Get Out Of Debt

three-lessons-hindsight-has-taught-me
This post is Frugal PhD’s first-ever guest post, brought to us by fellow blogger and conquerer of consumption—Mystery Money Man. Here, the Mystery Money Man outlines three valuable lessons he has learned about money—to avoid lifestyle inflation, choose like-minded friends, and just say “no”. By sharing some of the financial wisdom he has accumulated, Mystery Money Man equips younger readers with the knowledge they need to avoid pitfalls and to stay strong on the path to financial success. 

 

Recently, I’ve given a lot of thought to the concept of hindsight. Hindsight is something we all possess, but it’s one of those things where the older we get, the more we have. Think of it like a savings account that accumulates over time. I’m not sure if it’s interest bearing, but I know mine’s got an impressive balance!

You see, I recently turned 40…er, make that 41. I’ve never been one to give much thought to getting older, but since I hit the big FOUR-OH, I seem to be slightly less accepting of the fact. I do realize that it’s all relative, that to my parent’s I’m still their kid, and to my sixteen year old son, well…I’m slightly older :). Regardless, my age has become a source of increasing, wary reflection.

Now, where were we? Let’s look at a definition for hindsight:

“The ability to understand, after something has happened, what should have been done or what caused an event.” 

 

I love this definition, of hindsight because it frames it as an ability. It’s a kind of wisdom that only comes from life experience.

With that in mind, allow me to share 3 money-related lessons that I’ve learned over the years. This is the stuff I would share with my younger self, if given the opportunity…

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the-walking-debt-how-consumers-are-like-zombies

In this post, I play with the idea that high consumers are like zombies, and explain why you should escape the insanity and take on the role of the purposeful hero.

People who let debt accumulate without thought are like zombies.

George Romero made the connection between mindless consumerism and undead hoards in Dawn of the Dead, where zombies swarm the mall with no real purpose other than to consume. The video game Dead Rising went there too, where players fight off the dead in a mall in the town of Willamette, Colorado. Let’s explore zombies as consumers a bit further…

Zombies stumble through their (after)lives without direction and without purpose.

Zombies exist as one of the massive throngs of beings just like them, unable to think critically—or to think at all—about their surroundings or their existence.

Without questioning it, zombies consume anything and everything within their grasp.

Wandering aimlessly and consuming mindlessly are pretty much all zombies do.

When zombies are in the presence of a threat or danger, they are unable to recognize it as such, and walk right toward it. They unknowingly stumble into traps laid for them and are easily captured.

People who fall prey to the temptations of a high consumption, high debt lifestyle often end up a lot like the zombies in our scenario.

 

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frugal-phd-conquering-your-financial-fear-of-missing-out

This post is about conquering your financial FOSO, or Fear of Starting Out. Many of us struggle to start out or make progress on our financial goals because we feel like we’re already behind, or do not trust that we will be able to make the progress we need to accomplish our goals. Here, I discuss ideas for setting a realistic financial goal. Then I offer six ideas for freeing up the money you need to succeed. Stop letting fear drive your financial behavior and let’s get started!

If you’re like most Americans, you know you should have more money in savings to cover emergencies. You should also increase the amount of money you’re putting away for retirement. And you will. Next month. Probably. Or next year. But yeah, you totally will. Either after you get that raise or when your partner starts their new job. Sometime anyway, you’ll definitely get to it.

Does this sound like you? I promise, I’m not judging. Saving is hard! I’ve been there. In some ways I’m still there. But I’m working on it and I’m starting to see results from my efforts. And you can too. Let’s start by admitting though that even starting to work on your finances is actually really hard for many of us. Building smart habits around saving and investing is not easy. If it were, most of us would already be doing it.

One of the issues is that a lot of us experience what I call Financial FOSO, or Fear of Starting Out. When you read online about people with a whole year of expenses saved up, it’s hard to feel good about the itty bitty amount you have in your own emergency fund. Additionally, when you hear a co-worker (who might be even younger than you) talk about how they have a million dollars in their retirement account and will soon be able to retire early, it’s natural to react by feeling bad about what’s in your own 401(k) or IRA. When other people are just so far ahead, it’s easy to conclude, what’s the point? It’s impossible for me to get to where that person is anyway. So why even try?

Here’s why.

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dealing-with-the-slow-pace-of-financial-goals

This post is an impatient person’s guide to setting and achieving big financial goals without losing heart. Settle in, friends. We’re in this for the long haul.

We’ve all heard it—patience is a virtue. And if it were your only measure of virtue, you might conclude that I’m not a very virtuous person. When I was little, my nickname was “Demanda”. While I think I can safely say that I’m not nearly as much of a brat as my little kid self was, it’s also a fair assessment to say I am not the world’s most patient person.

When I set goals, I want to go for them. Like now. Why not now?! I like now.

This is not to say I’m rash. I’m actually a pretty adept planner. I always weigh my options carefully. But once I’ve decided on a course of action, I usually choose to act deliberately. There’s no reason to wait. Let’s get things going!

Despite my eager attitude, here’s a truth about money—money is slow. Financial goals—especially big financial goals—don’t happen overnight.

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going-to-graduate-school-don't-make-the-same-financial-mistakes-I-did

In this post I explain how I took out almost $15,000 in loans that I didn’t need during my first year of graduate school. Here’s my story and three things you can learn from it.

I pursued a PhD because I’ve always been successful in school, because I love to learn, and because I was deeply interested in a field of study. But having attended a small, public liberal arts university as an undergraduate, there was a lot I didn’t know about the PhD trajectory at a large research institution. This post outlines some of the financial mistakes I made because I wasn’t fully aware of the academic norms and options available to me as a PhD student. In sharing my story I hope others can learn from my experiences and make more informed choices for themselves. To my fellow graduate students, my advice is this: do research, forgive yourself, and develop a plan. Let’s take those one-by-one…

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