Stanley Johnson (3 of 5)

What would it take to curb your spending habits?

We have all paid our fair share of what Dave Ramsey calls "stupid tax". Stupid tax is exactly what it sounds like; anything stupid that we do that costs us money. Examples include investing in stocks based on a tip from a homeless person, spending $50 more to qualify for the $2 shipping discount, or co-signing on a car loan for your cousin who has been unemployed since 1988. Of course, most of the time the things that lead to stupid taxes aren't as obvious as those examples. But then if they were, we'd never fall into the trap. In our case, we won't say what our particular stupid tax was, except to say that it involved credit card debt and over $8000 of money loaned out that we probably will never see again.

And so at the beginning of 2007, V and I had the following non-mortgage-related debt:

Student Loan I: $8,647.19
Student Loan II: $12,125.40
Stupid Tax: $8922.51
____________________
Debt Total: $29,695.10

Plus, if you've been keeping up with the blog, then you also know that according to our super nifty budget calculations, we are already in the hole $7000 next year. In other words, we are projected to spend 7 grand more than we make next year, and thats after we include the sale of the flip property. [Sidenote: I previously blogged it as $10K shortfall for next year; but I found a couple of mistakes in the 2008 budget that knocked it down from 10 grand to 7]. Combining the four categories, that all adds up to a $36,695 hole that we are trying to shovel our way out of sooner than later. So now that we have an accurate figure to post on the refrigerator, the question is, what are we going to do about it?

The Stupid Tax
Well, at some point earlier this year V just got fed up with the stupid tax thing and decided to pay it off. The debt was in our name after all, and by waiting on someone else to pay it we were essentially sitting on naive optimism and hindering no one's financial future but our own. And so we had to take responsibility for our own mistakes. And with that she started what I have to admit was mostly a single-handed crusade to crush the stupid tax so that we could move forward. To do so, she forfeited about 90% her personal "blow money", tutored on the side ($30 an hour adds up), stripped all types of pseudo-necessities from the equation (bye bye hair salon) and in general sacrificed a whole lot over the past 8 months. In all I have to say that I admire her for the determination she exhibited in order to make it happen. As for where it led us, more on that in a bit.

50% of college graduates have student loans, with an
average loan debt of $10,000. The average cost of college is also
increasing at twice the rate of inflation, which means
that the situation is only bound to get worse.

The Get-Smart Tax
Student loans are a funny thing. When considering debt totals, I think most people (me included) tend to overlook student loans and I guess it's for two reasons. For one, we don't have the same level of guilt associated with them as we do with "typical consumer debt" like car payments or credit card bills. Instead we view them as a necessary evil and excuse them as the price we must pay to get ahead. And secondly, they tend to be at a much lower rate than other owed accounts, so they seem so much more harmless. However, this is where V had to check me because evidently I had gotten pretty comfortable and cozy with our student loans. [Are you starting to see who the real no-nonsense financial tyrant is in this house? And people thought it was me]. She came to me one day and flat-out said, "You know, you seem pretty content with just paying the minimum and having these student loans around forever."

Ouch.

Like a lot of people probably do, I thought I was doing pretty good already since we didn't have any consumer debt, paid all of our our bills on time, and was at least making a little progress towards a retirement fund. But she checked me on that, and by her example she convinced me to join the crusade she had started earlier in the year to get rid of all of our debt and get things moving a lot faster. As I talked about earlier, it started with her desire to finally pay off the stupid tax... but it spread like wildfire as she started to ask more and more "innocent questions"... all the while keeping a steady eye on our student loans and spending habits. Once I saw her commitment to this getting-out-of-debt crusade, I finally started to catch on and about a year later (okay, so I'm slow) here I am, finally on board.

Financial Lab Rats
So with both "taxes" in mind, we conducted a little experiment this past month. For the entire month of November, we pledged not to buy anything that was not necessary. And necessity is a funny thing because over time the line between what we want and what we need becomes so blurred that most of us truly lose scope of the difference. And so for a month we refocused our spending radars, dined out less, put a few more desires on hold, and only put things in our shopping cart that we honestly needed to survive to the next month.

