Tag Archives: Debt

Having an Impact

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I’ve often mentioned how we want to have an impact on people and our business that utilizes the Amway Business Opportunity and World Wide Dreambuilders allows us to accomplish that in so many ways.  Last night was just another reminder of the real impact we have on people we are in business with and how those people can actually in turn impact us. 

A couple in our business got married yesterday late afternoon at the MaGrath Mansion on Ada Boulevard here in Edmonton which is one of the prime spots for outdoor weddings.  Such a beautiful and elegant setting which was a total fit for this couple and highlighted the amazing people they are.  This is a couple that has taken a lot of values from World Wide Dreambuilders and incorporated them directly into their lives and it is apparent with how in love they are, how much they smile all the time (I don’t know any other couple that smiles this much), and how solid of a relationship they have.  They’ve mentioned many times that the path they were on before getting involved with WWDB was a path that would have taken them an additional 4 to 5 years before getting married.  While that may be fine for some people, after seeing great examples of some pretty solid marriages they decided there was no reason to wait that long and well the rest is history.

This couple is great at putting things into practice like paying for a wedding in cash and not going into debt for a wedding.  I won’t say how else things are going for them financially but making decisions like this will lead them into a debt free lifestyle very soon.  We are very proud of them and others on our team that are doing these same types of decisions.  There are a few more weddings coming up in our business and all of them are being paid for in cash.  Much different from the norm that you see where people go into HUGE amounts of debt for one day.

I mentioned earlier how this couple impacts us, they impact us by inspiring us to smile each and every single day as they always do.  They inspire us to continue to work on our marriage and express love like they do.  This is just one of many examples this couple and other couples and singles on our team inspire and impact us.  Its those qualities of people that inspire us that we look for when building our team.  We don’t just want to impact people ourselves but we want to be impacted and inspired from the people we work with.  That’s why we don’t just “sign” people up for the sake of it. 

Once dinner was done the speeches started and it was at this point we saw the impact we and other upline have made on this couple.  To be invited to their wedding and reception along with family and friends is a great honour and we were very blessed to be part of the day.  They wanted us to be there because we are like family to them and have helped them through many tough decisions and directions in life.  It was quite apparent the impact we made when not only my wife and me were mentioned in a special shout out but quite a few of their upline as well in front of family and friends.  While their family and friends may never really understand the impact, they do and I am so proud to see them married and starting their life off in such a positive way.

Our business while rudimentary is an online webstore however there are so many intangible things that comes with what we do.  It’s the system of World Wide Dreambuilders (WWDB) that helps us create life long friends and people who inspire us.  I cannot even begin to explain the things I’ve received from this amazing association but I can tell you I thank God every day for our life, where we are and where we are going.  I’m glad that He was able to remove my cloud of scepticism after 5 months to allow me to see something I would not have normally seen.  Sometimes what we are looking for doesn’t come in the packages we expect. Something I think all of us need to keep in mind when opportunities present themselves.

Wedding

Renting Cool? No Way!

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rent-or-buySo it’s been no surprise that my wife and I have decided to rent, we’ve been renting the last year since we moved out of our condo that has continued to drop in price since we sold.  I’ve been keeping an eye on the old location and it’s hurting.  It was a smart decision and based off checking out the market, listening to people we trust and checking out a lot of people who are in tune with the housing market like Garth Turner. Check out his latest blog post about renting and how people that tell you “you need to be a man and own”, or “renting your throwing your money away”. http://www.greaterfool.ca/2011/07/03/renters/

Maybe renting isn’t for everyone however with the way the economy is headed, interest rates that will rise, you’ll see more and more people starting to rent.  Garth has a great example in there that may change our mind, or not.  Check it out, get all the info and come up with your own opinion but don’t be blind to it. 

I like some of what Gath says in his blog.

“If the goal is to become financially independent and build net worth, renting can beat the pants off owning.” – Just proves it’s not only World Wide Dreambuilders that teaches this success principal.

“…Most importantly, a renter would have lived in an identical (maybe better) house while building net worth and taking no risk on a seriously wobbly housing market. Zero debt. Total liquidity. Unfettered mobility. Net worth would be greater, not less. Options enhanced.”

Garth also refers to a few links that may give you some other insight.  I agree 100% with this link – http://www.moneyville.ca/article/1015893–why-i-sold-my-house-and-rent-instead

And then for the older people – http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/budget/personal-finance/why-renting-can-be-the-right-choice-for-aging-boomers/article2077874/

My wife and I are very happy renting for the time being, it’s allowed us to be 100% debt free, has given us a heck of a lot more flexibility in so many ways, has allowed us to donate more of our income to charities, and because of being debt free has allowed us to put money back into savings at a MUCH faster rate then what we had before.  Lastly like Garth said we are not tied to a “wobbly hosing market” which means when we decide to move to Kelowna, we can do so without the headache of selling something that may or may not sell.

I’m not saying that everyone has to rent, but if your in debt up to your ears and want to start moving towards financial independence, you may want to think again.  Don’t take my word for it, there are many others stating the same. Thoughts? Comments? It’s open for on topic discussion.

Doom and Gloom? Nope Just More Household Debt!

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DebtSurprise surprise, yet another article on household debt at an all time high. $1.5 Trillion to be exact. Just more evidence that people are still not getting the hint.  Why are people not getting the hint? The allure of cheap interest rates (Which will not last), uneducated people along with that instant gratification are what I think to blame. 

