Tag: debt

Are You Making Progress on Your 2025 Money Goals?
As summer turns to fall, it’s the perfect time to revisit the money goals you made at the beginning of the year.

Summer travel season is over. The kids are back in school. For most people, this is a quieter time of year before the holiday season kicks into high gear.

Plus, many professionals earn raises and bonuses as we move towards the end of the year. It’s crucial to have a clear idea of what to do with those raises and bonuses ahead of time so that hard-earned money doesn’t disappear.

But, Matt, I didn’t make any money goals at the beginning of the year.

That’s OK- you still have three months left this year to accomplish something you’ve been putting off.

There’s no reason you can’t make a goal today and see how far you can get by New Year’s Eve. Why let these three months go to waste?

To help you refocus on your money goals, here’s a status update on how I’m doing with my 2025 money goals.

Let’s start off with some context.

My goals in 2025 look a lot different than previous years.

Leading up to 2025, my wife and I were focused on acquiring real estate. We now own five properties and are very happy with our current portfolio.

We are not looking to add more properties at the moment. To make that decision, I owe a lot of credit to Chad “Coach” Carson and his excellent book, Small and Mighty Real Estate Investor: How to Reach Financial Freedom with Fewer Rental Properties.

In his book, Coach Carson makes a compelling argument to think about when enough is enough.

His message was about acquiring more and more real estate, to no end, but also applies to any pursuit in life.

Reading Small and Mighty Real Estate Investor helped my wife and I conclude that at this point in our lives, we have enough.

We self-manage our 10 units in Chicago and work closely with a property manager in Colorado. If we were to continue expanding, the headaches could end up outweighing the financial benefits.

We want to build a life full of experiences and memories. That means we need more time, not more money.

Acquiring and managing more properties right now would take up a lot of time. That tradeoff is not currently worth it to us.

That’s the main reason why our goals look different this year than they have in the past.

Photo by Alexa Williams on Unsplash

My wife and I came up with 3 money goals earlier this year.

Here are the three money goals my wife and I came up with in early 2025:
1. Pay off the HELOC debt. Our first goal is to continuing paying down HELOC debt that we used to help acquire some of our rental properties. Now that we’ve determined that “enough is enough,” we’re focused on paying back these loans.
2. Build up our emergency savings. Our second goal is to build up our emergency savings. We mostly ignored our emergency savings between 2017 and 2024 as we focused on buying investment properties. It was risky and led to some touch-and-go moments that we’d like to avoid moving forward.
3. Fully fund college for our second kid. Our third goal is to boost our contributions to our kids’ 529 college savings accounts. We have three kids. We previously hit our savings goal for our first kid. Now, we’re focused on the next kid.
Why is it so important to have a plan for your money ahead of time?

Money goals are all about having a plan ahead of time so your dollars don’t disappear.

Having a plan in place ahead of time means we know where every dollar is going before we earn it. At the end of each month, all we need to do is make our transfers to each account.

Also, we can rest easy knowing that we’re making progress towards our personal finance goals.

This takes the anxiety out of trying to figure it out after the money has already hit our bank account.

And, it eliminates the risk that the money sits in our checking account and slowly disappears because of mindless spending choices.

If you don’t have a plan in place, it’s going to be very difficult to accomplish your goals.

How am I doing with my 2025 money goals?

As I revisit my 2025 money goals, it’s fair to say that I’m happy with our progress but still have a ways to go.

Here’s a look at my progress so far:

1. Pay off the HELOC debt.

We’ve made major progress on this goal. I anticipate that at our current saving rate, we’ll have the HELOC debt fully paid off by the end of the year.

It will be an incredible feeling to have this debt load off of our shoulders. We’ve been carrying it for too long now.

By the way, I don’t regret using HELOC debt to help purchase investment properties and build our portfolio. That said, at this stage in my life, I’m ready for that debt to be gone.

If you are similarly working towards paying off debt, check out my top 10 strategies for paying off debt on a budget:

My top 10 strategies for how to pay off debt on a budget.
1. Write down your Tiara Goals.
2. Create a Budget After Thinking so the debt stops growing.
3. Prioritize Later Money funds for debt.
4. Apply our Top 10 strategies for staying on budget.
5. Talk to your people about paying down debt.
6. Track your net worth and savings rate for small wins.
7. Pick a strategy and stick with it: Debt Snowball v. Debt Avalanche.
8. Think about loan consolidation.
9. Get a side hustle.
10. Don’t let yourself fall backwards.
Throughout the year, I have been especially focused on prioritizing funds for debt, using the debt snowball approach, and not letting myself fall backwards.

For a deep dive on each of the 10 strategies, check out my full post on paying off debt on a budget:

How to Pay Off Debt on a Budget

Once this debt is eliminated for good, I can focus on more fun goals. I can watch my accounts grow, instead of just seeing debt shrink.

That excites me.

2. Build up our emergency savings.

Your emergency savings account is the most important savings account in personal finance.

My challenge is that I’ve been so focused on eliminating my HELOC debt this year that I haven’t been able to address this goal yet.

I’m still hopeful I’ll have a chance before the year is over.

My goal is to have four months of living expenses saved up.

Why four months?

Most personal finance experts recommend three to six months. Much of it depends on your current income situation and overall comfort level.

I have income from my primary job, rental properties, and part-time teaching. Taking all that into account, four months of emergency savings feels like the sweet spot to me.

Admittedly, it will take some time to complete this goal. If I can’t achieve this goal by the end of the year, it will become my top priority for next year.

Photo by Caleb on Unsplash

3. Fully fund college for our second kid.

I recently used an online calculator to figure out how much money I would need to invest right now in my son’s 529 savings account to fully fund his college. We already hit our mark for my first kid.

I learned that with an investment today of $67,000, I could fully fund my son’s in-state tuition.

Of course, the key is to let that money grow for the next 15 years to take advantage of compound interest.

What an accomplishment that would be to not have to worry about his future college. I could cross that item off the “to-do” list once and for all.

Then, it would be onto the next kid.

Because my son is only three years-old, this goal is not as pressing as paying off my debt and fully funding my emergency savings account. Looking back, it was probably overly ambitious to include it as a goal for this year.

Aim for the stars, land on the moon, right?

Like my emergency savings account, this will be a top priority for next year.

Are you making progress on your 2025 money goals?

Don’t wait until the end of the year to look back on your goals. Take a few minutes today to assess your progress.

There’s still plenty of time ahead of you to make any necessary adjustments.

Maybe you’re getting a raise or a bonus soon. Maybe you’re about to earn a big commission.

Revisit your goals so you have a plan for that money before it hits your checking account.

How are you doing with your 2025 money goals?

Let us know in the comments below.
September 24, 2025
Debt is Really Annoying When you Want to Buy Fun Things
Debt can be really annoying.

I’ve been having that thought a lot recently while on vacation with my family.

Let me explain.

With three young kids, I haven’t focused much on personal hobbies lately. However, being on vacation has allowed me to focus on some fun stuff, like biking and golfing.

The annoying part?

Hobbies can be expensive.

I went for a great bike ride the other day. It was challenging and fun. I felt accomplished and fit. These are feelings I’d like to replicate as much as possible.

So, when I got home, I started looking for a new bike online.

The next day, I played golf. Same thing happened. Had a great time. Hit some good shots. Felt encouraged and excited about my golf game slowly improving.

So, I went home and started shopping for new golf clubs.

Whether it was biking or golfing, I realized how important hobbies are for all of us. I had fun and distracted myself from the stresses of life.

I was tempted to buy a new bike or new golf clubs as a way to motivate myself to continue those hobbies.

But, I’m not going to buy the bike or the golf clubs.

At least not until I accomplish my 2025 money goals.

Which brings us back to why I’ve been thinking lately about how annoying debt is.

My main 2025 money goal is to eliminate HELOC debt.

At the beginning of the year, my wife and I talked about our money goals for the rest of the year.

After talking it through together and weighing all our options, we came up with these three goals for 2025:
1. Our first goal is to continuing paying down our mortgage debt. We used HELOCs to help us acquire some of our properties. Now that we’ve determined that “enough is enough,” we’re focused on paying back these loans.
2. Our second goal is to build up our emergency savings. We mostly ignored our emergency savings between 2017 and 2024. It was risky and led to some touch-and-go moments that we’d like to avoid moving forward.
3. Our third goal is to boost our contributions to our kids’ college savings accounts. We use what’s called a “529 college savings plan.” 529 plans are state-sponsored, tax-advantaged investment accounts. We use Illinois’ 529 plan because we receive a tax break as Illinois residents. Just about every state offers a 529 plan. They are a great way to save for college.
With our plan in place ahead of time, we know where every dollar is going before we earn it. This takes the anxiety out of trying to figure it out after the money has already hit our bank account.

With less than half of the year remaining, we’ve made great progress on our goals. But, we still have a ways to go.

We still have HELOC debt to pay off. And until that debt is gone, I’m not buying a new bike or new golf clubs.

It’s important to me that I stay disciplined and stay on track with my goals.

Even though I’m happy that I used HELOCs to build my real estate portfolio, I’ve felt how heavy that debt load can be.

Now that the end is in sight, I don’t want to jeopardize my progress by buying expensive toys that I don’t really need right now.

I can still go biking without a new bike. I can still play golf without new clubs.

Most importantly, I know that the emotional high I’ll get from buying something new will dissipate quickly. And, I’ll still have that debt to carry around.

So, for now, I’m passing on the bike and the golf clubs. I did make a note in my journal that these are things I might like to buy when the time is right.

Until then, I’ll continue to prioritize my money goals and work to eliminate my HELOC debt.

