No Predictions Needed, Y’all

When you take on debt, you’re betting you can predict the future. You’re betting that your future income and your future expenses will allow you to make the debt payments.

Y’all, let me tell you something. (When I start saying “y’all”, that means I am fired up, so you better listen.) I’m receiving coaching requests almost every day from people who didn’t predict their future well and now they’re stressed out and afraid because they’re drowning in debt. They didn’t predict they would never use the degree they racked up thousands of dollars in student loans to obtain. They didn’t predict that one spouse would have medical issues and couldn’t work anymore. They didn’t predict their company would downsize. They didn’t predict their health insurance premiums would double. They didn’t predict the costs of raising a family.

Not one of these people took on debt intending to become overwhelmed. When they took it on, they believed their future selves could handle the payments. But here’s the thing. We are all awful at predicting the future. Every single one of us. We are awful at predicting what are own lives will look like. Seriously, think back 5 years ago, 10 years ago. Back then, what did you think your life would be like today?

And, we are really,really awful at predicting what will happen to the economy. Y’all, I took a masters level macroeconomics class several years ago. In it we learned about models that predict whether a major economic impact such as natural disasters, wars, breakthrough technology, etc, would have a good or bad impact on labor, prices, production, etc. Our professor would walk us through what the model predicted for a real world event and then tell us what really happened. Guess what? The model was horrible! I could have flipped a coin and gotten better results. And these are the models professional economists use! Now, to be fair, if the major event happened in a bubble with nothing else influencing the economy, the models were probably pretty good. But life doesn’t work that way does it?

Our lives don’t happen in a bubble, we are not fortune tellers, we do not know what our future income or expenses will be. And lenders don’t care. If you sign on the dotted line today, they expect to be paid in the future.

Let’s learn to live in the present. If you have the money to pay for it, buy it. If you don’t, save up for it. No predictions needed, y’all.

Already drowning in debt? I can help with that! Let’s get you on a debt elimination plan that works! Contact me.