March 3, 2026 • 16 mins
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If you’ve ever looked at your paycheck and wondered where it all went… this episode is for you.
Today we’re talking about the real cost of living with payments. Not just the interest. Not just the monthly bill. But the stress, the lost freedom, the reduced flexibility, and the opportunities that quietly disappear when your income is already committed.
Payments feel normal. Car payments. Credit cards. Buy now, pay later. Personal loans. Phone upgrades.
But normal doesn’t mean healthy.
In this episode, we break down how payments shrink big financial decisions into small “only” numbers… and why that mindset is keeping so many people stuck living paycheck to paycheck.
If you’re ready to think differently about debt and start building real financial margin, this conversation will challenge you in the best way.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Brad (00:00):
So if you've ever felt like you make decent money but
still feel broke, this episode'sgonna be for you because today
we're not talking just aboutdebt.
We're talking about the realcost of living with payments
financially, emotionally, andmentally.
And once you see it clearly, Ihave a feeling you're not gonna
look at debt and payments thesame way.
Announcer (00:24):
You're listening to the Debt Free Dad podcast with
Brad Nelson.
Brad and his co-hostsexperience the anxiety of living
paycheck to paycheck beforelearning the fundamentals of
financial success.
They are now on a mission toempower regular people to pay
off their debt for good andenjoy happier, less stressful
lives.
Keep listening forinspirational interviews, tips,
(00:46):
tricks, and practical advice togain financial freedom.
Brad (00:52):
Hey guys, welcome to today's show.
My name is Brad Nelson, founderof Deaf Free Dad.
I paid off about $45,000 ofdebt.
I've been debt-free now formore than 13 years.
I've also been fortunate tohelp thousands of other people
save and pay off tens ofmillions of dollars with the
work that we do here at Def FreeDad.
Now, after listening to thisepisode, if you are ready to
take things to the next level,you're ready to break free from
(01:13):
living paycheck to paycheck, youwant to reduce financial
stress, you want to build yoursavings, finally pay off your
debt for good.
But maybe you're like a lot ofpeople, you're not sure where to
get started.
Well, we've created someincredible free resources for
you here at Def ReDad, and we'llbe sharing some details about
how you get some of those lateron in today's episode.
Let's talk about something thatalmost everyone has, but almost
(01:35):
no one questions.
And I know I used to notquestion it.
It's payments, right?
Car payments, credit cardpayments, personal loans, buy
now, pay later, furniturepayments, phone payments.
I mean, you can get payments oneverything nowadays.
And for most people, includingmyself at one time, payments
feel normal.
They're almost expected.
(01:56):
They're just a part of being anadult, right?
But here's the question I wantto ask you.
What is the real cost of livingwith those payments day after
day, month after month, yearafter year?
Because it's not just theinterest rate, it's not just the
minimum payment due.
It's the real cost, becauseit's bigger than you think.
(02:19):
And most people don't realizehow much it impacts your whole
life.
So let's start with the obviousone.
Let's start with the math,right?
Let's pick on vehicles.
When you finance a $30,000 carand pay interest, you don't just
buy a car.
You buy a car plus thousandsextra.
But here's what's interesting: most people don't feel that (02:36):
undefined
total cost.
They feel the monthly cost.
By the way, $30,000 for a carnowadays is a pretty inexpensive
car, sadly.
And a $30,000 car usually hasabout a $550 car payment.
And sadly, the average carpayment right now floats between
$750 to $780 a month here inearly 2026.
(02:59):
But when they only focus on themonthly payment, that word has
done more damage to householdfinances than almost anything
else.
It's only $550.
That only, right?
That does so much damagebecause it tricks your mind.
Because payments shrink bigdecisions into small feeling
(03:24):
like nothing numbers sometimes,right?
And when everything is only afew hundred dollars, suddenly
your income is already spentbefore you earn it.
But the real cost of payments,again, isn't just that number
and the finance part of it.
It's psychological as well.
You see, payments slowly overtime as you collect them,
(03:46):
payments create pressure.
Every month starts at zero,except when you have payments,
it doesn't.
You start the month alreadybehind, technically.
You've already committed thatincome that you're gonna make.
