“Overcoming the Financial Giants"

We have had tremendous encouragement from our family & friends on our journey to become debt free in 2010. They are super supportive & are anxious to see us reach our goal. Their pats on the back & high fives have made our walk into financial freedom so much sweeter.

But for every loved one that is on our side there is also a person who can’t wait to give us their financial advice. Well, that’s what they call it anyway. ;) I frequently have people who are ready to discourage me. In previous months I’ll admit it’s worked a time or two. When I would review our bills they seemed intimidating & I looked like a grasshopper in their sight. Then I began finding ways, such as reading financial success stores, to give myself confidence so the next time Debbie Downer (insert wah-wah) came around. Along with changing my mindset towards debt, these actions caused me not to dwell in the negativity of others.

Get ready for the financial giants to rear their ugly heads & spew forth a passel of what they entitle information. This will happen immediately after you let someone know you want to be debt free & it likely won’t end until you become debt free. The cool part is when you’re debt free they aren’t able to tell you that you’ll never do it.

I had one of these experiences not long ago when someone began telling me that they have paid off some debt. We began a conversation about becoming debt free & I talked about how we were working hard to do so. Then came all the reasons why we’ll never make it. Those included having children, car payments, & the possibility that my leg could fall off from jungle rot which will shove us into a downward spiral of financial frenzy from which we will never recover. Gee, thanks.

My response wasn’t epic by any means. I replied, “We will be debt free by December 2010.” They just blinked at me. They had nothing to say. I can’t blame them. I mean, really, what do you say to the person who doesn’t believe you? What could they say after they spent 20 minutes explaining to me why my plan would never work? How are they supposed to reply to my simple statement?

The following day I listened to Dave Ramsey’s radio show. He said, “What your broke friends say about money doesn’t matter. Their plan isn’t working.” That’s the way I want to face financial giants & their negative input. I want to hit them with the facts & the facts are that their plan isn’t working but mine is. There’s no need to be arrogant or condescending. However, I have every right to be confident in our results & what God is doing in our finances. Being out of debt won’t seem so impossible next December. :)

Nevertheless ~