In June I claimed that I would be debt free by 2012. It’s November 2011 and I’m now debt free. Every single penny of debt has been paid off. Last November I was $50k in debt. I had $43k student loans, $4k on my credit cards and $3k in tax payments to make.
It’s been a busy year of progress. It took a lot of sacrifice and I had to keep my eye on the prize, but I finally got there. Luckily, along the way, it seems that things have been working in my favor. It’s clear that my salary over the last year ($51k to $58.5k to $54k) wasn’t enough to help me make all this progress. My family helped along the way. My parents continued to pay the minimum $485 monthly payment on my student loans. My grandparents also had money in a mutual fund that they had gifted to me each year which ended up being worth $3.7k. Over the past year I also increased my outside income. It seems that when you’re making the right choices things just fall into place. As I’ve heard before, “money attracts money.”
My financial journey doesn’t end here. I still have a long way to go. I’m going to need a new car. I will be getting married in the next three years. And I’m looking forward to purchasing a home at some point. I still have a loooong ways to go, but being debt free will now allow me to focus on these other goals and I’m looking forward to sharing my journey with you.