps much more) with every dollar you spend.