This guest post from William is part of the “reader stories” feature here at Get Rich Slowly. Some reader stories contain general “how I did X” advice, and others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success — or failure. These stories feature folks from all levels of financial maturity, and with all sorts of incomes.
My wife and I had some major awakenings in our lives at the end of 2008. In December, for example, as we approached our 7th anniversary, she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and one of our cats was diagnosed with lymphoma. Statistically, only 30% of individuals with MS are able to work, and my wife’s symptoms made it immediately clear that there was no guarantee she could work until retirement.
At the time our financial situation was pretty dire. Our money management had been a comedy of errors; neither of us was happy about our finances. We didn’t fight about money, but both of us worried about it so much that it constantly had a negative impact on every facet of our lives. Factoring in the medical concerns and the possibility we could lose nearly 35% of our income at any moment, it was clear we had to make changes.
The road to nowhere
To sum up the mistakes that got us in this situation:
- We had invested a massive amount of money into a failed business venture with some friends. We ended up supporting the company on credit cards for about 6 months before we finally pulled the plug. In hindsight, we should have stopped sooner, but the draw of working for ourselves and our perceived obligation to our friends clouded our vision and prevented us from making rational decisions about the business.
- While we were running this business, we were essentially supporting three other adults that were living with us, two of whom were partners in the business. The five of us lived together in a leased and very drafty house that we could barely afford, with utilities that skyrocketed beyond expectations. With only minimal support from one of our other business partners, we had a tough time to say the least.
- We were living paycheck to paycheck and our company paid us twice a month. Our employer then merged with another company that paid two weeks in arrears bi-weekly and on an alternate pay week. With a week’s notice we switched to the other company’s pay schedule leaving us with no paychecks for three weeks. We had to take the offered pay advances to make ends meet that month and the pay advances still did not add up to what our expected checks would have been.
- We financed brand new computers at about 5k for at least 21% APR (it may have been worse — I’m afraid to find out…)
- I wrecked our Toyota Camry, which we’d almost paid off. I ended up getting paid out from the insurance company about twice what it took to pay the car off. We made more money selling the car damaged than we would have if we had decided to repair it. We immediately squandered this good fortune by buying a new and more expensive car. (A decked-out 2006 Astro Black Mini Cooper — I figured J.D. would appreciate that!) Even though we made a hefty down payment, we were so excited that we were talked into almost every optional warranty their finance guy offered us, which quickly ballooned our payments.
- We did a lot of miscellaneous stupid things with money all the time, including eating out way too much (sometimes three times a day and snacks), buying stuff we didn’t need (we played too much World of Warcraft, and I’m a toy-a-holic like J.D. is a comic-a-holic), buying tons of DVDs and CDs, and not saving a penny.
- To make matters worse, we bought a brand new house, upgraded every possible option during construction, and needed all new appliances (purchased with credit cards) since we had none of our own because we’d always been renters.
We had a great credit score and no savings. Before we knew it, we had racked up well over $40,000 in credit card debt, a $21,000 car loan, and a $180,000 mortgage. Every dime we made went towards credit card balances that were still slowly increasing. My wife and I sat down and decided we needed to fix our problems. We needed to get out of debt.
Turning things around
My wife and I came up with an aggressive plan that would require a lot of discipline. Fortunately, we both bring home a fair salary, so we thought it would be reasonable to expect that we could at least wipe out most of the credit card debt within two years.
Throughout 2009, we were hit with some major expenses, but we kept positive and, most importantly, kept hacking away at the mountain using the debt snowball method. We were able to put $10,000 towards our debt right away with tax returns, a bonus, and an extra paycheck in January. But that progress was immediately wiped out between doctor’s bills for my wife and vet hospitalization bills for our sick cat.
My wife decided she was going to take advantage of the backlog at work and start working as much overtime as she could. For the rest of 2009, she worked 70-80 hour weeks, which kept us on top of the medical bills for her and the cat, and helped us make progress knocking out the debt. Since I’m salaried and couldn’t help out with overtime, I decided I’d get rid of all of the crap we had accumulated with our bad finance habits that we didn’t need or use. We ended up making over $2,000 off of eBay auctions and donated over $2,000 in items to charity.
