{"id":52338,"date":"2021-10-11T19:19:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-11T23:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=52338"},"modified":"2021-10-26T09:42:09","modified_gmt":"2021-10-26T13:42:09","slug":"clearing-debt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/clearing-debt\/","title":{"rendered":"The 4-Step Plan for Clearing Your Debt"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p> Are you struggling to pay off your debt? How do your debt contributions prevent you from spending your money the way you\u2019d like?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Prioritizing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/best-personal-finance-resources-books-blogs-podcasts\/\">clearing debt<\/a> seems like a no-brainer\u2014many of us dream of having a debt-free existence. When you have no more debt, you can enjoy a better lifestyle and start putting money aside (through investments or savings) to ensure you also get to live comfortably in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this article, you&#8217;ll learn how to make a plan for clearing your debt so you can start directing your money towards more worthwhile pursuits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Clear Your Debts<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Like most Americans, you\u2019re probably carrying some debt\u2014the average American family owes $8,400 in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/national-credit-card-debt\/\">credit card debt<\/a>, and, in total, <strong>Americans owe approximately half a trillion dollars in credit card debt<\/strong>. Why is this? Bach claims it\u2019s because people are more focused on <em>looking rich<\/em> than they are on actually <em>being rich<\/em>. In other words, they rely on credit to maintain the illusion of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-live-a-rich-lifestyle\/\">rich lifestyle<\/a> while they risk their financial security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Further, <strong>the average American only pays the minimum balance due every month<\/strong>\u2014for $8,400 charged at 18%, it will cost them $20,615 over the course of 30 years to pay off the balance, and that\u2019s based on the assumption that they pay regularly and don\u2019t add further debt to the balance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Are You <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/stop-making-excuses\/\">Making Excuses<\/a> for Your Debts?<\/strong><br><br>Prioritizing getting out of debt seems like a no-brainer. many of us dream of having a debt-free existence. So, why is it that so many people <em>don\u2019t<\/em> prioritize clearing debt\u2014and, in fact, allow it to grow?<br>Bach doesn\u2019t explore this question in detail; but, according to Sethi, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/i-will-teach-you-to-be-rich\/chapter-1\">people allow their debts to get out of control <\/a>because they often find ways to <em>justify remaining in debt<\/em>. They:<br><br>Accept that being in debt is \u201cnormal\u201d and justify it by comparing their debts to the debts that their friends and family owe<br><br>Feel defeated by the size of their debts\u2014their debts are so huge that they assume that they\u2019ll never be able to pay them off so they don\u2019t bother trying<br><br>Blame credit card companies for \u201cpreying\u201d on them instead of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/accepting-responsibility\/\">taking responsibility<\/a> for their decisions<br><br>Try and stay mindful of the excuses you use to overlook your debts throughout the rest of this chapter. Ultimately, no matter what excuses you tell yourself, getting out of debt is both possible and a good idea.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><em>The Automatic Millionaire<\/em> Debt-Clearing Plan<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In his book <em>The Automatic Millionaire<\/em>, David Bach presents a four-step plan for clearing debt:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Step 1: Total Up Your Balances and Interest<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Bach states that if you\u2019re currently in debt, you\u2019ll need to total up the balances you owe and the amount of interest you\u2019re paying on top of this balance. Ask yourself the following questions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>How many credit cards do you (including your dependents) have?<\/li><li>What is your current outstanding balance in total?<\/li><li>What is the average interest rate you\u2019re paying on these balances?<\/li><li><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Step 2: Make Commitments<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Next, Bach recommends committing to two principles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Don\u2019t buy things you can\u2019t afford<\/strong> (property is the only exception as it tends to appreciate in value).&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>Refuse to use credit cards<\/strong>\u2014cancel them and remove the temptation to use them.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Step 3: Reduce Your Payments<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Next, Bach says it\u2019s time to try to reduce your debt payments:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Contact your credit card company<\/strong> and ask if they can lower the rate of interest you\u2019re paying (tell them you\u2019re thinking about moving your balance to a company that offers a lower interest rate).<\/li><li><strong>Consolidate all of your payments<\/strong>\u2014if you have multiple debts, consider moving them all to a single low-interest account (check <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bankrate.com\/\">Bankrate<\/a> for the latest offers).