As much as I enjoy the more ‘traditional’ survival topics discussed (bobs, rifles, etc.), I credit Jack’s analysis of debt with waking me up, saving me, and helping me become a real survivalist.

Great show Jack!

I really hate debt and credit cards even if ppl say they are important to have in case of an emergency.
So I don’t have any. Never have.

My wife and I are in our 20s and we got married last June. We paid for the wedding and honeymoon ourselves – before the wedding. It was a great accomplishment we are proud of. We saved for a year.
😀

Keep up the great show, eh!

Greatly, I’ve only $~100 worth of debt to a few utilities I couldn’t pay when I lost my apartment. I’m still looking for income enough to pay it and still eat.

I’ve given this episode to alot of folk important to me, Jack. Thank you. I may not be anywhere near rich, but episodes like this remind me that I’m still free. You’re wonderful, man.

We have lived for a little over two years without a credit card. I have stayed probably 150 nights in hotels, rented cars all over the country and traveled to the US, Canada, Mexico, Germany, Sweeden, Norway, Denmark, China and Taiwan using a debit card. I agree with Jack, there is no legitimate reason anyone needs a credit card – don’t follow the lemmings off the bridge by listening to the hype developed by the big banks. Credit cards and credit scores are not necessary for life on this planet – they are the means by which you get sucked into the slavery.

Jack,
I (and my wife) were lucky to have parents that taught us ‘If you cant afford it, you don’t need it’
We owe NOTHING to anyone. We’ve always lived within our means. No mortgage, no car payments.
I’ve had to help my two sons buy a their own homes,
I could afford it and I didn’t want them going into
more debt than they could afford. My Grandparents lived through that depression, and tought me the lessons. Keep up the good fight!
~Val

In 2002 I lost my job we had some savings and thought we were good for a while. I wasn\\\’t worried since the last time I had put out my resume I got 300 contacts in 1 week.
Weeks stretched out into months, money was running out, I started using the credit cards to pay for health insurance, then car insurance finally food.
I spiralled down into depression. I was taking odd jobs and I even took a job I knew was not going to pay us enough but it was a job. By the 90 day I was one of their top 1% workers, but I would get home and not be able to remember what I did all day. On my 100th day, my body rejected work I turned yellow and the supervisor wanted me to stay on. I left anyway. I went to urgent care and they sent me straight to the ER. By this time we had dropped health insurance because we couldn\\\’t roll the debt over anymore.
Our debt went from bad to OMG in 3 days.
We took drastic action. Sold the house at a slight loss and paid it all off in one fell swoop. I wouldn\\\’t recommend doing that but it worked for us.

Thanks for the motivating post! My story highlights an area of personal finance I don’t remember hearing you covering in the show and it is the importance of a sizable cash reserve. I work and co-own a small software startup and we had two clients delay payment late last year. We fell behind on payroll and were forced to cut benefits temporarily. This meant having to purchase COBRA coverage and going without pay for nearly 3 months. I don’t have consumer debt so I figured a smaller cash reserve and CCs would cover me until in case of bad times and I was wrong. For most of 2009 I diligently paid down our mortgage but when they paychecks stopped I worried heavily about providing for my family and when the business would get paid so we could receive paychecks. COBRA was way more than we anticipated and we had less than 1 month cash on hand before the clients paid up. The stress was really not worth it, and as you mentioned in your post we were able to stop all unnecessary purchase to get buy without using the CC. Had we had 6 or 9 months accessible cash on hand I would probably have less lines on my face and a more enjoyable holiday break with the family.

Enjoyed the show about getting out of debt. We cut up our credit cards in 2004. Paid off everything but the house a couple of years ago. We haven’t looked back. We used the debt snowball cutting expenses to the bone and putting everything we could toward the debt. Sure is easier to make ends meet when you are tied down with debt payments. Takes away a lot of the pressure when it comes to paying the bills. Thanks Jack.

Eric is right. I used to be an accountant and thing have changed a bit in 10 years. I now work at a independent garden center as a grower and was talking with the accountant yesterday. As it turns out, not only does the retailer HAVE to pay a fee for the customer using a credit card, they also have to pay an additional fee for the “reward” type credit cards. Some reward cards have higher fees than others. There is no way to exclude those rewards cards, other than eliminate taking credit cards. So, this is another transfer of wealth, as any sane business owner raises his prices to cover the fee. In other words, the credit card company doesn’t pay the reward YOU DO. The card company charges the retailer, the retailer raises prices to cover the fee, and the consumer pays the fees through higher prices. So I agree with Eric, ask for a cash discount, you may have to explain why, and now you can tell them. Remember the days when gas stations had two prices, one for credit and one for cash? Take the cash discount that you ask for and sock it away for more preps!

Another thought provoking, insightful show. I found it very astute that you pointed out the damage that debt causes in relationships. As a former divorce attorney, I know from experience that more marriages are destroyed by insidious debt than by infidelity. In fact, I have seen examples where infidelity was the by-product of a marriage stressed by financial issues.

I for one have no desire to “owe my soul to the company store” and am taking efforts to reduce and eventually eliminate my debt load.

Thanks for the insight and inspiration.
Chad

Hello Jack,
This episode really inspired us to get out of debt. My husband downloads your podcasts and we listen to them in the evening when time allows.
We have put ourselves on a budget to pay off our debt following your instructions. It is month 2 and we once again have found another $1,000.00 to put on our outstanding debt. It is amazing to us at how frivolously we spent. I will say it is not always easy. Tonight was one of those nights. We were thinking about eating out and then said “What would Jack do?” and it wasn’t but a second and we looked at each other and hurried home to make dinner. Our background music, so to speak, was listening to another one of your inspiring podcasts. Thank you for your enthusiasm and keeping us on the straight and narrow.