Photo by Michael Jasmund on Unsplash

Student loan delinquencies continue to rise.

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, student loan delinquencies continue to rise:

Missed federal student loan payments that were not previously reported to credit bureaus between 2020Q2 and 2024Q4 are now appearing in credit reports.

Consequently, student loan delinquency rates continued to rise. In the second quarter of 2025, 10.2% of aggregate student debt was reported as 90+ days delinquent.

You may not have HELOC debt like me, but the odds are that as a young lawyer or professional, you have student loan debt to pay off.

You may have to make spending choices like I did with the new bike or new golf clubs.

Debt from student loans and financial freedom go hand-in-hand for most professionals. Maybe a better way to put it is that student loans can be a major obstacle on your path to financial freedom.

Of course, the more education you’ve received, the more student loans you likely have.

Whether you have student loan debt from college or graduate school, it’s important to have a plan to pay that debt off.

All debt acts as a roadblock to financial freedom.

Student loans are no different.

They’re a weight that we carry around long before we even make the first repayment. Sometimes that weight feels so heavy, it’s hard to imagine it ever going away.

And as much as we wish we could, we can’t ignore our student loans.

It was easy to forget about student loans during the pandemic. Now, student loans are once again a major financial obstacle for many lawyers and professionals.

One way or the other, we have to get rid of them.

And when we do get rid of them for good, there might not be a better personal finance feeling in the world.

Personally, I’ll never forget the day I made my last payment and shared the news with my future wife and family.

To help you have that same feeling of accomplishment, I wrote about my top 10 student loan tips for lawyers and professionals.

You can check out the full post here.

Top 10 Student Loan Tips for Lawyers and Professionals
1. Locate all your loans.
2. Sign up for automatic payments.
3. Do not miss a payment.
4. Consider using Debt Snowball or Debt Avalanche.
5. Make an extra monthly payment.
6. Create a BAT that generates fuel for your student loans.
7. Make more money and use that money for your loans.
8. Take a tax deduction and use your tax refund for your loans.
9. Consider a loan consolidation.
10. Look for ongoing scholarship opportunities.
Have you ever felt how annoying debt can be?

Whether it’s HELOC debt or student loan debt, all debt can feel really annoying. Debt can stop us from doing the things we really want to do in life.

I don’t regret taking out student loans. I also don’t regret using HELOCs to build my real estate portfolio.

It’s true that I wouldn’t be where I am today without my education and my rental properties.

Still, I have to make choices with my limited dollars. I took on the obligation of paying back my debts, and until I do so, fun things are going to have to wait.

When I finally do buy that bike or those golf clubs, it’s going to feel even better knowing I didn’t sacrifice my goals to get them.

Have you made certain spending choices because of debt?

How did you think about and eventually decide whether to move forward with that purchase?

Let us know in the comments below.
August 10, 2025
Money Questions: How to Handle the New Student Loan Changes?
When we last talked about student loans a few months ago, here’s what I had to say:

Have you noticed all the attention on student loans lately?

To say there is some confusion and uncertainty would be an understatement.

I don’t have any better idea than you do about what may happen in the student loan landscape.

No matter what happens, the way I see it, you have two options,

The first option is to do nothing, get angry, and blame everyone else.

The second option is to take ownership, get prepared, and educate yourself about the student loan system so you’re ready for whatever comes next.

If you’ve chosen the second option, you’re in the right place. That means you’re determined to not let outside factors you can’t control hinder your progress towards financial freedom.

Well, we now know what comes next.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law July 4, 2025, included changes to the federal student loan system.

Since then, a number of readers have reached out for my thoughts.

Today, we’ll cover some of the biggest changes that will impact Think and Talk Money readers, like lawyers and professionals.

The bottom line is, regardless of how you feel about the changes, you still have two options.

You can either do nothing, get angry, and blame everyone else.

Or, you can take ownership, get prepared, and educate yourself.

If you’ve chosen the second option, let’s get started.

The basic concepts of paying off student loans has not changed.

The two biggest changes for student loans relate to the (1) repayment options and (2) the amount that can be borrowed.

Understanding the changes shouldn’t be too difficult:

You now have less repayment options and can borrow less money overall from the federal government.

We’ll talk about the specifics next.

Before we do, always remember that paying off student loan debt is really not that different from paying off any other form of debt.

As significant as the changes might seem, the basic concepts of paying off student loan debt remain the same.

If you’d like to review the basic concepts of paying off student loan debt, check out this post:

The Time is Now: Student Loan Basics

Also, keep in mind that the recent changes apply only to the federal loan system. There will be side effects for the private loan system, but the federal system is getting all the attention right now.

For example, even before the new law, people commonly needed both federal and private loans because federal loan amounts were capped and college and grad school are expensive.

Once you took out all the federal loans you were eligible for, private loans became necessary to fill whatever funding gap remained.

This remains true today, just with a reduced cap on federal loans.

The point is that while the student loan landscape has certainly changed, the fundamentals remain the same.

So, while you may need to adjust your strategy, there’s no getting around that paying back student loans felt heavy before and still feels heavy today.

And, if you’re feeling the weight of your student loans, check out my top student loan tips for lawyers and professionals:

10 Student Loan Tips for Lawyers and Professionals

OK, on to the changes.

There are now only two federal loan repayment options.

Previously, the federal government offered seven loan repayment plans. There was a standard repayment plan and six other options to help borrowers pay back their loans while still affording their other monthly expenses.

Now, there are only two repayment options.

Option 1: The standard repayment option.

First, borrowers can still use a fixed-payment repayment plan known as a standard repayment plan.

This means borrowers can pay back loans in equal monthly payments spread over a defined period.

The previous law set the standard repayment period at 10 years. There were also graduated and extended options that reduced a borrower’s monthly payment but extended the years of required payments for up to 25 years (30 years, in some cases).

Similarly, the new law provides for a standard repayment plan. Borrowers may choose to make fixed payments for periods ranging from 10 to 25 years, depending on the size of the loan to be paid back.

Photo by Edwin Andrade on Unsplash

Option 2: The income-driven option (RAP).

In addition to changes to the standard repayment plan, the new law made significant changes to income-driven repayment plans.

Now, borrowers can enroll in a single income-driven repayment plan, which is known as the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP).

Previously, income-driven repayment options included:
- SAVE: Saving on a Valuable Education
- PAYE: Pay as You Earn
- IBR: Income-Based Repayment
- ICR: Income-Contingent Repayment
These plans determined your monthly payment based on how much you made and your family size.

Each option has now been replaced by RAP. One of the ideas behind RAP was to simplify the various income-driven repayment options into one combined plan.

With RAP, borrowers will pay 1% to 10% of their monthly income for up to 30 years. After 30 years, the remaining loan balances will be forgiven.

Notably, that’s a longer time period before loan forgiveness kicks in. Under the previous income-driven repayment plans, borrowers were off the hook after either 20 or 25 years. Now, borrowers will have to pay their loans back for 5 to 10 years longer before they are forgiven.

In addition, monthly payments depend on Adjusted Gross Income instead of discretionary income. This means monthly payments will increase for many borrowers.

There are new borrowing caps for some federal loans.

As mentioned above, the new law did not introduce the idea of caps on federal loans. Rather, it reduced the maximum amount for certain loans and eliminated other loan types.

The first change relates to Parent PLUS loans, which are loans for parents of undergraduate dependent students. The new caps for Parent PLUS loans are $20,000 per year and $65,000 total.

The next change relates to Grad PLUS loans, which are loans for higher education degrees. Basically, Grad PLUS loans are going away.

Instead, graduate students will have to take out Direct Unsubsidized Loans.

The significance is that Grad PLUS loans allowed students to borrow enough to cover the full cost of attendance for graduate school, minus any other financial aid received.

Now, professional students, like law students or medical students, may borrow $50,000 per year and $200,000 total.

Additionally, non-professional graduate students, like teachers, may borrow $20,500 annually and $100,000 total.

Why does all this matter?

Anyone who has paid for college or graduate school should immediately recognize the challenge here.

To oversimplify, college and graduate school is expensive.

These new limits mean that most students (or parents of students) will need private student loans to help pay for higher education.

Generally, private loans have less protections and are more expensive than federal loans. Private loans also can have tougher eligibility requirements, meaning less people may qualify for loans.

Add it all up and paying for higher education becomes more difficult for a lot of people.

Public service loan forgiveness remains the same, for now.

One last point to highlight sine there’s been some confusion on whether public service loan forgiveness changed.

So far, the answer is no.

As of now, public service loan forgiveness remains the same. People working eligible jobs and making loan payments for 120 months can still have their loans forgiven.

Say tuned as changes are most certainly coming. The likeliest change is going to be a reduction in the types of jobs that are eligible for loan forgiveness.

What can you do about these changes to federal student loans?

With these main changes to federal student loans in mind, the question is: what can you do about it?

Fair question.

Photo by Robert Bye on Unsplash

The way I see it?

The changes happened.

The train has left the station.

So, let’s spend our energy thinking about strategies.

Look, I completely understand that anyone with loans, or soon to have loans, is feeling frustrated right now. Rightfully so.

“Frustrated” may be the wrong word. Please feel free to insert whatever word you want into that sentence that better captures your emotions.

I also wouldn’t blame you if you felt like yelling at the clouds for a few minutes.

But, once the frustration is out of your system, you still have two options.

You can either do nothing, get angry, and blame everyone else.

Or, you can take ownership, prepare, and educate yourself.

In today’s environment, there is no excuse for failing to educate yourself and coming up with a strategy for your personal situation.

Countless websites focus on the student loan industry. In just the past couple of weeks, there have been hundreds of articles and blog posts written on the changes.

