When I started blogging about personal finance in 2011, my financial life was in transition. My wife and I had been aggressively paying down a mountain of consumer, student loan and auto loan debt for a few years at that point, and we were about one year away from finally being debt free.
But like many people on that long and lonely path to debt freedom, I was frustrated with the slow pace and became a victim of my own success. The fact that my debt payoff plan was working and not springing leaks that needed constant attention gave me a lot of free time to think about the macro level ideas of personal finance, and the psychological reasons people abuse themselves financially.
At the time I was reading a lot of personal finance blogs, so I decided to start Married (with Debt) in October 2011 as a way to learn more about online publishing and have an outlet for all the ideas I had (when you are bettering yourself, your friends or family aren’t going to want to hear about it).
I found the Yakezie Network in late December after a series of work-related setbacks inspired me to get serious and begin posting multiple times per week. I started the challenge at the beginning of the year and by Valentine’s Day had broken through the one quantifiable metric tracked by the Challenge.
Without the Yakezie Network, I probably would not be blogging today. I have met many kind and smart people (luckily meeting some of them in person) and even learned how to monetize online publishing.
As a writer who considers him a novice at blogging, having a group of people sharing similar challenges has really made the difference for me.
A Little About Me
I’m 31 years old and have been married for 8 years to a schoolteacher. We have two daughters, aged 7 and 2.
I have a bachelor’s degree in political science and work in political communication (yes, I sell the one thing no one wants: politicians) but I generally don’t enjoy discussing politics.
We married in our early twenties, and as the children of lower middle-class families we did what most young couples do when they get out of college and get paid: we bought stuff. New clothes and new furniture to replace the college apartment hand-me-downs, new cars, and a house. We also took a few international vacations.
It was in 2008 when I realized that when times got tough, the rich would get bailouts, the poor would get handouts, and the middle-class would get left out.
I began to see personal finance as a way for the middle-class to empower themselves and achieve independence from a financial system that has been created to keep certain people poor, make others rich without risk, and ultimately put profits before people.
I am happy to say that we recently became debt free and I feel even more optimistic that others can break the cycle of debt dependence to put their families and their communities first. Because debt affects us at all levels of society and robs us of the agility we need to seize opportunities, it is in our shared interest to eliminate it wherever we can.
Nailing the Transitions
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I started this blog at a time of transition. As I officially join the Yakezie Network, my life and site are again in transition. Now that we are debt free (minus the house), my writing and interests will shift more towards building wealth and planning for retirement.
Obviously that means the content at Married (with Debt) will evolve as I evolve. But I will always remain focused on my readers, because what truly keeps me going is getting email requests for my debt payoff and budget spreadsheet and thank-yous for helping someone get on the right track.
As Yakezie helped Married (with Debt) through its infancy, I have no doubt that it will continue to benefit me as I try new things and expand my online focus. It has been proven to me that once you let go of the me-vs-everyone idea and just start sharing and helping other bloggers, the things that are meant to happen can happen.
I look forward to helping Yakezie and other personal finance bloggers grow.
I live you’re line about selling the one thing that nobody wants! Now that you are debt free, are you going to change the name of your blog? :)
Hey Edward. I probably won’t change it because I was so happy when I scored the domain name. We still have a mortgage so it unfortunately still works (though it was never my intention to pay off my house early).
Thanks for reading
“It is in our shared interest to eliminate it (debt) whenever we can.”
John for President!
Ha! I assume the check is in the mail? Thanks for your support, Joe (and not just in my campaign)
Congrats on becoming a member! Love your blog as always.
Thanks Michelle, I appreciate your consistent support and sharing.
Congrats on becoming debt free and a member. Good things ahead!
Thanks MB. Looking forward to the new direction of Yakezie.
“It was in 2008 when I realized that when times got tough, the rich would get bailouts, the poor would get handouts, and the middle-class would get left out.
I began to see personal finance as a way for the middle-class to empower themselves and achieve independence from a financial system that has been created to keep certain people poor, make others rich without risk, and ultimately put profits before people.”
I love that insight, John. It has been great reading your work and meeting you in person; I’m glad we were able to do that and I hope we’re able to again! Continue the great work and I’m excited to see Mw/D evolve!
Thanks Jason. I love your blog and appreciate having you as someone I can bounce ideas off of. Looking forward to great things ahead.
I love reading the story of people’s financial lives and going from debt focus to retirement and investing is always an interesting transition. I will definitely be following along.
Thanks Lance. I appreciate your support and love your redesign.
Like Joe, I bet I’d vote for you! John 2016!