You're already obligated waybefore groceries, way before
gas, way before anythingunexpected comes up that month.
And that pressure creates thatstress, and that stress gets to
(04:11):
be exhausting.
In fact, people say number onestress factor in their life is
money and financial issues.
You see, the payments overtime, especially as you collect
them and begin living paycheckto paycheck, they steal margin.
And margin is kind of like thatbreathing room in your
financial life.
Margin is the differencebetween your income and
(04:33):
obligation, right?
And when most of your income ispre-assigned already before the
month even begins to thosepayments, there's really no room
left for stress-free living.
There's no real room left foropportunity, flexibility, uh,
opportunity to even makemistakes, opportunity to grow.
And here's something mostpeople don't really think about
when it comes to these payments.
(04:53):
When you take on a payment,you're not just committing for
this month.
In a lot of cases, you'recommitting to payments for
future income for years, threeyears, five years.
Heck, the average car paymentnow, I believe, and car loan is
now over five years.
It's going to the six to seven.
I've even heard of nine-yearcar loans.
So you're making a decisiontoday that locks in part of your
(05:17):
income tomorrow.
A lot of your income,especially when we're talking
about the subject of like thingslike car payments, right?
Big payments.
And that matters because whatyou do today, it changes any
future opportunity that mightcome down the line.
When your income is alreadycommitted to payments, you have
fewer options when, say, abetter job opportunity shows up.
(05:38):
And maybe that job opportunityisn't necessarily a bigger
salary.
Maybe it's less of a salary,but it's something that you love
to do.
But you can't do that nowbecause you've already committed
to all of these payments.
Maybe you all of a sudden havea dream or you've had a dream to
start a business and you seethat opportunity come up or you
could take a chance.
But now you can't becauseyou've committed, again, all of
(06:01):
this to these payments over theyears.
Maybe you want to move.
Maybe you want to make somechanges in your life, right?
Maybe you want to startinvesting.
All of these things are greatopportunities for you, but
because you've already given andput in, like, hey, I'm
committing to making thesepayments over the years, those
payments have reduced theflexibility for you to take
(06:23):
advantage of any of thoseopportunities.
And they reduce a lot of thatmobility.
They reduce courage, notbecause you lack it, because you
probably have the courage, butall of a sudden you're like, I
can't take any risks becauseyou're obligated, right?
An obligation, sadly, itchanges your decisions moving
forward in the future.
And that's why people making$120,000 a year can still feel
(06:46):
broke because it's not about theincome, so to speak, it's about
the commitments that they'vealready made.
You can earn a great salary.
And guys, if you're listeningto this, I've worked with people
who make amazing salaries, wellmore than I ever made.
And they still have very littlemargin.
Because without margin, youdon't feel wealthy, you don't
feel free, you feel trapped.
(07:07):
Now, here's another hiddencost.
It's the risk, right?
When you live with heavypayments, your tolerance for
disruption, it drops.
Like, think about it.
If you have a job loss, what dowe do?
We panic.
There's a medical issue, andmedical bills are crazy
expensive.
And I've dealt with a lot ofthose myself.
Again, when you're alreadystretched, when you're already
(07:28):
living paycheck to paycheck, andnow a medical bill shows up and
it's hundreds, maybe thousandsof dollars, what happens?
More and more stress.
The car is making a funnynoise.
What?
Oh, now we got to take out thecredit card again.
Here's the deal (07:40):
you don't just have expenses, you have fixed
obligations.
And fixed obligations don'tcare what your month looks like,
right?
They're gonna show up no matterwhat you got going on in life.
And those payments also aregoing to affect your decisions.
Like I said, you stay in jobsyou hate because you can't
afford to leave.
(08:00):
You delay dreams or maybe yougive up on them altogether
because you have too much goingout every month to even commit
to any sort of money or financesto make those dreams become a
reality.
You tolerate stress because thealternative feels way too
risky.
That's not freedom, you guys.
Those are handcuffs, financialhandcuffs that you're putting on
(08:22):
yourself.
And most people, we put them onvoluntarily, not all at one
time, but slowly over time asyou collect these payments.
And I remember this, right?
It started out small.
It's not like I woke up one dayand said, I just want to have
all this debt and have all thispayment.
