After graduating from college with a masters degree at the age of 25, I was starting life with a clean slate. I had a little bit of savings in the bank that I was able to scrape together over the years. My “college fund” was a total of $6,000 and since I never had to use it, my parents gave it to me after graduating.
First was the newer car “needed” since I had a better paying job and could afford it. That, of course, came with a five figure loan.
Next was planning for a wedding. This included purchasing an engagement ring and paying for our own wedding. In total this cost us somewhere between $20,000 and $25,000. We mostly paid with savings but it still set us back financially.
Then of course we needed a home to live in. We ended up purchasing my grandparents’ old house shortly after my grandmother passed away. It was purchased below market value though we still ended up with a $100,000 mortgage and a home that needed to be completely renovated. We are still spending money renovating this house 10 years later.
And last but not least, we ended up buying a lake house with family. This also included buying a wave runner and chipping in to buy a boat. My parents paid for the down payment and for nearly 10 years we’ve split the monthly payments along with my two other brothers.
Looking back, there are some things we could have done differently to avoid debt. Though at the same time I do not regret any of these decisions. We like our home, our cars have had long lives, our wedding was memorable and one of the best times in our lives, the student debt allowed Mrs. FP to do something she loves, and some of our best family memories have been made at that lake house. In fact, last year we spent a full month of our year at the lake house.
The church I go to has a saying. “It’s okay not to be okay, it’s just not okay to stay that way.” My view on debt is similar. It’s okay to go into debt, it’s just not okay to stay in debt. At some point you have to face your debt, otherwise it can be difficult to make progress financially.