WEBVTT - Ep. 172 — Getting Married With Six Figure Debt 0:00:17.600 --> 0:00:21.479 Hey, hey, Hey, I set up for a young woman 0:00:21.800 --> 0:00:25.040 that I met in Atlanta last weekend, she said, and 0:00:25.200 --> 0:00:26.000 make to day. 0:00:26.640 --> 0:00:30.520 Every time she hears that. So we're back and we're 0:00:30.520 --> 0:00:31.520 black and brown. 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:38.440 I'm Tiffany, I'm Mandy, and this is brown and busy. 0:00:39.600 --> 0:00:40.560 Happy hump Day. 0:00:41.000 --> 0:00:46.040 Yes, I'm super excited because we have an interview. 0:00:46.320 --> 0:00:49.200 In honesty, they're like the cutest couple in the world. 0:00:49.600 --> 0:00:52.760 So I was instagram stalking as I do, and I 0:00:52.800 --> 0:00:56.880 came across the story of this phenomenal couple from my hometown, Atlanta, Georgia. Hey, 0:00:57.080 --> 0:00:59.360 so in Atlanta, it's just an Atlanta themed episode today. 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:02.880 Tiffany was that landa this weekend without me, But it's fine. 0:01:02.960 --> 0:01:06.000 And this couple, their names are Leo and Faith and 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:08.479 they are twenty seven years old and thirty years old, 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:10.960 just married last year, and they decided to spend their 0:01:11.000 --> 0:01:14.679 first year tackling one hundred thousand dollars worth of debt 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:17.680 in twelve months. You know, no big deal. But I 0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:20.440 saw their story on Instagram because they had just celebrated 0:01:20.480 --> 0:01:22.920 paying off one hundred thousand dollars a debt. But what 0:01:23.000 --> 0:01:25.080 really struck me was that they were like, oh, we're 0:01:25.120 --> 0:01:27.600 not done yet. We have another one hundred thousand dollars 0:01:27.720 --> 0:01:30.319 to pay off next year. But they look so happy 0:01:30.400 --> 0:01:33.160 and joyous. And I reached out to them and I 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:34.560 asked if they would come on the show and just 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:36.759 share their story of how they managed to pay off 0:01:36.760 --> 0:01:39.240 so much debt and so little time being so young. 0:01:40.160 --> 0:01:42.600 And I love I love their interview. I think that 0:01:42.680 --> 0:01:46.080 they are really inspiring. I mean, you and I both 0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:48.920 talk about the issues we had early on our relationships 0:01:48.920 --> 0:01:51.920 getting on the same page with our significant others, like 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:54.400 to tackle something like that, like if you're not going 0:01:54.440 --> 0:01:56.800 to be a team about it, it's never going to work. 0:01:57.680 --> 0:01:59.720 And I know that we've got questions from listeners over 0:01:59.760 --> 0:02:02.040 the over the years now we've been doing this podcast, 0:02:02.160 --> 0:02:04.400 asking you know, what do you do if your spouse 0:02:04.480 --> 0:02:06.720 isn't on board, not on the same money page and whatnot? 0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:09.919 And I think Leo and faith story is just proof 0:02:10.080 --> 0:02:13.000 of first how to solve that issue and then how 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:15.360 to tackle your debt together as a team. 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:18.720 It's just a great, great lesson that you guys are 0:02:18.760 --> 0:02:21.040 going to learn today because it's just it's not easy 0:02:21.080 --> 0:02:23.239 when you're it's one thing to make your own financial 0:02:23.280 --> 0:02:26.280 decisions and goals and choices. It's another when you have 0:02:26.360 --> 0:02:28.680 to this is not a boyfriend or whatever, like, you 0:02:28.760 --> 0:02:33.880 must consider someone else's feelings when you're tackling your financial 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:34.920 goals and theirs as well. 