I’d guess we paid $10,000 in her medical expenses and probably close to $30,000 for the cat over the course of the 2009. I’m sure some folks will find how much we spent on our cat a little nuts, but it all goes back to what you say about quality of life. We have no children and loved the cat. At the end of the day, the only reason we care about the money is to bring us happiness, and the memories we bought in the extra year we had with him were well worth the delay in meeting our goals.
In spite of everything, we’re currently sitting at $10,000 in credit card debt, we both repaid our work advances, and our car is paid off. With any luck, we’ll be completely debt-free except for our house in a few more months! Our company was purchased earlier this year, and of course their paydays are off from ours, resulting in a significant pay delay. I can’t tell you how great it was to not have to take pay advances this time!
Pathway to the future
We have no plans to stop our progress! Last year when our company started matching 401(k) contributions, we put aside the minimum amounts to get full matches and opened an investors savings account to start saving toward an emergency fund.
When we finish saving the full amount in our emergency fund, our next goals are:
- Invest in several index funds.
- Start our maximum contributions to a Roth IRA.
- Establish a 5-year CD ladder.
- Start taking yearly vacations! We haven’t had a real vacation to ourselves since our honeymoon over 9 years ago.
- Enjoy life debt-free!
I attribute a lot of our decisions and progress to the advice from Get Rich Slowly. When we finally realized something had to be done, we were totally lost. I asked around and searched for sound financial advice from people who had been in our situation. Finding this blog was a godsend. It really helped me to wrap my head around some simple concepts that have gotten us on the path to financial freedom. (And Mint got me the rest of the way!) We went from having no idea what to do, where to start, or even what our finances looked like to building a 10-year financial plan that is well underway.
Get Rich Slowly has made a huge impact in our lives. Thanks so much for sharing it with us, and thanks to the other readers for a great community.
Reminder: This is a story from one of your fellow readers. Please be nice. After nearly a decade of blogging, I have a thick skin, but it can be scary to put your story out in public for the first time. Remember that this guest author isn’t a professional writer, and is just learning about money like you are. So although you may disagree with his spending on his cat — I love my four cats, but don’t think I’d spend $30,000 to keep one alive — disagree respectfully, not rudely.
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Congrats to the both of you for taking control of your financial situation. I am a little surprised at the judgment from some of the commenters – I believe the point of your story is how you turned around your finances, rather than how you spent your money in the process. I am in the middle of this type of seemingly slow turn around right now, and I couldn’t agree more with the “watching grass grow” comment! We’re making the right decisions now and I can see the progress, but it seems to be taking forever. But at least we’ve found the path and started down it – some days that feels like an accomplishment in itself!
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One point I would like to make, and it is semi-moot in this situation since they have done so well paying things off, is that there is a difference between spending $30k cash and $30k credit on a bill like this.
I don’t mean the lifetime interest difference, but the additional financial risk involved. If you have $30k of cash to spend then I don’t really care what you do with your money. But if you are putting it on credit you are spending someone else’s money, at least until you pay it back.
Would anyone here who thinks that one should do what one can for a cat feel the same way if it eventually drove him to bankruptcy? I have been a creditor in bankruptcy. And I can tell you I would be pretty pissed if I found out that someone who is stiffing me on the money I’m owed took out $30k in loans to help a sick cat/dog/cow/chicken/hamster/goose. Once again, Sara and Will seem to have covered their payments and all indications are they will make it out from under debt, so this is a general comment.
And I feel the same way about charity. Don’t give more than you can afford to give. It doesn’t make you big hearted if you give your last dollar to someone who’s hungry and then ask me to buy you dinner because you can’t afford it (specific family members come to mind). I am not saying don’t tithe, or that there isn’t a place for charity. But if you give it away and then need someone else to cover it (or your other expenses) that ISN’T CHARITY, at least not from you.
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To clarify for everyone, because I think some people aren’t quite getting all of the story with the cat.