No, it was one decision at atime.
And again, it felt normalbecause everybody else was doing
it.
Now let's go a little bitdeeper.
(08:43):
Payments don't just cost money,they also cost you time.
You see, if you financesomething for five years, you're
committing five years of futurework to pay for that past
decision.
Five years of earning, fiveyears of mental bandwidth paying
that bill, five years ofreduced flexibility and
(09:04):
opportunities.
That's a big deal.
And most people don't reallythink about that.
And most people make thecommitment in about 45 minutes,
and again, picking on, say, likea car, they make that decision
and that commitment within a fewhours sitting at a dealership.
Think about that.
Years of application decided injust a few hours.
(09:25):
Now let's talk identity.
When payments are normal,consumption, over consumption
becomes normal.
If you haven't realized andlooked around lately, they make
everything easy to buy andespecially easy to go into debt
for.
Upgrading becomes normal,financing becomes normal, but
(09:46):
wealth building, oh, that feelstoo slow.
That's boring.
That's out of reach.
Because payments train yourbrain to think short term.
What's the monthly amount thatwe have to pay instead of what's
the total cost?
What's the opportunity cost ofowning that item over these next
several years?
What could this money also bedoing?
(10:08):
Instead, if we didn't do this,what could it be doing?
And here's a powerful question: what would your life look like (10:11):
undefined
if you have no payments?
And sadly, most people havenever even considered that in
their life because payments havebecome so normal.
But think about that.
No car payment.
Eve heck for most people, justno more credit card payments.
Imagine that feeling, right?
(10:31):
No more personal loans, no morebuy now, pay later.
And if you think about that,you look at your total amount of
debt that you have, and I askedmy roots members to do this
when they first start.
So if you feel like it'simpossible to save, look at your
total payments going out everymonth.
Two debt car payments, creditcards, student loans, personal
loans, all these things.
What could you do with thatmoney if you didn't have to send
(10:55):
it to them every single month?
How much margin would you have?
How much stress could disappearin your life?
How much faster could you buildyour savings?
You may even be able to go onthat dream vacation, right?
You might be able to make somedifferent decisions for your
life.
But that's the real costcomparison, not just the
interest, but it's the freedom.
(11:16):
And here's the part most peoplemiss.
And I did it one time too.
Payments don't cost money.
They cost a lot of momentum inyour life.
Because when a big chunk ofyour income is locked into
payments, like it is for mostpeople, most people are living
paycheck to paycheck.
It's hard to do things likebuild an emergency fund quickly.
It's hard to invest in yourfuture.
(11:37):
It's hard to cash flow any sortof future opportunities coming
up.
It's hard to take anycalculated risks in your life
because your cash flow isalready spoken for.
And that's why most people feeland are stuck.
They're not lazy, they're juststuck.
Now let me be clear.
This is not about shame.
All right.
That's not the point of thisepisode at all.
(11:59):
Most of us were taught thatthis is normal.
We were built in a paymentsociety.
Everything is payments.
I made the same mistakes whenit came to cars when I was broke
and in debt.
I made a lot of poor decisions.
Well, I can't even get into allthat in this episode.
And kicking car payments andreally kicking payments
altogether was one of the singlebest decisions that I've ever
made in my life.
And again, that doesn't meanthat I'm perfect with my
(12:20):
finances, but I can tell you,going through life without debt,
man, it makes life so mucheasier and less stressful.
And it's not because I hatecars, hate new cars, hate nice
things, don't want you to haveno, it's because I love the
margin.
I love options, I love thebreathing room, and I love the
freedom.
And payments steal all of that.
(12:41):
So the real cost of living withpayments is this it's stress,
it's reduced flexibility,slower, fewer options in your
life, lower risk tolerance,delayed freedom.
Heck, even most people livewith that their entire life.
They never really trulyexperience any sort of real
financial freedom.
And when you add all that up,it's expensive.
Now, here's the good news (13:03):
you don't have to eliminate all of
this stuff overnight.
Nor am I encouraging you to doso.
What I am encouraging youthough is to start thinking
differently when it comes topayments and debt.
You can start shifting yourmindset now.
Instead of asking, what's themonthly bill gonna be?