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:37.440 Yes, so excited to have them on the show. You 0:02:37.440 --> 0:02:39.000 guys are going to take a quick break and be 0:02:39.120 --> 0:03:14.560 right back with our interview with Leo and Faith. I 0:03:14.600 --> 0:03:18.400 can't even imagine what it would be like if I 0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:21.280 got married and then we sat down one day, did 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:24.240 some calculations and realized we had close to two hundred 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:28.000 thousand dollars of debt. But I wanted to bring on 0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:30.800 this week's guest to the show, Faith and Leo from Atlanta, 0:03:30.880 --> 0:03:33.520 because I came across them on Instagram and their story 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:36.720 was so inspiring. This actually happened to them. They're a 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:42.240 young couple from my home state of Georgia, and they 0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:44.240 got married and had their whole lives ahead of them. 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:45.880 But when they sat down and really did the math, 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:49.680 they realized, holy crap, we actually have six figures worth 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:52.720 of debt. Now. What they didn't do is put their 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:56.360 heads in the sand and freak out and say, you know, 0:03:56.480 --> 0:03:59.040 this is impossible. We can't achieve this. They sat down 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:01.000 and said, Okay, how are we going to make this happen? 0:04:01.520 --> 0:04:05.200 They took on extra jobs, they completely changed their lifestyle, 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:08.520 and they manage to pay off over one hundred thousand 0:04:08.560 --> 0:04:13.400 dollars in the last year alone. That's crazy amazing. So 0:04:13.520 --> 0:04:16.360 I saw them on Instagram totally random. I slid into 0:04:16.440 --> 0:04:18.760 I never slide into anyone's DMS. I don't really know 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:22.280 what that means, like is that creepy? But I slid 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:24.000 into Leo's DMS and I said, you, guys, do you 0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:25.960 want to I want to have you and your wife 0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:28.599 Faith on the podcast because I think people need to 0:04:28.600 --> 0:04:34.400 hear the story like this, because sadly, they're not necessarily unusual, right, 0:04:35.200 --> 0:04:38.280 like six figures of debt to twenty somethings, you know, 0:04:38.320 --> 0:04:41.000 two millennials getting married today, Like we all have debt, 0:04:41.640 --> 0:04:43.320 tons of student debt, and it's not like they did 0:04:43.400 --> 0:04:46.120 anything wrong. But what I find really inspiring is that 0:04:46.640 --> 0:04:49.280 they made a plan to actually tackle it and it's 0:04:49.360 --> 0:04:51.680 clearly working. So Faith and Leo, thank you for coming 0:04:51.720 --> 0:04:52.440 on Brown Ambition. 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:55.839 Yes, thank you for yes, thanks for having me, thank you. 0:04:55.839 --> 0:04:56.880 We're glad to be here. 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:02.400 How how wow did you do this, How did you 0:05:02.480 --> 0:05:04.800 well take us back to when you guys first met, 0:05:04.800 --> 0:05:06.520 when you got married, and when was it that you 0:05:06.600 --> 0:05:10.000 realized you were sitting on Was it two hundred something 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:11.400 thousand dollars worth of debt? 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:14.760 Yes, it was approximately two hundred. 0:05:14.480 --> 0:05:20.000 And eleven thousand, and we met in twenty fourteen. I 0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:24.120 moved from Boston for a job here in Atlanta, and 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:28.240 Faith moved here for school. She went to Emory University. 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:32.080 And a friend of mine invited me to a small 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:37.000 to a young adult service at his church. And so 0:05:37.720 --> 0:05:43.240 I went to that service on a Wednesday night, and 0:05:43.320 --> 0:05:45.880 my friend wasn't there. He didn't show up, but I 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:50.200 went anyways, and lo and behold, they were having small groups, 0:05:50.360 --> 0:05:53.039 and Faith and I happened to live in the same 0:05:53.120 --> 0:05:55.520 city and ended up being in the same small group, 0:05:55.960 --> 0:05:58.480 so she couldn't take her eyes off of me, and 0:05:59.080 --> 0:05:59.920 the rest is history. 0:06:00.360 --> 0:06:01.919 She didn't know about that. She didn't know about that 0:06:01.960 --> 0:06:02.960 debt yet though. 