If you stay mad and don’t take action, you have only yourself to blame.

It is up to each of us to take ownership over our personal finances.

From where I sit, the student loan changes are just one example of what we all have to deal with on our constant journeys towards financial freedom.

Laws change. Tax breaks change. Circumstances change.

It’s up to each of us to stay on top of the changes to continue moving towards financial freedom.

How do we stay on top of the changes, whether it’s student loans or anything else?

We can think and talk about money. I assure you that others feel the same way that you do right now. Talk to your people. Then, come up with a plan.

For starters, you can make reading a blog like this one part of your regular internet routine. As a reminder, I post three times every week on important money and life topics for lawyers and professionals.

You can also sign up for my weekly newsletter here.

Additionally, you can also pick up a good money mindset book, like The Simple Path to Wealth or Millionaire Milestones.

If you’re still frustrated, the biggest mindset shift is to stop hoping other people, including the government, fix your money problems for you.

By the way, this is advice I could have used recently, as well.

I foolishly got my hopes up with the new legislation.

Recently, I was not immune from getting my hopes up that the government would provide a big boost for my personal finances.

Personally, I wasn’t too concerned with the student loan changes because I paid off my loans already and my kids are still at least 13 years away from college.

However, I followed the bill closely because of the SALT proposals.

If you’re unfamiliar, SALT allows people who itemize their federal taxes to reduce their taxable income by the amount they pay in state and local taxes.

As a real estate investor and mesothelioma lawyer, SALT is very relevant to my personal finances.

I own four properties and earn W-2 income in Illinois, a high property tax state with a 4.95% state income tax. Plus, I own a property in Colorado.

I am in the category of people who would benefit from a high SALT cap or no cap at all.

At various points in the legislative process, there was possibly going to be no SALT cap, or a very high SALT cap, or no SALT deduction at all.

It was constantly changing. I was hooked.

In the end, SALT won’t have much impact for me at all. I’ll end up saving some money in taxes this year, but it could have been much more.

Unfortunately, I made the mistake of getting my hopes up that SALT was going to be a great boon for my family.

The lesson is that I wasted a lot of mental energy worrying about what the government might or might not do.

I should have used that energy to work on my blog, help my clients, or engage with my kids.

These would have all been better uses of my time and energy.

Take control of your money, whether it’s student loans or anything else.

I encourage you to take control of your money decisions, whether that means learning about the student loan changes or any other parts of the legislation.

The changes happened. More changes will come in the future.

Now, it’s up to each of us to strategize and plan accordingly so we can stay on top of our finances.

Were you impacted by the federal student loan changes?

What about any other changes to the legislation?

Let us know how you’re coping in the comments below.
July 13, 2025
Invest in Real Estate and Other People Pay Your Debt

Imagine that you have the chance to own something that might be worth a lot of money down the road.

To buy this thing, you will need to pay 25% of the purchase price. The other 75% of the price will be paid by someone else.

Your job is to take care of that thing and keep it for a long time. It won’t be easy, but if you can handle it, you’ll wake up years from now owning something outright that is very valuable.

So far, this sounds pretty good, right?

Of course, there’s a catch. That person paying for 75% of the item will want to be paid back. He’ll want to earn interest, too.

You might be thinking that this opportunity doesn’t sound so promising anymore. Having to pay off that debt might be enough to convince you not to move forward with buying this thing.

You’re smart to be thinking about the debt. I could understand if the prospect of paying back a debt like this didn’t appeal to you. Who really wants to use their own hard-earned money to pay off debt anyways?

Fair enough.

But, what if I told you that other people are going to pay back that 75% (plus interest) on your behalf?

Even more, while those other people are paying back the debt, you still get to benefit from owning the item.

Does that change how you’re viewing this opportunity?

Maybe now you’re thinking that this is too good to be true?

Nope.

This is exactly how real estate investors generate long-term wealth. They buy a property using a loan and then pay back that loan using other people’s money.

This example leads us to the next main reason I invest in real estate:

Other people pay off my debt.

When you acquire the right rental properties, your tenants will pay monthly rent and that rent can be used to pay off your loan.

That means you can pay off that loan without using any of your own money.

As your loan balance shrinks, your net worth increases. As your net worth increases, you are creating wealth for you and your family.

Along the way, you can reap the benefits of monthly cash flow and appreciation. That means your net worth increases even more.

That’s a powerful combination to generate long-term wealth.

If this concept sounds like something you may be interested in, read on.

Before we talk more about debt pay-down, let’s review two of the other main reasons I invest in real estate.

1. Rental property cash flow is king.

With cash flow, you can cover your immediate life expenses. For anybody hoping to reach financial freedom, it is essential to have income to pay for your present day life expenses.

For my money, cash flow from rental properties is the best way to pay for those immediate expenses.

Photo by Frames For Your Heart on Unsplash

If your present day expenses are already covered, you can use your cash flow to fund additional investments.

That might mean buying another rental property or investing in another asset class, like stocks.

2. Long-term wealth through appreciation.

Appreciation simply refers to the gradual increase in a property’s value over time.

While cash flow can provide for my immediate expenses, appreciation is all about the long-term benefits.

Like investing in stocks over the long run, real estate tends to go up in value. The key is to hold a property long enough to benefit from that appreciation.

To benefit from appreciation, all I really need to do is make my monthly mortgage payments, keep my property in decent condition, and let the market do the rest.

Now that we’ve reviewed how cash flow and appreciation work together to generate long-term wealth, we can look at the additional benefits of debt pay-down.

With rental properties, other people pay off my debt.

When I buy a rental property, I take out a mortgage and agree to pay the bank each month until that mortgage is paid off. At all times, I remain responsible for paying back that debt.

However, I do not pay that debt back with my own money.

Instead, I rent out the property to tenants. I do my best to provide my tenants with a nice place to live in exchange for monthly rent payments.

I then use those rent payments to pay back the loan.

Each time I make a mortgage payment, part of the payment goes to interest on the loan and part of the payment goes toward the principal. This concept is known as amortization.

By the way, this is how real estate investors use Good Debt, also know as leverage, to generate wealth.

You may be totally against debt of all kind. That’s OK. Debt certainly carries risk. I’m not here to convince you that debt is a good thing or a bad thing. I’m just showing you how it works.

For more on the difference between good debt and bad debt, check out my post here.

What is loan amortization?

Amortization is the process of paying back a loan over time in predetermined installments. While your payment amount remains the same, the composition of that payment changes over time.

In the early years of paying off a mortgage, the vast majority of your payment goes to the interest. With each additional payment, more of the money goes towards the principal.

When you take out a mortgage, your lender will give you an amortization table that shows you exactly how much of your monthly payment goes towards interest and principal for the duration of the loan.

For example, if you take out a 30-year mortgage, you’ll receive a chart that shows 360 payments (12 monthly payments for 30 years). You can then look at any month in that 30-year period to see how much of your payment goes to interest vs. principal in that month.

Photo by Naomi Hébert on Unsplash

If you’re so inclined, you can also use an online calculator, like this one at calculator.net, to create an amortization chart for any loan you have.

I’ll admit, looking at the amortization chart is the least fun part of any real estate closing.

Seeing debt payments as far out as 30 years is a bit scary. It’s hard not to think of all the things that can go wrong during such a long time period. That’s why I prefer to think of amortization in general terms instead of specifics.

Generally speaking, I know that some of my monthly payment goes to interest and some goes to principal. The longer I pay back the loan, the more of my payment goes to principal. That’s good enough for me.

With a fixed-rate loan, your monthly payment remains the same.

When you have a fixed-rate mortgage, your payment remains the same for the duration of the loan.

At the same time, because of inflation, rents tend to go up over the long run. Rents may also go up if market conditions improve or if you have forced appreciation through enhancements to your property.

When your rental income goes up, and your debt obligation remains constant, that means more cash flow for you.

For example, say your monthly mortgage payment is $2,500 each month for the next 30 years. And, let’s say you currently earn $3,000 in monthly rent payments.

Over time, your rental income should gradually increase. Some years in the future, you may be earning $4,000 or $5,000 per month in rental income. All the while, your monthly mortgage payment remains $2,500.

You can use that extra income, after covering all other expenses, to pay for your immediate life expenses, pay off your loan faster, or invest in other assets.

It’s for these reasons that having a fixed debt payment over a long time horizon is one of the biggest advantages to investing in real estate.

Think of it this way. Just like with your personal Budget After Thinking, you can make significant strides towards financial freedom when your income increases and your expenses remain fixed.

What do you think of investing in real estate so other people can pay off your debt?

Now, you know three of my main reasons for investing in real estate: cash flow, appreciation, and debt pay-down.

Regarding debt pay-down, each month my tenants pay rent, I can use that income to shrink my loan balance.

As my loan balance shrinks, my equity in the property increases. Equity is just another way of saying ownership interest.

When my equity in a property increases, my net worth increases.

So, on top of monthly cash flow and appreciation, debt pay-down is another way to generate wealth through real estate over the long run.

That’s three ways to make money off of a single investment.

Not bad, huh?

If you’re a real estate investor, let us know how you’ve used debt to increase your net worth.

June 22, 2025
Money on My Mind: Read The Simple Path to Wealth
The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins is the best book on investing I’ve ever read.

It is a must-read for anyone trying to figure out why and how to invest in the stock market.

If you’re a new investor and don’t understand how to invest in the stock market, Collins will set you on your way.

If you’re a seasoned investor unsure what to do in times of economic uncertainty, Collins is here to help.

Maybe you just need a bit of motivation or a reminder of how simple it is to build long-term wealth. There’s no one better than Collins to provide that pep talk.

