Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below. At 34, Blake and his wife have accomplished something many families spend decades working toward. Their roughly $290,000 home is paid off, both of their 2018 vehicles are paid for, and their household income has climbed to about $240,000 a year.
But after finally getting out of debt, Blake says pressure from his wife's family has her thinking about a bigger house and newer vehicles. During a recent call to "The Ramsey Show," Blake shared that their 1,600-square-foot home is getting cramped with three children approaching their teenage years. His wife has also been looking at Jeep Grand Wagoneers costing around $90,000.
But after spending most of his adult life in debt, Blake has little interest in signing up for payments again. Deloitte's #1 Fastest-Growing Software Company Lets Users Earn Money Just by Scrolling — Investors Can Still Get In at $0.52/Share AI Robots Have Already Fried More Than 5 Million Baskets Of Food. Everyday Investors Can Still Buy Into The Company Behind Them.
"We were in debt, you know, since we were 20 years old," Blake said. He went back to school at 30, got a degree and eventually started earning about $170,000 a year. His wife makes another $70,000.
That higher income helped them attack their mortgage and car debt, but it also explains why they have only about $15,000 in savings. Most of their available cash went toward becoming debt-free. Now that the mortgage is gone, their finances look dramatically different.
Blake estimated household expenses at only about $2,000 a month. Co-host George Kamel pointed out that they could potentially save around $14,000 a month at their current spending level. That gives the couple plenty of room to make some upgrades without financing them.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
