To furnish this one and only lyfe, financial balance is essential. According to Northwestern Mutual (link below), more than two thirds of millenials report high levels of anxiety about debt, savings and income. This affects all aspects of our lives: relationships, job performance and personal health. Trust me…I’ve lived it!
Since I graduated college I’ve been obsessed with getting out of debt and finding financial balance. Let’s just say it has been a challenge! When you’re juggling finding a job in the midst of a recession, supporting your partner during law school, and the moment when you see the balance on your student loan, describing my feelings as “anxiety” is putting it lightly. Most of us have dealt with this. As Dave Ramsey puts it, we “normal” people take on the burden of student loan debt, credit card mismanagement, and over extend ourselves in the name of the “experience” of higher education. Do I regret going to the college that I did? Hell no! Go Pirates!!! But what I do regret is not being smarter about money. One night, where I looked at my credit card bill in one hand and my bank statement in the other and cried my eyes out wondering what I was going to do. Don’t get it twisted, I worked at the college bookstore nearly 30 hours a week while taking a full load of coursework, I was certainly kicking butt. But the lack of experience and ease of credit put me in a position I did not know how to get out of without taking a hit. Thankfully my boyfriend, now husband, bailed me out with the green and my credit score was left alone.
But now that I am 32 and venturing into a new part of my life with my own business, I think a lot about finances. My husband and I have two undergraduate and two masters degrees under our belts, all with hefty price tags. Don’t forget the credit card game. We play the credit card gamey alla The Points Guy (one of my favorite sites for travel research, btw). There’s no shame in it, but you have to understand what you’re getting yourself into. The fact is that most people don’t. We spend money like we’re Floyd Mayweather then get punched below the belt when the statements arrive. Why are we so surprised? Because we don’t do the math! It’s straightforward folks - spend only what you earn. We learned this lesson because we were sick and tired of all of our money going out to payments and bills.
Now that we’ve dug ourselves out of the credit card madness and are focusing on our student loans, we have learned a few lessons from our experience and the illustrious Dave Ramsey:
→ Focus on one thing at a time – Over the years we tried to do too many things at once.. We saved money in this account and that account, put money to 401k here and there, etc. While we were able to pay off things here and there, it split our attention and slowed down our progress. Work one thing at a time and you will see success!
→ Stick to your plan – We all know life happens and things come up, but do your best to stick to a plan. Make your budget, promise yourself or each other, and do it!
→ Be realistic with your plan and follow through– One thing we did was to be too restrictive with our budget. We found that we just wouldn’t comply to a budget that didn’t allow for flexibility with certain things. So after a few months we learned what we had to have and what we didn’t. Not only that we balanced it with serious talks when we didn’t follow through.
→ Be patient – I found that I was overzealous and wanted to be debt free immediately! I wanted that success that only a zero balance can provide! Almost every day I listened to David Ramsey’s podcast and was inspired by the debt free screams. I felt the constant need to check my spreadsheets and my personal finance app to move things around to get squeeze every penny.
Now that we are on our way we just have to stay focused and let the process play itself out. I have no doubt we will find ourselves debt free next year and on our way to Nashville to thank Dave Ramsey for his inspiration and guidance.
If you find yourself in the same situation…facing insurmountable financial stress, just know you’re not alone. There are ways to find your financial balance in a world that tells you debt and credit are a way of life. They certainly don’t have to be. You can be free of the burden and find bliss in your newfound wealth.
Drop a line, start a discussion, inspire a movement.
https://news.northwesternmutual.com/2017-08-10-Millennials-Conflict-between-Instinct-to-Save-and-Urge-to-Spend-is-Elevating-Anxiety
https://www.daveramsey.com