As I mentioned in a previous entry, our annual budget is an Excel spreadsheet that is "broken down on a month-by-month basis and includes just about every expenditure you can think of... From big stuff like our mortgage payments, grocery bills, salaries, emergency car funds and estimated water bills... down to our newspaper subscription, Christmas budget, and ink pens for grading midterm papers." And so at the end of each month, we are able to sit down and see how our ending point compares with whatever the projection was. Usually we are within a couple hundred dollars of the target; sometimes under and sometimes over depending on what curve balls we got thrown that month.

But at the end of this experimental month we were both baffled. We were under by more than $700 and couldn't figure out where that money came from. Granted, the number is probably a little inflated since we also held off on a few household inevitables... but it is still hard to believe that as disciplined as we (think we?) are, we still spend so much money on "stuff" that we can obviously live without. While November could have been a total anomaly, it still gave us an idea of how many holes we might have in our budget... Places where hard-earned money is still seeping through the cracks and getting away from us. Long story short, the experiment was an eye opener as to how much room we still have for improvement and what we can acheive by paying a little more attention to where our dollars go.

As for the mystery money, we took every dollar of it and made our first ever "above the minimum" payment on the student loans. In hindsight, it's kind of sad that we've just been paying the minimum for this long, but hopefully it will be the first of many "extra payments" to come.

So where are we now? Over the past 8 months we've paid off over $5000 of the stupid tax and have about $3200 to go. With just the usual monthly payments plus the extra payment, the student loan totals are down to about $6500 and $11400. But those should also start dropping now that we're becoming more deliberate about how we spend our money. Combining that with the shortfall for 2008, that leaves us with about $28,100 to go. Still a huge amount... but it ain't $36,695. Nobody said it would happen overnight.

But once it's done...

Well, one step at a time. For now, here are two other steps that we are taking in the right direction, and one final illustration about being deliberate with your money...

[To Be Continued]

Stanley Johnson (2 of 5)

If you missed part 1 of this series, you may want to start by clicking here. Otherwise... How many of you remember these commercials? It's hard to believe it's almost been 30 years.

1979 - "Star Wars" Drunk Driving PSA Commercial

1983 - "Crashing Glasses" Drunk Driving Prevention Commercial by AdCouncil

Financial accountability reminds me of the "friends don't let friends drink and drive" campaign from the 80's. But in this case, it's more like: friends don't let friends break the bank for the sake of vacation when they just borrowed money for last months rent, are living check-to-check, have furniture in their house from Rent-A-Center, and still owe money to six different people. That's just good ol' fashioned irresponsible. Better yet, friends don't let friends spend $10 on lunch everyday (i.e., $50 a week... or over $2500 a year) when there are better alternatives. The list goes on. Of course, you can't control what people do with their money, but if you care about them then you at least have a responsibility to bring their frivolous spending habits to their attention.

Because the question is, would we still try so hard to keep up with the Joneses if we knew how broke the Joneses were? In my humble opinion, financial discipline is like muscle: Contrary to popular belief, we all have it... most of us just choose not to exercise it. Sacrifice is a very, very, (did I say very?) very difficult thing. In a culture in which we are programmed to believe that we are owed our instant gratification, who has time to wait until they can afford it? "Why delay when you can charge it today?" That is most certainly the American Way.

Here's A Quick Story: I have a coworker who has been at the job for over 10 years, and yet he is living check-to-check and has ZERO DOLLARS in his savings account. Put another way, he has received over 260 consecutive paychecks and does not have twenty dollars to show for it at the end of each pay period. And his debt level is through the roof. He is also one of those $10-a-day-lunch people I mentioned earlier, but that's not the point here. The point is that his car broke down last semester and (as I was advising him financially at the time) I suggested that he started taking the bus to work since the route was so convenient to him. Even aside from the obvious advantage of avoiding a car payment for a while, the difference between bus fare and gas alone would've given him an opportunity to make up some ground with his short-term finances.

