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If you have been reading The Black Sheep Report lately, you will notice a a couple of themes being covered. My articles and tweets have been speaking about individual independence and self-reliance. I believe these things are crucial to people and to the future of the country.
Eliminating Debt is a Key Step
Eliminating debt isn’t easy for most people. However, I believe it is important for an individual to do so, especially during these times of ominous government growth and an ever worsening economy. Eliminating debt is freeing yourself of a burden. It is an obligation that has been met and should never be taken on again.
Each debt or loan you pay off, you give yourself a gift. It’s like giving yourself a raise, and therefore increasing your personal power. When you have $150 in credit card payments, $200 a month in student loans and a $125 payment for a personal line of credit, you are unable to use $475 of your own take-home earnings. Pay off those debts and you now have a $475 dollar a month “raise”. This money can be used to meet your financial goals and help you save to buy things without using a credit card.
You can see how this simple step is a giant step in obtaining true self-reliance and personal independence.
Imagine never having another loan payment. How much more money each month would you have for yourself? Imagine being able to apply that to a plan to reach real self-reliance? If you can see the possibilities, it is a very exciting thing.
I will be getting into these exciting possibilities and all of the practical reasons to work on being debt free in future posts and articles. For now, begin to vision what life without debt could be like, how it could improve your life and how it could help you be a more independent person.
Not Just Some Rah-Rah Talk
This isn’t just some blog post or a bunch of words either. I decided this a while ago and have chosen to take this path myself. Being a humble writer and a regular working professional in the business world, it is an admittedly slow and difficult journey. There were many silly financial mistakes from my younger years that stubbornly hung around and continue to haunt me.
Despite the challenges, I have commited myself to becoming debt free (and becoming personally independent). My wife and I have eliminated a good amount of debt, but have a way to go.
As I go through this journey I will write about it. I will write about the victories, the set backs and the mistakes. I will share tips from my learning and experience. I will offer advice on how to keep your chin up when times are tough. I have experienced these things myself and continue to experience them. You know what? It’s worth it.
I highly encourage each and every person to eliminate debt as a giant step to self-reliance and personal indpendence. I will be writing about and trying to help people anyway I can. I will continue to add information and make it available here for anyone who wants it.
Self-reliant, personally independent people make a better country.
Why? When the people of a country are self-reliant and have claimed individual independence, they have little need for government in their lives. Therefore, they would view new legislation and regulation differently. Any attempt to grow government or enforce another law on the people would be looked at through a highly critical lens. Any increase in taxes would be questioned vigorously. People wouldn’t feel compelled to vote for the candidate that is promising the most handouts.
Instead, people would value their independence and vote for candidates that would value and respect it. Liberty, not handouts, spending programs and pet projects, would be the priority for the personally independent. People would see any government as a necessary evil and would desire to shrink it steadily in order to increase personal liberty and prosperity.
So, what will it be?
I hope you this makes sense to you. I hope it gets you excited. Most of all, I hope you join me in your own journey to being debt free, self-reliant and personally independent.
