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A good tomorrow starts with a good

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night's sleep. Just. Search for

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Optimal Living Daily. This

1:10

Is Optimal Finance Daily Episode Twenty

1:12

Six Eighty Nine. How We Paid

1:14

Off $17,000 Plus and Student

1:17

Loan Debt in Just 54 Days by

1:20

Dave Cahill with jackiebek.com. And

1:23

I'm your host and personal finance enthusiast,

1:25

Diana Merriam. Now let's get

1:28

right to today's post. How

1:35

we paid off 17,000 plus in

1:37

student loan debt in just 54 days

1:40

by Dave Cahill with jackiebeck.com. Money

1:44

can be emotional. Few. Experiences

1:47

compared to the joys of earning

1:49

a long awaited promotion or receiving

1:51

a raise. Sometimes. Those

1:53

experiences teach us that the grass is always

1:55

greener on the other side. I

1:57

learned this lesson the hard way. in

2:00

In June 2015, I earned a promotion as

2:02

a public school administrator. Two

2:04

weeks later, my wife Megan secured a new job

2:06

as a teacher in the same school district. Our

2:09

new jobs came with significant raises. I

2:12

thought we had it made. Before

2:14

starting our new jobs, my wife and I

2:16

celebrated with a vacation and spent a week

2:18

basking in glory. Life

2:21

finally seemed perfect. Getting

2:23

a wake-up call. But

2:25

everything wasn't as perfect as it seemed. With

2:28

many millennials, I found myself sitting on over $17,000 in

2:30

student loan debt at 6.5% interest.

2:35

I was horrified when I read a statement

2:37

which showed that the typical 10-year repayment plan

2:39

would cost us $10,000 in student loan interest,

2:41

over $27,000 in total. The

2:46

facade of our perfect life began to crumble in

2:48

early 2016. One

2:51

cold February day, after much soul-searching, I

2:53

came to the conclusion that I hated

2:55

my new job. I

2:57

wanted out even more than my supervisor wanted

2:59

me to leave. But our debt

3:01

was suffocating, and it limited my options.

3:05

From that day on, I was completely consumed by

3:07

paying off student loan debt. Nothing

3:09

could stand in our way. Our

3:11

payoff strategy. When

3:13

my wife and I decided to pay off my loans, we

3:16

decided to do it quickly. We knew

3:18

we could sacrifice for a short while, even if

3:20

it hurt, as long as it freed up cash

3:22

and our budget to make large payments. We

3:25

cut out almost every unnecessary expense.

3:28

Eating out, non-basic groceries,

3:30

movies, clothing, and unused

3:32

subscriptions and memberships. We

3:35

ate very simply and spent many quiet evenings

3:37

at home. Much to

3:39

our surprise, few people noticed our extreme

3:41

frugality. Most who did

3:43

were surprisingly supportive and understanding of

3:45

our sacrifices. But we

3:47

still had our detractors. A

3:50

few people suggested that we were going overboard

3:52

with our new plan. Members told

3:54

us to lighten up a bit and have some fun. We

3:57

stopped spending time with those friends for their

3:59

dera- Our pay off mean. Or

4:02

frugality alone propelled our financial plan forward

4:04

and allowed us to pay off nearly

4:06

twenty four hundred dollars in February or

4:09

first month of our journey. And.

4:11

And remember seeing the inside of a

4:13

restaurant Target or Banana Republic during this

4:15

time. We. Encountered a few

4:18

unexpected expenses over the next several weeks

4:20

that followed, but we were still able

4:22

to pay off an additional eleven hundred

4:24

dollars in March. April was

4:27

a dream month for a monthly budget. My

4:29

wife and I each receive three paychecks.

4:32

Even are modest educators Harrys, when

4:34

combined with our ongoing frugality, allowed

4:37

us to pay off over four

4:39

thousand dollars. isn't. It. The

4:41

finish line seemed like a seat mirage

4:43

in the horizon. After

4:45

over a month have sacrificed, we still

4:47

owed ten thousand. One hundred and sixty

4:49

six dollars and thirty seven. I

4:52

became discouraged around this time and thought about

4:55

giving up. My. Wife urged me to

4:57

keep my eyes on our goal and suggested

4:59

I finally start my own website to share

5:01

about our journey and help others who are

5:03

struggling to make sense of less money problems.

