I wish I could say that I, a money coach, had always made wise choices when it comes to money. I cannot.
Like millions of other people, I believed the lie about debt that is preached as gospel truth: debt is normal and everyone has it, so it must be okay. It is not okay.
My parents taught me to manage my money and never bounce a check. They lived on cash and good credit. I had a checking account from the time I was 15 and always balanced it every single month, down to the penny. I still do.
I graduated from pharmacy school in 1987 and landed a good job. Over the next few years, I changed jobs twice and ended up making around $50,000 a year. Not bad money in the early 90s for a single girl. This is where the wheels came off the wagon. I bought a new Honda Prelude that had a hefty payment attached to it. I moved from renting a nice apartment to purchasing a nice townhome. Shopping and dining out at nice restaurants with friends were some of the things I did for fun, and before too long, I was spending more than I was making each month, and the excess would go on my credit card. I took a side job to help cover the overage because I felt strangled by all the debt. There were months I paid off the credit card completely and months that I did not. Yet, it never clicked with me that there was another way. Debt was normal…or so I thought.
When my husband, Greg, and I married in 1995, he was adamant that we would not carry credit card debt. We would continue to have the credit cards, but they would be paid off each month. No problem! The two of us were making good money. We coasted along with car payments, a house payment, and a business loan until the mid-2000s and never felt stretched at all.
In 2006, we purchased land that joined our land from a family member. There was a partial house on the property, so in 2007 we decided to finish the house and sell it as a spec home. 2007…you know where this is going, right?!?
In 2008 the banking market crashed, which also meant the real estate market in our small north Georgia town crashed. We were left with a mortgage on the spec home and a land note on the property we had bought, in addition to our home mortgage and the note on the loan for the start-up of my husband’s dental practice. For about 15 months, we owed around $10,000 each MONTH in mortgage payments. We had never heard of a money coach, but boy, did we ever need one!!
We finally sold the spec home and three acres of land in 2009, sustaining a loss of about $150,000. We were the sellers, but we had to take a check to the closing to cover what we were losing, but we were happy to be rid of those payments. Mercifully, God had provided for us so that we were not financially devastated by the loss.
It was at that point that I said to myself, “NEVER AGAIN! NEVER AGAIN will we be in that kind of debt.” I have always taken care of the finances for our home, and I swore we would pay off every debt we owed as fast as we could. With my husband’s knowledge and approval, I began sending extra payments to the principal of the loans as often as I could. First, we paid off the note on the business loan, then the land mortgage, and finally, in 2018, we paid off our home. In 2015, we bought a vacation condo with my in-laws and still owed on that. A few years ago, we made the decision to sell it and be completely debt-free. FREEDOM!
It really is true what Scripture says in Proverbs 22:7: The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender. (NIV) Being enslaved to monthly payments hinders your ability to accumulate wealth because all your money is going to help the banks build bigger buildings rather than staying in your pockets.
Sure, I wish we had made better choices earlier in our lives, but the important thing is that we eventually made the wise and right choices with our money. Now, we are living debt-free and enjoying the fruit of those wise choices. It truly is an amazing feeling!
What is your money story, friend? I would love to hear it. Send me an email to [email protected] and tell me your money story.
Are you in a place where you feel like you are enslaved to debt and have no idea how you will get out of it?
Do you feel hopeless about the future for yourself and your family?
There is hope! My story with a happy ending can be your story with your own happy ending. Would you like some help with that?
Here are three FREE resources I would like to offer you.
- It’s time to get an accurate picture of where you are financially. Complete my Personal Financial Snapshot today.
- I offer a FREE consultation session where you and I can assess the information on your Personal Financial Snapshot and talk about a plan to take you from frustration and anxiety over money to freedom and peace. Go HERE to schedule that FREE session.
- Each month I send out a FREE newsletter entitled Faith & Finances with Leah that offers information, tips, and links that will help you on your money journey. I would love to send it to you. Go HERE to sign up. After you sign up, be sure and watch your inbox for the confirmation email with a link that you must click in order to complete your sign up.
Financial freedom is attainable!
SDG/FCA!!