Start asking, like, what's thisgonna cost me in margin?
(13:24):
What's this gonna cost me in myfreedom?
What's this gonna cost me inany sort of future opportunities
that might come down thepipeline?
Is it worth saying no to thosethings and having this thing?
What is the commitment gonnamean long term for us?
Because when you change thequestion, you change the
decision.
And living without payments, itisn't extreme.
It's it's about beingintentional.
(13:45):
It means you own your incomeinstead of your payments owning
you.
It means you create spaceinstead of a lot of pressure in
your daily life.
It means your future is gonnahave some options, and options
are a lot of fun.
Now, if you're tired of feelinglike your income disappears
before you even touch it, ifyou're tired of you know normal
(14:07):
feeling stressful, if you'retired of payments dictating your
life day in and day out, that'sexactly why we built Defreedad
and our Roots Personal FinanceMembership Program.
Now, inside Roots, we help youbuild a step-by-step plan to
eliminate debt, change yourmindset, reduce payments, build
margin without feeling deprivedin your life.
And now enrollment isn't openall the time, but what you can
(14:30):
do is if you are interested, uhyou can join our wait list, go
over to deaffreedad.com, clickon the free resources page.
And if you scroll down a littlebit, you see the wait list
there.
And when the doors open again,we only let them a limited
amount of people in certaintimes throughout the year.
You have the opportunity tojoin us.
And the link to do that againis gonna be at defreedad.com.
All right, now if you're readyto break free from living
(14:51):
paycheck to paycheck, you wantto reduce financial stress, you
want to build savings, finallypay off your debt for good.
But again, maybe you're notsure where to get started.
Don't worry.
We've got you covered.
Simplify My Money is sent toyou each and every Sunday to
your email.
And it's gonna help you makebetter financial decisions,
stress-free decisions.
It's gonna give you betterfinancial control, and you're
also gonna learn someeasy-to-follow strategies to
(15:12):
manage your money effectively,and you're also gonna gain the
tools and the confidence totackle your financial goals head
on.
You can sign up for this freenewsletter.
Again, simplify my money byclicking the link at the top of
the show notes.
Thanks for joining us ontoday's show, and we will see
you guys on the next episode.
Announcer (15:34):
Thanks for listening to the Debt Free Dad podcast.
Connect with us on Facebook,TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram.
Just search Debt Free Dad.
If you found value in today'sepisode, please leave us a
rating and review.
We so appreciate it.
For resources, show notes, andlinks mentioned in today's show,
visit debtfreedad.com.
(15:54):
Catch you next week.
So if you've ever felt like you make decent money but
still feel broke, this episode'sgonna be for you because today
we're not talking just aboutdebt.
We're talking about the realcost of living with payments
financially, emotionally, andmentally.
And once you see it clearly, Ihave a feeling you're not gonna
look at debt and payments thesame way.
Announcer (00:24):
You're listening to the Debt Free Dad podcast with
Brad Nelson.
Brad and his co-hostsexperience the anxiety of living
paycheck to paycheck beforelearning the fundamentals of
financial success.
They are now on a mission toempower regular people to pay
off their debt for good andenjoy happier, less stressful
lives.
Keep listening forinspirational interviews, tips,
(00:46):
tricks, and practical advice togain financial freedom.
Brad (00:52):
Hey guys, welcome to today's show.
My name is Brad Nelson, founderof Deaf Free Dad.
I paid off about $45,000 ofdebt.
I've been debt-free now formore than 13 years.
I've also been fortunate tohelp thousands of other people
save and pay off tens ofmillions of dollars with the
work that we do here at Def FreeDad.
Now, after listening to thisepisode, if you are ready to
take things to the next level,you're ready to break free from
(01:13):
living paycheck to paycheck, youwant to reduce financial
stress, you want to build yoursavings, finally pay off your
debt for good.
But maybe you're like a lot ofpeople, you're not sure where to
get started.
Well, we've created someincredible free resources for
you here at Def ReDad, and we'llbe sharing some details about
how you get some of those lateron in today's episode.
Let's talk about something thatalmost everyone has, but almost
(01:35):
no one questions.
And I know I used to notquestion it.
It's payments, right?
