The United States of America officially abolished slavery in 1865 with the adoption of the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution. Slavery still hasn’t ended.
Everyday, in the media, in schools, in government, and in our families, we’re all taught and encouraged to be slaves. We set up our lives so we feel free. We own nice things and we think we can do what we want. It’s just not true.
If you have debt, you are a slave. Don’t believe me? Try not paying one of your debts and see what happens. You’ll soon know what the consequences are for not paying your bills on time. That’s why you work. You work because you have to. You’re a slave. Slaves must work.
Debt Is Stealing Your Life
Lets take a look at a simple case of credit card debt as an example.
Say you’re stretched thin, but all your friends are going on a one week cruise to the Caribbean. You don’t want to feel left out of the party, and you certainly don’t want to look like you’re struggling. You can’t afford the trip in cash, but you know you can afford a smaller monthly payment if you pay for the trip on a credit card.
The trip is going to cost $2,500 upfront, which you put on your credit card that carries an interest rate of 13.99%. Here is the breakdown of what your trip is costing you:
- Monthly minimum payment: 4% of your balance. Starting monthly payment is $100
- Time it will take you to pay off $2,500: 7 years and 11 months
- Total interest paid: $945.01
- Total payments, or what the trip actually cost you: $3,445.01 (You paid 37.80% more for the cruise)
Have Your Fun While It Lasts
Remembering that Time = Money and Money = Time, the key number here is the total interest paid. If you make $20 an hour, It would take you at least 47.25 hours of work to pay off that interest. That’s not even including the complexities of calculating your real wage. With real wages and taxes factored in, you’re working 60 – 80 hours just to pay the interest alone.
By having to pay interest, you owe somebody time. By owing time, you are forced to work. When you are forced to work, you are a slave.
All Debt Is Bad Debt
That’s why all debt is bad debt. Granted, that while some debt is cheaper than others, you must realize that any debt you have means that you are a working slave. As long as you owe someone money, you will have to work to pay it off.
You need to think of interest as time you must spend working for someone else. Interest is constantly accumulating and as you take on more debt, the time that you owe other people compounds. The more time you owe other people, the less time you have for yourself.
Dollar for dollar, the amount of interest you pay is equivalent to the amount of time you will be a slave.
You only get one shot at life. How do you want to spend it? Do you want to spend it working for someone else? Or do you want to spend your life working for yourself?
Talk to me, Goose.