<\/li><li><strong>Automate your payments<\/strong> to avoid paying late fees or penalties<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Step 4: Prioritize Your Debts<\/strong><strong><em>&nbsp;<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead of consolidating your payments, you could choose to pay off your debts one by one. To determine the most cost-effective way to pay off your debts, Bach suggests dividing the balance of each debt by the minimum payment required\u2014this will show you the number of payments you need to make to pay off the debt.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>For example, you have two debts with a balance of $1,000. The minimum payment for the first debt is $10 so it would take 100 payments to clear this. The minimum payment for the second card is $20 so it would take 50 payments to clear this.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Next, <strong>rank your debts so that the lowest number of payments is on top<\/strong>. So, continuing with the previous example, the debt that requires 50 payments will be on top\u2014this is the debt you will clear first. Prioritize paying off this debt as much as possible while you continue to pay the minimum balance for your remaining debts. Once you\u2019ve cleared this, keep working down your list in this way until you\u2019ve cleared all of your debts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Balance Your Investments&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Bach suggests that you continue to invest in your retirement even while you clear your debts. He notes that if you wait until your debts are paid off before you start saving, you\u2019ll get used to <em>not<\/em> saving. On the other hand, if you keep investing in your retirement accounts, he says that the progress you make will motivate you to clear your debts so that you can invest even more towards your future wealth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Bach suggests that you continue to fund your retirement account so that you can <em>make financial progress<\/em>. However, Sethi argues there\u2019s another reason for doing this: You can make use of your ever-growing retirement account when you\u2019re faced with a financial emergency. Sethi suggests that, if you end up with unexpected expenses and your only option is to use your credit card, you should <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/i-will-teach-you-to-be-rich\/chapter-8\">consider withdrawing money from your retirement account<\/a> instead. While this will incur losses on your retirement earnings, you\u2019ll still save more than if you increase your existing credit card balance\u2014and the exorbitant interest rates that come with it.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Are you struggling to pay off your debt? How do your debt contributions prevent you from spending your money the way you\u2019d like? Prioritizing clearing debt seems like a no-brainer\u2014many of us dream of having a debt-free existence. When you have no more debt, you can enjoy a better lifestyle and start putting money aside (through investments or savings) to ensure you also get to live comfortably in the future. In this article, you&#8217;ll learn how to make a plan for clearing your debt so you can start directing your money towards more worthwhile pursuits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":18012,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,31],"tags":[525],"class_list":["post-52338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-money","tag-the-automatic-millionaire","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The 4-Step Plan for Clearing Your Debt - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Debt is an obstacle to wealth. 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Learn how to make a debt-clearing plan so you can start directing your money towards more worthwhile pursuits.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/clearing-debt\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-10-11T23:19:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-10-26T13:42:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/total-money-makeover-5-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1708\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/clearing-debt\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/clearing-debt\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Darya Sinusoid\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46\"},\"headline\":\"The 4-Step Plan for Clearing Your Debt\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-11T23:19:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-26T13:42:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/clearing-debt\/\"},\"wordCount\":1016,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/clearing-debt\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/total-money-makeover-5-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"The Automatic Millionaire\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Lifestyle\",\"Money\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/clearing-debt\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/clearing-debt\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/clearing-debt\/\",\"name\":\"The 4-Step Plan for Clearing Your Debt - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/clearing-debt\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/clearing-debt\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/total-money-makeover-5-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-11T23:19:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-26T13:42:09+00:00\",\"description\":\"Debt is an obstacle to wealth. 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