Car payments, credit cardpayments, personal loans, buy
now, pay later, furniturepayments, phone payments.
I mean, you can get payments oneverything nowadays.
And for most people, includingmyself at one time, payments
feel normal.
They're almost expected.
(01:56):
They're just a part of being anadult, right?
But here's the question I wantto ask you.
What is the real cost of livingwith those payments day after
day, month after month, yearafter year?
Because it's not just theinterest rate, it's not just the
minimum payment due.
It's the real cost, becauseit's bigger than you think.
(02:19):
And most people don't realizehow much it impacts your whole
life.
So let's start with the obviousone.
Let's start with the math,right?
Let's pick on vehicles.
When you finance a $30,000 carand pay interest, you don't just
buy a car.
You buy a car plus thousandsextra.
But here's what's interesting: most people don't feel that (02:36):
undefined
total cost.
They feel the monthly cost.
By the way, $30,000 for a carnowadays is a pretty inexpensive
car, sadly.
And a $30,000 car usually hasabout a $550 car payment.
And sadly, the average carpayment right now floats between
$750 to $780 a month here inearly 2026.
(02:59):
But when they only focus on themonthly payment, that word has
done more damage to householdfinances than almost anything
else.
It's only $550.
That only, right?
That does so much damagebecause it tricks your mind.
Because payments shrink bigdecisions into small feeling
(03:24):
like nothing numbers sometimes,right?
And when everything is only afew hundred dollars, suddenly
your income is already spentbefore you earn it.
But the real cost of payments,again, isn't just that number
and the finance part of it.
It's psychological as well.
You see, payments slowly overtime as you collect them,
(03:46):
payments create pressure.
Every month starts at zero,except when you have payments,
it doesn't.
You start the month alreadybehind, technically.
You've already committed thatincome that you're gonna make.
You're already obligated waybefore groceries, way before
gas, way before anythingunexpected comes up that month.
And that pressure creates thatstress, and that stress gets to
(04:11):
be exhausting.
In fact, people say number onestress factor in their life is
money and financial issues.
You see, the payments overtime, especially as you collect
them and begin living paycheckto paycheck, they steal margin.
And margin is kind of like thatbreathing room in your
financial life.
Margin is the differencebetween your income and
(04:33):
obligation, right?
And when most of your income ispre-assigned already before the
month even begins to thosepayments, there's really no room
left for stress-free living.
There's no real room left foropportunity, flexibility, uh,
opportunity to even makemistakes, opportunity to grow.
And here's something mostpeople don't really think about
when it comes to these payments.
(04:53):
When you take on a payment,you're not just committing for
this month.
In a lot of cases, you'recommitting to payments for
future income for years, threeyears, five years.
Heck, the average car paymentnow, I believe, and car loan is
now over five years.
It's going to the six to seven.
I've even heard of nine-yearcar loans.
So you're making a decisiontoday that locks in part of your
(05:17):
income tomorrow.
A lot of your income,especially when we're talking
about the subject of like thingslike car payments, right?
Big payments.
And that matters because whatyou do today, it changes any
future opportunity that mightcome down the line.
When your income is alreadycommitted to payments, you have
fewer options when, say, abetter job opportunity shows up.
(05:38):
And maybe that job opportunityisn't necessarily a bigger
salary.
Maybe it's less of a salary,but it's something that you love
to do.
But you can't do that nowbecause you've already committed
to all of these payments.
Maybe you all of a sudden havea dream or you've had a dream to
start a business and you seethat opportunity come up or you
could take a chance.
But now you can't becauseyou've committed, again, all of
(06:01):
this to these payments over theyears.
Maybe you want to move.
Maybe you want to make somechanges in your life, right?
Maybe you want to startinvesting.
All of these things are greatopportunities for you, but
because you've already given andput in, like, hey, I'm
committing to making thesepayments over the years, those
payments have reduced theflexibility for you to take
(06:23):
advantage of any of thoseopportunities.
And they reduce a lot of thatmobility.
They reduce courage, notbecause you lack it, because you
probably have the courage, butall of a sudden you're like, I
can't take any risks becauseyou're obligated, right?
An obligation, sadly, itchanges your decisions moving
forward in the future.