Long story short, his response was "The BuS? Oh Heck No. That's for poor people... I work way too hard to be caught on somebody's bus! That's okay. I'll walk to work before I got caught dead on the bus."... And so a week later he had a new car. But (surprise surprise) it was repossessed just 6 weeks later due to missed payments.

His level of ignorance and pride may seem extreme, but my point is that we all have our fair share of pride to contend with. We watch enough television to where we're convinced that the we "deserve" a certain type of lifestyle regardless of what we can actually afford. To make a long story short, I bet you that he is not the only one who's pride is getting in the way of his prosperity. Why are we more concerned with how we look and what people think of us than we are about our own financial health? If you stopped working tomorrow, would your family be able to last even 6 months without a paycheck? And if not, then would those people who you are trying to keep pace with be able to help you out? Nah. Probably not. Instead, they'll still be at the deli sipping Cappuccino-Grande-Double-Latte's saying, "that's too bad what happened to Stanley Johnson, eh?... and he was such a snappy dresser too! I loved his car... I wonder if it's for sale."

And so the question that V and I find ourselves asking more and more often is, what is 2 or 3 years of extremely driven and calculated sacrifice in exchange for financial peace for the rest of or lives? Heck yeah we feel we're due a nice vacation just like everyone else, and yes a minivan, new camera, and a bluetooth thingamajig to replace my wired earpiece would be nice to have... But could we endure the delayed gratification and judgement that comes along with a little sacrifice for the betterment of our long time financial security?

When you think of things like no vacation, no cable television, no fine dining, no whateverelsepeoplebuy... for 2 or 3 years, the initial response may be, "wow... that's a long time". But here's the thing. Those 2 or 3 years are going to go by ANYWAY... so why not do something absolutely radical so that once that time is up you do not find yourself in the EXACT SAME situation or worse than you were in 2 or 3 years ago. Why not grab those years by the horn and brand them as the small price you are willing to pay for 20, 30, 40 or 60 years of financial peace afterwards. In the scheme of things it doesn't really seem like that much to ask. Why is it that when we look backwards, we always remark about how fast the time has flown by... but when we look forward with the thought of injecting financial discipline in our lives, 2 years suddenly seems like foooooreeeeevvveer? Which one is it? Does it fly by, or is it forever?

And no, "injecting financial discipline" is not a fancy way of saying that you can't buy Christmas gifts, have to go out and sell your car and must pawn your camera equipment immediately... But it does mean a commitment to at least start with the little things. Here's a perfect example:



When it comes to orange juice V and I consume about a gallon a week, if not more. With that in mind, we recently switched brands from our beloved Tropicana (Calcium enriched, no pulp, thank you) to some other brand that I don't even recall the name of. It's not the greatest tasting o.j. in the world, but it's good enough for the fruit and protein shakes that I make everyday. Why the switch? Well, Tropicana was getting expensive, and at over $2 less a gallon and over a gallon a week, just using a different brand of orange juice can potentially save us over $100 a year.

Okay, so this is where you say, "That's a ridiculous example"... to which I respond "EXACTLY!!!" Because if you understand that something as "ridiculous" as switching orange juice brands can save $100 a year, then it also forces you to ask yourself, "what are some of the bigger not-so-ridiculous things in my life that are causing my money to get away from me faster than I can save or invest it?" I think we all have more holes in our pockets and checking accounts than we realize.

And on that note, let V and I be the first to make ourselves, our finances, and our intentions transparent in hopes that, if nothing else, this will be our accountability and perhaps also spawn inspiration for someone else to take the challenge of working towards becoming debt free...

[To Be Continued]

Stanley Johnson (1 of 5)

Every now and then I write what amounts to a magazine article about something that most of my readers couldn't care less about (i.e., it has nothing to do with Justin Alexander). Yet and still, I proceed unfazed and defiantly make no apologies ( hey it's our blog :oP )... but I will at least remind you that you can always change the channel to something more interesting. Otherwise, read on... and let's figure out what I'm babbling about this time.

