As I mentioned yesterday, this month I will be writing mostly about getting out of debt.  I am focusing on this so much because I believe this is one of those pillars you have to “get” if anything else is going to matter in your attainment of financial independence.  First, a little story…

I will always remember this particular client from when I was a trader several years ago during the dot com bubble.  This client was riding these dot com/tech stocks “to the moon.”  This was around 1998 or 99.  In those days, stocks were shooting through the roof almost daily.   It was a text book mania.  I can recall countless stocks that rose from $2 or $3 per share, to over $200 in a matter of months and then back to $2 or $3.  Here is one example.  Ka Boom.

Well, this one client was so caught up in catching this wave, that one day he called me to tell me he was refinancing his house to create more “buying power” in his account to buy more stocks.   What happened to this guy was that he kept on going further and further into debt, not realizing that although his “equity” was going up temporarily, his debt was increasing as well.  And, once those tech stocks had their day in the sun, it was game over.  He ended up losing his money, his house and I am sad to say, even his wife.  I’ll never forget the day he called in to tell me his wife left him and his house was going into foreclosure.   Now think about it, was life being cruel to him?  Or did he make a decision?   Did he create his own fate?  Was this Wall Street’s or the Federal Reserve’s fault?  I am not endorsing Wall Street and there are plenty of fingers to be pointed from the last meltdown. But you’ve got to realize how you are really in control of things and your own destiny.  It’s more important to start looking at your life and the decisions you are making about money than anything else on television.

So, are you caught up in chasing the status quo?  If so, why?  To give you perspective, I’ve added a video to today’s post.  Now, don’t get caught up with whether these guys are politically correct.  Just pay attention to their thought process and how they decided what was most important to them.  Was it chasing the status quo?  Or creating peace of mind and freedom?

I like really nice stuff: nice cars, nice houses, beach houses, expensive vacations, good food and nice clothes.

But you know what I like most of all?  My freedom.

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