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I actually never thought I would do it. I thought there was no way possible. But there is you know. I'm talking about the debt based society we are all forced to live in and the hideous scenarios that type of society engenders. We didn't create this money fixated society, it was forced upon us by people who have little interest in moving the human race in a wholesome meaningful direction.
We have to understand unless we come from rich backgrounds with rich parents and we haven't won the lottery we are all going to have to rack up debt at some stage in our life, and probably a lot of it. This is particularly apparent if we want to own property and call our house or apartment the home I own. The mortgage will be the ball and chain you have for most of your life.
If you're lucky you may have paid off your mortgage by retirement. For the boomer generation this was very true, in fact some paid their mortgages off before they retired and even bought another property on top. Those days are long gone. All of the subsequent generations will now be financially worse off than the boomer generation, who will be the richest generation the world has ever known.
Property ownership is now a distant dream for the majority of young people. With a serious load of help from parents some will still be able to do it. But when I see what I was promised as a kid if I worked hard at school, worked hard at university and then went out into the workplace and worked hard again that once very noble ideal has not materialised and is no longer valid. That word material being of course a very important word in all of this.
You see I come from the generation after boomers, I'm part of the tail end of generation X. I have seen so many of my friends who were very academically bright at school go on to universities and then move into all sorts of different work sectors, get married and have kids. They have done what is totally understandable, but they struggle.
I never thought it would be like this and neither did they. Yes, they have a mortgage and they pay the bills and their taxes and they abide by the law. They do all the things they are supposed to do, but they struggle. They are mired in debt to fund their existence, and it is not an extravagant existence by any means. It makes me very sad to see the quality of life they are now leading.
When I say all this I don't mean to exclude myself, far from it. I know the struggle very well. But seven years ago I discovered a wonderful magical thing call crypto. To this day I can honestly say I could not have survived without it. Crypto changed my life for the better, and it's truly amazing to see how it is doing this for others too.
For the past two years I have been slowly paying off credit cards, overdrafts, loans and retail finance. I have also managed to have some accounts written off. I have been watching all the developments on Equifax and Experian. I'm sure many of you are familiar with those hideous creatures, right?
The credit file shows clearly one by one each account has been closed. It really is worrying to see how much power these credit reference agencies now have over us. But I have been forced to play it their way, it's their game and their rules, we have little to no control over this.
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I have to say though it is a wonderful moment when you see the last of these barnacles removed from the boat. I am now literally debt free, I do not owe a penny to anyone in this world. That's a very enlightening and empowering feeling actually.
Just to be clear I do not include my student loan in the debt pile as the state should never have forced me to take that money to simply fund what was once free in my country - education. I have barely paid back any of my student loan and I have no intention of ever doing so. The debt will be written off entirely when I hit my sixties.
I must stress that I have never bought property so that has obviously helped me achieve a debt free status. But I will never want to buy property in the United Kingdom, it is the most grotesquely over inflated market, especially when comparing to other Western countries including the US. I will never want to get involved in that particular game that's for sure. To see what my friends have gone through in order to pay a mortgage most of their lives just so they can say they own their own home it's not worth it. Even if you have kids there has to be a better way.
Ladders were invented for a reason. Use them.
Peace!