year of great joy

Month End: January Snapshot

At the end of January, I found the year starting off to be a year of great joy and transition. My wife and I are believing to have a baby and bringing a new life into this world requires the ability to make transitions. This year has already seen changes even in my workplace. We’ve hired on three new people within my area, and I think these additions will help in our long-term growth and sustainability. This month was filled with having to manage time and tasks and assist in training the new hires. If you haven’t had the opportunity to be in some type of mentor role then I suggest you try it. Personally, being a mentor seems to add something to my life. I believe we were born to be in relationship, to discover our purpose, and make a difference.

I didn’t expect to receive a bonus this year. Honestly, our year didn’t end as strong as I had hoped, so I was extremely thankful and surprised when I did receive one. It exceeded my expectations, and with the bonus I was able to achieve a level in savings that I have never had before. Last year I made decisions to consolidate my finances, debt repayment strategy, and focus solely on just paying down debt. I chose to simplify my process, communicate more with my wife, and truly began to steward my money better. The result is having more than I’ve ever had in savings, eliminating over $19 thousand dollars in debt, and in general a more controlled management of my finances. Despite these achievements, there were still financial challenges this month. We had to replace a fuel pump and had other expenditures. Unlike previous events, we know we have options on how to handle expenses as they come up. The truth is in life you will always have an unexpected event that will cost you. That’s life. Your best response is to take deep breath, have faith, consider your options, and choose the best path. At my current pace, my goal this year is to pay off all the remaining credit card debt, and next year focus on paying off the lines of credit. I still have one credit card that I use and pay off monthly. I use my credit card vs. my debit card because I have the discipline to pay it off monthly. I like to collect the rewards from the credit card and it protects my bank account from ever being compromised if the card’s information ever got compromised.

If you want to learn more about how I’m increasing my income while reducing debt, or if you want to have someone to discuss your debt reduction strategy with, or if you need a financial check-up, contact me.

Also, learn more about how I use the self-lending principle through Mustard Seed in the mustard seed section.

This month’s video is MONK MENTALITY – Jay Shetty – One Of The Best Speeches EVER | MOST INSPIRING! from the Mulligan Brothers YouTube channel.

“The LORD will send rain at the proper time from his rich treasury in the heavens and will bless all the work you do. You will lend to many nations, but you will never need to borrow from them.”
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Deuteronomy‬ 28:12‬ NLT‬‬
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http://bible.com/116/deu.28.12.nlt‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

I believe in your journey to….

A Debt Free Me

January 1, 2019

My last blog post was June 2, 2018. Throughout the year, I tried to commit to my schedule of a blog every two weeks on a Saturday. Honestly, I couldn’t commit to it. 2018 was a Year of Restoration. When you restore something, there are times when you must cut it, break it, bend it, and even burn it to bring it back to what it is meant to be. A restoration can also can be considered a resurrection. Something brand new rising from glorious ruins. Today starts a brand-new year. A Year of Great Joy. I had two blogs and I consolidated both domain addresses into one domain address. It was like having two sides of the same coin. Throughout 2018, I had to focus on what’s most important, and I’m thankful for 2018.

I wanted to go back and catch up on the blogs I hadn’t posted. I’m letting the blogs I didn’t write go and focusing on today and starting from day one. The format will stay the same, but I’ll be using articles that aren’t just finance and business focused. The articles are for leaving a legacy, and hopefully they’ll help you. I’ll blog at least once a month. In the end, we’re better together. Let 2019 be filled with joy.

If you need a financial check-up or prayer be sure to contact me.

This week, I’ve included FOCUS , LISTEN, LIFT – Best Gym Training Motivation from the Mulligan Brothers YouTube channel.

“If you think you know it all, you’re a fool for sure; real survivors learn wisdom from others.”

Proverbs 28:26 MSG

Month End: December Snapshot

2018 is ending, and I’m glad this year is over with. This year has been a Year of Restoration. There’s been restoration in my finances and even more importantly restoration in my marriage. Restoration isn’t an easy process. When you think about a car being restored, there’s a lot of sweat, hard work, and physical reconstruction that can happen. Our Jack Russell Terrier, Sasha, had surgery to have two tumors removed and now she’s cancer free! There were quite a few challenges especially toward the end of the year, which increased the level of stress in our lives, but in those moments our faith increased too. When you find yourself in stressful and difficult moments, make sure to surround yourself with people who genuinely want to lift you up even if it’s emotionally. Throughout the year, and at the start of the blog, I haven’t fully disclosed all my consumer/credit card debt. I didn’t give full disclosure because I didn’t want to share how large the number was, and at the same time I didn’t want to discourage anyone from taking the steps to become debt free. Going forward I will disclose all my credit card and lines of credit debt for the purpose of being honest. I do have $25,067.91 in student loan debt, but my path to becoming debt free involves becoming debt free of credit card and lines of credit debt. My student loan is on a set income driven repayment plan and will be paid off by 2034 at a fixed rate of 3.125%. 2019 will be a year of great joy and you’ll see the remaining debt I have left to pay as I step closer to being debt free.

To encourage you, I started this year at $43,824.60 in credit card, revolving line of credit, and term debt combined. As of now, I’ve paid it down by $19,624.60 to $24,200.00. I was able to reduce my debt by this much by selling what I didn’t need to pay down portions of debt, consolidating multiple cash accounts, and using portions of my tax refund and bonus toward debt. I also completely focused on reducing a balance. Since the first blog post you’ll notice I don’t share the interest rate on the debt. The reason is because I want you to explore the two different debt reduction methods: the debt avalanche method and the debt snowball method. Personally, both methods work, and I’ve focused on debt based on how it makes me feel. I’ll also add that in addition to how I feel, I discuss with my wife my reason for switching to pay one debt with a lower interest versus a debt with a higher interest rate. In those scenarios, it’s because the balance is low enough that I can eliminate the debt within a shorter time frame. The second reason I don’t share the interest rate is because your debt reduction strategy is YOUR debt reduction strategy. You personally own it, must be responsible for it and most importantly be committed to following it day after day and month after month. My debt reduced when I finally committed to reducing it.

Your journey is different than mine, but we can take one step at a time together.