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:08.000 In her in her mind she was like, I don't 0:06:08.000 --> 0:06:09.120 know about her, so. 0:06:11.000 --> 0:06:13.640 And y'all are newly would so you mean it's only 0:06:13.680 --> 0:06:15.400 been a year. Did you guys know about the debt 0:06:15.440 --> 0:06:16.400 before you got married? 0:06:17.600 --> 0:06:19.279 Yes? We sure did. 0:06:19.680 --> 0:06:23.719 We had premarital counseling with our pastors a few months 0:06:23.760 --> 0:06:26.640 before we got married, and we were forced to talk 0:06:26.680 --> 0:06:30.760 about everything, including our finances. So when we sat down 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:35.280 with them, one of the sessions that we had was 0:06:35.440 --> 0:06:39.279 about our purpose and what was the purpose of our marriage? 0:06:39.320 --> 0:06:41.680 Why are you two together? What is it that you 0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:44.039 guys want to accomplish. 0:06:44.080 --> 0:06:47.440 So one of the things that we wanted to do 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:48.880 as a family was be a. 0:06:48.839 --> 0:06:54.120 Family that gave, and not only financially, but our time. 0:06:54.279 --> 0:06:57.760 And the biggest thing standing in our way was our debt. 0:06:58.240 --> 0:07:03.880 So we decided to looking our accounts and total all 0:07:03.920 --> 0:07:06.279 of our debt up to see what we were up against. 0:07:06.320 --> 0:07:10.760 And there was the two hundred thousand who was leading. 0:07:10.520 --> 0:07:12.720 The charge as far as having the most amount of debt. 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:17.640 Me, I, of course was So I went to private school. 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:19.760 I know, I heard Emory you were in trouble. 0:07:20.000 --> 0:07:22.600 Yes, So I. 0:07:22.560 --> 0:07:25.400 Got both of my undergrad degrees from private school, and 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:29.400 I also got my like graduate degree from private school too, 0:07:29.640 --> 0:07:33.000 And I just thought it was normal to call Sally 0:07:33.080 --> 0:07:37.640 May and I took out an excessive amount of student loans. 0:07:37.720 --> 0:07:40.920 I didn't apply for any scholarships. I was just like, well, 0:07:40.960 --> 0:07:43.560 Sally May is just going to get me through Emory 0:07:43.880 --> 0:07:45.440 and all of my schooling. 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:47.800 So I was the one that brought in all the debt. 0:07:48.920 --> 0:07:54.120 I mean you had some help, yeah, help, don't take 0:07:54.160 --> 0:07:57.320 full credit and now you're a nurse practitioner and Leo, 0:07:57.560 --> 0:08:02.040 you are an occupational therapist. But how when was it 0:08:02.080 --> 0:08:04.119 that you realized, Okay, if we really want to tackle 0:08:04.120 --> 0:08:06.680 this debt, we need to take on extra work. 0:08:08.000 --> 0:08:10.280 Right away. There was no way we would be able 0:08:10.280 --> 0:08:11.280 to pay off. 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:15.320 All of our debt within a reasonable amount of time 0:08:16.000 --> 0:08:19.680 if we did not pick up extra jobs. So I 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:23.000 started doing the extra working first because Faith was still 0:08:23.000 --> 0:08:29.800 in school when we started dating and courting, So I 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:34.240 worked on the weekends, worked on pretty much practically every Saturday. 0:08:35.280 --> 0:08:39.160 So I was doing six days a week for as 0:08:39.240 --> 0:08:41.480 long as I can remember, still doing it now. So 0:08:42.280 --> 0:08:47.160 when Faith graduated and started working, she continued her part 0:08:47.200 --> 0:08:53.120 time job from from her master's program while starting her 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:54.040 full time job. 0:08:54.720 --> 0:08:58.280 So we just said, this might. 0:08:58.200 --> 0:09:00.520 Have to be our life for the next couple of 0:09:00.640 --> 0:09:03.000 years so we can really attack our debt. 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:04.840 I was just gonna say, was this a plan that 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:07.000 you guys created before you got married or what did 0:09:07.040 --> 0:09:08.320 you kind of wait until after. 