The relief was unspeakable.
The little action of cutting off my phone contract, had initiated the most aggressive offensive to pay my debts off.
There was nothing that would hold me back once I got on top of the Top Offensive mindset.
All my energy and forces were perfectly aligned to the same target.
My next prey was around the corner. It was crystal clear.
The next brave step was to sell my cool Honda Civic 2014.
I was fully convinced to get out of debts at all cost. To me, at all cost meant I needed to do whatever I needed to reach it. Something legal and ethical, for sure.
One of my financial mistakes was to buy the cool Honda Civic with a personal loan with a high interest rate, about 39% annually.
This was really silly. The dumbest financial move.
The worst case was I had credit cards reaching their limits and another personal loan. My finances were close to collapse.
I needed to fix it.
Yet, this was not an easy deal. When trying getting out of debts, you will fight with your little voice. That voice that makes you the perfect prey to fool you.
The worst lie you tell yourself
The first principle is not to fool yourself — and you are the easiest person to fool. — Richard Feynman
I did argue with my little inner voice the need of having a car over, over, over and over again.
It was exactly the end of 2019 when the idea of buying a new car came out. It was not really a real new car but an old car, though.
But the seed of buying something above my means was already planted.
Before buying the car, I had had to travel from home to work on public transportation.
My argue was I needed a car because I held with me my laptop and working accessories.
In my country, carrying worth things on public transportation is not a good idea. Sadly. Quite often, passengers, are assaulted and gangsters steal their belongings.
So every time I got on the bus, I was scared and in expectation. It was so scary, because the those assets were not mine.
You wonder why this is the worst lie to buy a car?
Given the same action, the same result
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. -Albert Einstein.
At that time, I wasn’t broken, but I had a big burden of debts. A few credit cards were close to reach their limits, plus two personal loans.
I was about to collapse financially. It was exactly an insanity financial state.
It does not make any sense to continue going sinking yourself in debt even being 100% aware of it.
It was about to be made one of the more fool financial decision. The reason explained in an above passage was not a valid reason, however you look it.
Something was wrong with my behavior. What was causing this?
The reason why you are going falling deep in debt even knowing it
Humans are emotional creatures as well as thinking ones.
Most of our decision process is based on a set of emotions and feelings we have by the time of making decisions.
The car looked nice, cool and comfortable. I imagined myself in and driving.
A mix of high emotions took over my heart and mind. I was ready to make a mistake.
The mistake was almost consummated
Almost reaching midnight, I chatted the seller.
Since I had fully decided to buy it, I tried to negotiate the lowest possible price.
Being honest, the car was already on sales.
The seller was a former colleague that was about to leave the country and move out to the United States, so he wanted to sell it as quickly as possible.
And since we knew each other, he looked at me as a safe and quick move.
Both his and mine goals were aligned.
We agreed on a date and place to close the deal.
The mistake was almost consummated, I just needed to get the money from a personal loan with one of the highest interest fee of the market — ~39% annually.
Sorry, this was really a dump decision.
The brave decision of selling it
I am not 100% sure if it had passed three or five months after buying it, but one thing I was really sure was the math.
Math never lies.
Sale price — — — — — — $5,350.00
Car price — — — — — — $5,200.00 -
Profit — — — — — — — — $150.00
Having this in mind and the goal of getting out of debts at all cost, I created an advertising on a local marketplace website.
I quickly got interested users.
But since I worked full-time, I needed time to show it up to potential clients. I didn’t want to do this, I didn’t have time.
A bunch of thoughts flooded my head. All of them were just excuses to not do it. The real problem was I didn’t want to sell it.
Finally, I decided to spend a whole morning. I knew I must spend that time and do whatever I needed to sell it.
Luckily, there was a person who was really interested in it.
I sold it to him. I got $5,350 cash. I earned $150.00 and the most important part I kept moving forward toward my financial goals.
I sold the car. A few minutes later I went to the bank, I did pay off the personal loan I took to buy that same car.
This was a brave decision.
Ending Thoughts
From the beginning of car invention, most of us are tempted to buy cars.
In fact, for any average person, aside from buying a home, a car is for sure the second most expensive thing you will ever make in your life.
That’s why buying a car is so compelling. It spreads a bunch of emotions, and you get caught up.
There’s no issue to do it if you have savings or a stable and healthy financial state. Otherwise, you should think more than a thousand times.
If you want to get out of debts, and you have a car, the idea of selling it to pay debt off should be in your radar.
This decision was hard for me, but I did it. I paid off the same personal loan I got.
I ended up not only getting a profit of USD150 but with a high motivation and sense of progress to my goal of financial freedom.
I hope this might help you to make better financial choices.
Thanks for reading.
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