Aim to be Debt Free

Debt is the slavery of the free ~ Publilius Syrus

Hooray! It's the weekend again. So I won't bore you with long-winded posts (I'll save that for another time heh). I'll just make this quick.

In a previous post, I mentioned reducing your expense as a means to increase your savings. However, if you have an outstanding debt to pay, please try your best to clear that off as soon as possible. Now I don't mean housing debts that take eons to pay off. What I'm referring to are debts arising from things like credit cards & installment plans for luxury items, like a new iPhone for example, that you bought from furniture and/or gadget shops like Courts or Harvey Norman. The simple reason for this recommendation is that the interest kills! Instead of saving up precious cash to earn your financial freedom, you'd be wasting potential savings putting the money into someone else's pocket. So be smart. Pay it off as fast as possible.

Another alternative strategy is to portion out a sum to save while using the remainder to pay for your debt. To reiterate, I did say that paying yourself 20% of your gross income per month is a good way to earn your financial freedom. But if you've debts to be paid off, perhaps keeping 10% in your savings while using the other 10% as debt payments would be ideal if you'd like some emergency cash in hand. Or you could portion out 5% savings & 15% debt repayments if you're more comfortable or have a larger payment to clear. Either way, discipline is key and with time, your debts will be cleared and you'll be another step closer to financial freedom.

K, have a good weekend & a great Hari Raya Puasa!

Cheers,

~K