5:06

I officially launched Financial Superhero.

5:09

Dot Com on April. First twenty six

5:11

teams. Reaching. The

5:13

finish line. In my

5:15

discouraged states I reviewed our financial big

5:17

picture and sound a glimmer of hope.

5:20

Some. Quick math revealed that we had more

5:22

than enough money in our emergency fund to

5:24

live out my remaining student loan debt. We.

5:27

See the dilemma. Are. Large

5:29

emergency fund with our security blanket

5:31

gave us peace. But. Neither

5:33

of us could shake the uncontrollable urge

5:35

to wipe out our debt. We.

5:37

Knew that if the situation were reversed, we would

5:40

not take out a loan at six point five

5:42

percent to build an emergency fund. And.

5:44

We knew that even after spending this

5:46

money, we would still be in a

5:48

position to protect yourself against unexpected emergencies.

5:51

Moments. Later, my hands trembled as I

5:54

submitted a payment in the amount of

5:56

ten thousand, one hundred and sixty six

5:58

dollars and thirty seven cents. It

6:00

ended or fifty four day journey

6:02

towards freedom. From student loan debt once and

6:04

for all. Lesson. Learned

6:07

during the journey. I'll

6:09

always remember the day we meet our final student

6:11

loan payment. We learned so much during

6:13

our fifty four day journey. Pay.

6:15

Off my suitland so quickly was a

6:18

big change, but the resulting freedom and

6:20

opportunities to pursue my passions are benefits

6:22

I wouldn't trade for anything. I'd

6:25

be lying if I said it was easy to

6:27

focus on the finish line for fifty four street

6:29

days. Or metics may not

6:31

be realistic in your circumstances. But.

6:33

Don't be afraid to bet on yourself

6:35

and take reasonable risks to achieve that

6:37

freedom. And maybe uncomfortable, even

6:40

scary. But it's worth noting that sometimes

6:42

of the biggest risk are those which

6:44

you don't take. Living.

6:46

Frugally the not, I'm naturals. us.

6:49

Each day with a new battle which tested

6:51

our resolve. But. We were willing

6:53

to do nearly anything to break free from

6:55

our debt as soon as possible. And

6:58

the darkest moments or vision for a

7:00

better future was what kept us moving

7:02

forward. You.

7:07

Just listen to the post titled how

7:09

we paid off seventeen thousand plus and

7:11

student loan debt into sixty four days.

7:14

Idea To hell with Jackie better.

7:16

Com and I'll be right back with

7:18

my commentary. Have. You been using

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Reading this article was like a trip down memory

8:33

lane because getting out of debt has been the

8:36

best part of my financial journey. I

8:38

made my last payment on August 16th, 2016. And

8:42

I know this because a friend of mine made a

8:44

video of me sending off the final payment and documenting

8:47

how I felt about it. I

8:49

look like I'm high in this video. I'm so

8:51

overjoyed. If you want

8:53

to see the exact moment of debt freedom,

8:55

just Google the day Diana Mariam paid off

8:57

30 grand of debt. Embrace

9:00

yourselves, my friends. Getting

9:02

out of debt takes a lot of hard work,

9:04

and the weight off your shoulders is well worth

9:06

the effort. The process helped

9:08

me learn to live within my means and

9:10

solidify the frugal habits that still serve me

9:13

today. Someone mentioned to

9:15

me recently that they were thinking of selling some of

9:17

their investments to enable them to get out of debt

9:19

quicker. I'm sure there are

9:21

scenarios where this might make sense, especially for

9:23

high interest debt. But I

9:25

wondered how this might affect this person's ability to stay

9:27

out of debt. Debt repayment

9:30

is typically the first order of business when

9:32

cleaning up our finances, and it can set

9:34

the stage for all of our other financial

9:36

wins. The experience of

9:39

ticking away at that debt over time

9:41

allows us to get used to living

9:43

below our means, and that's the

9:45

skill we need to make sure we don't get back into

9:47

debt. But that'll do it

9:49

for today. Thank you for listening, have a great

9:52

rest of your day, and I'll see you on

9:54

tomorrow's show where optimal life awaits.