Yesterday marks the day I paid off my last loan; nearly $20,000 paid off in four years. I celebrated last night, since I have been looking forward to this day for so long. As mentioned in a previous post, my main goal was to gain the freedom to decide how to use my money.

Beyond budgeting and paying off student loans, another financial interest of mine has to be playing the credit card game. During my third year of college, I applied for two different cards: the Discover it and a card with my personal bank. My hope was to build credit so if I ever needed to take out a personal/home/auto loan, I would be able to get a good deal.

For the past 5 years, my personal goal has been to get out of debt. I’ve realized that there is a level of freedom I won’t have until I’m free of debt. The freedom to choose where my money goes to in the present and future carries more weight than having to pay for something in the past. I got a small taste of that when the coronavirus hit.