(1) We didn’t spend 30k in one lump sum on the cat. The drips and drops comments a few people posted describe it pretty well although I would call it more of a slow hemorrhaging over about 18-20 months. We were easily spending 1-2k a month prior to the cat’s illness on things some people would think are just as stupid, such as books, movies, music, eating out, etc. Just by cutting out this behavior we were able to almost completely pay for the expenses related to the cat’s treatment and still continue to make all of our payments.
(2) We have never missed a payment, been late on a payment, or failed to pay a debt. I know some people are speaking generally about people wasting money and not meeting other obligations but we have always paid our bills on time.
(3) We donate items, money, and time to various charities. One of our favorites is Child’s Play, http://www.childsplaycharity.org/, but we give yearly to several. Yes, the cat was a large expense that may result in thousands of dollars of lost savings for retirement or money that could have positively impacted many people’s lives had we given it to charity. As a result of dealing with both my wife’s sickness and the cat’s however our outlook has been permanently changed and I stand by the statement I made earlier that it was a good investment. Without having to struggle financially to make ends meet it is unlikely we would have ever sat down and figured out our finances. It was an expensive lesson but now we know what we are capable of when it comes down to it. As a result we should have more time and money to donate to charity because we will have more money and not be forced to work insanely long hours just to make ends meet.
@Shara
The truth is, our path has led us to believe it’s never a good idea to spend someone else’s money. In our specific case we’ve never failed to repay a debt (although we are still repaying our mortgage and the last of our consumer debt) and have never been late on a payment. I suppose I can understand your anger at someone not paying you back over a choice you disagree with, but isn’t that always the risk you take when you loan money?
Thanks for the comments everyone. Those in agreement and disagreement are both useful to us. I told JD I felt that we had been working on our finances in a vacuum for the last two years so it is interesting to hear everyone’s opinions even if it’s about the choices that aren’t really relevant to our current situation. It’s also nice to hear we aren’t the only ones spending a lot of money on their pets.
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Congratulations on your progress and best of luck with everything in the future. You have a tough road ahead of you, but I hope it works out OK. I know that personally, I’d rather have a million dollars in debt to pay off than either my wife or I having MS. That is the biggest challenge in the story, not the bills, but it sounds like you’re dealing with it as best you can.
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Your story inspired me to get pet insurance. Thank you.
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Will and Sara – thanks so much for sharing your story so honestly. It sounds to me as if you two have strong minds & spirits. You make a great team. You are tackling your goals in the face of real adversity, that’s amazing!
Husband and I also incurred some horrible debt due to a healthcare crisis, failed business, and a move that went badly and caused us to pay 2 mortgages for 15 months. We had 3 dogs (one has since passed) and had $4k in vet bills in just 8 months on top of it – our dogs are our kids, we understand the decision over your kitty. I am partially disabled but I work though I can’t work overtime, husband does work lots of OT.
We’re in the same boat, tackling that debt & snowballing via Dave Ramsy. Credit cards & state back taxes are history, on to Home Eq loan and IRS payments.
One day at a time, my friends, and we will all get there. Have faith and keep working that plan!
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Congrats on getting out of debt. I mean it.
However on a side note… 30k on a pet? (hope it is a typo)
This is going to sound bad but a bullet is cheaper (and yes I had to put one of my dogs down after he was partially ran over by a tractor). No “rational” person spends 30k trying to save a pet. If you are truely “Pet” people and you like saving animals you should have put the cat down and bought another one and donated the extra money to a animal shelter. Think of how many animals that could have helped.
Why are people so afraid to have the hard conversations these days. You must have thought about it. I mean you get to spending 2-3k on a pet and you go gee I wonder if I should really be spending all of this money on a pet that might die anyway. You are required to have that hard conversation with your significant other. My wife loves me and I love my dog but she would never let me spend that kind of money on saving an animal. It would be a ugly conversation but it would take place if I tried it.
I love my hunting dog and have spent some money on his training but if the Vet told me that he is sick and that it will cost 5k over x number of years to keep him alive, I would put him down.
