Yakezie Member Post-Straight Talk on Debt | Personal Finance & Lifestyle | Yakezie Forums

Suzanne,

Hi there – nice blog.  Much needed information for a debt ridden society.   You should consider creating a signature with a link to your blog.  It took me sometime to get there indirectly.  A link is more accessible and helps us readers get to it in a jiffy

Post edited 10:04 pm – December 26, 2010 by debtfreedivas

I'm surprised there are not more posts in a topic on debt by financial bloggers.:) I'll give it a whirl.

I had a conversation with my brother about finances some time ago. We added my family's combined income (large family). I was blown away to think of how much we made vs. the sheer lack of tangible assets we possess. As Thomas Stanley (author of Millionaire Next Door) puts it, we are Income Statement Affluent. You could say we were 2 paychecks away from the projects (low/no-income housing).

I reached my own epiphany with debt after discovering Dave Ramsey. The first line of one of his books asked if you can imagine owning your house free and clear. It never occurred to me that one can and should live without a mortgage before retirement. In my upbringing, debt was a way of life. We didn't by used cars. Finance a new car because it comes with a warranty. As long as you appear to be well off, behind the scenes was unimportant.

My concern was always the credit score. As long as your score is tip top, then debt is something you managed (i.e accepted as normal). A year of extended underemployment after relocating to marry (10 years before the great recession), an unexpected contract termination, a layoff, a car lease gone bonkers, and one underwater business later; I'm singing another tune.

Our goal with the Debt Free Divas is to educate the masses. We want to help people avoid the pitfalls that developing a comfort level with debt can present. I am learning that if you don't know, you don't know. When people learn how to live on a budget, eliminate debt, and develop an emergency fund; they'll be able to make better financial decisions concerning their present and their family's future.

Hey everyone, glad to be a part of such an awesome group. Like the debt free divas, I started my financial revolution through Dave Ramsey. His programs made such a difference in our lives that I trained with his staff and became one of his certified financial coaches. Since 2007 I've been helping people take control of their finances and eliminate debt so they can save for the future.

Prior to all this, my wife and I had some debt of the typical nature: home mortgage, student loans, car loans and credit cards (we always paid them off but they always seemed to tempt us into spending more than we wanted or planned). We thought we were doing well financially but we never seemed to get very far in our retirement investing.

One day we woke up and decided to never borrow money again. We paid off our debts, saved up an emergency fund, and proceeded to pay off our house. When I lost my engineering job we didn't skip a beat because we were prepared for it. I took my passion for teaching and empowering people with their finances full time and it's been a wild ride.

Now I blog, podcast, coach, teach and a few other things but it all focuses on helping people get educated and live debt free. I joined the Yakezie challenge because I want to grow my blog and reach out to help as many people as possible.