A few days ago, a column in our local newspaper was offering financial advice to the worried consumer wondering where to invest his savings. The advice given by The Salt Lake Tribune was to pay off any consumer debt, which would offer a higher and surer return in the long run than any other investment. The theory is that it would be much better to pay of debts now than it would be to save money for a future in which you are paying off those same debts, only at greater cost.
This advice, and related counsel given by religious leaders, got me thinking. I called our related financial institution and got a payoff quote for the car. Then I looked up our savings account balance. The two numbers were within $50 of each other. Now that's what I call happy arithmetic.
I looked at the numbers. Scott looked at the numbers. We took the leap.
Now we are debt-free.
It's not like our debt was a huge burden or something I worried about very much. It seemed worth incurring and I was always fairly certain we would be able to make the payments. Still, I am elated to be free of it. There's not really a down-side to paying off a loan and making sound financial choices always excites me.
I am so glad we are now free from debt. However, it would be very arrogant of us to take all the credit. Things could have turned out very differently. The Lord has been good to us and we are enjoying relative prosperity. All that we have is really His, a universal fact that is particularly applicable to us since all Scott's paychecks come from God's coffers. And so it is only through His providence that we are (currently) financially secure.
I hope I would still praise and honor Him if all this were taken from me.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
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6 comments:
Wow that is awesome that it worked out for you guys!
I love your perspective on this-that it's actually God's money anyway and your striving to honor Him with it.
And that you're thinking about hoping you'd feel the same way you do now even if you didn't have that financial security.
Debt free is an amazing place to be! :)
It's always a good feeling to make that last payment on something. The elation you feel afterwards is always so wonderful! I felt the same way when we payed off our car! I wish we were completely debt-free, but we have a house payment. It IS very manageable, however, and would be nearly the same as paying rent, so I don't feel too terribly about it. Good for you guys in making such good decisions!
Congratulations!! That has to feel like a huge relief!!
Hooray! I hope to know how it feels soon!
Congratulations.
We're debt free too, but we don't own a home or any other big expensive debt inducing things, so it's not that big of an accomplishment for us.
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