Who is JL Collins?

JL Collins is sometimes described as “the Godfather of Financial Independence” in the personal finance community. He has a popular blog where you can read more about his story.

The short version is that he wrote a series of letters to his then teenage daughter about money, investing, and life. He wanted to impart the wisdom he had accumulated during his lifetime and help her avoid the mistakes he had made.

Those letters eventually led to his blog, which then led to his bestselling book, The Simple Path to Wealth, first released in 2015.

Since then, Collins has been a thought-leaders in the financial independence community. He has inspired thousands, if not millions, of people around the world to accumulate massive wealth by following a few simple rules.

What makes Collins so transformative is his ability to make seemingly complex topics (like investing) into easily digestible and actionable information.

If you have any intention of becoming financially independent and haven’t read The Simple Path to Wealth, now is the time to do so.

I’ve read his book cover-to-cover twice and constantly refer back to his lessons.

Photo by Jack Skinner on Unsplash

Each time I read his book, I’m reminded how simple it is to reach financial independence if I can just follow a few simple tips.

I’ll share those simple rules with you at the bottom of the post. Before I do, here is a bit of context about each time I read his book, first in 2019, then again in 2025.

Seeing those dates, you may already be wondering if world events between 2019 and 2025 changed his philosophies.

Let’s find out.

I first read The Simple Path to Wealth in 2019 as a DINK.

I first read The Simple Path to Wealth in 2019 and just finished the updated version. Even if you’ve read the original version, I highly recommend you read new edition released in 2025.

Here’s why.

When I read the original version in 2019, market conditions and the world economy were in very different places than they are in 2025.

Back in 2019, the stock market had been closing out one of the best decades in history. As reported by US News:

From a market’s perspective, the 2010s will forever be remembered as an era of slow but steady gains on Wall Street, and a period of sustained growth for investors and their retirement accounts.

By the end of the 2010s, the market had been on the longest bull run in history. It was such an epic run that it was fairly common for most people to see big gains in their portfolios without much effort or knowledge.

On a personal level, my life was also very different in 2019. My wife and I were enjoying married life before having kids. We had just purchased our first rental property in a trendy Chicago neighborhood.

On top of that, we were DINKs (“Dual Income No Kids) and able to save aggressively for our next investment.

We were considering another rental property, but I first wanted to learn more about the power of investing in the stock market.

This is what led me to read The Simple Path to Wealth the first time.

Side note: If you are currently a DINK, or will soon be a DINK, please pay extra attention here.

Don’t waste this powerful opportunity to supercharge your investments.

When you’re in a relationship where you have two incomes coming in and are sharing financial responsibilities, you have the opportunity to supercharge your Later Money goals.

This is what my wife and I were able to do, even if we didn’t know what a DINK was. We each had good incomes coming in and our monthly expenses were low.

Also, we didn’t have to worry about childcare. We were young so the odds of unexpected medical care were lower. All things considered, it was pretty easy to keep our Now Money to a minimum with plenty to spare for Life Money.

This allowed us to fuel our Later Money goals. We had money in the bank and seemingly endless choices.

And, I didn’t want to screw it up.

Reading The Simple Path to Wealth was a way to educate myself in hopes of not screwing it up.

I read the new version of The Simple Path to Wealth in 2025.

Fast forward to 2025. I read the new version o The Simple Path to Wealth because I was curious if Collins’ viewpoint had changed due to major world events, like the Covid-19 pandemic.

I was also curious to see whether his advice would still resonate with me now that I’m a seasoned real-estate investor and have a personal finance blog.

Well, I’m happy to report that Collins’ message hit me stronger today than it did in 2019.

If anything, Collins’ lessons are even more applicable today than they were in the 2010s when markets were soaring.

In the new edition, Collins discusses how recent world-changing events, like the Covid-19 pandemic and international wars, actually strengthen his long-time recommendations.

This was very refreshing to learn because I have been following his advice and recommending his book for years.

In times of economic uncertainty, Collins explains, it’s even more important to have a plan for your money.

Once you have that plan, you need to stick to it, no matter what.

Collins provides the motivation and tools to stick to the plan.

Why is The Simple Path to Wealth such an important book?

When I teach my personal finance class to law students, I ask at the beginning of class what my students hope to learn.

One of the most common responses I hear every year is, “I want to learn how to invest in the stock market.”

OK, fair enough.

The truth is I’ve yet to find any resource better than The Simple Path to Wealth to teach us how and why to invest in the stock market.

What makes Collins such a good teacher?

In The Simple Path to Wealth, Collins uses basic, every day, language that we can all understand. This is his greatest gift.

Too many books on investing are so dense that they are useless to the average person.

Collins is different. He successfully blends his life experiences with the historical data, in easy to understand terms, to show us that investing is not hard.

For many people, especially people at the beginning of their careers, investing can seem intimidating.

As Collins explains, that’s because it’s big business for investment companies and banks to make investing seem hard and scary.

These companies spend billions of dollars marketing every year to convince us that investing is complicated. Their goal is to convince us to pay them lots of money to manage our money.

You don’t have to believe them. You certainly don’t have to pay them tons of money to invest in the stock market.

Collins will not only show you how invest on your own, he’ll also give you the tools to outperform the financial professionals.

What are Collins’ simple rules to live by?

Collins’ main message is that investing should not be complicated. When done the right way, it’s simple and effective. Hence, the title of his book.

Collins explains that each of us can achieve long-term wealth by following a few simple rules:
1. Spend less than you earn.
2. Invest the surplus.
3. Avoid debt.
Sound advice, indeed.

If you can live by these simple rules, the next question is what to do with your surplus money earmarked for investments.

Collins has a simple and effective plan for you that he details in his book.

What is Collins’ simple and effective plan for investing?

Collins’ plan is both simple and effective. He doesn’t expect you to just take his word for it, either. He has the research and historical data to back it up.

Make no mistake: just because something is simple does not mean it is ineffective.

So, what is Collins’ simple and effective plan to invest for long-term wealth?
1. Invest in low-cost, broad-based index funds. His favorite investment has always been Vanguard’s total stock market index fund, VTSAX.
2. Ignore the noise. Be mentally tough. Stay the course.
That’s it.

You don’t need fancy investments. You don’t need a financial advisor. All you need to do is commit to the plan.

If you’re thinking that this is too good to be true, you need to read The Simple Path to Wealth.

How can it really be that simple?

You might be thinking, how can it really be that simple? If all people had to do was invest in index funds, everyone would be rich.

That’s exactly Collins’ point!

Everyone could be rich if they follow these simple rules.

The problem is most people allow their emotions to get in the way and steer them off the path.

Collins does his best to help you deal with those emotions.

If you don’t believe that index fund investing will make you wealthy, look at this stat about the recently announced sale of the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers:

A mind blowing stat:

Jerry Buss bought the Lakers for $67M in 1979, and just exited for 149 times his money at $10B in 2025

Sounds like a lot, right?

That is somehow less than he would have made simply indexing the S&P 500 over that time period ($13B)
— Ankur Nagpal (@ankurnagpal) June 19, 2025

That’s right. The Buss family would have an extra $3 billion today if they had invested in the S&P 500 instead of purchasing the Lakers in 1979!

Many thanks to blog reader, DJ, for passing this one along!

I know, I know. Owning the Lakers was probably a ton of fun. They also surely made money on the team along the way.

The point remains: investing in an S&P 500 index fund also would have generated massive wealth. And, that wealth would have come without the effort and the headaches of running a major professional sports organization.

I can picture Collins having a good laugh about stats like this.

Read The Simple Path to Wealth.

I recommend The Simple Path to Wealth to all of my students and friends who ask me about investing.

There is not a better book out there to make the concept of investing seem approachable for all of us.

Collins is clear and humorous. He’s also stern when he needs to be.

If you read this book, you’ll realize that becoming wealthy through the stock market does not have to be complicated.

It can be wonderfully simple.
- Have you read The Simple Path to Wealth?
- Are you convinced that investing can be both simple and effective?
Let us know in the comments below.
June 20, 2025
How to Prioritize Investment Account Types While in Debt
Recently, we’ve been talking about some tricky money questions related to investing.

We first looked at whether it makes sense to invest while you’re in debt.

We then looked at whether to prioritize investing for retirement or for your kid’s college.

These are questions that commonly come up when I’m teaching law students and young lawyers. Of course, these questions are best answered when we consider both the emotions and the math of money.

Today, we’ll look at a third question that comes up regularly:

How should you prioritize certain investment account types, especially if you’re still paying off debt?

This is another great question.

If you’re wondering what I mean by different investment account types, you can read about my four favorite account types here.

Below are my thoughts on how I would choose between different investment account types while paying off debt.

Let me know if you agree or would prioritize a different order in the comments below.

1. Invest just enough to qualify for your employer match.

Your first goal should be to invest enough in your 401(k) plan to qualify for the employer match.

Many employers today offer a match to incentive employees to contribute to their 401(k) plans. To qualify for the match, you must be participating in your company’s plan and make contributions yourself.

The match is usually a percentage of your overall salary, usually between 3% and 6%.

For example, let’s say your salary is $100,000 and your employer offers to match your contributions up to 5% of your salary.

That means if you contribute $5,000 (5% of your salary), your employer will contribute an additional $5,000 (5% match) to your account.

In other words, your $5,000 automatically turns into $10,000.

Think about that for a moment.

That’s a guaranteed 100% return on your contribution. You put in $5,000 and you automatically get another $5,000. You won’t find a guaranteed return like that anywhere else.

That’s why if your company offers a match, it’s a no-brainer to take advantage of that match.

