Raise your hand if you enjoy being up to your nipples in debt.
Denzel: Put your hand down.
Well, if you enjoy being in any form of bad debt, then this video probably isn't for you.
But if you're like me, and you hate being in debt, if you hate being in debt, then you're
going to want to watch this video all the way to the end. Because in today's video,
we're going to talk about getting out of debt fast. I'm going to tell you the four critical
things that helped me to pay off $32,430.93 of student loan debt in right around 11 months.
My name is Dash and this is Mind Over Finance. And before we get started, if you're new to
the channel, don't forget to hit that like button because it really does help me out,
and don't forget to ring the notification bell so you can find out when I post new videos.
Let's do this.
I graduated from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, and that's a private institution.
So when I finished, I had upwards of about $35,000 worth of debt to pay back, probably
closer to 40. And with tuition and room and board costing just under $30,000 per year,
I actually consider myself one of the lucky ones to only have that much money to pay back.
Now, if the name Morehouse College kind of rings a bell to, you kind of sounds familiar,
it might be because back in 2019, they had something really interesting happen at the
commencement ceremony. The speaker, African-American billionaire Robert Smith, came to talk to
a group of African American young men that were ready to go out into the world. And do
you know what this man did at the end of his commencement speech? Well, Mr. Smith decided
to ball out of control and pay off the entire class of 2019's student loans.
We're going to put a little fuel in your bus. This is my class, 2019, and my family is making
a grant to eliminate their student loans.
Guess who wasn't in that graduating class?
Me!
Those lucky mother [inaudible 00:02:15]. You know who spoke at my graduation? Bill Cosby.
Bill, Bill Cosby. Now, granted at the time he was still kind of seen as America's dad,
and we didn't know that he liked to mix drinks in his spare time.
Haven't you ever noticed after people have some of my BBQ sauce, after a while when it
kicks in they get all huggy-buggy?
But because I didn't hit the lottery with my commencement speaker, I had to figure out
how to pay off all these loans on my own, because these loans were in my name and my
dad had co-signed on them. And I'm really grateful to say that I did pay them off in
full. And here are the four critical things that helped me to do just that.
Number one, earn more money. I'm going to start with the most glaring factor first.
I had to earn more money, period. I think the biggest reason I could pay things off
so quickly is because I had the disposable income to do so. I don't want to delude you
into thinking that I got out of debt with no money. Oftentimes, people want something
for nothing. And it seldom works like that. My initial teaching salary here in Japan was
enough to keep me stable and relatively comfortable, but it wasn't enough to do any real damage
to these loans in a short period of time. How did I earn more money? I got lucky. Well,
sort of.
And it started when I lucked into a part-time, non-traditional English position through a
guy at my gym. And while luck did play a role, I had to put myself out there. Somebody is
probably listening right now with your nose turned up, talking about, "Oh, he just got
lucky." Yeah, maybe. But why is it that there are people at the very same job that I had
who had the exact same opportunity who didn't take advantage of it. And that's the thing
about luck, guys. It may get you in the door, but you got to take the other steps. So once
I saw that this part-time gig had the potential to earn me more money, and I saw that the
company was rewarding those people who worked really hard with more opportunities to work,
I went all in. I worked myself senseless to make more money, so it meant lots of fatigue.
It meant lots of seven day work weeks. And I just kept doing that day after day after
day after day after day.
And once I doubled down, once that part-time gig became a full-time gig, the end result
was me earning more money. And once the smoke cleared from all that hard work, pre-taxes,
I ended up earning more than double what I was making with my initial teaching job. There
are a bunch of different ways to earn more money. New job, part-time job, odd job, side
hustle, selling your stuff, starting a business. But if you're really trying to get out of
debt quickly, you have to find that thing that is actually earning you more money, not
what some program or MLM director or internet business guru is empty promising you, but
what actually results in more cash coming in. You have to focus on that. And sometimes
that's not the most glamorous thing. And the question I want you to ask yourself is what
will you focus on to earn more money?
Number two, find your motivation. I hate to admit that I'm like this, but I am. Anger
and frustration are emotions that drive me like you wouldn't believe. When I am really
pissed off at something or something really has me frustrated, I will do everything in
my power to swiftly deal with that thing that's causing the problem. Unfortunately, I'm also
pretty slow to get angry, which is probably why I ended up paying off my loans in my late
thirties instead of my late twenties. But when it came to student loans, I just got
pissed off. I mentioned having to file bankruptcy in another video, but once I had some years
out from that, once I had gotten to Japan and I was doing what I was supposed to do
every month, making my payments on time. They were minimums, but I was making my payments
on time, and I was comfortable. I got mad because I was making these payments month
after month, consistently, on time, but the principal on these loans wasn't budging.
Interest is a [inaudible 00:06:34], and in my head, I started thinking, if I owe $30,000
to loan companies, then this little money that I have saved up, this little money I
have sitting aside isn't really mine. I can't be financially independent or financially
free if some loan company owns me. And that realization lit a fire under my ass. Motivation
can come from all kinds of places. It could be your parents getting older, your kids,
your future, or just being sick and damn tired. What's your motivation?
Number three. Have a budget. Have a plan. If earning more money is the most important
thing on this list, then I'd say having a budget is an easy second. When I started paying
off a lot more money, I had to be very careful about my spending so I wouldn't have any loose
ends. I still had to make sure that everything else got paid and that I still had food on
the table. A goal without a plan is just a wish, and my goal was to be debt free, and
my budget was my plan.
Number four, sustained discipline, no matter what. Now I know the word discipline can turn
people off sometimes, but I don't care. And that's real. To pay off that much money in
that span of time, discipline is what it took. And not just discipline, sustained discipline.
And I'm not saying you have to do it forever. I knew I couldn't keep up that breakneck work
pace forever, but I told myself I wanted to do it for three years. And in that first year,
I got myself out of debt. Anybody can be disciplined for a month or two, but can you stick to your
plan, stick to your budget when things get really tough? Especially right around the
middle.
For me, I really started getting discouraged right around mid-year, right around June,
July. And I started to question myself. I was like, man, can I really get this done?
And I had to find a way to power through it. And there were so many points during that
11 months when things would sprout up, just seemingly out of nowhere, to try to derail
me from what I was doing. Friends, family, coworkers, significant others, emergencies,
you name it. So if you're on your path to pay off a large chunk of debt in a short period
of time, when those things pop up to derail you, are you willing to stick to your plan
no matter what?
No matter what.
And be honest with yourself because not everybody is willing to power through it, and that's
okay. You can pay off your debts in more extended periods of time. Mine were just really getting
under my skin and I had to get them paid off, and luckily everything lined up so that could
happen. But let's be honest. Some people don't want to make the sacrifice. Some people would
rather have new clothes than to put more money down on their student loans. Some people would
rather hang out with their friends. Some people would rather blow their money showing off
in a new car. I chose to pay back what I owed.
All right, guys. Well, that's the video for today. And just to recap, the four critical
things that helped me to pay off $32,430.93 of student loan debt in right around 11 months.
Number one, finding a way to earn more money. Two, finding my motivation. Three, having
a budget, having a plan. And number four, sustained discipline, no matter what. I really
hope you got something from today's video. If you did, don't forget to click that like
button, share, and subscribe. And I'll catch you in the next one.