Wealth 1. How to Eradicate Debt For Good
What debt costs you—financially and psychologically, how to approach 'harmless' debt like mortgages, student loans & business loans, and the best step-by-step way to eradicate debt fast and for good.
Welcome! The ‘Wealth Playbook’, ‘Science-based Tools’, ‘Lead to Win’ & the ‘Le Monde Élégant’ sections are companions for The Stoic Manual to help you build wealth and enjoy the financial freedom and power it affords, enhance your physical and psychological health, vitality, stress resilience, discipline, focus, motivation, and refine your people skills, relationships & leadership skills for a distinguished life—by Dr. Antonius Veritas.
“What decides whether a sum of money is good? The money is not going to tell you.” — Epictetus
Author’s note,
This marks the first entry of an ongoing series in the Wealth Playbook section for those who want a Stoic approach to becoming truly rich — covering all matters money, as this is something that glares at us yet we can’t neglect in our lives especially in this age where it’s impossible to be happy, at peace and free if you don’t have your finances in order. Yes, I’ll be the guy to talk about the elephant in the room because we live in the real world. I won’t pretend I’m not seeing it, because as you know by now — I’m not all about philosophical theory. This section also forms a crucial part of my campaign to make you an all rounded Stoic. This is not a get-rich-quick scheme; I won’t ask you to hustle harder either. All is I ask of my readers is that you control the money; don’t let it seduce and control you.
A.V
Adrian had always been the "fun guy." The one who’d buy the first round, pay for spontaneous weekend getaways and roadtrips, cover brunch when a friend’s card declined. It wasn’t that he made a ton, he didn’t, but the credit cards made it all possible. Or so he thought.
It started small. A few nights out, a new TV bought during a Black Friday sale, and a birthday trip for his girlfriend that she never stopped posting about, you'd wonder if she ever loved him. But the balances crept up, and the minimum payments started taking greedy bites out of his paycheck. He shrugged it off. He told himself he was building credit.
Then came the car loan. Then the phone upgrade on a payment plan. Then a second credit card to float him when the first one maxed out. Suddenly, he was $22,000 deep.
The stress hit slowly. First, it was the late-night pacing when bills were due. Then came the arguments. His girlfriend started picking up on it—how distracted he was, how stingy he’d gotten with her, how anxious he got every time the waiter brought the check. When she asked about his finances, he laughed it off. There was nothing to laugh about, he was losing his mind.
At work, Adrian started to feel like a prisoner. He couldn’t leave, couldn’t pivot careers, couldn’t say no to extra shifts. Worse, he'd get so anxious at the thought of losing his job that he'd lose sleep. All his life revolved around repayments and avoiding the consequences of a low credit score, lawsuits, repossession. The money didn’t belong to him anymore. It went straight to the banks. And he started snapping at friends, skipping events, avoiding calls -- there's a particular irritation and anger that comes with having little money to go by. Every part of his life narrowed. He was always tired. Always pretending to be happy. Always hoping next month would fix what last month took. He had lost the most precious thing of all, freedom and mobility.
And still, he kept spending—sometimes out of the fear of losing status among his friends and colleagues, sometimes out of "fuck it! You only live once. It can't get worse than this," which he'd regret the next day. The shame was so deep he couldn’t look at his bank app without his gut wrenching.
This guide is for him. For anyone who feels like Adrian. What follows is an exposition on what debt really costs you — financially and psychologically, how to approach ‘harmless’ debt like mortgages, student loans & business loans, and the best step-by-step way to eradicate debt fast and for good. If you want financial freedom, this is the best place to start.
Previously (most of you loved this entry),
I. The Problem With Debt
Somewhere along the way, we were sold a story. That to live well you had to…
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