For this reason, an employer match is often described as “free money.”

I don’t like the term “free money” because it implies that you have not earned that money as an employee for your company. I prefer to refer to the company match as a bonus you’ve rightfully earned.

The key is to accept that earned bonus by ensuring you are meeting the minimum requirements to qualify.

Whether you think of it as free money or as a bonus you’ve earned, make sure you contribute enough to your 401(k) plan to qualify for the employer match.

2. Pay off all credit card debt.

After you hit the employer match, and before you think about further investments, you should pay off all credit card debt.

Note that credit card debt is in a category of its own because of the extremely high interest rates that accompany credit cards.

Currently, the average credit card interest rate is 20.12%.

The S&P 500 has historically averaged a 10% annual return.

That gap is so large that it’s a good idea to pay off your credit card debt before turning to further investments.

Think about it like this: with credit card debt, you are guaranteed to pay a penalty of around 20% until you pay off that debt. When investing, you can reasonably hope to earn around 10% interest.

Because the penalty you’re paying is twice the rate you’re hoping to earn, the smart move is to eliminate that penalty.

For help on paying off your credit card debt, check out my top 10 tips here.

Why not pay off your credit card debt entirely before investing in your 401(k)?

You may be wondering why I recommend qualifying for your employer match before paying off credit card.

Even with such high credit card interest rates, there’s a good reason to prioritize qualifying for your employer match. We touched on that reason above.

Let’s revisit our example. With an employer match, if you contribute $5,000, your employer will also contribute $5,000.

As we said, that’s like earning a 100% guaranteed return on your money. A 100% guaranteed return is too good to pass up.

No other reasonable investment option offers a 100% guaranteed rate of return. You can’t even reasonably hope to match the 20% penalty that credit card companies charge.

That’s why eliminating your credit card debt should be your next priority after receiving your employer match.

3. Allocate 75% of available funds to other loans and 25% to investments.

Once you have paid off your credit card debt, I recommend putting 75% of your available funds to loans and 25% to other investments.

When I say loans, I am referring to student loans, personal loans, lines of credit, and HELOCs. Note, I am not referring to primary mortgage debt.

It’s not uncommon for law students to have hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. The same is true for students in medical school and business school.

It’s not just people with student loan debt who face this question. As one example, perhaps you’ve used a HELOC to buy investment property, like I have.

There’s a reason credit card debt is in a separate category from other loans, like student loans and HELOCs.

Unlike credit card debt, student loan debt and HELOC debt typically come with lower interest rates.

The current lowest federal student loan interest rate is 6.53%.

The current average HELOC interest rate is 8.27%.

Your loans may have even lower interest rates. Regardless, the odds are that your interest rate is below the historical 10% average annual return of the S&P 500.

While it’s never a bad idea to eliminate debt, there are some good reasons why you should invest even though you’re in debt.

We explored these reasons and why I recommend a 75/25 ratio in my recent post on investing while in debt:

A Tricky Money Question: Should You Invest While in Debt?

If you’re on board with investing while paying off debt, the question becomes: where should you invest that money?

That brings us to my next suggestion.

4. Max out your 401(k) plan.

Once you reach this step, you should have no credit card debt. You should also be applying either the 75/25 ratio to invest while you’re in debt, or have no other debt to pay off.

At this point, I suggest maxing out your 401(k) with your remaining available funds.

The reason I suggest maxing out your 401(k) is because these contributions are made with pre-tax dollars. In other words, you get a tax break today by investing in your 401(k).

To put it another way, you will save money on taxes every year you contribute to your 401(k) plan.

Don’t sleep on the impact of taxes on our money decisions. Over the long term, taxes can be hard to predict, but they should not be ignored.

Photo by Ch_pski on Unsplash

Nobody really knows what taxes are going to be like in the future. Yes, it’s a safe assumption that taxes will keep going up.

But, taxes have always been complicated. I’m guessing they will always be complicated. Even if taxes generally go up, there’s no telling the exact impact taxes will have on your personal situation.

That’s why I prefer to take the guaranteed tax savings now. I’m ok with the possibility of paying more in taxes decades from now. That’s especially true because I have plenty of good uses for those tax savings right now.

That’s why I recommend maxing out your 401(k) before moving on to my final suggestion.

5. Max out your HSA, Roth IRA and 529 plan.

Once you reach this step, you’re in great shape. Reaching this point means you have maxed out your 401(k) plan, which means you’re receiving an employer match.

It means you have no credit card debt. On top of that, you are paying down your other loans with a 75/25 ratio or have eliminated those loans entirely.

Now, you have options. You’ve earned the right to choose the best investment account type for your situation.

Besides a 401(k), my other favorite account types are a Roth IRA, a Health Savings Account (HSA), and a 529 account.

You can read all about my favorite investment account types in this recent post:

My 4 Favorite Investment Accounts for Long-term Wealth

Depending on your income, a Roth IRA may be the best account type for additional retirement savings.

If you’re healthy and can cover certain medical expenses, maybe you would benefit from an HSA.

Have kids and worried about paying for college? Maybe a 529 plan is right for you.

The point is you’ve earned the right to pick the best investment accounts for your present situation.

You really can’t go wrong with any of these choices.

What do you think of this plan to prioritize certain investment accounts while in debt?

What do you think about this plan to prioritize certain investment account types, especially if you’re still paying off debt?

Let us know in the comments below.

If you’ve already made it to step 5 and are looking for help with what to do next, the truth is that you have too many options to cover in this post.

To help you start thinking about your choices, you could:
- Invest in a traditional brokerage account;
- Invest in real estate; or
- Pay down your primary mortgage.
If you’ve already made it to step 5, reach out and I’d be happy to help you think and talk about your options.

The best way to reach me is to sign up for my weekly email and reply to any email.
June 5, 2025
How to Think About Investing While in Debt
One of the most difficult money decisions people have to make is whether to invest while in debt. That’s because it can be challenging to plan for the future while worrying about past debts.

It’s also a tough decision because we know two things to be true at once:

Debt can be bad.

Investing can be good.

So, should we focus on eliminating the bad thing or doing more of the good thing?

You can see why it’s a tricky question.

The way I see it?

You don’t have to choose only one door to walk through.

You can invest while in debt.

I regularly get questions like this from law students who take my personal finance class. People just starting out in their careers are rightfully thinking about whether they should invest while paying off student loan debt.

It’s not uncommon for law students to have hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. The same is true for students in medical school and business school. The question about investing or paying off debt makes perfect sense.

It’s not just people with student loan debt who face this question. Perhaps you’ve used a HELOC to buy investment property like I have. Maybe you have mortgage debt, medical debt, or consumer debt.

The choice to pay down debt or invest for the future is tricky.

Whatever the case may be, the choice to pay down debt faster or invest for the future is tricky.

For people feeling the heavy burden of debt, the idea of investing for some future goal can seem a little bit comical. I completely understand.

If you’re facing monthly debt payments for the next 10 years, you may not be ready to think about retirement 50 years from now.

Trust me, I get it.

I know firsthand how heavy debt can feel.

In my 20s, I had both student loan debt and credit card debt. It was not fun to carry that debt burden. I’ll never forget the incredible feeling of accomplishment when I paid off those debts. I felt so much lighter.

I now have HELOC debt that I’m focused on paying off. That HELOC debt stems from buying five properties in seven years. My real estate portfolio is now exactly where I want it to be, so I’ve shifted from acquisition mode to debt-reduction mode.

Just about every day, I think about how good it’s going to feel to have that HELOC debt paid off.

The point is: you don’t have to convince me why you may want to focus on paying off debt. I understand completely.

However, I think it’s worth considering the advantages of investing at the same time you’re paying off debt. You don’t have to go all-in on paying off debt or all-in on investing. You can strike a balance.

In today’s post, I’ll share my perspective to help you think about the right balance between debt reduction and investing.

Four main reasons to invest while in debt.

There are four main reasons to consider when thinking about whether you should invest even though you’re in debt. If you’re not investing at all because you’re focused on debt, these four reasons should give you something to think about.

Photo by Caleb Jones on Unsplash

1. Invest while in debt because of the emotions of money.

It feels good to see your investment accounts grow. This is especially true when you are accustomed to looking at huge debt balances on your laptop or phone screen.

Yes, it feels good to see those debt balances shrink. It also feels really good to see your investment accounts grow.

As a professional, you work hard for your money. You spend a lot of hours away from home so you can work and make a living. You deserve to experience the fruits of your labor.

When your career is stressing you out, it can be very uplifting to observe a growing investment account balance month-to-month.

2. Invest while in debt to develop the habit.

It’s important to get in the habit of investing as early as possible in your careers. Once you start investing, even if it’s only $25 per month, you are creating a habit. This is the type of habit that will pay off immensely in the long run.

Humans have a tendency to resist change. That’s why it’s difficult to break bad habits. This tendency also works in our favor when we have established good habits, like investing. We tend to just keep doing what we’ve always done.

When you’ve established the good habit of investing, it’s easy to increase your contributions as you earn more money. The same is true when you’ve eliminated all your debt. You can easily use the money you had been putting towards debt for your already-established investments.

That’s because your accounts will already be set up. All you need to do is increase your monthly investment contributions.

This makes it easier to solidify and benefit from the good habit you’ve cultivated.

3. Invest while in debt because of compound interest.

Compound interest is the most powerful force in all of personal finance. The earlier you start investing, the more benefit you’ll get from compound interest.

You can check out more about the power of compound interest in my post on investing early and often.

Even investing a small amount of money while paying off debt will lead to massive gains over the long term because of compound interest.

