Great write up! It is shocking how much interest people pay over a lifetime. It isn't fun to owe people or companies money. It is really tough to get on the other side of the fence and get to a point that you have enough money to live off the interest that it produces. That is the goal. Earning enough to live the dream 100% passively from investments. It is tough to do.
Resteemed!
Definitely, the best goals are hard, but if they were easy everyone would obtain them.
You have to think of when you are debt free paying no interest. Other than your normal bills and food ALL your income is free to be invested. Break it down into manageable pieces. Pay off this credit card. Then that one. Then your car. Then your student loan. Then your house. Then you have this huge amount of free cash flow. You build wealth.
Thanks for the resteem!
You are right it is a huge hurdle.
Sometimes I wonder what the right balance is. Sacrificing one's 20's and 30's to pay off everything worries me in a lot of ways. It is understandable why people want to live in the NOW. You could have an ATV, a Boat, a nice car, and a nice house on payments NOW or you could actually own that stuff when you are 60. It is a tough thing to deal with.
Not to sound negative but having your own business is the true path to wealth but access to capital is almost always an issue. But then some people get rich off of businesses that have no revenue or profit. It is a weird world and the way things are valued.
Hopefully we can find a path to freedom in a shorter time frame than 30 or 40 years.
Every time I drive by some house in Tucson that has a boat I think to myself that they must be bad with money. Where is the closest place that you could even use the thing?! Then calculate the extra gas to haul it there and back, and yearly registration or other fees.
It's not like Arizona is loaded with lakes you need boats for.
When I bought my house two years ago, my neighbor had a boat. They aren't my neighbor anymore because they got foreclosed on.
I know what you mean with the boats. Originally being from Indiana we wouldn't pull boats more than about 30 to 40 minutes. These people are pulling them a hard 3 hours of highway driving. They make more of a weekend out of the situation rather than a day thing like we would do in Indiana. I was blown away last year when I found out one of the guys I played basketball had 3 snowmobiles here in Tucson. I was like WHAT??? It seemed so ridiculous but I figured he would take them up to Flagstaff or something. He takes them to a place called Happy Jack, Arizona. It ended up being some of the best riding I have ever done. The way the snow was up there A person could have went every weekend for about 2 months. There were endless miles of trails and amazing views off the rim. I couldn't believe it.
I've heard of Happy Jack, even spent some time exploring the area on google street view, but haven't been. Seems like my type of place though. You take any pics from that trip?