0:09:10.559 --> 0:09:13.520 It was a plan to pay off our debt, but 0:09:13.760 --> 0:09:17.600 we did not anticipate that it would be to this extent, 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:20.680 to this extent and as intense as we have been 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:23.640 going this past year. I think once the ball started 0:09:23.760 --> 0:09:28.199 rolling and we saw how much ground we were making, 0:09:29.160 --> 0:09:31.320 then we decided to just put our foot on the 0:09:31.360 --> 0:09:33.280 pedal a little bit more each month. 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:37.480 How do you get to one hundred thousand dollars in 0:09:37.480 --> 0:09:39.360 a year? To walk me through that, I mean, that's 0:09:39.400 --> 0:09:42.719 what twelve months in a year? Seventy five carry the one. 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:45.440 It's a lot of money. Yeah, every month. I mean 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:47.800 that's thousands of dollars you guys were saving each month. 0:09:47.840 --> 0:09:50.920 So I mean were you reducing your expenses? How much 0:09:50.920 --> 0:09:53.080 were you bringing in those extra jobs? I mean, I 0:09:53.120 --> 0:09:55.000 feel like you guys must never have even seen each 0:09:55.000 --> 0:09:56.160 other if you're working that much. 0:09:57.120 --> 0:09:57.640 Yeah. 0:09:57.679 --> 0:10:01.199 So, I mean we reduced pretty much all of our 0:10:01.320 --> 0:10:05.040 extra expenses. And so every single month we had a 0:10:05.080 --> 0:10:08.000 budget meeting and we listed out, you know, what we 0:10:08.040 --> 0:10:11.320 had planned for the month and what. 0:10:11.240 --> 0:10:11.720 Else did we do. 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:15.880 We carpooled to work, so we both work in South Atlanta, 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:18.480 so instead of taking two cars to our job. We 0:10:18.640 --> 0:10:22.040 carpool which saves us on gas and also miles on 0:10:22.120 --> 0:10:22.800 another car. 0:10:23.400 --> 0:10:25.480 And we rarely. 0:10:25.160 --> 0:10:28.840 Eat out as well, So I'm packing all of the lunches, 0:10:29.480 --> 0:10:31.920 i am making dinner. 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:33.880 Every week, like we're rarely eating out. 0:10:33.920 --> 0:10:37.320 And that is what helped us save a lot of 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:39.440 extra money, because if you think about it, if you're 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:42.760 constantly eating out, you know, even if you get a 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:46.560 meal that's like five dollars, after a while, it begins 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:49.079 to add up. And we realized that we were saving 0:10:49.160 --> 0:10:52.079 so much money by packing our lunches, by making dinner, 0:10:52.120 --> 0:10:53.559 and also carpooling. 0:10:54.600 --> 0:10:58.600 Yeah, and we also don't have cable, so we have 0:10:58.640 --> 0:11:01.679 an antenna that we from Walmart so we can pick 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:02.840 up the local channels. 0:11:03.160 --> 0:11:04.359 We have our firestick. 0:11:04.800 --> 0:11:08.320 I still till this date have the iPhone five S 0:11:08.559 --> 0:11:10.199 and I know they no longer. 0:11:09.960 --> 0:11:13.640 Make that apple. Yeah. 0:11:13.720 --> 0:11:17.079 So my phone bill is literally less than three hundred 0:11:17.120 --> 0:11:20.040 dollars a year because I'm on a family plan with 0:11:20.280 --> 0:11:23.760 a bunch of cousins of mine. So any little wiggle 0:11:23.840 --> 0:11:27.760 room that we could we found and extra money would 0:11:27.840 --> 0:11:32.360 go straight towards Sally May and fed loan servicing and 0:11:32.480 --> 0:11:33.400 great lakes. 0:11:34.000 --> 0:11:37.360 You should walk them through our weekend times of like 0:11:37.440 --> 0:11:38.439 with working. 0:11:39.160 --> 0:11:39.719 You get it. 0:11:40.280 --> 0:11:44.560 So Faith and I would go to work on Friday. 0:11:45.200 --> 0:11:49.600 Friday afternoon, I would leave my full time job and 0:11:49.679 --> 0:11:52.800 go to my part time job for about three and 0:11:52.840 --> 0:11:54.160 a half to four hours. 0:11:54.480 --> 0:11:57.880 Faith would be home sleeping. When I get back, Faith would. 0:11:57.679 --> 0:12:01.400 Be waking up to go to her overnight nursing job, 0:12:02.320 --> 0:12:05.080 and I would go to sleep. In the morning, I 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:07.520 would be waking up and Faith would be coming back 0:12:07.559 --> 0:12:09.560 in and I would be leaving to go to my 0:12:09.679 --> 0:12:12.160 part time job on Saturday morning. And we did that 0:12:12.360 --> 0:12:16.440 for the past six or seven months as we got 0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:20.720 really intent, so it would literally be like, hey, oh, hey, 0:12:20.840 --> 0:12:24.600 see you later, Belkis and yep, see you in a 0:12:24.640 --> 0:12:25.079 little bit. 0:12:25.440 --> 0:12:27.200 Yeah. But it was worth it though. 