The most realistic way to pay off debt

I used to sell debt “hacks.” I was a pay stub, bank statement, pay stub, W2 machine. Pretty much anyone could get approved if I convinced them to take a second job, or say that their second job was their primary job, or lie about having a savings account. If someone went from default to on-time payments, they got a lower interest rate. People always paid more if you convinced them to open a second card, a personal loan, a savings account, a brokerage account. There’s a reason why you have so many credit cards, so many email offers, and why people from your bank and credit card company call you so much. <br><br>You all have been sold a lie. Credit card companies aren’t stupid. They don’t “let” you accumulate debt, they want you to accumulate debt. They want you to pay off your principal, then continue to accumulate debt, then continue to pay it off. They want you to shell out thousands of dollars for plane tickets, then pay five dollars a month for the next five years. They don’t want you to pay off your principal because there’s no profit in that. <br><br>They get so mad when you pay off your debt completely. It means they’ve lost a customer. They want you to keep paying, but never keep up. They want you to pay off your principal, then continue to accumulate debt. They want you to pay, but not enough to actually pay them back. <br><br>They get so mad when you pay off your debt completely. It means they’ve lost a customer. <br><br>People who say they paid off “fifty, sixty, seventy thousand” in debt are liars, or they just pay off their principal. They haven’t touched their interest. <br><br>The interest, my friends, is the big bad wolf. It’s what keeps them afloat, and you in debt. If you want to pay off your interest, here’s how you do it. <br><br>Stop buying things you don’t need. <br><br>You don’t need a tv in your bedroom, you don’t need an iPhone, you don’t need to go on a vacation. You don’t need, you don’t need, you don’t need. <br><br>You don’t need a new couch, you don’t need a new car, you don’t need jewelry, you don’t need a dog. You don’t need a gym membership, you don’t need a private school, you don’t need a tutor, you don’t need to go to therapy. You don’t need, you don’t need, you don’t need. <br><br>You don’t need steak, you don’t need wine, you don’t need pay-to-play sports. You don’t need to buy your kid a car. You don’t need to buy your kid a college fund. You don’t need a wedding, a retirement party, a vacation home. <br><br>They convince you that you need these things. They sell you “identity.” They sell you the American Dream. They sell you “fulfillment.” They sell you “status.” They sell you “happiness.” “The world is such a hard place, you deserve a break,” they whisper into your ears. “It’s so hard, you deserve this one little reward, this one thing that makes you happy.” <br><br>That one thing isn’t going to make you happy. It’s going to make you poor, and then, eventually, it’s going to make you poor and miserable. <br><br>You don’t need, you don’t need, you don’t need. If you want pay off your debt, you don’t need anything. <br><br>Second, you don’t make enough money. You don’t need more debt, but you do need a second job. You do need to work more, because the American Dream is a lie, Capitalism is a lie, America is a lie. <br><br>Logically, there’s no reason we should work until we’re sixty-five to receive health care, a roof, food. Logically, there’s no reason why America should be filled with homeless people. Logically, there’s no reason why a college education shouldn’t be free. <br><br>Logically, there’s no reason why we work ourselves to death. <br><br>We should work less, but we all have to work more. We have to stop buying things we don’t need, and we have to work, work, work. <br><br>The only way you pay off your interest is to pay more than the minimum, and you can only do that when you don’t spend money on things you don’t need. <br><br>Markus “The Raven” Johnson, a famous debt coach, once said that, “those who sell debt sell evil.”<br><br>The way they get rich is by making you poor. They want you poor, hungry, miserable, and in debt. <br><br>The only people who get out of debt are the ones who don’t spend money on things they don’t need, and work sixty, seventy, eighty hours a week. <br><br>If you want to be one of them, stop buying things you don’t need, and get a second job. <br><br>Or, you know, take out a second card, a personal loan, a brokerage account. <br><br>Sincerely, <br>A former American Debt Slave, and former Capitalist Pig.