Impatience to Make Things Right

Patience is a virtue. But is it always?

Impatience is a better trait, I think, when it comes to knocking out your debts. Patience is what got me to this point. Fourteen years out of college, still paying off loans, month after month. Who knows why the maximum 20 years of repayment sounded reasonable to me back when I graduated. I’ve never carried a credit card balance from one month to the next, but for some reason, taking forever on student loan repayment seemed okay. Yeah, school debt is one of the so-called “good” debts, but I’m learning that there really is no such thing. That’s a default mindset that has to go.

Now that we’ve become obsessed with saving money, the last debts are driving us crazy! We just can’t wait to be DONE with all those pesky student loan payments so we can finally, REALLY focus on saving. We’re impatient to stop owing money and start keeping more of our pay. We’re impatient to get to the point of saving half (or more) of our income within the next year. It’s totally possible, and it’s going to happen!

I have $5,000 left to go on my master’s degree loans (out of $15,000 to begin with). Maybe six months ago, I just finished paying off my $20,000 in undergrad loans. I’m SO excited to be so close to done with the rest! I keep looking up the loan account online, day after day, as if hoping that the balance will magically have shrunk to zero. Obviously, that hasn’t happened yet (go figure).

The end is near, though! I finally cancelled my stupid whole life insurance policy today (another in a long line of financial blunders) and should get my cash value back sometime soon. That refund check can’t come fast enough! I was thinking maybe I’d get it within a week of sending the cancellation document, but Nate warns it’ll probably be more like a month. Dang.

No matter when it arrives, more than half will go immediately to the loans and they will be, at last, PAID IN FULL.

I am so ready to see that zero balance. Even more exciting: keeping/saving another $160/month that has been going to the loan company!

Impatience in paying off debts = a faster journey to financial independence! This is one time when patience is NOT the best route. Debt is an EMERGENCY and should be treated that way. What do you do about an emergency? You fix it immediately and as quickly as possible. Thanks, Mr. Money Mustache, for teaching us a new default in that area.

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/04/18/news-flash-your-debt-is-an-emergency/