The No Debt Plan
What is the No Debt Plan?
Simply put it is a list of advice in step format to help readers go from being in debt to getting out of debt to staying out of debt and creating wealth. That’s a long run on sentence, but I think it works. If you come across this page and you’ve already paid off your consumer debt then you can pick up reading in Step 5 — but you might want to go back and read everything to make sure you aren’t missing some important information.
Pre-Steps:
- #1 – An Honest, Positive Attitude
- You can’t make any progress until you’ve decided to be honest with yourself about your situation.
- #2 – A Long Term View
- This is not going to be an easy quick fix. To make long lasting change you need to invest some time in the process.
- #3 – Goals
- There’s no point in the journey if you don’t have a destination.
Steps:
- #1 – A Budget
- You need to tell your money where to go rather than it telling you where it went. It is a lot easier than most people think.
- #2 – Achieve Free Cash Flow
- More money coming in than going out.
- #3 – An Emergency Fund
- Disasters will strike — flat tires, air conditioning going out, the roof needs replacing… you need money set aside for these.
- #4 – Pay Off All Consumer Debt
- No more credit card or furniture store interest!
- #5 – Revisit Your Goals and Budget
- Stop for a minute and reassess your situation before continuing on.
- #6 – Investing for Retirement
- Put your money to work for you. Let time and compounding interest work for you rather than against you.
There is more to come, so stick around!
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Question: Do you contribute to a retirement simply to equal the match? Or, according, to your No Debt Plan, would you hold off on contributing to the 401K and use that money to pay off consumer debt? Would love to hear your opinion
My answer to Steve’s question:
Contribute to 401(k) to get full match, pay off all consumer debt, possibly including mortgage debt as well (5% interest loan is like 5% CD, which is great), Fully fund Roth IRA (if younger than 40) or Traditional IRA , then max out 401(k). This is an easy way to get ~$20,000 / year into non-taxable accounts. Spend the rest however you enjoy. You’ll retire well off no matter what, how soon depends on how much of the surplus is saved. I live on ~25% of my take home pay.
I live in Australia and I had a visit from a mortgage accelerator salesman that tried to get us to sign up. We didn’t. After reading your site i am glad we didn’t.
Regards Frank
Wow, this is intriguing and challenging too. Getting plenty of discuss your site can certainly help you receive traffic. Apart from this, you’ll have the ability to get plenty of feedback and results from endeavors.