In the modern age of consumerism, very seldom does anyone openly discuss what it is like to carry excessive amounts of debt, or what it is like to be free of debt. Americans tend to go into debt to finance their lifestyles. Be it in the form of credit card debt when purchasing daily items like food, clothing or cell phones, or something more dramatic like a high APR loan to purchase a car that we can’t afford and there for we’re beholden to working even longer in order to finance the vehicle that we then utilize to take us to and from our respective jobs… But there is another way!

Being debt free, it’s more than a pipe dream, it’s an achievable goal. While being debt free is not strictly necessary, it can make the difference between stressful days and peaceful days.

Minimizing debt and/or being debt free allows you to live the American dream of experiencing Financial Freedom. Not freedom in the form of civil rights, as that’s a legal battle that coincides with our ability to remove barriers to living how we want to live. But a similar freedom, in the way of being able to choose what we want to do, when we want to do it, and for how long.

Picture this- you wake up one day and you are completely absolved of all your financial debts. No more car payments, no more mortgage, no more cellphone bill and no more student loan debt. With that mental picture, what do you do with your day? Are you still going to go to your current job to earn an income? Are you still going to stress about non-existent bills? What type of weight is lifted from you when there’s no financial burden held over you? Do you spend more time with your family? Finally get caught up on that show that you’ve been holding off on? Do you go to the gym and start building the body of your dreams? It’s not for me to say, but think about the endless possibilities that open up when you no longer need to work…

Being debt-free opens these opportunities. It allows you to pursue precisely what you want, when you want, simply because you want to.

For me, being debt free rids me of the associated financial stressors:

• Stress from not knowing if you’ll be able to afford that plane ticket home when a family member passes
• Stress related to knowing if my family or I will have a place to stay at the end of the month
• Feelings of dissatisfaction with a given job, if the job isn’t paying well enough for you to get out of debt
• Stress from feeling like we’re not good enough
• The uncertainty of knowing when my next meal will be, or what that meal will consist of
• The stress of having to work harder just for a chance of more success

If you’re feeling any of these stressors, and it’s tied to your financial position or your position in a corporate job or manual labor job – it’s time to look at our relationship with money. Being debt free is a great position to be in! It’s even better when you can share it with others, and use it to advance not only our own happiness, but the happiness of those around us.

It’s time to make healthy life changes and how we view money, and how we view debt. Especially in how it affects our behaviors and our mental health. Being able to remove debt as a friction point in your life, will afford you the opportunity to focus on the things that really matter to us, such as:

• Our platonic relationships
• Our familial relationships
• Our romantic relationships (because of all the reasons people tend to get divorced, financial problems tend to contribute to around ~41% of all divorces in the US)
• How we view our self worth
• How much time we can spend with pets, family and friends

I’m in a very fortunate position in life, where my financial literacy has enabled me to make beneficial decisions regarding my finances, and my relationships with my loved ones. It wasn’t without compromise, but I’d choose the same path I took to get where I am in life, over and over again.

To answer my self-imposed question of ‘What it’s like to live Debt Free’: It’s peaceful. It’s a life of less external conflict and more autonomy and choice in what I do on any given day. Within reason, I can pick where I eat, when I workout, the time I get to spend with my family and when I travel. It’s seldom a matter of ‘can I afford this’, it’s usually a discussion of ‘when will we be doing this’. I want to empower you, to continue to serve yourself and work towards freeing yourself of debts (especially non-productive debt) as time moves on words. I’ll be seeing you soon, and in the meantime let me know what you think about indebtedness in the comment section below!

-Michael, with military.cash

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