Do you feel like you are drowning in debt? Or maybe you are living paycheck by paycheck and don’t even realize it’s because of debt. It might even have been so long that you’ve accepted being in debt and don’t believe you can’t get out. You’re not alone; over 80% of Americans are in some form of debt. Credit card, mortgage, auto loans and student loans are just some examples of the debt that affects households.

Debt Elimination

Getting into debt is easy; it’s the getting out part that we as financial planners work with you to correct. In order to start the elimination process you need to first realize that debt needs to be eliminated. During our financial planning meetings we go through our ‘fact finding’ process that allows us to understand every piece of debt that an individual holds. Typically debt will need to be eliminated by making some changes in life style while being willing to commit to imagining a debt-free life.

The 7 Baby Steps

We understand that debt elimination can be overwhelming. At Sgroi Financial we’ve adopted the nationally known program called Dave Ramsey’s 7 Baby Steps. This program is focused on changing your behavior through a step by step plan. Each step is meant to be followed in order and not advanced until completed. 1.) $1,000 in an emergency fund. 2.) Pay off all debt using the debt snowball. 3.) Grow your emergency fund to cover 3-6 months of expenses. 4.) Invest 15%. 5.) Save for college. 6.) Pay off your home. 7.) Build wealth & give back. For more details on the 7 baby steps: https://live-sgroifinancial.pantheonsite.io/dave-ramsey/

Benefits of Living Debt Free

Getting debt free can change your life in many ways. The first big benefit is receiving a raise. On average debt can consume 20-40% of your paycheck income. When all debt is finally paid off, that 20-40% is now ‘extra’ money that you are bringing home. Another benefit is building good financial habits. Eliminating debt is a huge accomplishment that takes life modifications. The knowledge you learned to improve your financial habits will allow you to plan ahead and keep you from falling back into debt. To learn more about Debt Elimination you can listen to my interview with Clay Moden on 106.5FM WYRK. And watch our commercial on Getting out of Debt:

WEEKLY SEGMENT ON WYRK

You can catch our weekly Plan.Protect.Invest. segment live on WYRK 106.5FM at 7:20am every Wednesday. Each week we will have a Sgroi Financial planner on with Clay Moden and the WYRK morning show to discuss financial topics to educate and help their listeners. Since 1971, Sgroi Financial has proudly served Buffalo, NY and the Western New York community from our West Seneca location.