During the past couple of weeks I've covered a Financial Plan that will get you out of debt and on the road to financial success.  Today I'm going to wrap it up with a complete summary of the plan.  This summary is the quick reference guide to the plan.  If you need the details, just click Financial Plan for the detailed articles.

We talked about several things that you need to have in place or know before you start.

  1. You can only do three things with money.  Give, Save and Spend.  You need to do all three.
  2. You need to have your spouse and family on board.  This means they need to agree that what you've been doing isn't working and that as a family you need to get on a plan that will work.  If you're single this should be more easy but you may want to find an accountability partner.
  3. You need to be current on all of your bills. 

To start the plan you need to get on a budget and the plan the same month.  A budget will help you track down and understand where your money is going.

The plan is not rocket science and I'm not a genius.  Plain and simple is what works best for me and will work for you.
Here are the steps in summary with a link to a more detailed explanation of the step.  Following the plan in this order will provide optimal results.

  • Build a small safety net of 500-2000 dollars no more, no less.  Small Safety Net 
  • Pay off all debt except the house.  Get extra jobs, do whatever it takes.  Get fired up.  Debt Payoff
  • Build a fat safety net.  Three to six months of expenses (not income!).  I recommend four months.  Large Safety Net
  • Start Saving for retirement and college if you have children still in grades K-12.  Retirement Savings and College Savings
  • Pay of your house and have a mortgage burning party.  Mortgage Payoff
  • Build incredible wealth by saving the equivalent of a mortgage payment into good mutual funds.  Wealth Building

Additional thoughts from me to you. 
- Getting out of debt is hard work. 
- You will need to sacrifice.  You may need to cut cable, or cell phones or x.  You may need to sell a lot of stuff.  It's just stuff.  You can always buy more later with cash.
- The more energy and effort you apply to getting out of debt, the more quickly you will be out of debt.  You may need to get an extra job or two or three. 
- You will need to be radical to turn your disaster around.  Of course, you probably already gathered that based on my statement about sacrifice.
- You can do it.  You are not the first nor the last one to attempt this.  It's hard, the journey may be long, but the end results and peace of mind are well worth the blood, sweat and tears.

My wife and I gave up a lot.  We sold my wife's Mazda Miata.  We sold my digital keyboard.  We sold stuff on eBay.  We cut our cable down to the basic of basics.  We canceled our cell phone bills.  Some of you may cancel your land-line phone and go with cell phones.  We've learned how to budget. It's been painful.  Frustrating and hard.  We drive an old, ugly, rust bucket beater.  It's been a long three and a half years.

And now, we're one week away from having everything paid off except the house.  You KNOW we're getting PUMPED UP! 

I want you to write me with your questions.  Write me when you need encouragement.  The whole purpose of this blog is for me to encourage and challenge you to succeed in all areas of your life and in doing so I challenge myself to change as well.  The road is long, the journey is hard, but the destination is a marvelous legacy.  Will you start today?