I won’t go into the full details of the article as it’s pretty much the same if not worse as I’ve blogged about before.  Go check out the article over at CTV News.  I also read Gath’s blog which I read all the time where he talks about how home prices in the US just passed the Great Depression in terms of collapsing values. Don’t think that will at least affect Canada? Give your head a shake.  There may be pockets in Canada where housing “may” be looking good, but that won’t last and you really REALLY need to get educated on where things are going.  That doesn’t mean listening to your real estate agent.  You need to check out blogs like Garth’s or people like Harry S Dent who are actually in tune with the markets and in a lot of cases are in agreement with many economists around the world with how we are in a Global Recession.  But again do your own research.

Anyway I’m curious how long people will expect to live with huge debt loads, huge mortgages they can barley afford (just watch when the interest rates go up and how many people ditch), and feeling of entitlement to having what they want when they want.  People need to shift their mentality to long term thinking and figure out where they will be when they retire at that special age of 65. Oh wait, that’s IF you can even retire at 65.  So many people carry debt loads right into their retirement, so much for that pile of cash at the end of the rainbow you were hoping for.

I’m not saying you need to build an Amway business, I don’t need to convince people to do what we do and never will, but you better have a good plan B and start making it your plan A.  Your job at the old factory or wherever you work isn’t going to give you the retirement bliss your hoping for, and neither will that tiny tiny pension plan you have “building up”.  You need to take your retirement (whatever that looks like for you) into your hands now and start making chances so you go into retirement without debt, heck start living today without debt.  Just get smart about it.

I’m sure next month or the month after we will see yet another news article on debt and how it’s higher or something like that, you need to ask yourself what are you going to do today to provide for the future?

householddebt

Been Waiting 17 Months For This!

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Its been 17 months since we decided to take our heads out of our arses and get responsible about our debt.  Today, May 2nd, 2011 we are 100% debt free.  We do not owe anyone a single cent!  Now with all the money we’ve been paying down our debt with, we can finally start to put it on the positive side. 

So just how deep in debt were we? What was the final tally?  Well in the 17 months we did have some set backs so there was a bit more debt in the end however we stayed the course and paid every single cent back.  Here are the numbers:

 

FinancialFreedom

RBC Visa $30,000
TD Visa $5,000
HBC Master Card $7,000
TD Home Equity Line of Credit $30,000
TD Line of Credit $10,000
HSBC/Scotiabank Car Loan $27,000
Condo Mortgage $265,000
   
Total Consumer Debt $109,000
Total Mortgage $265,000
   
Total Debt Paid Off $374,000

 

 

So there you have it, $374,000 paid off in 17 months.  However I’m not excited about the mortgage being paid off, I’m excited about the consumer debt we paid off. That’s the more important because that was us being stupid, status’y, and feeling entitled to have pretty much whatever we wanted.  Trips, furniture, games, eating out, wine, wine, wine, wine and more wine.  I was asked the other day, did we sacrifice a lot of things?  I’d honestly say we’ve not sacrificed as much as you think we have.  I would do it all over again because our marriage is 1000 times stronger because we don’t have the stress of owing people money and we don’t have the stress of fighting over money.

What’s next?  Well we will be better prepared for life’s accidents or life’s misfortunes that’s for sure. No longer will we need to draw against our Line of Credit or swipe our credit card for those things.  We will make sure to have a proper reserve in place.  We will now start saving for a newer vehicle that’s a few years old so that we have a safer vehicle for when our child arrives in July.  We are excited for that.

Being debt free will finally allow us to take our eyes off ourselves and start to bless our parents and be able to give more to charity.  Obviously that won’t happen right away however we can now honestly start to look at things like that.  Other then that we we don’t know yet, we are still getting over the shock of what we’ve done in the last 17 months.  Because of great examples in our lives we were able to get back control of what we thought was a train wreck and start moving our finances in a positive direction.  We can now say we are financially free, truly amazing.

*Update* Check out this great blog by a friend of mine Jode in Vancouver who’s getting serious about her debt situation.  So proud of you Jode! http://veronihilverius.jigsy.com/entries/dollars-sense/debt-be-gone

Gas Price Frustration

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GasFrustrationI find it funny how people are frustrated with the price of gas going up.  It’s not new news, gas prices have been going up ever since I was alive.  I remember prices around $0.35 cents a litre however we will never see that price ever again.  Just like eventually we will never see sub $1.00 / litre prices.  Its a fact of life and no matter how many emails go out asking people to boycott the price of gas, it will never change the fact gas prices are going up and will continue to go up.

This recent frustration comes as gas prices in Edmonton just went up over $1.20 / litre and everyone is up in arms.  They are frustrated and I believe for most (not all) people they are frustrated because they are busted financially and have debts that need repaying causing them to have no room in their budget to take into account the additional hike in price.  I was asked today how debt has anything to do with the frustration of gas prices going up.  It’s very relevant because people who have debt and are busted with other commitments are going to be frustrated when things go up and affect their budget.  Someone who doesn’t have debt has a lot less frustration (yes it’s okay to be frustrated) because there are no other debt commitments pulling them from side to side.  Lastly there are those who have no debt and have low income and yes for those people it will be tough and frustration is truly understandable, however there are many opportunities out there to better your situation, that’s my opinion.

How do I know? Well we are going to be debt free in a few weeks here and I know our frustration level have gone down to the point I honestly don’t care how high it goes, we will make changes in our lifestyle and look at ways of increasing our means if need be to afford the gas.  When you don’t have debt you have other options.  Honestly it’s not like this news is new, I’ve been mentioning since September interest rates will go up, prices will rise, and so have others such as the government and people like Garth Turner.  People who choose not to listen and take their debt seriously will be the people who complain and are frustrated the most.  Stop complaining and start putting a plan of action together and kill that debt!

Comments Welcome for relevant conversation.