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Can’t Believe How Much My Financial Life Has Changed

I had the sudden urge to go through my ever growing mail pile on my kitchen table (that urge may or may not have been nurtured by The Wife).  In that pile were 3 credit cards I had to activate due to the old ones being expired.  Currently, The Wife and I only use 2 credit cards and the rest sit dormant; this is a far cry from when I needed a “credit card booklet” created to keep track of all my cards.  Opening the booklet, seeing the cards that had expired as well as those cards that I haven’t used in literally years brought back some odd feelings about how much my financial life has changed in the past 4 or 5 years since I started this blog.

I say “start this blog” because that was my true financial awakening.  It is literally the moment when I decided that I had to get intentional about my finances.  I think most people’s gut reaction is to say, “you were already 26 and a homeowner maybe that should have happened sooner” but considering the average household in America spends almost every dollar it takes in I would say you could be 62 and still be ahead of the game when it comes to intentionally fixing your financial household.

My first sentence ever written on My Journey to Millions was,

I figured I needed to start somewhere so why not lay it on the line for the readers of this blog, while keeping myself accountable in the months and years to come.

Kind of creepy that accountability found itself through the blog even years later.

How My Finances Have Changed over the Years

Credit Card Debt

That first post included a piss poor debt overview,

  • Approximately $16,800 in Credit Card Debt!
  • Approximately $250,000 in Secured Debt (House Mortgage and my car – wife leases)
  • $60,000 – $70,000 Law School Loans

It wasn’t until the end of that first month that I provided a real insight into my credit card debt

7/27/2008 7/27/2008
CitiCard #1 141.99 0
AccountCentral (Discover) 1,758.30 1,443.56
CitiCard #2 7,797.00 7,700.15
Bank of America (VISA) 1,344.97 1,359.84
Juniper
Discover 4,979.02 4,850.00
American Express
Discover #2 862.70 827.99

 

Want to know something weird? I wish those balances were even higher!  A large percentage of our credit card debt was due to our honeymoon in Greece.  The Wife and I celebrated our 5 years on June 14, 2013 and I still think about how much I would have LOVED to extended our honeymoon.  Now with our awesome boy, I can’t even begin to image a time where The Wife and I get away for 2+ weeks to anywhere nevertheless Europe.

Who Handles the Household Finances

Another thing that has changed is where The Wife and I ended up in terms of controlling our finances.  The Wife basically supported herself with regards to her cash flow from the day she graduated college until the day we bought a house while I on the other hand wanted full control of our finances.  It was until 6 months after this blog that a plan was finally implemented for our money.  This basic flow chart still exists today.  The difference? I run everything.  It isn’t to say we aren’t partners, it is just to say that she doesn’t worry about this part of our lives unless I bring it up to her.

Net Worth and Assets

This is where the most change has happened financially.  While I am no where near my goal I am a hell of a lot closer than I was when I had a very negative net worth at the age of 26.  Lately, I have been feeling frustrated just how far I am from my initial goal (i.e. the name of the site) but a post like this reminds me where I started.

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4 COMMENTS

  1. Wow! That’s a staggering amount of debt for a young man in his 20s!

    Really, that you’ve managed to shuck it off and build assets is quite an accomplishment.

    It’s a long way to Tucomcari…I expect that you’ll reach your goals in due time. Just keep at it.

    • A lot of the debt was due to our honeymoon in Greece. To be honest I wish it had been more, I can’t even imagine a time I’ll be able to get back there and live it up like we did.

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