Great picture – it looks like you are gazing out on an uncertain future. Maybe that could be your main campaign photo?
LOL. Thanks PK. Now I have to sew up the rest of the 2G Podcast then I’ll have my own little Fox News Channel. Always enjoy your stuff my friend!
Hi John,
Enjoyed your post, very inspirational and straight from the heart. I relate a lot, believe me. I’m 40, with a little debt remaining but definitely implementing “wealth building strategies” to get on the “fast track” as Robert Kiyosaki would say. My blog is focused on such things as well….financial education and wealth building.
It is a journey, for sure. I have no doubt that you will eliminate all bad debt that remains and create, by true definition, wealth. It starts within.
Thanks Joseph. You are definitely right about it starting within. Once you get that fire inside, the killer instinct, the rest is just watching the calendar go by.
John, Welcome. Best of luck in your ongoing blogging. I look forward to getting to know you and your site.
Thanks Barb. Enjoyed being on your Team and learning from your wisdom and experience.
John, thanks for sharing your story with us. It makes me really happy reading about how others have succeeded at getting out of debt and earning by publishing online. It’s nice to see you enter the challenge and pass it – as it really does take effort to write.
Thanks Veronica. I always enjoyed reading about people getting out of debt and thinking ‘one day that will be me.’ It has been a tough ro
Hey John!
Congrats on being consumer debt free! I didn’t realize you sell politics, so I have to ask: With Obama obviously getting re-elected, why would anybody want to continue donating money to Romney? It’s kinda like throwing money away, is it not?
One of the things I say to my readers is that in order to build wealth, we must predict the future, bet on the future, hope we are right, and keep going. We have to face REALITY, and the reality allows us to position our investments appropriately, REGARDLESS of which politician we like.
Excited to continue following your journey!
Sam
Thanks Sam for everything.
Regarding Romney, I don’t see why anyone, at this point, would give him another dime.
It’s a lost cause.
I guess there are always people buying a company even as its stock plummets in a fiery implosion, so he will have to get by on those betting on a Hail Mary or an October Surprise.
MwD has always been one of our favorites, and your story and the success that you guys experienced, has inspired us and motivated us to keep going through tough times.. To top it off, John is a super, super nice guy and we are happy to consider him a friend.
-j-
Really honored to have a blogging superstar duo like you guys as readers, and more importantly, as friends. Looking forward to seeing you guys cross the debt free line and continue on the path of blogging domination.
Congrats on being debt free. Being able to see that change needs to occur is the biggest challenge for most people.
Thanks Sean. Glad to have you as a reader and enjoy your site.
great line on what you typically sell, totally agree! Glad to see your network post and it was great meeting you. Nice that you dont express regrets for all the things you bought – I did at first and realized it was a waste of time. I think your point about empowering the middle class through personal finance is a great one – too many people dont realize the amount of power they hold by picking to spend (or not spend) their dollars.
Thanks Jeff. You were the first person to comment on my Challenge post back in January and welcome me into the group. Means a lot to me. Looking forward to the new road ahead.
Great intro — and I’ve loved your blog even before you were just plain Married (). :) Kudos.
Thanks! I’m just lucky to have solid people like you to come up with.
Congratulations. I guess selling politicians is the ultimate selling hot air!
Nice intro man. It looks you will lead the people to the right way and will surely provide some ways to tackle their debts. Good Luck for the rest of future…
Hi John, I really liked this! Thanks!
I hope you don’t mind but your summary of debt through the social spectrum is so accurate I’d like to use it myself, it’s fantastic “the rich would get bailouts, the poor would get handouts, and the middle-class would get left out.”
John, excellent post! It’s an exciting transition and one that I see as being all about options, like you where you live and what you do dont have to be dictated by debt anymore. I like that you have a target audience, and I think I have a similar market but I also want to serve the very poorest people. The ones who have no access to internet, and have a check cashing store on every block and go to schools with metal detectors. How we treat those people and show respect shows who we are as a people. Welcome to the network!
Congrats John. I really enjoy your blog and it was an inspiration for my own blog. I guess seeing others success is motivation for us all to be successful. I look froward to your transition to posting on wealth management… best of luck!
John- Big congrats on becoming a member. I remember when you announced in the forums that you were joining the challenge. From then until now, I pictured you as Al Bundy – because I always thought of Married With Children (rather than debt). I’m bummed to see that you’re an attractive guy…
What I hoped most middle classers learned from 2008 is that you can’t live solely on home equity.
Congrats on becoming a Member John! I love hearing stories like yours about people who turn their financial situations around and get out of debt.
Congrats on becoming a member!