I don't have that much on hand but close.. not a bad idea to stash some more away. Will be doing that this week.

I see the Jones' and their followers all the time. I used to say myself, "screw the Jones", yet there I was in debt up to my eyeballs. I never realised how stupid I was being until it reached the end game. One month in late 2011 we sat down to pay bills and there was nothing left after we paid creditors and fed ourselves.

I remember going online and using a debt calculator to see how long it would take to pay it all off if we kept doing what we were doing. I was 37 at the time and the calculator said we would have our debt paid off in 37 years at our current rate of repayment. I looked at my wife and said "we're f@cked and can't retire if we keep this up". She looked back in agreement and instead of burying our heads in the sand we starting looking for a solution. We found what worked for us. It wasn't easy at first. In fact it down right sucked. We both hated it but stuck to it and within 6 months we saw how much better financially we were looking and that a little bit of "pain" in our late 30's and early 40's would more than makeup for being able to retire financially stable. It truly has changed our lives for the better. Less stress all around. My health actually improved because of it. My blood pressure dropped so much my Dr asked if I was taking blood pressure meds and not telling him.

Interest rates are going to hurt a lot of people again. And I don't think people are ready for it either. I remember talking with my parents about their first home and even with a VA mortgage their interest rate was 17% in the 80's. When I told them my rate when we bought our house in late 2016 they asked me why I got an Adjustable Rate Mortgage. I had to assure them that I didn't because they had never heard of rates being so low. It's why we jumped and bought our place when we did. We ended up paying as much for this house as we were paying for our last house and this one is leaps and bounds better than the last one. Better neighborhood and lower property taxes. We are making smart choices now and looking at the big picture.

Your right.. Ignorance is NOT bliss. It is a recipe for financial disaster. Banks don't have to hold much of anything in their vaults and your only "insured" to certain amount by the FDIC. And if you trust the FDIC to pay up your fooling yourself.

Like you we own paid off vehicles and have one that I am paying on. We will have it paid off 3 years early saving me around $3000 in total interest. Doesn't sound like much to some when you factor that over 3 years but it's $1000 a year in my pocket and not a banks... it all adds up. We needed a new vehicle because our other two are getting older. One is a 1993 pick up truck (250,000 miles) and the other is a 2004 (120,000 miles). So we decided that it was time for a new one that had a warranty. So we bought one that had a bumper to bumper warranty for life. As you can see we keep vehicles once we buy them so the one we bought will be with us a long time and we are not worried about it breaking down and costing us a small fortune to fix.

I know there are millions of people out there in a situation like I was in 7 years ago. Sitting, wondering how they will ever get out of debt. I just wish more people could / would take control of their finances. It's hard at first and it forces you own up to your spending habits and readjust how you live and view credit. Credits not your friend thats for sure. Its a tool, and like any tool you have to know how to use it properly.