Increasing my wealth

That's one of my goals for 2009, to eliminate some debt. Which is ironic since I picked up a truck note in 2008, but anyway..now that I'm done with school it's gonna be time to payback those student loans. Which I was initially gonna defer and defer and defer again, but why put off the inevitable and let the interest rate continue to compound the debt even higher.

Denial is only a river in Egypt.

I really don't have any "serious" unsecured debt, but debt is debt any way you slice it. My 2 credit cards, total about $900 and my gas card, which I use like it's going out of style has a little more than $1200 that needs to be paid off. Then there's the truck, which should be paid off next year, the mortgage, which has no visible light at the end of the tunnel on that one and the $30K+ in student loans. Wow, saying the number out loud makes me nervous. I hate big debt. Probably the reason I buy 90% of the big ticket things I have with cash. Debt is like a monkey on your back. A raging, rabies having monkey that is trying to gouge your eyes out, or maybe that is a description of debt collectors, hey I'm digressing. The only way to get rid of this monkey is by paying it to go away. I live a fairly modest lifestyle by my standards, ask others and they say I'm living the high life. By no means do I feel like I'm drowing in debt or that my lifestyle has been hampered because of my debt, if anything I have been too 'comfortable' with having debt.

I had a recent eye opening scare involving some debt I acquired in my dumb years. I say dumb years because had I known better, you can best believe the kid would have done better. I'm not completely out of the woods with this REOPS but it has made me take a longer look at my financial situation. I like the roof over my head and I like making payments on time to my other obligations. I like the secure feeling of having disposal income and money in my savings account in case something happens. However, I'm in no position to pay what the credit collector had suggested as a settlement, in fact, I laughed when she said that number. I've been doing some research and it looks like the law in this instance is on my side and the debt my go away, we'll see as this evolves.

I said all that to say that I'm not gonna run from this student loan or the other unsecured debt that I have. I just need a new mind set. I need to realize that paying down debt is a wealth building tool. Debt - especially credit card debt - isn’t money that I have. It’s a loan against my future income. Paying down debt to me is now gonna be looked at as increasing my wealth, doesn't that just sound so much better than anything involving the word debt, unless its followed by the word free.

Brown..out!