Key Takeaways
- To take care of your debt, it’s important to have a debt-free mindset.
- There are many ways to help yourself either stay out of bad debt, or help you get out of debt, but there’s no quick fix.
When David Letterman was on Late Night, he had this Top Ten list, which was always pretty humorous. Today, we have a top 10 list which is not so humorous, but probably something you want to take a little more seriously. These are the top 10 keys to a debt-free mindset:
- Save first, spend second. This is number one for a reason. It’s what you have to do to make sure you don’t run into a debt issue, or how you can help yourself get out of debt.
- Be ok with saying no. There are so many things that get thrown at us, we want instant gratification, and you have to learn how to say no to these things as many of them end up being extra expenses that you just don’t need.
- Responsibility. It’s important to take responsibility for your actions and everything you do, and this includes debt. All progress starts by telling ourselves the truth, and you have to own your truth.
- Stuff doesn’t matter. If your neighbor gets a new car, you don’t need to go get a new car. Just because the new smartphone is released, doesn’t mean you need to rush out and buy it. Stuff just fills up space and creates a lot of complexity in our lives, so choose wisely and don’t fill your life with stuff you don’t need.
- Have patience. It took you time to get in to debt, and it’s going to take more time to get out of it, so give yourself permission to have patience.
- Have a powerful future narrative. When you are building the future you want, be very clear and specific about it. Otherwise, you can end up in a different direction than you want to go, or worse, adrift without any idea of where you want to be.
- Set different goal lengths. Make sure you set short term, intermediate term, and long term goals. Plan them out and make sure you look at them from week to week, quarter to quarter, and year to year.
- Good debt is necessary. There’s plenty of good debt out there, especially when you are buying a home or if you are doing anything that’s going to build equity.
- Do annual goal setting. Set some clear goals for yourself for the year. You’re more likely to follow them to completion and be successful at what you want that year.
- Financial awareness. Keep track on a day-to-day, or at least a week-to-week basis, of what is coming in (income) and what is going out (what you’re spending). That way, you can keep in line with where you want to be with your expenses.
While it may be no David Letterman Top Ten list, it’s certainly one that can help keep you on track with your debt.
Until next time, enjoy!
Gary
