The one killer I see when talking with friends who are trying to get debt-free is when they start reading internet articles about people who paid off thousands of dollars of debt seemingly overnight.
They start with some momentum, then when it doesn’t seem to be moving as fast as others, they give up and fall into old habits. Here is the truth about those articles, not everything is as it seems. These articles add value in a way that they show you that it is possible to pay off debt no matter how far in the hole you are.
The problem I see with them is that after you get fired up, get a good plan in place, and start your payoff journey, these articles about paying off massive amounts of debt are a momentum killer. This similar thing happens all the time on the internet.
Get rich quick schemes to draw people in and give them hope for a better life quickly, then when things don’t go quite as fast as the article claims people lose hope and give up. I have five good reasons why you need to stop paying attention to these articles, keep your head down, and keep working. It will turn out in the end.
Being Debt Free | Other people have different lifestyle demands or lack of demands.
What I see about these articles is that they don’t paint the entire picture. These people could have different lifestyle demands which can make paying off large sums of money much easier. Some people have kids to support; some don’t. Some have house payments, some live with relatives, or have very inexpensive housing. Some have large car payments; some have a cheaper car already paid off.
What I’m trying to say is that you have no idea where these people are at lifestyle-wise. Someone paying off $50,000 of debt in two years is entirely more likely if they have no kids, no house payment, and are making $90,000 a year than a person with kids, a house payment and only making $40,000 a year.
Even geographic location can come into play. It’s much less expensive to live in some regions of the country than it is in others. In Portland, Seattle, or much of California it is much more expensive to live than most of the Midwest. If you live in California and you are comparing your expenses to someone living in Minnesota, you will have to factor in the cost of living to the timescale of debt payoff.
Besides, everyone has a little different idea as to what they want to do with their lives.
Being Debt Free | Other people have different desires of what to do with their life.
Not everyone wants to follow the same path in their lives. One person’s budget will look completely different than another person’s budget. Some people have a desire to build a larger financial nest egg so they can feel more comfortable quitting their jobs. Or, they need to create the nest egg because they fear losing their job.
Some people are comfortable in their jobs and can contribute much more to their debt payoff. It’s not always fair to compare yourself to someone else unless you know their life perfectly aligns with yours; they rarely do. The best way you will have to compare yourself to someone else is to see the actual budget they are using. Most of these articles never show you the complete budget.
It’s unfair to yourself if you aren’t comparing these numbers, so don’t even try. Just keep your head down and keep working on your plan.
Being Debt-Free | Other people have a different threshold for financial pain.
Someone’s threshold for financial pain is another massive factor in the time it takes to pay off debt. It goes right along with lifestyle, sort of. I define someone’s threshold for pain as to how much of a lifestyle loss they are willing to endure to pay down debt.
You may be reading an article written by someone who has given up all the comforts they can cut out of their life to pay down debt. I’ve heard of people selling their car and walking or biking to save not only the monthly car payment, but the gas, insurance, and maintenance that goes right along with owning a car.
I’ve heard of people who quit eating out and concentrate on cutting their grocery bills as far as they can go. I’ve heard of people getting rid of their cable TV or satellite service and getting a library card to read free books from the library as their form of entertainment.
Quitting television is a good idea. The cost of having TV pumped into our homes is enormous. If you can cut out television, you will be much further ahead in paying off the debt.
All these cutbacks go into how much of a lifestyle pain crush you are willing to endure to get that debt paid off. Some of these articles might not tell you everything behind the scenes to make these extraordinary ‘debt pay off’ stories possible. What about the big crusher of a difference between situations; interest rates?
Being Debt-Free | Other people are dealing with different interest rates.
Interest rates are another massive factor in the time it will take to pay down debt. Everyone’s debt looks a little different. Some are trying to pay off student loans. Some are trying to pay off credit card debt on several credit cards. Some are trying to pay off their house or car.
All these different debt scenarios will carry a different interest rate. There is a lot you can do to lower interest rates or consolidate debt into lower interest options, but the fact is everyone’s debt with interest rates will look a little different. You will need to do some proper planning and knock out the debt which is costing you the most money in interest first. Since everyone’s interest rate structure looks different, it doesn’t make sense to compare yourself to how fast others are paying down their debt.
Being Debt-Free | Other people are dealing with different social pressures.
I’m an introvert, so social pressures never really got to me. I was ok with just dropping a poisonous friendship when the pressure got too much. Others may have it more difficult.
As you get traveling on your ‘debt pay off journey,’ friends or family might not understand when you tell them you’d rather not go to an event because you are trying to save money. Because they are not on the same path, they might put a ton of pressure on you to blow your budget ‘just this once’ to go out and have some fun with them.
Some people might do it because the old saying, “misery loves company” is exactly true. If you are trying hard to pay down debt some people might want to keep you there so that they have company. When the time comes when you are out of debt and financially free, with whom will these people relate?
Who will they associate with to share the same money problems in which they are struggling? You have left them behind. It will be easier to pressure you to stay in debt and keep spending than to put a plan together and pull yourself out as well.
Social pressure infects our lives in so many negative ways. My suggestion is to find a group of people pulling themselves out of debt so you can all support each other instead of tearing each other down. The social pressure one person goes through might be entirely different than that of someone else.
Some of these people who have paid off debt fast might not get the call on a Friday night to go out of town and party all weekend. They might be spending their time eating dinner while finishing their latest borrows from the library. All these are reasons why to keep your head down and plow to your goal.
Find people who will support you or want to do the same debt payoff as you so you both can help each other. These articles are a great motivator to get you started, but at some point, you will need to ignore them and continue on your path.
Till next time, be safe,
Kevin