0:12:27.240 --> 0:12:30.679 I mean, we have a poster that we have been 0:12:30.760 --> 0:12:34.760 tracking how much debt we've paid off, and even though 0:12:34.800 --> 0:12:37.320 we spent like a few months of our life not 0:12:37.440 --> 0:12:39.960 really seeing each other, it's been really worth it to 0:12:40.080 --> 0:12:42.959 see how much debt we were able to pay off. 0:12:43.000 --> 0:12:45.600 With a lot of discipline, a lot of self control 0:12:46.679 --> 0:12:49.920 and just deny it delayed gratification. 0:12:49.280 --> 0:12:50.800 We were able to do all of that. 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:54.440 How did you prioritize the debts too, because you don't 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:56.720 have just student loan debts, you have some credit card debt. 0:12:57.040 --> 0:12:58.880 I think you said you had a home improvement loan. 0:12:59.000 --> 0:13:01.840 Like a lot of people have different you know, piles 0:13:01.880 --> 0:13:03.920 here and there. How did you prioritize them? 0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:09.600 The credit cards were from wedding expenses, so we got 0:13:09.679 --> 0:13:13.400 rid of those fairly early. It started with me a 0:13:13.480 --> 0:13:18.040 month before we got married attacking those, so we prioritized that, 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:21.880 and then we transition to the loans that were under 0:13:21.920 --> 0:13:26.120 my name, which were my student loans because Faith was 0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:29.960 able to qualify for a loan repayment. So we were like, oh, 0:13:30.080 --> 0:13:32.040 let's just try to get rid of my loans because 0:13:32.080 --> 0:13:33.800 we don't have that option for me. 0:13:34.640 --> 0:13:36.400 So what do you mean loan repayment? 0:13:37.679 --> 0:13:42.240 So she has the option and we haven't done this yet, 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:45.720 but she has the option at the end of I 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:47.600 think at the end of next year where she can 0:13:47.640 --> 0:13:50.600 apply for loan repayment through her job in exchange for 0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:55.400 two years of service to continue working in an underserved population. 0:13:56.800 --> 0:13:59.720 See yeah, so she has that as a nurse practitioner, 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:02.559 where as I don't have any of those options as 0:14:02.559 --> 0:14:05.800 an occupational therapist, so we decided to attack mine first. 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:09.760 Okay, right, Yeah, A lot of people don't realize. I 0:14:09.800 --> 0:14:11.480 was going to ask when you said you were a nurse, 0:14:11.520 --> 0:14:14.320 because nurses, I think, doctors, even teachers. There are these 0:14:14.440 --> 0:14:17.920 lone loan repayment assistance programs you can look into. So 0:14:17.960 --> 0:14:20.920 that's excellent that you found that. How much how much 0:14:20.920 --> 0:14:24.280 are you able to get forgiven or repaid through that 0:14:24.320 --> 0:14:26.960 program once you apply, So for. 0:14:26.960 --> 0:14:31.720 An exchange of two years as working as a nurse, 0:14:31.800 --> 0:14:34.840 they could give you up to fifty thousand dollars. Wow, 0:14:35.080 --> 0:14:36.640 which is fantastic. 0:14:37.440 --> 0:14:39.800 Yes, And we we. 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:43.440 Were speaking to our financial advisor, and we have the 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:47.640 option to have I guess the government or these loan 0:14:47.680 --> 0:14:51.280 repayment programs pay off the remainder of our loans, but 0:14:51.320 --> 0:14:54.720 it would take us six years to do that because 0:14:54.840 --> 0:14:57.320 you know, fifty thousand and then I think it's fifty 0:14:57.360 --> 0:14:59.200 thousand for the first two years, and then it goes 0:14:59.240 --> 0:15:02.280 twenty thousand for the next two years and then ten. 0:15:02.840 --> 0:15:05.320 So we have the option to do the loan repayment, 0:15:05.360 --> 0:15:07.120 but we don't want to be in debt that long. 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:09.360 No, we're ready to be done. 0:15:09.640 --> 0:15:12.960 Yeah, So you do have just some debt left that 0:15:13.000 --> 0:15:13.920 you're still paying off. 0:15:14.360 --> 0:15:17.480 You have over one hundred thousand left, Okay, just a 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:22.760 little bit. Okay there, I. 0:15:22.680 --> 0:15:24.600 Was gonna say, so, what's your timeline? What do you think? 0:15:24.720 --> 0:15:26.880 How long do you think before you knock it out totally. 0:15:27.640 --> 0:15:31.240 We're hoping by the end of twenty nineteen that we 0:15:31.280 --> 0:15:33.920 would be done, and that is. 0:15:35.040 --> 0:15:36.960 If we apply for the loan repayment. 0:15:37.440 --> 0:15:40.200 So they just have to be at her job for 0:15:40.240 --> 0:15:42.600 another two years starting next year. 0:15:44.080 --> 0:15:47.960 Okay, Wow, you guys are goals as far as like 0:15:48.320 --> 0:15:49.040 working together. 0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:51.480 So you know, that's my question because people ask me this, 0:15:52.080 --> 0:15:55.040 how do you get on the same page financially with 0:15:55.080 --> 0:15:55.640 your partner? 0:15:55.880 --> 0:15:56.800 How were you able to do? 0:15:56.880 --> 0:15:56.960 So? 0:15:57.480 --> 0:15:59.120 Was there somebody that took a little longer to get 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:01.840 on the same pintial page or was it something that 0:16:01.920 --> 0:16:03.560 you know, it was easy for you guys to come 0:16:03.600 --> 0:16:05.640 to a consensus. 0:16:05.400 --> 0:16:09.120 So Leo, it wasn't easy for me to come to 0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:13.200 an agreement with this. So Leo is the one that 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:17.160 is very determined. He gets a goal and he just 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:20.520 runs after it. Me, on the other hand, I am 0:16:20.560 --> 0:16:23.440 not like that. And so when I saw how much 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:27.000 debt we were in, it just to me, seemed impossible 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:28.480 for us to get out of. 0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:30.720 So I struggled with that. 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:32.880 But then I think that the thing that helped me 0:16:33.200 --> 0:16:37.080 in that process is realizing that this is just a 0:16:37.160 --> 0:16:41.640 temporary season, Like this isn't going to last forever, So 0:16:41.880 --> 0:16:45.280 let's just sacrifice right now so that for the next 0:16:45.440 --> 0:16:48.200 I don't know, maybe fifty years of our life, God willing, 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:51.520 we can live that debt free. So this is just 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:54.240 a season, and so we just have to sacrifice and 0:16:54.280 --> 0:16:56.360 do everything that we can right now to get out 0:16:56.360 --> 0:16:56.640 of it. 0:16:57.600 --> 0:17:01.800 Yeah, and for our conversation that we had, you know, 0:17:02.680 --> 0:17:05.480 we would dream about what we wanted life to be 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:08.680 like five years from now, ten years, three years from now, 0:17:08.960 --> 0:17:13.000 and that helped us, you know, sacrifice the now for 0:17:13.200 --> 0:17:15.120 what we wanted in the future. 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:17.440 And we knew. 0:17:17.240 --> 0:17:19.199 What it was like to sacrifice in order to go 0:17:19.240 --> 0:17:25.120 to school, so we had already experienced life in some capacity, 0:17:27.480 --> 0:17:30.400 so hey, why not do it for a bigger goal? 0:17:30.400 --> 0:17:32.000 Why not do it for our family? Why not do 0:17:32.000 --> 0:17:33.879 it for generations after us? 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:37.880 So that's what really kept us motivated once we knew 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:39.320 what our why was. 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:43.520 So I love that that was smart. You guys are 0:17:43.600 --> 0:17:46.200 honestly You guys are really really inspiring. And I love 0:17:46.280 --> 0:17:49.920 that that teacher dreaming helped you get on board Faith, 0:17:49.960 --> 0:17:53.760 because it is hard sometimes for people to because it's 0:17:53.760 --> 0:17:55.080 hard you feel like you work hard and you don't 0:17:55.080 --> 0:17:57.280 want to sacrifice your life away, but when you realize 0:17:57.320 --> 0:18:01.640 it's not really an eternal sacrifice, is just a temporary one. 0:18:01.560 --> 0:18:04.399 Right, definitely, And that's what helped me be able to 0:18:04.440 --> 0:18:08.040 get through it. And then also having the visual helped 0:18:08.040 --> 0:18:08.680 me as well. 