by Christian Scully

When I was growing up there was never any talk of retirement. Retirement was a far off place where I knew something called Social Security existed and that employees were taxed now in order to ensure monthly payments later. Other than that, there was no discussion of retirement accounts, what purpose they served and how they worked, or what the proper steps were to ensure a comfortable lifestyle after working year were over. 

I knew the word millionaire, and that was a magical word. It definitely didn't feel a real possibility, but I knew millionaires existed and as I got older I could certainly take a guess at who might be a millionaire. 

Though I'm almost certain many of my guesses would have been accurate, I've come to learn that you never really know what the state of someone's finances are behind the curtain. When we began our personal financial freedom journey I read a frequently recommended book, "The Millionaire Next Door". The author surveyed and compiled data on millionaires in the United States and created a profile with simple, easily copied attributes that lead to their financial success. It revealed to me the lifestyle differences between appearing rich and truly being wealthy. I also highly recommend this book to everyone to define a realistic lifestyle target for growing wealth, you can find this book here.

by Christian Scully

Let's begin by noting that if you have no idea what "meme stonk" means, you live in perhaps a more peaceful existence already. Several forces boosted by the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020 brought meme stonks, or trendy, often highly speculative stocks, into the mainstream.

Groups like Reddit's r/WallStreetBets rose to the top of media popularity with their cult-like efforts to bring down the hedge fund giants who dared to place heavy short positions on beloved corporations like GameStop and AMC Theatres. The result was a storybook rise in stock value, experienced and inexperienced FOMO investors alike stacking bets on top of one another in such numbers that one hedge fund, Melvin Capital, lost 53% in January 2021. 

These trendy meme stocks, rising to such heights due to a mix of speculation and social media published theories on options contract expiration dates, were bound to come crashing down hard, draining millions from investment accounts of thousands of young investors who hopped on what was marketed to be a rocket ship to the moon. 

The vast majority of the diamond handed "hodlers" saw their investments wiped out. Some early investors did manage to ride to the moon, hopping off the ship towards the peak and sending it crashing back down to earth. Stories spread of people that lost their life savings, all for a chance at hitting it big and joining the millionaire club. 

​by Christian Scully

Paying off debt should definitely be a goal of anyone seeking to live what we consider to be a better life. Being financially free from creditors, not having monthly payments to worry about, and having the ability to save and invest more of our hard earned income should be everyone's goal. The idea that we forever have to have some sort of debt bill, we have to owe somebody money just to live a decent life is engrained in our society. When the Diners Club card was first offered in 1950, it began a shift in the culture's view of money and lifestyle aspirations. It was easier to appear rich as opposed to slowly build wealth over a lifetime. Those who remained frugal, bootstrapped small businesses, bought goods with money they had and invested any budget surplus managed to grow wealth enough to live incredible lives with generational financial security. 

When our mindset shift occurred and we began our debt-free journey to financial freedom, we were only focused on the main goal: pay off all debts as fast as possible. We didn't have a target date in mind, but I had long held a personal goal of not having children while in debt. Not having the financial strain of debt interfering with family life and raising children was number one on my list of reasons to be debt free. We used this as a starting point, but over the next couple years we learned about the different types and effects of debt and how we could find a balance to reach our goals and not put our lives on hold.

I think there are two basic things to keep in mind from the start. First, when making any plan for the near or distant future, make a list of what you are hoping to achieve. What is the ideal result? What is the end goal? Then second and most important: fully expect those goals and the plan to morph over time. In fact it is super important that it does. Things come up, events happen, opportunities arise, markets change. Keep your eye on your goals, re-evaluate your list of goals regularly to make sure the targets don't need to be adjusted, and then shift and alter strategies as new opportunities or roadblocks come up. Once you have your goals targeted, consider the following ways paying off debt can effect you: