The Difference It All Makes

In October 2018, my wife and I decided to make the sacrifices and get our financial life in

order. I’ve told the story more than once before, so I won’t tell it all here. The short of it is we went from having $50,000+ in debt with very little in savings or checking to having all our debt paid off (except for the house) and an emergency fund saved up, more money than had

ever been in our accounts. We had accomplished a major milestone that we set out to achieve, but the full importance of it only recently struck.

In less than a month, we had one of our two cars mechanically totaled requiring us to get another one; the other had to have its transmission replaced; and we found out that I had cancer, requiring surgery sure to rack up a significant amount of medical bills. Although the medical bills will take a few months to all trickle in, the emergencies will total almost $20,000.

Three years ago, I don’t know how we would have handled all this. There’s not doubt in my mind it would have put incredible amounts of stress on our lives and our relationships. It may have financially ruined us. We would have signed up for at least one car loan if not two. If we didn’t buy a new car to replace the one with a shot transmission, the transmission repair would have surely gone on a credit card. And we would be paying on those medical bills for years to come. Our debt total would have climbed into the $70,000 range, making getting out of debt even harder.

Being in debt is a vicious cycle that sucks people in and erodes their lives and their joy. You don’t have any money, so you buy stuff using debt (loans, credit cards, HELOCs). But all those monthly payments keep us from being able to save any money. All our income is already spoken for before the month even begins. So, when an unexpected expense arises, we use debt to cover. And the cycle continues. Unless YOU break it.

The silver lining that I took from our whole situation was that we had the money in place to cover these expenses. We spent two years living a decreased lifestyle to be able to clear our debt and build up an emergency fund, and it was there for us when the emergencies came. Now, amid all the stress caused by three simultaneous emergencies, at least we don’t have to worry about the financial side of it.

Guys, it’s difficult for me to express how profound a difference this is. Does it make emergencies go away? Of course not. But at least one part of your life is solid while everything else around you is in turmoil. When we started our journey to financial freedom, dreams of one day being wealthy, of being able to retire early and purchase things we wanted just for fun were the visions dancing around in my head. But this situation drove home the critical importance of financial freedom.

If you are at all uneasy about your finances, ask yourself what would happen if you had $20,000 of emergencies hit you at once. Would you be OK financially? If you’re not absolutely sure, it’s time to solidify your financial life. I would love you see you clear you debts and build your emergency fund so when an emergency hits, you don’t have to make it worse by turning to debt to pay your bills. Make the change; make the short-term sacrifices for a lifetime of financial freedom.