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:09.760 That we created. 0:18:10.040 --> 0:18:11.880 Yeah, so we started off doing the. 0:18:13.560 --> 0:18:16.399 We started off by doing the highest interest rate because 0:18:16.400 --> 0:18:20.960 mathematically that made the most sense. But Faith wasn't really 0:18:21.040 --> 0:18:24.199 a fan because most of our high interest rate that 0:18:24.680 --> 0:18:28.200 was the highest amount and it would take us forever 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:29.280 to pay those off. 0:18:29.440 --> 0:18:33.159 But once we switched to the debt snowball, she was 0:18:33.320 --> 0:18:34.240 a lot more. 0:18:35.960 --> 0:18:39.680 Forgiving and on board when she was able to see 0:18:39.760 --> 0:18:42.920 us cross off you know, one or two loans every month. 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:44.160 Yeah. 0:18:44.400 --> 0:18:46.600 Yeah, I mean that's why studies show the snowball works, 0:18:46.640 --> 0:18:49.879 because it's all about that, like motivational, like the psychological 0:18:49.920 --> 0:18:52.679 impact of a little smell. It's like when you whenever 0:18:52.680 --> 0:18:54.840 I took a test in school, I always put my 0:18:54.880 --> 0:18:57.200 name on the paper first, because I was like, well, 0:18:57.280 --> 0:18:59.240 I did that right, and then I'll move on to 0:18:59.320 --> 0:19:02.880 the hard stuff. I think it's yeah, I mean, it's 0:19:03.040 --> 0:19:04.880 it's really smart just to I mean, and it also 0:19:05.040 --> 0:19:08.960 helps establish the rhythm and the habits so that by 0:19:08.960 --> 0:19:10.960 the time you get to the bigger debts, you guys 0:19:11.000 --> 0:19:12.720 are like, oh, we know how to do this. It's 0:19:12.800 --> 0:19:17.800 just a little bit more the what we were doing before. Yeah, 0:19:17.840 --> 0:19:19.840 what does the future look like for you guys? I mean, 0:19:19.840 --> 0:19:21.760 I think a lot of millennials today, I'm sorry for 0:19:21.800 --> 0:19:23.879 saying millennials, I know, but people in their twenties and 0:19:23.880 --> 0:19:26.640 early thirties who are in your shoes right so much 0:19:26.680 --> 0:19:29.240 debt it can feel impossible. It can feel like a 0:19:29.280 --> 0:19:32.240 pipe dream, just even small things like starting a family 0:19:32.320 --> 0:19:36.520 or you know, buying a house someday. Talk about how 0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:38.720 your goals feel to you now when you know you 0:19:38.760 --> 0:19:41.320 also have this, you know, other one hundred thousand dollars 0:19:41.760 --> 0:19:43.200 hurdle in front of you coming up. 0:19:44.200 --> 0:19:46.840 So even though we still have the one hundred thousand 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:50.639 dollars left to know and to reflect back on the 0:19:50.680 --> 0:19:53.439 past year, like when you really think about it, this 0:19:53.560 --> 0:19:56.440 year flew by and we were able to pay off 0:19:56.760 --> 0:20:00.159 one hundred and four thousand dollars in twelve months, and 0:20:00.240 --> 0:20:02.399 so even though we still have the next twelve months, 0:20:02.400 --> 0:20:04.920 what are the next one hundred thousand dollars left? 0:20:05.359 --> 0:20:08.200 Like, it seems extremely doable to us. 0:20:08.640 --> 0:20:11.000 And I mean our plans are we plan to start 0:20:11.040 --> 0:20:15.200 a family soon in the near future, would be really nice. 0:20:16.119 --> 0:20:18.480 What else do we plan on doing? Just vacationing. 0:20:18.600 --> 0:20:24.040 We're going to Costa Rica, enjoying restaurants in Atlanta, and 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:26.800 spending more time with our friends. So we're just really 0:20:26.840 --> 0:20:31.440 looking forward to the time that happens when we're debt free. 0:20:31.960 --> 0:20:35.760 Yeah, and you know, we love to share our story because, 0:20:36.000 --> 0:20:39.600 like you said, many people don't think it's possible to 0:20:39.640 --> 0:20:40.919 pay off debt. 0:20:40.680 --> 0:20:42.640 And that being in debt is normal. 0:20:43.280 --> 0:20:46.560 And I don't know anyone who is okay with paying 0:20:46.640 --> 0:20:51.600 double or triple what they bought or purchased. And that's 0:20:51.640 --> 0:20:53.240 what we do when we stay in debt all of 0:20:53.280 --> 0:20:55.879 our lives, Like we're paying triple the price or the 0:20:56.000 --> 0:21:00.600 value of our product. So we just want to encourage 0:21:01.440 --> 0:21:05.199 folks to you know, list their dead, see what it 0:21:05.280 --> 0:21:08.000 is that they owe, and create a plan. It doesn't 0:21:08.000 --> 0:21:09.879 have to be twelve months. It could be five years, 0:21:09.880 --> 0:21:13.720