4. Invest while in debt because of the math.

Even though money decisions are closely connected to our emotions, the math of investing can be hard to ignore. If you prefer to make money decisions primarily based on the math, here’s what you can do.

We’ve talked before about how the S&P 500 has historically earned an average annual return of 10%. Of course, there’s no guarantee that you will earn 10% if you invest. You may earn less or you may earn more. Still, based on the historical data, it’s a reasonable estimate.

You can then compare that 10% return to the amount you’re paying in debt interest.

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash

For example, let’s say you have student loan debt. In this example, let’s also assume you’ve created an extra $200 in your monthly budget to allocate towards either debt or retirement.

You’ll next want to look up your current student loan interest rates. For illustration purposes, the current interest rate for undergraduate federal loans is 6.53%. The current interest rate for graduate and professional students is 8.08%.

Then, you can use an online calculator to help make your decision about whether to invest the $200 or put that money to debt.

If you put the money to debt, you’ll obviously pay off that debt faster. You can read more about how to easily do these calculations in my post on Debt Snowball vs. Avalanche.

Likewise, you can use an investment calculator to see how much that $200 will grow in an investment account over the long run. You can see how to do these calculations in my post on risk as the cost to invest.

Armed with the math, you can then make a decision that makes the most sense to you.

You may value getting out of debt faster. Or, you may be motivated by the larger balance in your retirement account.

It may come down to how high the interest rate is on your student loans. The higher your interest rate is, the more sense it makes to prioritize paying off that loan.

The point is that there are mathematical reasons to start investing even while paying off debt.

One final note about the math: your student loan interest rate is effectively locked in (unless you have a variable rate). On the other hand, your investment return rate is only a projection. That makes a difference.

It means that when you are in debt, you are guaranteed to be charged interest every month. In contrast, there are no guarantees you will make money when you invest. As you make your decisions, don’t ignore this key difference.

I prefer to allocate 75% to debt and 25% to investments.

When you consider these four main reasons, you may be convinced that it makes sense to invest even while paying off debt.

So, the obvious next question becomes: how much money should you put towards debt and how much should you invest?

The ratio that works for me is 75% towards debt and 25% towards investment goals. In other words, if I had $1,000 to allocate in my budget for debt and investments, I would use $750 for debt and $250 for investments.

I used this ratio when I had student loan debt and continue to use it to eliminate my HELOC debt.

You can read more about my primary goal of paying off HELOC debt in 2025 in my post on money and cheeseburgers:

Great Talk: Money and Cheeseburgers

This 75-25 ratio gives me the dual benefit of paying off my debt faster while also seeing my investment accounts grow over time. Once my debts are paid off, I will have already established the good habit of investing. In the meantime, I’m currently benefitting from compound interest and the math of investment returns.

The reason I lean more towards debt is because I don’t like the feeling of being weighed down by debt. It’s hard to feel completely free when you are carrying the burden of debt. That’s why I am currently prioritizing paying off HELOC debt.

That said, I’m not willing to entirely delay investing for the future. The 75-25 ratio is a good balance for me and helps me accomplish multiple goals.

75-25 has worked well for me. Having reached my 40s, I’m very happy that I did not neglect my investments entirely while dealing with debt.

Don’t agonize about finding the perfect ratio between debt and investments.

Whatever balance works for you, keep one important tip in mind:

Don’t agonize about finding the perfect balance between debt reduction and investing for the future.

Take a step back and think about it for a moment:

Paying off debt is great.

Investing for the future is also great.

If you’re doing both of these things in some fashion, you’re already making great money choices!

If you’re able to pay off debt and invest at the same time, you most likely have already created a successful Budget After Thinking. You have proven that you can stay disciplined enough to allocate funds to your Later Money goals each month.

You have already done the hardest part.

I consider this whole conversation of putting money towards debt or investments a win-win decision. There’s no reason to stress yourself out in search of the perfect balance. You’re already winning.

Find a balance between debt and investments that works for you and stick to it. You really can’t go wrong. Either way, you are making progress on your money goals.

Some day in the future your debt will be paid off.

The bottom line is, one way or the other, you are going to pay off your debt. That’s assuming you are a reasonably responsible person on a typical career trajectory.

If you have student loans, it might feel like you will never get out of debt. I assure you that you will.

To put it in perspective, if you are on a standard repayment plan, you’ll be debt-free in 10 years. For most students, that equates to being debt-free sometime in your 30s.

My guess is that by the time you retire, you won’t even remember how much debt you had or exactly when you paid it off. The only reason I remember when I paid off my debt is because I’ve been keeping a money journal since 2011.

On the other hand, towards the end of your career, you will very much be aware of how much money you have saved for retirement. You will be counting on that money to allow you to step away from full-time employment.

If you’ve figured out your magic retirement number, you’ll know how long you can sustain yourself on your retirement savings.

As hard as it is to do when you’re in debt, try and picture that older version of yourself who is nearing retirement. That older version of yourself will be very grateful that you had the discipline to start investing even while paying off debt.

That’s why I allocate 75% of my available funds to debt and 25% to investments. When my debt is gone, I’ll put the full 100% to investments.
- So, what do you think?
- Are you currently investing while paying off debt?
- What other factors went into your decision besides the four main reasons discussed above?
Let us know in the comments below.
May 29, 2025
10 Student Loan Tips for Lawyers and Professionals
Student loans are…heavy.

That’s it.

They’re. Just. Heavy.

They’re a weight that we carry around long before we even make the first repayment. Sometimes that weight feels so heavy, it’s hard to imagine it ever going away.

And as much as we wish we could, we can’t ignore our student loans.

One way or the other, we have to get rid of them.

And when we do get rid of them for good, there might not be a better personal finance feeling in the world. Personally, I’ll never forget the day I made my last payment and shared the news with my future wife and family.

To help you have that same feeling of accomplishment, here are my top 10 student loan tips for lawyers and professionals.

Top 10 Student Loan Tips for Lawyers and Professionals
1. Locate all your loans.
2. Sign up for automatic payments.
3. Do not miss a payment.
4. Consider using Debt Snowball or Debt Avalanche.
5. Make an extra monthly payment.
6. Create a BAT that generates fuel for your student loans.
7. Make more money and use that money for your loans.
8. Take a tax deduction and use your tax refund for your loans.
9. Consider a loan consolidation.
10. Look for ongoing scholarship opportunities.
1. Locate all your loans.

As a first step, be sure that you are aware of all of your loans. Most people end up needing both federal loans and private loans, which are not tracked by the same loan servicers.

Additionally, you may have taken out different types of loans at different stages of your education. It’s not uncommon to forget about some of those loans.

Before you can implement a thoughtful strategy to pay back your loans, you need to ensure that all of your loans are accounted for.

The best place to locate all of your loans is on your credit report. The next best option is to ask your school’s financial aid office.

A credit report is a document that tracks your history of repayment and the current status of any loans you’ve taken out.

You are entitled to receive a free copy of your credit report from each of the three main credit reporting agencies every year. To do so, simply visit annualcreditreport.com.

For federal loans, you can also check online at studentaid.gov. But, your private loans won’t be tracked by the federal government at studentaid.gov.

Besides checking your credit report, you can access all your private loan information from your loan servicer.

Once you’ve identified all your loans, you can implement a strategy to pay them off efficiently.

2. Sign up for automatic payments.

By signing up for auto pay, you can save .25% interest on your federal loans. Many private loan companies also offer a .25% discount for using auto pay.

Over time, those savings will add up. And, there’s really no downside to you.

In fact, you should be using automatic payments even if your loan servicer does not offer a discount.

When it comes to paying back loans or achieving any other financial goal, automating your money is a very good idea. In The Automatic Millionaire, David Bach thoughtfully explains how the single step of automating your finances can help you achieve all of your financial goals.

You can learn more about Bach’s philosophy on his website.

I personally implement many of Bach’s strategies in my own life. I used to automate my student loans payments. Now, I automate my mortgage payments.

The Automatic Millionaire is definitely worth a read.

3. Do not miss a loan payment.

You know that expression, “Act now, apologize later”?

That absolutely does NOT apply to loan payments.

No matter how responsible or well-intentioned you are, sometimes life happens. Whether it’s technically your fault or not, a missed loan payment is a big problem.

It may seem unfair, but even a single missed payment can severely impact your credit history and credit score.

Because the consequences of a missed payment are so severe, this is another reason why setting up auto payments is such a good idea.

If you know ahead of time that you won’t be able to make a payment, it is imperative that you notify your loan servicer ahead of time. Your loan servicer may be able to work with you and figure out a solution before major consequences set in.

4. Consider using Debt Snowball or Debt Avalanche to pay off your student loans.

When you apply the Debt Snowball strategy, the idea is to focus on the loan with the smallest balance first, regardless of interest rate.

Once you have paid off the first loan in full, you move to the loan with the next smallest balance, again regardless of interest rate. The money you had been paying to the first loan can now be rolled into the second loan.

When you apply the Debt Avalanche strategy, the idea is to prioritize the loan with the highest interest rate, regardless of the balance.

Once you’ve paid off the loan with the highest interest rate, you move to the loan with the next highest interest rate. Just as before, the money you had been paying to the first loan can now be applied to the second loan.

Either approach works perfectly for paying off multiple student loan balances. Regardless of which method you choose, always pay the minimum required amount on all loans every month.

For more on the pros and cons of each method, check out our deep dive on Debt Snowball v. Debt Avalanche.

5. Make an extra monthly payment for massive savings.

You may be surprised how big of an impact even a small additional payment each month can have on your loans.

Let’s look at an example.

Let’s say you owe $100,000 in student loans and currently pay back $1,250 per month with an 8% interest rate.

