How I Achieved a Debt-Free Life by Age 30 (Tips and Benefits)

My golf buddy and I were chatting on the course the other day.

Naturally, the conversation moved toward personal finance and debt (I just can’t help myself), and he mentioned he was debt-free.

Cool. Good for him, right?

Then, just a few minutes later, he was talking about his car loan and student loan.

Wait, what?

Dude, this is debt. Apparently, he didn’t know.

So what is consumer debt?

Consumer debt is any loan that’s not your mortgage or business debt.

This includes:

• Medical debt

• Credit card debt

• Car loans

• Student loans

• Personal loans

• Payday loans

Even if you think your loans are “good debt,” it’s still debt.

If you get rid of all your debt outside of your house and business, you are considered consumer debt-free.

Is a mortgage debt?

Yes, a mortgage loan is certainly debt. You borrowed money with the agreement to pay it back, after all.

But it’s not consumer debt, so it often gets its own category.

What is complete debt freedom?

As the name implies, this is when you’re totally debt-free, including your house and business.

You don’t owe anyone a single penny, and all the cash you earn goes straight to you and stays with you.

• You can save money on interest. That’s because you don’t have to pay any.

• You’re a lot less stressed out. You no longer have payments to worry about every month.

• You have more cash to save, invest, and have fun. I was shocked at how quickly our bank account grew when we got out of debt. You’ll have tens of thousands of dollars before you know it.

• You feel more confident at work. You’re not as worried about losing your job. You’ll speak up more and make a bigger impact when you’re financially secure.

• You have more freedom to do what you love in life. When you’re not a slave to debt and have huge savings, you can afford to take risks and follow your passions.

• You can retire early. That’s because of your low monthly expenses.

• You can improve your credit score. Your utilization drops and you can easily pay your credit cards in full each month.

• You become unrelatable to most. When you’re debt-free, you’ll view things differently. And when‌ people discover that you’ve paid off all your debt, they won’t want to tell you about their dumb financial choices anymore. So you might lose some friendships along the way.

• You won’t own a mammoth house like your friends. I own a modest 1,900-square-foot house. My friends earn less than me and live in brand-new houses of over 3,000 square feet. I sometimes envy them but then realize they’ll be in debt for the next 25 years.

• You’re not leveraging your money. Instead of being debt-free and owning one rental property, you could put a 10% down payment on ten and boost your earning potential. But this also comes with increased risk and hassle.

I achieved complete debt freedom before the age of 30.

And—to give you all hope—I achieved this with a very modest income (far below six figures).

Was it worth the sacrifice?

Let me paint you a picture of where I am—personally and financially. Then you can decide for yourself if being debt-free is worth it:

• I’m married with two wonderful children.

• We have no debt and live on wooded acreage near our local lake.

• With no debts, we have thousands of excess dollars a month.

• We have funds available to put our kids through private school and college.

• We have hundreds of thousands of dollars in our retirement accounts, which will likely grow to $2+ million by our mid-sixties (without us having to add another dime).

• I used to work in corporate as a financial analyst. Now, with our financial stability, I’m working on my passion—this personal finance website (so I can help all of you get to where I am and beyond).

I hesitate to share all of this information since I’m really not the type to boast or flash my cash around the neighborhood. That’s just not me.

But I think this might sell you on the idea of debt freedom. It’s just amazing how fast you can save up money if you get out of debt early in life.

So is it worth it? I believe absolutely, yes.

Would I do it again? A hundred percent.

There are many detailed steps and tips I could give you here—we outline nearly all of them in our recent post, “40+ Tips to Get Out of Debt Fast”—but for this post, we’ll limit it to the biggies:

1. Lay out all your debts and make a plan

If you don’t know what your debts are, you’ll have no chance of paying them all off.

Step one is to list your debts. I’d recommend entering them into our debt snowball calculator.

Debt Snowball Spreadsheet for Excel and Google Sheets

Time to get out of debt with this debt snowball worksheet! 💪

As seen on CNBC and Business Insider, this is the best debt snowball spreadsheet template for Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets that is out there!

A few key features of this template:

• It will show you when you can pay off your debt

• Detailed but super easy and suitable for beginners

• Can handle up to 32 debts!

Get this template

In the calculator, not only can you see how long it would take you to get out of debt by making the minimum payments, but you can also enter extra payments and see what impact they would have on your debt-free journey.

With this, you can make a debt payoff plan in minutes.

2. Save up $2,000 to $3,000

Before you wage war on your debts, though, be sure to first save up a little savings account.

This will keep you from going back into debt when emergencies pop up.

3. Cut back on expenses

If you really want to live debt-free someday, you’ll have to cut back on expenses.

To make the biggest impact, look at your biggest spending categories—likely your home, cars, and food.

4. Increase your income

The other way to speed up your debt payoff journey is to boost your income.

The best ways to do this are to ask for a raise, get a promotion, switch to a new job with another company, or build up a lucrative side hustle.

5. Go FAST

Going slow is painful, and you’ll likely quit.

If you want to get out of debt, it’s best to just rip off the band-aid and get after it.

By. (2023, February 24). Average Consumer Debt Levels Increase in 2022 - Experian. https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/research/consumer-debt-study/