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We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: There’s more to budgeting than just numbers. We believe that the way we spend, save, and give our money reflects who we are and what we value, for better or for worse. On the last season of The Goodbudget Way podcast, we heard stories from people who have found ways to align their spending, saving, and giving with their values.
In Season 2, we’re doing things a little differently. This time ‘round, we’ll hear from just one person over many episodes, and hear her story of how she got into debt, why she stayed in debt for a while, and how she finally tackled it. And just as importantly, we’ll hear her inner dialogue of figuring out what was important to her, and why those values were important enough to act on.
In this Welcome episode we’ll hear:
- Why we think it’s important to talk about debt
- Why we chose to share this person’s story
- An overview of what we’ll cover in this season
Check out this episode to learn more about what you’ll hear on this season of The Goodbudget Way.
-Chi-En and the Goodbudget Team
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Show Notes:
- Reflection question: What’s your experience with debt been? What do you think about debt — is it normal and necessary? Is it all bad? Are some kinds of debt good or bad? Let us know in the comments below.
Music credit: Puzzle Pieces by Lee Rosevere
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1 thought on “Welcome to Season 2 of The Goodbudget Way”
My only experience with debt is interest-free debt. I have credit cards I regularly use, and I make sure to pay them off before they accrue interest. One time I bought a mattress that offered interest-free financing for 12 months or something, so I took it and just made sure to pay it off within that timeframe.
I think a better question to ask than is debt “good” or “bad” is, can this debt help contribute to the life that I want to live?
Someone might say that interest-free debt is obviously always good. However, if I weren’t able to keep track of my finances so carefully and were at risk of not remembering or not having the cash to pay my debts off before they accrue interest, then that could cause anxiety, or I might actually forget and start accruing interest. Then that wouldn’t be contributing to the life that I want to live, because I don’t want to live with anxiety, and I want to use the money that might go toward interest toward something else. It works for me because of how I’m able to keep track of it.
In the same way, I think the value of taking on debt that accrues interest depends on each person’s particular situation. I really value deciding where all of my money goes, and so it’s important to me that in general, I don’t give my money to large financial institutions (which is how I see paying interest on debt). If I want to make a large purchase, I would rather wait to save up to be able to pay for it in cash. However, if something were to come up that’s important to me and requires more cash than I have on hand, then I might make the decision that whatever this thing is (buying a house, buying a car, paying for school) is worth the extra cost I have to pay, especially if taking on the debt for that thing would enable me to earn extra income that I would need to pay the debt off. I just haven’t encountered a situation like that yet!