I have no debt.

[FTL_Ian]

Me too, and it feels great!   

[dalebert]

Congratulations!  It does make you feel free.  I've been debt free for several years now, and it's great.  Of course, I've got much lower income than I have for quite a few years, but living debt free and cultivating simple interests keeps my bills low, so I can make it on a lot less income than in the past.

This is my new philosophy and it's working out well so far.

[srqrebel]

yup and thanks to bush you cant wipe out student loans if u file bankruptcy.

I would not care to file bankruptcy anyway... it is merely government-enabled irresponsibility.

There certainly are situations where individuals cannot make good on their obligations, usually more or less temporary. In fact, I've been in those shoes way more than I care to admit. Yet that is no justification for the government to step in and force creditors to let debtors off the hook permanently, and eat the loss themselves.

[kola]

lower income=lower or zero taxes.

[kola]

yup and thanks to bush you cant wipe out student loans if u file bankruptcy.

I would not care to file bankruptcy anyway... it is merely government-enabled irresponsibility.

There certainly are situations where individuals cannot make good on their obligations, usually more or less temporary. In fact, I've been in those shoes way more than I care to admit. Yet that is no justification for the government to step in and force creditors to let debtors off the hook permanently, and eat the loss themselves.

imo an overload of medical bills is a valid bail out. i think a lot of bankruptcy filings are due to serious illness and no health insurance. after a person loses all their savings and their house it is nice that there is some way that will give someone a fresh start. I guess i have mixed feeling about it because i too am quite responsible for my actions and very independant and way too proud to take handouts. But for many (and especially a family) its a good option IMO.

actually this might be a good topic of discussion.

kola

[K. Darien Freeheart]

I still have a lot of debt.

With cost of living growing and income remaining where it's my debt situation isn't improving.

[Dylboz]

Please, please... how did you do it? How long did it take? I am in a cycle where I have to charge things to survive, because so much of my money goes to debt service, including the $10,000 I had to pay of my ex-wife's debt (debt she accrued while screwing someone else and paying off her credit cards with my income, while I went further into debt). It could have been worse, she had accumulated over $30,000 on those CC's, but I negotiated a settlement of $10,000 at $250 a month and 9% APR and got to keep all my property. Basically, I make my ex's new car payment, so she can drive around with the douche-bag she was cheating on me with and have plenty of money to spend on designer purses. In AZ, debt is community property and you can be forced through the state courts to liquidate your assets to pay off debts when you get divorced, so I was lucky to keep my 24 year old car and the improvements made to the house (I could have been forced to reimburse her a portion of the value because I got to stay in the house, the fact that my mother still owns it on paper saved my ass there).

Right now, I am trying to cut costs, eliminating lots of things, like cable TV, and I'm planting a garden, but money management has never been a strong suit of mine, that's one reason why I closed my home business and went back to full time employment. I went through credit counseling once, way back when I was still in college and had been using my CC's like they were free money, and it helped a lot, but right now my student loans (a crushing $40,000+ debt) are the biggest hassle. I have not been able to pay them, and so the credit rating I worked so hard to build back up is getting wrecked while I struggle to allocate funds toward them. Any tips, especially if they involve strategies for negotiating with or consolidating or reducing student loan payments would be very much appreciated!

PS - CONGRATULATIONS!!!

[Dylboz]

imo an overload of medical bills is a valid bail out. i think a lot of bankruptcy filings are due to serious illness and no health insurance. after a person loses all their savings and their house it is nice that there is some way that will give someone a fresh start. I guess i have mixed feeling about it because i too am quite responsible for my actions and very independant and way too proud to take handouts. But for many (and especially a family) its a good option IMO.

actually this might be a good topic of discussion.

kola

I had 3 open heart surgeries between 1999 and 2004, and I had health insurance coverage for all of them. In spite of that, I always had months and months of wrangling with doctors offices, hospitals, laboratories, physical therapists, respiratory therapists, and the always god-awful anesthesiologists, the voodoo black magicians of surgery, who bill separately and exorbitantly, yet insurance often refuses them, as if they expected you to bite down on your belt and gut it out while you have your insides splayed out on a table. It is HELL on your credit, which is tough, because after you have a surgery like that, you tend to need to borrow to make ends meet, since recovery takes months and you can't work. Especially in my case, since my "pre-existing condition" meant I was disqualified from AFLAC. Right when I needed a good credit rating so I could increase my limits in order to keep a roof over my head and food on the table, these billing departments were hard at work screwing it up. I could go on and on, but in almost every case, I had coverage for those services, and the patient responsibility was met by the co-pays and deductibles, well into the thousands mind you, that I had already paid. I finally got it all worked out, but it is not the kind of stress I needed under the circumstances.