Using calculator.net, you learn that at this pace, it will take you 9 years and 7 months to pay off your loans. You’ll pay back a total of $143,377.94.

Now, let’s imagine you are able to pay back an additional $100 per month.

Look what happens:

You can eliminate your loans an entire year sooner and save $5,040.13 in interest payments. Just with an extra $100 per month!

What about if you are able to pay back an extra $250 per month?

This is when I start to get excited.

Check this out:

For just $250 per month, you can knock off 2 years and 2 months of loan repayments and save $10,684.35 in interest!

Think about how good it will feel to get 2 years and 2 months of your life back without loan payments.

How are you supposed to come up with an extra $100, $250, or more per month?

I’m glad you asked.

6. Create a Budget After Thinking that generates fuel for your student loans.

If you want to pay off your student loans faster, you really only have two options.

The first option is to create a Budget After Thinking that prioritizes loan repayment. One of the key purposes of budgeting is to generate fuel for your future goals, including eliminating student loan debt.

Instead of letting your hard-earned dollars disappear, put them to good use. Even $100 a month can make a big difference, as we just saw.

If you’re having a hard time generating additional fuel for your student loans, check out my 10 Tips to Win the Budget Game.

So, the first option to pay off your loans faster is to create a budget and spend less money elsewhere.

What’s the second option?

7. Make more money and put those extra earnings directly to your loans.

If you’re not going to cut spending in favor of student loan repayment, then your only other option is to make more money.

That might mean getting a valuable side hustle. Or, it might mean earning a raise or a bonus at your primary job.

Whatever the case may be, as you make more money, focus on improving your savings rate.

Your savings rate is simply the amount of money you save each month divided by the amount of money you make.

Even though it’s called “savings rate,” there’s no reason why you can’t include debt repayment in your calculations. Whether you are adding money to a savings account or eliminating debt, your net worth improves.

It all counts in my book.

The point is that when you start to earn more money, put that money to good use.

Instead of shopping at more expensive stores or eating at fancier restaurants, keep your spending habits the same. Put those higher earnings towards your important life goals, like eliminating student loan debt.

8. Take a tax deduction and use your tax refund for your loans.

The IRS permits borrowers, up to certain income limits, to take a federal tax deduction up to $2,500 per year for student loan interest payments. That means that you can reduce your taxable income by up to $2,500 per year based on the interest you paid that year.

The actual amount of money you’ll save with this tax deduction depends on variables like your tax bracket. Check with your accountant or tax professional for specifics.

Regardless, as we’ve seen above, even a small amount of extra money can go a long way if used for additional student loan debt payments.

In the same vein, what if you made it a goal to apply your entire tax refund to your student loan debt?

Let’s return briefly to our example above.

This time, let’s assume that each year, you receive a tax refund of $1,700. Instead of wasting that $1,700 annually on things you don’t care about, you decide to put that money directly towards your student loans.

Look what happens when you apply that $1,700 tax refund to your student loans each year, without making any additional payments whatsoever:

With just that one decision to use your annual tax refund for student loan payments, you knock off 1 year and 4 months of payments and save $6,099.26!

That seems like a great use of money that you’ll never miss anyways.

9. Consider a loan consolidation.

Consolidating your various loans into a single loan can help make your life easier and save you money.

Your life should get easier when you only have to track and pay one loan back each month. There’s also a much smaller chance that you forget to make a payment or lose track of a loan altogether.

Besides the convenience, when you consolidate, you should receive an overall lower interest rate. That means long-term savings.

Before you consider a loan consolidation, be sure to do your homework. One major consideration is that you will lose whatever federal loan benefits you currently have if you consolidate, such as the possibility for loan forgiveness.

10. If you’re still in school, look for ongoing scholarship opportunities.

This is something that didn’t occur to me until my final year of law school. It took me that long to realize that schools regularly offer scholarships, stipends, and grants to current students, not just prospective students.

During my third year of law school, I applied for a scholarship and was awarded $2,000. I didn’t think of it at the time, but looking back, I could have used that $2,000 to prepay my student loan interest.

That would have accelerated my progress towards eliminating my loans while I was still in school.

This is a good time to point out that personal finance requires consistent attention. You don’t have to think and talk about money every day. Not even I want to do that.

But, you do have to intentionally make your personal finances a regular part of your life.

Let’s revisit our example once more.

Sorry, I can’t help myself.

What if you combined some of the 10 tips we just talked about?

Let’s say you decide to make an extra $250 monthly payment, contribute your $1,700 tax refund annually, and make a one-time payment of $2,000 for a scholarship you earned while finishing up school.

Let’s take one more look at calculator.net:

With just three relatively painless decisions, you can knock off 3 years and 1 month of student loan payments! And, you’ll save $15,481.76!

Think about what you could do with an extra 3 years and 1 month of your life without student loan payments.

You can now use that $1,500 per month you had been using for student loans on other goals. Not to mention what you could do with your annual tax refund.

On top of that, think about what you could do with that $15,481.76 you saved in interest payments.

Decisions like these are how financial freedom happens.

That’s powerful stuff.

What are your favorite student loan repayment strategies?

To recap my top 10 student loan tips for lawyers and professions:
1. Locate all your loans.
2. Sign up for automatic payments.
3. Do not miss a payment.
4. Consider using Debt Snowball or Debt Avalanche.
5. Make an extra monthly payment.
6. Create a BAT that generates fuel for your student loans.
7. Make more money and use that money for your loans.
8. Take a tax deduction and use your tax refund for your loans.
9. Consider a loan consolidation.
10. Look for ongoing scholarship opportunities.
- Have you applied any of these strategies?
- What am I leaving out that has worked for you?
Let us know in the comments below.
April 9, 2025
No Need to Obsess Over Credit Score
Your credit score is very important.

And, you need to stop obsessing over it.

Here’s why both those statements are true.

Your credit history will touch almost every important financial transaction you enter into today. I don’t just mean credit cards and loans.

If you apply for a job, need insurance, or want to rent an apartment, those companies are going to review your credit report and credit score.

So, even if you don’t intend to take out loans, your credit history and credit score are still important.

But, obsessing over your credit score is counter productive.

Has obsessing over any number ever served you well, anyways?

GPA…

Weight…

Social Media Followers…

Yes, these things may be important to you. But, obsessing over the number itself is not how they improve. The habits behind the number are more important.

If you want to improve your GPA, you need to study more.

To lose weight, you need to practice healthy living.

For more social media followers, you need to create better content.

The same logic applies to credit scores.

If you want a good credit score, the best thing to do is to practice strong personal finance habits that we routinely discuss in the blog.

Obsessing over your credit score number is a waste of mental energy.

With this backdrop in mind, we can discuss credit scores.

What is a credit score?

As we learned in our post on using credit the right way, credit refers to an agreement to borrow money with the obligation to repay that money later, usually with interest.

Credit also refers to a person’s trustworthiness or history of repayment.

We then learned that a credit report is a document that tracks that history of repayment, as well as the current status of any loans you’ve taken out.

Your credit report will typically include:
- Personal information (name, social security number, current and former addresses)
- Credit accounts (current and historical accounts, including credit cards and any other loans)
- Collection items (missed payments, loans sent to collections)
- Public records (liens, foreclosures, bankruptcies)
- Inquiries (when you apply for a new loan)
Now, we’ll talk about credit scores.

A credit score is a three-digit number calculated based on your credit history that represents your present day creditworthiness.

Your credit score captures a moment in time. That means it will change over time, sometimes quickly and dramatically.

We each have multiple credit scores depending on the scoring service. While there are many others, the two main scoring services are FICO and VantageScore.

Keep in mind that your score may vary depending on the type of loan you are applying for. For example, an auto lender looks at different factors than a mortgage lender.

For that reason, FICO alone has more than 50 different versions of your score that it may send to lenders.

What is a good credit score?

FICO and VantageScore each assign a score ranging between 300-850.

For both services, if you’re around 800, you’re doing very well. If you drop below 650, you’ve got some work to do.

Before we look at the factors that go into your credit score, I can’t emphasize this next point enough:

Don’t obsess over your credit score.

You certainly want to pay attention to dramatic changes in your score so you can understand where you need to make adjustments. That said, you should not be concerned with slight movement in either direction.

For example, FICO considers a score between 800 and 850 as “Exceptional.” Once you’re in that range, it makes no difference whether your score is 804 or 837. You may notice slight variation from month to month. That’s normal and perfectly fine.

Instead of worrying about fluctuations in your score, spend your time and energy on more important financial wellness strategies, like writing down your Tiara Goals.

What factors go into your credit score?

Regardless of the scoring service, your credit score generally consists of these factors:
- Payment history
- Current unpaid debt
- The types of loan accounts
- Length of credit history
- New credit inquiries
- Amount of available credit being used
- Collections, foreclosures or bankruptcies
Of course, not each factor counts equally. For example, FICO weighs each factor like this:
- Payment history: 35%
- Amounts owed (credit utilization rate): 30%
- Length of credit history: 15%
- Credit mix: 10%
- New credit: 10%
VantageScore does not assign percentages to each factor, but does define the importance of each factor like this:
- Payment history: Extremely influential
- Total credit usage: Highly influential
- Credit mix and experience: Highly influential
- New accounts opened: Moderately influential
- Balance and available credit: Less influential
In comparing the two main scoring methods, we can see that both methods generally look at the same factors. They both also place the highest emphasis on payment history and place less emphasis on new accounts opened.

Here’s all you need to know about each factor.

There’s no reason to overcomplicate what each factor means.

Here’s all you need to know:

Payment history reflects whether you consistently make on-time payments.

