Unconventional Financial Advice

Good morning and Happy Friday!

Welcome to another edition of The Matt Viera Newsletter.

The newsletter with the goal to inspire you to live the life you actually want to live.

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Today I want to talk about debt and some unconventional financial advice I came across to deal with debt.

I've been living with debt for a long time. I can't think of a time in my working life when I didn't have debt. Credit card debt, student loan debt, and most recently, a car loan.

If and when I purchase real estate, I will take on more debt (albeit good debt, as real estate is good for your net worth). 

But debt nonetheless.

The truth is the average "American holds a debt balance of $96,371, according to 2021 Experian data, the latest data available."

I have debt, and I make the minimum payments on some. I pay more than the minimum for others. And I live my life the best I can.

However, I don't want to live with debt any more. 

I want to live a life free from debt.

I'm sure you do as well.

A few days ago, I was researching unconventional personal finance advice and came across an article that caught my interest.

The article listed 30 pieces of financial advice. 

So I started scrolling through.

It was more of the usual:

Budget your money.

Spend less than you earn.

Stay away from credit card debt. 

Most financial advice is more of the same: budgeting and paying off debt by spending less than you earn.

Then I came to one piece of advice which stopped me dead in my tracks.

The advice:

Stop Investing!

As I write this, I still wonder why I never thought about this before.

I didn't start seriously investing any of my money (except my TDA) until I was more comfortable with my money and in significantly less debt.

So, I started thinking about it.

I'm currently carrying two significant loans: a private student loan and an auto loan. 

The private student loan is in the neighborhood of $30,000 (the less I think about it, the better).

My monthly payment for this student loan is automated (again, the less I think about it, the better).

Now, if I want to live a life free from debt, I have to deal with this debt.

Dealing with this sooner would be a lot better than later.

So, what's the plan?

Stop investing $400 per month ($100 per week).

If I stop investing and add the $400 per month to the $350 I'm already paying for this student loan, I can commit to paying $750 per month on this loan. 

($750 per month. Shucks, I remember the rent for my massive 1600+ square foot apartment in Miami was, if I remember correctly, $725 per month).

So, I stopped the automated $400 per month investment into my investment portfolio (a tight, little package of ETFs and dividend stocks).

By paying $750 per month on this student loan, I can pay it off in a little over 4 years rather than a little less than 10.

Paying off that loan will eventually free up $750 per month to save, invest, and, ultimately, build wealth.

Additionally, it will save me a ton of money on interest.

That's the plan.

I share all this because I find it exciting, and it wasn't until I saw it spelled out in front of me that it made me think of an approach to get rid of this debt once and for all.

It also had me thinking that I wouldn't be carrying all this debt today if I had been more intentional with my money in the past.

The failure on my part: I never had a financial plan. 

I've always been a "shoot-from-the-hip" type of guy. Just pay the minimum. Getting rid of debt may take longer, but it does the job. 

Slowly. 

However, I want to be methodical in eradicating all debt from my life. 

I encourage you to do so as well.

The best way to start: sit down and come up with a plan.

Start this weekend. 

Develop a plan to eliminate one loan, debt, whatever it is. Just one.

Then attack that debt ruthlessly. 

Get rid of it once and for all. Then come up with your next goal. Then attack that goal. 

And so on and so forth.

Eradicate all debt from your life.

You deserve to live debt free.

Interesting reads:

Average American Debt Statistics

Mapped: Which Countries Get the Most Paid Vacation Days?

This 65-year-old retiree just moved into a $420 per month apartment in Mexico "steps from the beach."

Thanks for reading!

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