And that's why people making$120,000 a year can still feel
(06:46):
broke because it's not about theincome, so to speak, it's about
the commitments that they'vealready made.
You can earn a great salary.
And guys, if you're listeningto this, I've worked with people
who make amazing salaries, wellmore than I ever made.
And they still have very littlemargin.
Because without margin, youdon't feel wealthy, you don't
feel free, you feel trapped.
(07:07):
Now, here's another hiddencost.
It's the risk, right?
When you live with heavypayments, your tolerance for
disruption, it drops.
Like, think about it.
If you have a job loss, what dowe do?
We panic.
There's a medical issue, andmedical bills are crazy
expensive.
And I've dealt with a lot ofthose myself.
Again, when you're alreadystretched, when you're already
(07:28):
living paycheck to paycheck, andnow a medical bill shows up and
it's hundreds, maybe thousandsof dollars, what happens?
More and more stress.
The car is making a funnynoise.
What?
Oh, now we got to take out thecredit card again.
Here's the deal (07:40):
you don't just have expenses, you have fixed
obligations.
And fixed obligations don'tcare what your month looks like,
right?
They're gonna show up no matterwhat you got going on in life.
And those payments also aregoing to affect your decisions.
Like I said, you stay in jobsyou hate because you can't
afford to leave.
(08:00):
You delay dreams or maybe yougive up on them altogether
because you have too much goingout every month to even commit
to any sort of money or financesto make those dreams become a
reality.
You tolerate stress because thealternative feels way too
risky.
That's not freedom, you guys.
Those are handcuffs, financialhandcuffs that you're putting on
(08:22):
yourself.
And most people, we put them onvoluntarily, not all at one
time, but slowly over time asyou collect these payments.
And I remember this, right?
It started out small.
It's not like I woke up one dayand said, I just want to have
all this debt and have all thispayment.
No, it was one decision at atime.
And again, it felt normalbecause everybody else was doing
it.
Now let's go a little bitdeeper.
(08:43):
Payments don't just cost money,they also cost you time.
You see, if you financesomething for five years, you're
committing five years of futurework to pay for that past
decision.
Five years of earning, fiveyears of mental bandwidth paying
that bill, five years ofreduced flexibility and
(09:04):
opportunities.
That's a big deal.
And most people don't reallythink about that.
And most people make thecommitment in about 45 minutes,
and again, picking on, say, likea car, they make that decision
and that commitment within a fewhours sitting at a dealership.
Think about that.
Years of application decided injust a few hours.
(09:25):
Now let's talk identity.
When payments are normal,consumption, over consumption
becomes normal.
If you haven't realized andlooked around lately, they make
everything easy to buy andespecially easy to go into debt
for.
Upgrading becomes normal,financing becomes normal, but
(09:46):
wealth building, oh, that feelstoo slow.
That's boring.
That's out of reach.
Because payments train yourbrain to think short term.
What's the monthly amount thatwe have to pay instead of what's
the total cost?
What's the opportunity cost ofowning that item over these next
several years?
What could this money also bedoing?
(10:08):
Instead, if we didn't do this,what could it be doing?
And here's a powerful question: what would your life look like (10:11):
undefined
if you have no payments?
And sadly, most people havenever even considered that in
their life because payments havebecome so normal.
But think about that.
No car payment.
Eve heck for most people, justno more credit card payments.
Imagine that feeling, right?
(10:31):
No more personal loans, no morebuy now, pay later.
And if you think about that,you look at your total amount of
debt that you have, and I askedmy roots members to do this
when they first start.
So if you feel like it'simpossible to save, look at your
total payments going out everymonth.
Two debt car payments, creditcards, student loans, personal
loans, all these things.
What could you do with thatmoney if you didn't have to send
(10:55):
it to them every single month?
How much margin would you have?
How much stress could disappearin your life?
How much faster could you buildyour savings?
You may even be able to go onthat dream vacation, right?
You might be able to make somedifferent decisions for your
life.
But that's the real costcomparison, not just the
interest, but it's the freedom.
(11:16):
And here's the part most peoplemiss.
And I did it one time too.
Payments don't cost money.
They cost a lot of momentum inyour life.
