Sometimes, I think the first step towards recovery is to analyze how you got to the place where you are. That applies to many things that we would label as problematic, like addiction, divorce, unemployment and yes, debt. I think it's critical to be able to understand the behaviours which landed me in this place.
First off, my parents both came from rather humble beginnings. My mother immigrated here from Europe after the Second World War, and her life here in Canada as a young child, was, well, pretty humble. My dad came from a working class family of 8, so there was a little bit of money coming in, but lots of mouths to feed. They got married, both with decent jobs, but they started at the bottom of the pay scale. Gradually, over time, they improved their lives, and we were well taken care of as children, but middle class all the way.
I entered university, and my parents agreed to pay for my degree. Unfortunately, after graduation, I had no idea what to do with my life, so I proceeded to further my education sans
parental assistance. I racked up $35000 in student loans before graduating with 3 degrees at the age of 29. Thankfully, I had a great job waiting for me after all that education, but I also had the aforementioned student load debt, in addition to consumer (i.e. credit card) debt.
I went from being broke my entire student life, to making good coin. It was like a lightning bolt hit me. I started spending money like crazy. I did have the wherewithal to meet with a financial planner and get some retirement savings going. But I still managed to spend quite a bit of money.
After a few years, things settled down a bit, I was socking away $600 monthly into a retirement savings account, but I also purchased a condominium, so the bills started to climb. More on how I REALLY got into this mess in my next post.
Happy Labour Day
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