Quiet Millionaire Book Contest Give Away And Free Land Update
First, I am giving away the brand new copy of The Quiet Millionaire that I reviewed. To enter the contest leave a comment on this post that lists your top reasons you got out or want to get out of debt. If you don’t want to get out of debt, list your reasons why. Simple as that. A winner will be randomly chosen Sunday October 21st @ 9pm EST.
Click the following links for more information on the book :
My Quiet Millionaire Review
Queit Millionaire Amazon Page
Second, poetloverrebelspy @ Less than a Shoestring shared a great NY times article with us. The article relays some real life experiences about one family’s move to North Dakota. Cities haven’t lived up to their promises, and citizens aren’t as open to change as they need to be. It is a long read, but pretty interesting if you found the free land in the Midwest article interesting.
State of the US Economy – Scary Stuff or Nothing to Worry About?
Now is the Time to Winterize Your Home
I’d like the book.
My financial goals include:
1. College for three kids
2. paying off debt
3. Retiring without collecting Social Security
Happy Rock,
Put my name in for the book contest. Our current goals are:
1. Be totally debt free in 3 years or less.
2. Retire and live off social security sometime after that.
3. Sell our house in NJ and buy a 40 footer to travel the lower 48 states.
4. Travel into Canada
5. Travel into Alaska
6. When we are done traveling we will find a nice place to park the 40 footer (maybe in Montana or Wyoming or North Dakota) where we can spend the summer sitting out front in our rocking chairs and tending our vegetable garden
7. When it gets cold in North Dakota we will travel south for the winter. Florida sounds like a nice place.
We are hoping they invent a solar powered 40 footer before we are ready to try one on.
I’m out of debt except for my mortgage and it feels great; it relieves a lot of stress when you don’t have debt hanging over your head. I’m continuing to save because I still have retirement ahead in about 10-14 years and a 12 year old that I hope to send to college without either of us going into debt. I want to give her a good start in life and avoiding big student loans and their payments is one of my goals for that. I’m still working on the mortgage and pay extra on that each month, but it’s going to take a few years. I won’t retire until it’s paid off, so that’s a big goal!
I got my first credit card when I was eighteen years old. I paid it off forty years later.
At 58, I decided to retire from corporate life and retire my credit card debt as well. I also wanted to make some dramatic lifestyle changes since I would no longer be working for a paycheck.
I did a inventory of everything I owned. When you live in the same apartment for 30 years, and never throw anything away, you accumulate alot of stuff. I turned inventoring my stuff into a part time job – working about three hours per day for about four months.
After I completed the inventory, I called two charity organizations and donated everything in my apartment, except six boxes of books and family photos, to charity.
And the tax deduction, which I will spread over a couple of years, paid off my debts.
Twelve hundred years ago in China a middle-aged man named P’ang Yun loaded everything he owned onto a boat and sank it all in the Tung-t’ing Lake. After that, we are told, “he lived like a single leaf.”
I want a retirement journey unencumbered, uncluttered, without distraction. I want focus and simplicity in my life. I want to live like “a single leaf.”
The top reasons I want to get out of debt is because I have never been out of debt and I’d like to see what it feels like. I want to be able to sleep at night and not feel afraid about how I’m going to pay my mortgage. Another reason I want to get out of debt is to help my children and grandchildren understand and witness that debt is not a necessity. The final reason I’d like to get out of debt is so I can spend my money they way I want to rather than the way I have to.
@Ed – Nice list
@TheCpa – Sounds like you have a good foundation for achieving a pretty awesome dream
@Mar – Being out of debt except the house puts you well on your way, great job!
@Steven – The Happy Rock readers continue to impress me. Awesome story! Live free!
@jewell – From experience, it is worth the hard work, and your family tree will hopefully reap rewards for decades. Keep pushing!
Great comments, everyone!
Glad I could be of service 🙂
I would like to totally get out of debt because when I was younger and thought that the person I was with truly loved me and left me mentally, physically and financially in debt. Mentally, I am mostly out of debt, physically, I am getting worse abd financially, well lets say I live almost paycheck to paycheck but not giving up hope yet.
@VEDA – This giveaway ended a long time ago, but I do have another what I consider much better book to give away very soon.
Well it looks like I’m two years too late to register to win this book. We are out of debt except for our house (and well….I used the credit card for a $30 charge yesterday).
I remember paying of the final car. It felt so good. Here’s my reasons for getting out of debt.
1. To take away the stress of making payments.
2. So I could put money into retirement instead of paying debts.
3. So we’d have breathing room if an unexpected expense or emergency came up.
Let me encourage everyone to stay away from loans. Pay with cash and you’ll sleep better at night!