Bearing a debt of 5 billion VND, the young couple quickly paid it off in 2.5 years and became a millionaire with these 5 simple steps, anyone can learn
Leo Jean-Louis is a Haitian-American author and first-generation financial educator and his wife Faith Jean-Louis – a nursing master’s, is now a famous millionaire couple when the story of paying off debt. great in their short time spreading on social networks.
Leo and his wife got married in the summer of 2017, when their debt was $211,000, ranging from student loans to credit card debt to personal loans. After that, that number gradually increased to 224,000 USD because of the interest. With that “massive” debt, they initially estimated it would take 15 years to pay off. However, by managing their own spending and savings, in just a period of nearly 3 years, the couple has paid off all their debt and step by step towards the door to becoming a millionaire.
Later, he and his wife founded Freedom Is A Choice Movement and the financial management course The Debt Slayers Bootcamp to teach the younger generation to stay debt-free.
Leo and Faith Jean-Louis. Photo:CNBC
Here are 5 simple steps to help Leo and his wife get out of debt:
1. Debt determination
Leo said that when he first met his wife, he had been working for a few years and had a student loan. Faith was studying for a Master of Nursing at the time and looked at their existing loans to work out their overall debt.
“When I saw the totaled number, my wife was shocked. At that time, we immediately thought that we need to settle this debt soon,” said Leo.
2. Determine the motivation for debt repayment
Speaking to Insider, Leo said: “We started with looking for ‘why’s,’ because we knew that we needed something that could be the motivation to try instead of people. number along the way. In this way our vision and goals become clearer, and from there, choices and decisions also become easier to pursue.”
Accordingly, Leo and Faith identify their children as a source of encouragement for them to keep trying. Leo said the children are the most valuable asset they have, so the couple want to be able to pass the wealth on to their children. Leo and Faith don’t want their kids to be financially deprived or in debt like they once were.
Not only children, Leo also thinks of his mother: “She raised me on her own when my father died when I was 7 years old. We also want to travel more and do the work we love. when we were in our 40s. It was all the driving force for us not to give up.”
3. Budgeting
When they first got married, Leo and Faith didn’t quite understand how to budget. So the young couple started talking about their expenses and bills to balance their spending. They cut out unnecessary expenses and look at which expenses could be compounded.
Leo said the couple allocate money based on the zero-budget method. Accordingly, this budget forces them to set aside funds for specific goals, thereby helping to manage money well and more rational. Leo says: “We know what our money is doing because we want it to do it.”
Photo: businessinsider.com
According to calculations of the young couple, if the minimum student loan payment is over $2,000/month, it will take them 15 years to pay off the debt and only charge interest of $125,000. Therefore, in order to quickly settle the existing debt, since the summer of 2017, they have been determined to implement the plan thoroughly.
4. Savings
According to Leo, saving is an effective method that he and his wife implement to accumulate money to pay off debt. “We keep our housing costs under 25% of our monthly mortgage. Bringing in our lunch every day also saves us about $3,600 a year. Instead of dining out, we’ll cook dinner.” stay at home to save money,” Leo said.
In addition, the young couple often share a car to go to work, which saves them about $3,000 per year. Small to big, those small actions have helped Leo and Faith save thousands of dollars each year.
5. Increase income
After cutting expenses, Leo and Faith moved on to increasing their income. Husband and wife work 5 jobs at the same time: 2 main jobs and 3 side jobs.
They take advantage of their inherent skills to take on a number of other jobs. Faith babysits and takes on the night shift while Leo works as an occupational therapist at the local hospital on weekends and holidays. Just like that, these “side jobs” helped them earn an extra $ 66,000 in the first year and $ 40,000 in the second year. Of course, this revenue is for debt payment purposes.
Photo: businessinsider.com
To settle their debt, they plan their repayments in order of highest to lowest interest rates, regardless of the total amount to be paid, known as the avalanche method. However, when applying this method, Faith did not achieve the desired repayment schedule. So they ended up turning to the snowball method: a method of paying off debt from the smallest to the largest. With this method, Faith can clearly see the results when the small loans have been completely eliminated.
“Debts being paid off quickly was a big psychological boost for Faith,” Leo said.
In November 2019, the young couple officially “got out of debt”. In 2020, they can reallocate monthly payments and save and set aside $127,000 for profitable investments. Now, not only do not have to worry much about finances, Leo and Faith also open the doors of opportunity to conquer the dreams that once thought to be the most ridiculous, that is, becoming a millionaire.
(According to businessinsider.com)
at Blogtuan.info – Source: cafebiz.vn – Read the original article here