Amounts owed, credit utilization rate, and total credit usage refer to how much of your available revolving credit you are currently using.

Revolving credit mostly refers to credit cards, but could also include loans like a line of credit.

For example, if you have a credit card with a monthly limit of $1,000, and you are currently charging $300 per month on that card, your credit utilization rate is 30%.

To maximize your credit score, aim for using 30% or less of your available credit. This ratio applies to each individual account and to your total account balances.

Length of credit history refers to how long various accounts have been open.

The longer the accounts have been open, the better your score will be.

Credit mix looks at what types of loans you have open.

Generally, lenders prefer to see a variety of loans, like credit cards, auto loans, and mortgages.

New credit refers to how many loans you’ve applied for recently.

Applying for too many loans in a short period can negatively impact your score since you may seem desperate for loans to fund your lifestyle.

What factors are not considered in your credit score?

Credit scores do not take into account personal information like race, gender, age, or marital status.

Credit scores also do not consider income or employment history.

Keep in mind that while personal information or employment history is not a factor in your credit score, it certainly will be considered as part of your application by lenders.

For example, mortgage lenders and landlords will want to confirm your history of steady employment and income before entering into a financial relationship with you.

Don’t get caught up in precisely how your score is calculated.

FICO and VantageScore provide the above information as general guidance. However, each of our credit scores is determined on a unique set of circumstances that changes over time.

While these factors are generally considered for everyone, specifically how each factor is weighed varies for each of us.

As FICO explains:

Your credit report and FICO Scores evolve frequently. Because of this, it’s not possible to measure the exact impact of a single factor in how your FICO Score is calculated without looking at your entire report. Even the levels of importance shown in the FICO Scores chart above are for the general population and may be different for different credit profiles.

Like we mentioned before, it’s important to not get hung up on the different methodologies that each scoring service uses. For the most part, your score won’t vary significantly from one service to another.

The key point is to pay attention to the general factors that impact your score but understand that your score is always changing. Don’t waste your energy trying to decipher how much weight is given to each factor.

How to check your credit score.

These days, it’s easier than ever to monitor your credit score.

Most major banks offer free credit scores to their customers.

You can also sign up for credit monitoring, including credit scores, with the major credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Note that only some services are provided free of charge.

Of course, there are also no shortage of apps and websites providing similar services, sometimes free and sometimes for a price.

If you’d like additional guidance on how to obtain your credit score, please reach out on the socials or by replying to our weekly newsletter.

What should I do instead of obsessing over my credit score?

Instead of obsessing over your credit score, focus on the strong financial habits we discuss regularly in the blog.

You should not have to worry about your credit score if you:
- Create a Budget After Thinking
- Stay within budget with two simple numbers
- Fuel your savings for big purchases
- Create an emergency fund for untimely expenses
- Confidently tackle debt with our top 10 strategies
- Responsibly use Good Debt
When you can make these habits part of your regular life, your credit score will automatically rise along the way.

Look at credit scores from a potential lender’s point of view.

I hope this goes without saying, but lenders are in the business of making money. They make money by gauging risk. The lower an applicant’s credit score, the more the lender’s risk increases.

When the lender’s risk increases, it may decide to not lend you money. Or, it may choose to lend you money and charge you a higher interest rate to compensate for that higher risk.

The same logic applies when other entities besides lenders are reviewing your credit score.

For example, an employer may check your credit score to determine your level of trustworthiness before offering you a job.

A landlord may check your credit score before agreeing to rent you an apartment to confirm whether you are likely to make the required payment each month.

Always remember why credit scores are used in the first place.

If nothing else, remember why credit scores are used in the first place:

Credit scores are used to measure how risky it would be for someone else to enter into a financial relationship with you.

In other words, can you be trusted with money.

If you have a history of not making on-time payments, or not paying loans back, that indicates you are not responsible with money.

When you are using up most of your current credit and carrying high balances, that demonstrates that you have a hard time limiting your spending.

If you are constantly applying for new credit, it shows that you may be dependent on credit to fund your life.

In any of these scenarios, the risk of entering into a financial relationship with you increases.

Credit scores are especially important before big purchases.

If you have a big purchase coming up, like buying a home or a car, it’s important to have your credit score in a good spot before applying. This is because your credit score will impact the interest rate you are offered.

For a big purchase, even slight variations in the interest rate can make a huge difference.

Because it’s normal for your credit score to change frequently, it is worth waiting to apply for that loan until after you’ve improved your score.

The best ways to improve your score in the short term are to pay off debt and avoid applying for new credit.

By paying off debt, you’ll improve your payment history and your credit utilization rate, two of the most important factors in your score regardless of scoring method.

The best thing you can do to avoid the costly consequences of a poor credit score is to implement the personal finance fundamentals we routinely discuss in the blog.

Have you ever needlessly obsessed over your credit score?

Let us know what that felt like in the comments below.
March 17, 2025
Great Talk: Money and Fences
Know anything about fences?

We need to replace a 20 year-old wood fence at our home that’s one strong storm away from falling over. In these past few weeks, I’ve learned more about fences that I care to admit.

On the bright side, shopping for a fence has led me to think about and practice many of the personal finance habits we talk about in the blog.

Let me walk you through my thought process to help you whenever you have a big expenditure in front of you.

In the world of privacy fences, there seem to be three primary choices available: wood, vinyl, and composite. I won’t bore you with all the details. The key points to consider for our conversation are:
- Wood is the cheapest, but requires the most upkeep and will eventually need to be replaced.
- Vinyl (plastic) comes with a lifetime warranty, requires little-to-no upkeep, but is 30-40% more expensive than wood.
- Composite is the most durable, looks incredible, requires no upkeep whatsoever, has soundproofing ability, is made from recycled materials, comes with a 25-year warranty, but is nearly 3x more expensive than wood.
We’ve ruled out wood after doing our research and determining that we’ve got too much going on to worry about annual fence upkeep.

So, that leaves vinyl and composite. From our research, both would be good options. However, there’s really no doubt that composite is the best overall option, if you can stomach the cost.

Talk to your people about expensive purchases.

This is a big financial decision, so of course, I’ve been talking to my people for weeks about what they would do.

I’ve gotten three common responses that go something like this:
- “You’re planning to live in this home for the long run, make the investment in the best fence possible and never worry about it again.”
- “How much do you really care about a fence? I’ve never even noticed my fence. Think of what other projects you could spend that money on.”
- “Dude, leave me alone. I don’t want to talk about your fence.”
As you can see, talking to your people does not mean that you’re off the hook for making the decision yourself. You will likely get a wide spectrum of advice.

However, you’ll gain invaluable perspective to consider so you can make the best decision for your personal situation.

Expensive purchases test your personal finance habits.

Whenever you have a big purchase ahead of you, many of the strong personal finance habits you’ve been working to establish will be tested. You’ll be asking yourself questions like:
- Do I really need this thing?
- Can my budget handle the purchase?
- Do I have sufficient savings to cover it?
- What else could I spend this money on?
- Should I invest the money instead?
- Are there financing options to spread out the cost?
My wife and I have considered all these questions as we’ve talked through the options.

As of this moment, we’re leaning towards the composite fence so we never have to think about fencing again.

To help defray the cost, we’re considering a financing option that offers 0% interest for 18 months.

Important side note: if you ever choose to go with an attractive financing option, always read the fine print first.

The lender is hoping you fail to pay off the purchase within the 0% interest period so you’re forced to pay insanely high interest on the remaining balance. The financing option we’re looking at jumps from 0% interest to 26% interest if we fail to pay off the loan in 18 months. That’s a serious penalty.

Financing aside, we’ve also concluded that other projects will have to wait for a while so we don’t crush our money goals for the year.

We’ll make our final decision this weekend.

What would you do?

Leave a comment below to help my wife and I decide.

Sharing Think and Talk Money with Others.

Over the past couple days, I’ve heard from several readers who have shared Think and Talk Money with people they care about.

One reader told me that he shared the blog with his 25 year-old son. The reader was very appreciative because he’s experienced how important personal finance is.

He knows his son will only benefit in the long run if he implements strong money habits at the beginning of his career.

Another reader shared the blog with a friend who is now tracking her spending for three months. This is the first time she has ever tracked her spending to learn where her money is going each month.

She is using her phone and a simple spreadsheet to track her expenses. She reports that even though it’s only been a month, she’s learning things about her money choices she never knew before.

I love reader stories like this because they reflect one of our core philosophies at Think and Talk Money:

It’s not taboo to to talk about money.

When you start the conversation, you’re not just helping yourself, you’re helping people you care about.

It doesn’t matter if you’re talking about paying for a fence or starting a budget. We all could use help when it comes to making good, consistent money decisions.

Your friends are likely going through the same money challenges.

Since writing about my challenges with credit card debt at the beginning of my career, I’ve had some great talks with friends I knew back then.

Multiple friends have shared with me that they were dealing with the same credit card debt issues at the same time that I was.

None of us ever knew it at the time. We were hanging out with each other every weekend, spending money we didn’t have. The joke of it all is that we were likely encouraging each other’s poor habits.

Learning that I was in the same position as my friends all these years later does make me feel at least a little bit better about the mistakes I made back then. But, that’s not the important takeaway.

The big takeaway for me is that if my friends and I were dealing with the same money challenges back then, we’re probably dealing with similar money challenges today.

It might not be credit card debt from our social lives, but it might be something like saving for college or paying for a home. Maybe it’s what we should do when the stock market slumps.

Just like we mentioned above, my friends and I will only benefit from having these kinds of money talks.

Instead of just talking about mistakes we made in the past, we can talk about how to get it right as we move forward.
March 14, 2025