Gather Your Data: Debt and Net Worth Worksheets
So the last post in this series involved how to be honest. Being honest means facing up to the facts and accepting them for what they are. Here is your chance!
This is the part that everyone hates. Who wants to know how much debt they are in? Who wants to know that they have a negative net worth?
I know I didn’t. The first time I added ours up was when I was fired up and ready to pay it off. But after I did the math, I felt like someone had poured water on me. I knew I was in a lot of debt but I had no idea it was $70,000. That is how much my first house cost!
I had all sorts of negative thoughts in my head:
I can’t do it, it’s too much.
What was I thinking getting into all of this?
It’s never going to happen.
I am going to be at a job I hate forever.
Nice right? None of that helps you reach your goal! Luckily for me I had a huge reason why. I wanted to be home with my son. So even if I didn’t do it, I had to try.
Being on the other side helps me to realize that the bigger the amount of debt you have, the better the story you are able to tell once it’s paid off.
So download the worksheets and take some time today to fill them out. If you don’t make time to do it today you will download them and they will sit on your computer, never to be looked at again. So make sure you are going to use them before you download them. I know most of us don’t need more clutter on our computers. 🙂
Download the worksheets:
Have you done this before? If you have, do you keep track? If not, what do you think?
Tags: Debt, Debt Free, debt freedom, finances, net worth
Categories: All, Business, Debt, Debt Freedom, Finance, Finances, Goals
Hi I’m Jaime. Each and every week I bring you the top business advice from the people who know best.
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12 responses
Never done it before, but it’s worth trying. Thanks for the worksheets.
Good luck! It’s definitely worth trying. When you become a millionaire you’ll know how far you’ve come 🙂
This is so true for so many people including me. I avoided adding up my total debt for so long. I knew it was bad, but I guess I avoided it because putting it on paper made it real. I just didn’t want to believe I had done this more than once. Also, on the topic of honesty, I still haven’t been able to bare to look at my once 800+ credit score. I have had the same doubts you have had too. How did this happen? How I am ever going to pay all this off? The truth is I paid off over $100 grand before and I am doing it again. Having goals does wonders. The first time I paif off my debt, I did it because being in debt is just silly. This time I have my daughters financial security to think of as well.
Ah, so you just have a new starting place 🙂 If you haven’t already I could go to annualcreditreport.com and face those numbers too!
And after paying off $100 grand you can do anything.
I add up my total debt multiple times a week haha. I’m a bit over-obsessed with killing my debt. I see it as the only thing stopping me from having an extra couple of grand per month to spend as I see fit. Which in my case would be save as I see fit:)
Isn’t that cool? That motivated me too. Extra money! Money that you don’t have to feel guilty in spending if everything else is taken care of. Very cool stuff 🙂 Good luck killing it!
I’ve done this recently and the reality was a combination of humbling and scary! I hadn’t done it before but part of deciding to make changes in my life meant assessing exactly where I am with everything in life. It’s become part of my motivation to “be on the right track”.
Excellent! Sometimes we don’t give ourselves enough credit for these steps because they seem easy, but Congrats! It’s a huge step to push through something scary, and on top of that use it as your motivation.
Our debt is our house and we’re set to have that paid off in 10 years total (6 1/2 more years). I am obsessed with our budget though. I enjoy entering every single expense into our Excel sheet and seeing where we need to cut back and making sure we are hitting all of our savings goals.
Lucky for me I’m old and wise. Ok, not that old or that wise, but enough to not make this mistake twice. Sorry John, no disrespect – don’t worry, I’ve made plenty of others more than once! I’m 43, single-mom, two kids, no consumer debt. That was not always the case and I remember the pain of getting out of debt. Debt that seemed to seep in threw the walls, as I had so little to show for it. Like you Jaime, I wanted some time with the kids. My mantra for so many years has been “live below your means” so I find it amusing that I am, right now, living quite a bit beyond. But I do it with my eyes wide open, cautiously, and with the savings, thank God, to underwrite it. It’s not easy, but SO worthwhile. I have one year left, and this one is the hardest, but I know I’ll get through it and pick up right where I left off before the kids. (I say that to remind myself whenever I panic about the savings going down) I think the consciousness is the key. The lack of awareness is what gets so many of us in trouble. So the tools you provided are a huge step in that direction! Thanks for another great article!
Jaime, Facing down debt (and demons in general) is the only way to conquer them! EXCELLENT article and useful worksheets!
Cool worksheets. I hope your readers find them useful. Gotta start tracking!