Because when a big chunk ofyour income is locked into
payments, like it is for mostpeople, most people are living
paycheck to paycheck.
It's hard to do things likebuild an emergency fund quickly.
It's hard to invest in yourfuture.
(11:37):
It's hard to cash flow any sortof future opportunities coming
up.
It's hard to take anycalculated risks in your life
because your cash flow isalready spoken for.
And that's why most people feeland are stuck.
They're not lazy, they're juststuck.
Now let me be clear.
This is not about shame.
All right.
That's not the point of thisepisode at all.
(11:59):
Most of us were taught thatthis is normal.
We were built in a paymentsociety.
Everything is payments.
I made the same mistakes whenit came to cars when I was broke
and in debt.
I made a lot of poor decisions.
Well, I can't even get into allthat in this episode.
And kicking car payments andreally kicking payments
altogether was one of the singlebest decisions that I've ever
made in my life.
And again, that doesn't meanthat I'm perfect with my
(12:20):
finances, but I can tell you,going through life without debt,
man, it makes life so mucheasier and less stressful.
And it's not because I hatecars, hate new cars, hate nice
things, don't want you to haveno, it's because I love the
margin.
I love options, I love thebreathing room, and I love the
freedom.
And payments steal all of that.
(12:41):
So the real cost of living withpayments is this it's stress,
it's reduced flexibility,slower, fewer options in your
life, lower risk tolerance,delayed freedom.
Heck, even most people livewith that their entire life.
They never really trulyexperience any sort of real
financial freedom.
And when you add all that up,it's expensive.
Now, here's the good news (13:03):
you don't have to eliminate all of
this stuff overnight.
Nor am I encouraging you to doso.
What I am encouraging youthough is to start thinking
differently when it comes topayments and debt.
You can start shifting yourmindset now.
Instead of asking, what's themonthly bill gonna be?
Start asking, like, what's thisgonna cost me in margin?
(13:24):
What's this gonna cost me in myfreedom?
What's this gonna cost me inany sort of future opportunities
that might come down thepipeline?
Is it worth saying no to thosethings and having this thing?
What is the commitment gonnamean long term for us?
Because when you change thequestion, you change the
decision.
And living without payments, itisn't extreme.
It's it's about beingintentional.
(13:45):
It means you own your incomeinstead of your payments owning
you.
It means you create spaceinstead of a lot of pressure in
your daily life.
It means your future is gonnahave some options, and options
are a lot of fun.
Now, if you're tired of feelinglike your income disappears
before you even touch it, ifyou're tired of you know normal
(14:07):
feeling stressful, if you'retired of payments dictating your
life day in and day out, that'sexactly why we built Defreedad
and our Roots Personal FinanceMembership Program.
Now, inside Roots, we help youbuild a step-by-step plan to
eliminate debt, change yourmindset, reduce payments, build
margin without feeling deprivedin your life.
And now enrollment isn't openall the time, but what you can
(14:30):
do is if you are interested, uhyou can join our wait list, go
over to deaffreedad.com, clickon the free resources page.
And if you scroll down a littlebit, you see the wait list
there.
And when the doors open again,we only let them a limited
amount of people in certaintimes throughout the year.
You have the opportunity tojoin us.
And the link to do that againis gonna be at defreedad.com.
All right, now if you're readyto break free from living
(14:51):
paycheck to paycheck, you wantto reduce financial stress, you
want to build savings, finallypay off your debt for good.
But again, maybe you're notsure where to get started.
Don't worry.
We've got you covered.
Simplify My Money is sent toyou each and every Sunday to
your email.
And it's gonna help you makebetter financial decisions,
stress-free decisions.
It's gonna give you betterfinancial control, and you're
also gonna learn someeasy-to-follow strategies to
(15:12):
manage your money effectively,and you're also gonna gain the
tools and the confidence totackle your financial goals head
on.
You can sign up for this freenewsletter.
Again, simplify my money byclicking the link at the top of
the show notes.
Thanks for joining us ontoday's show, and we will see
you guys on the next episode.
Announcer (15:34):
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rating and review.
We so appreciate it.
For resources, show notes, andlinks mentioned in today's show,
visit debtfreedad.com.
(15:54):
Catch you next week.
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