I'm not advocating Lending Tree (I don't think the answer to debt is to take on more debt) but that has to be one of my all-time favorite commercials. I think I love it because of how authentic a picture it paints of the Average American Family. It's hilarious, but only because it rings of so much truth. And it's also the essence of what I'll be yapping about for the next 4 entries or so. [Justin will be back in January].

Next month, V and I will be going through Financial Peace University (FPU) for the second time as part of Dave Ramsey's most recent brainchild called Momentum. This time we'll be serving as group facilitators, which means we have an entirely different level of accountability in store for us. According to the website, the course is designed to be "a life-changing program that teaches you how to make the right decisions with your money. You'll be empowered with the practical skills and confidence needed to achieve your financial goals and experience true financial peace!". This is a program that our church sponsors every year in hopes of transforming the financial livelihood of the congregation and anyone else who is willing to listen.

The problem is, we are so entrenched in the American way that most of us couldn't even imagine being debt free. For a lot of people, asking them to imagine being debt free is as absurd a statement as saying "imagine being President of the United States". It's possible, but overwhelmingly unlikely. But picture this for a moment... no car payment, no credit card payments, no bill collectors, no student loans, no mortgage... nothing. And so every two weeks when your paycheck comes, you are just left to sit there and try to figure out "what am I going to do with all of this money?". Imagine being able to buy everything with cash without having to leverage your financial future every time you make a major purchase. Picture being able to write a check to a friend or family in need without blinking an eye or expecting anything in return. The truth is, I think we are all givers at heart... it's just that most of us are in such a financial bind that the things we wish we could do are often suffocated by the monthly bill collector.

And the irony is that as much as we all want some, the subject of money is so taboo for the majority of us. Most of us guard our salary information like it was Fort Knox. And we most definitely hide our debt-to-income information like doggy bones buried in the back yard. After all, how proud would John and Jane Doe be of the Chevy Tahoe parked in their circular driveway with the boat hitch attached if everyone really knew how much of a struggle it was for them to keep it? I've always believed that our inability to work together, share information, and discuss our financial situations has been the death of us (and conversely it is also why sects of the Jewish, Indian, and Native American population have been so successful in America). When it comes to our money, not acting in a communal fashion strips away 99% of our accountability and allows us to operate in a financial vacuum, void of judgement and (worse of all) sound advice.

How many times in life have you been about to do something incredibly stooopid, only to (thankfully!) be stopped by someone who cared and had better judgement from their outside perspective? I bet that the answer is "a whole bunch of times!" From little stuff like hitting the reply button on email while emotion still has the best of you... to bigger things like advice on which house to buy, which job to take, etc. But yet, in everyday financial decisions that can impact not only ourselves but generations to come, we make whimsical decisions at the drop of a hat before anyone can tell us about the extent that we've most obviously lost our minds.

Some things to think about...

• The average household has 6.0 bank credit cards, 8.3 retail credit cards, 2.4 debit cards for a total of 16.7 cards.

• The average credit card interest rate is 14.71%

• About 20% of all credit cards are "maxed out" by their owners.

• 70% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck.

• Excluding mortgage, the average household debt for our age (30's) and income bracket (50K - 100K) is $35,510.

• Approximately 35 million Americans pay only the required minimum (as low as 2 percent) of their balance each month.

• The August 2007 issue of Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine reports that American families owe $9,900, on average, in credit-card debt. They pay $1,500 in interest annually.

• According to different sources, the average American is spending somewhere between 10% and 25% more than they make each month.

• Only 44% of Americans are preparing for retirement.

So what are you doing with your money to make sure that you and your family are not part of those statistics? Maybe it's time to reevaluate your financial situation and get a grip on things before it's too late. This is exactly what V and I intend to do over the next 36 months, and of all of our dedicated readers out there (our webstats say that there are at least 2 dozen of you) we hope that at least one of you makes plans to join us in our crusade against financial bondage. Stick around for more details.

To Be Continued...