For the last 6 years we have been a one-income family with my wife, Margo, staying home to raise our children. Needless to say, our financial situation has always been a problem for us, particularly since we came together over 13 years ago with debt in tow.
We figure we’ve been a major success story for the banks– get loan, pay down loan and interest, obtain another loan, and another… consolidate to free up money then get another loan!! We have owned the viscious circle called “debt”–only we never got the T-shirt.
This has started to changed in the past year–In February 2005 (one month after being turned down for another ‘final’ consolidation loan as part of our mid-life pay-down scheme) we were at our wits end and turned to a book that I had picked up at an airport while on a business trip– “Start Late Finish Rich”. We loved it so much that we got the previous edition “Automatic Millionaire” and after reading these books we have finally gone from numerous lines of credit ($57,000 total) and a history of late payments to paying down over $20,000 and setting up our bank payments automatically–what a great idea that is!! To deal with the rest of our loans we consolidated into a second mortgage, using the equity in our home to get a great rate which now means we have $150 per week going into a savings account!! We are finally able to start saving for the future.
We’re not on track to be millionaires yet (we still don’t have a clue about investing yet), but we’re moving upward and to the right!! Money is still tight , but imagine how deluded we have been to continue in the cycle of debt. We have a long way to go and hope to stay on track–keep your fingers crossed!
Thanks David!
