It was about debt.
For years, I believed I could out-invest my debt.
I couldn’t.
At one point, I had a loan charging 160% interest. Taking out a payday loan, but then not paying it off in full after I receive paycheck #1, 2, 3, eventually 1 year went by and I realized I was working against myself, someone who was already working so hard paycheck to paycheck.
Over the past decade, most of my debt ranged anywhere from 10% to nearly 40% APR.
I took out consolidation loans.
I financed impulse purchases through Affirm.
I convinced myself that because my monthly payment was lower, I had created financial breathing room.
The problem wasn’t the loan.
The problem was me.
Instead of using that breathing room to aggressively eliminate debt, I spent the extra money on things I didn’t need.
Then I borrowed again.
And again.
I wasn’t building wealth.
I was digging a deeper hole.
Eventually I realized something that completely changed my mindset.
No investment I could reasonably make was consistently earning 20%, 30%, or 40% per year after taxes and risk.
Yet every dollar I used to pay off those high-interest loans gave me a guaranteed return equal to the interest rate I no longer had to pay.
Paying off a 30% loan is like earning a guaranteed 30% return.
You simply won’t find many legitimate investments that can compete with that.
Another mindset shift came when I stopped focusing only on balances and started focusing on monthly cash flow.
Every loan I eliminated did more than reduce debt.
Cash Flow Changed Everything
It gave me another monthly payment back.
A paid-off credit card meant more money staying in my checking account every month.
A paid-off personal loan meant another payment I never had to make again.
Those freed-up dollars became soldiers.
Instead of going to banks and lenders, they started going toward my emergency fund, retirement, investing, future home, and other income-producing opportunities.
Today, I think differently.
I don’t ask:
“How much debt do I have left?”
I ask:
“How much monthly cash flow can I free up next?”
That simple change in thinking has accelerated my financial progress more than any single investment ever has.
Next Level Living 