Nonetheless, I am in no way desirous of single-payer, government mandated, bureaucratic health care. I have been treated by physicians in socialist countries, even had surgeries (I had a few childhood illnesses that required hospitalization) and my experience tells me that even with the hassles, the American market system is superior. The fact is HMO laws, the AMA and the Pharma lobby are solely responsible for the so-called healthcare crisis in this nation, and it is precisely because they got the laws they wanted restricting types and availability of care and forcing the massive insurance industry onto us that we have this fucking mess. Deregulate healthcare and you'll get the same consumer oriented and market driven success that the airline industry realized in the 80's and 90's. Of course, our "representatives" are busy trying to undo all those gains as we speak, and they are trying to ruin what little freedom that remains in the healthcare industry, much to our detriment.

[K. Darien Freeheart]

Please, please... how did you do it? How long did it take?

I'm curious about this one too.

[kola]

work more, spend less, sell stuff you dont use.

do not finance anything, pay cash only.

if u have no cash, you dont buy.

simple.

[K. Darien Freeheart]

Firstly, congrats to all ye that are free of debt. That's a huge accomplishment and I don't mean to belittle it.

I do need to be clear here - libertarians (and I do means this in the very broad sense that covers most everyone here) recognize that the government messing with the free market causes problems (poverty and loss of ability to fairly earn income). On the flip side, libertarians tend to understand economics better than most people.

work more, spend less

I literally have time to work, shower, drive home and sleep. I don't have time to work more and with a few small exceptions, there's nothing I can remove from my life WITHOUT harming my quality of life. I see absolutely NO benefit to having no debt if that means a quality of life you don't want. I don't have enough money to feed myself and my wife to take time off of work to find a higher paying job and moving closer to my job would increase my cost of renting my apartment (even with gas as high as it is, it's cheaper to commute those few hours than to live closer).

do not finance anything

There was a time when my wife owned her car and I was paying off the financing of my car. We both work and both commute in opposite directions so having two cars is a MUST for us. When she crashed her car, we needed it replaced. It was actually impossible for us to share a car and keep our jobs, and it was impossible to pay our rent without both jobs. One car, no cash, need of two cars doesn't leave people with many options. How would you have maintained your quality of life (again, what's the benefit of having no debt if you're getting no enjoyment out of your money?) and avoided financing?

simple.

If EVERYONE is capable of doing that in today's world, then what's wrong with the world? The government taking 1/3 of your money should be fine, just spend less, right? I really don't mean to be an ass in this regard, but while the principals are simple, actually DOING it isn't.

[kola]

i hear ya.

i said it was simple but forget to mention it wouldnt be easy.

i guess everyone has a particular situation...and a one size fits all approach dont work.

ever heard of dave ramsey? he has great perspective and viewpoints on the subject. I paid for his seminar and it was worth its weight in gold. Now he has books and videos etc.

The video Law of Attraction is very cool too, if you are open-minded to self-powering enrichment.

kola

[K. Darien Freeheart]

ever heard of dave ramsey?

Nope. I Googled him and the first thing I'm seeing is talking about his baby steps. In specific he says "Money magazine says that 78% of us will have a major negative event happen in any given 10-year period of time". Previously he considers these kind of events "you lose your job, there's an unexpected pregnancy, the car's transmission goes out, or, or, or".

Once every 10 years? WTF! I've not been a legal adult for 10 years and I've had those kind of events occur about once every 9 months on average and NOT due to lazy-type negligence (failing to maintain your car and griping when it dies is IMO, your fault).

That side note there... Do you have anything specific from him you'd recommend? It looks like he's got several books and audio recordings and I hate finding a needle in a haystack. Is there a specific title you benefited from?

The video Law of Attraction is very cool too, if you are open-minded to self-powering enrichment.

Is that "The Secret"? My mother in law gave me that DVD and I watched it, but really, it wasn't anything more than common sense and cliche saying. Earning stuff takes effort, nobody denies that. Have a positive attitude and create your own opportunities where you can and you WILL reap. Do nothing and you'll gain nothing. I consider myself a quite positive person in general, do I do feel the world does have bountiful opportunities. The problem isn't with there not so much being opportunities by my ability to take advantage of them when one of them presents itself. Great opportunities tend to appear to me once every 9 months and 1 day.

[KBCraig]

I was going to give you a Dave Ramsey Show station listing, but apparently you have to give up your email to get one for your specific location:

http://www.daveramsey.com/radio/home/index.cfm?fuseAction=dspFindStation

[kola]

Kev, I cant really say what part of Dave Ramseys protocol would suit you best, Its really not that easy.
I will say his info is priceless though. and yes The Secret is about law of attraction. even tho you say you know about it and it is common sense as I read your last post you are already in a mind set that is not at all positive. Yes law of attraction is simple knowledge and common sense but the secret is to believe in good things...and shy away from reinforcing the negatives. Your last post kinds indicated that you are not really practicing the concepts. If you continue to think hat things always go bad for you then then will...or if such and such happens to me every nine months then shall be it. you must remember that you are, in sense, your own creator. I agree it takes some mental shifting but is well worth the time and effort.

You are half way there. now make some plans and follow through. If this was easy everyone would do it and be successful. But it is simple. The only obstacle is in your head. You can find a zillion reasons for it to fail. Find just one good one to make it work. Rewards are never cheap. good luck.

kola