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Congrats on your revelation to change your life and for successful attacking your money issues. Best of health and wealth you both.
That said, this really gives me pause in my ongoing debate about whether to get a dog or not.
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It’s been interesting to read through the comments to this article. At times I’ve found it unfortunate that a majority of the comments have revolved around “how do you or don’t you qualify spending 30K on a cat”. I would hope that more readers see other points to this article and are just choosing not to post about them specifically.
Personally, the first thing that comes to mind is the verse in Proverbs (22:7) that reads, The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower becomes the lender’s slave (NASB). I applaud William and Sara for their achievements removing a large chunk of the debt so far. I think the lesson to take from their life story is similar to most of us ours or most of America. Debt enslaves.
Another verse that comes to mind is in Proverbs as well. 27:1 reads, Do not boast about tomorrow, For you do not know what a day may bring forth (NASB). Like many, I’m William and Sara had not planned well for the future. Truth is, none of know what the future holds with regards to sickness, struggles, or joy. It seems as they mounted up this debt there was no fear of any health issues, loss of job, or pay challenges. It’s hard for me to believe that most of us at one point, or still, haven’t approached life in this way.
I was also amazed at how strongly it seemed some challenged their paying on the cat instead of paying on debt. Or there giving to charity instead of paying on debt. It’s not place to judge what they did with their money but biblically speaking the bible says, The wicked borrows and does not pay back, But the righteous is gracious and gives (Psalm 37:21 NASB). They were paying back their debt. I believe the bigger thing to see her is that they have established a financial plan to be debt free with an emergency fund and are working toward that.
Lastly, I’m encouraged by William and Sara’s willingness to place their personal story here. The bible teaches us that, without consultation, plans are frustrated, But with many counselors they succeed Proverbs 15:22 (NASB). It seems Will and Sara has sought out further teaching from this website and others. Additionally, it seems they want to learn from all of your comments as well.
I believe there are more lessons to be seen and learned from this article. With regards to business handlings, making wise decisions, and handling money properly. I hoped that you all would be encouraged by their change and new focus and abstain from being judgmental (Matthew 7:3-5).
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William and Sara,
Thank you so much for sharing your story. I agree with the others who wrote that the real life reader stories hit closer to home and make me look at my life and approach in a new way. Thank you for that.
I don’t think we hit 30K but we did spend quite a bit of $ on our (now deceased) cat right after my husband had left his job a few years ago. It was an agonizing time in terms of just not knowing what/how much to do in terms of trying to save her life vs. not putting her through too much vs. the money, etc. Never easy.
Also, I wanted to mention that I work for a nonprofit dedicated to curing MS by accelerating research, Accelerated Cure Project. You may have heard about us from the NMSS as a potential study for Sara and her family to enroll as we are building a repository of blood samples and data for people with MS, their relatives, and unaffected controls. I don’t want to take up too much of the comments field by going on and on about it but you can check out our website and let me know if you (or anyone else reading this!) would be interested in learning more.
I should probably note that I”m posting on THIS website in my “personal” persona not my professional one.
Best of luck and thank you again for telling us your story.
Sara
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Congratulations!
Although I cringe and shake my head at the details or your financial problems, I’m impressed at your VERY significant progress. I wish you the best of luck in digging yourselves out of debt and onto a solid financial future.
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If a cat needs 30K in medical costs to keep it alive, then you are fixing the cat for your own selfish reasons and not for the cat. Animals deserve our compassion and if they are that sick, the humane thing to do is to euthanize the animal.
Honestly I’m shocked that a veterinarian allowed that course of treatment to take place.
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I am sorry that the comments were derailed by the cat part. I also appreciate your clarifying comments in response to everyone. Overall, thanks for sticking your neck out there to share your story with us. I appreciate seeing personal finance in action from several different points of view. I am glad to hear that you are making great strides in establishing a more solid future.
We all make mistakes. We all waste or lose money in lots of different endeavors that we might regret. But you showed us that the future is defined by what we do from this point on and is not defined by our past actions. Granted, those past actions might make it tough for a while – but I can definitely see the light at the end of your tunnel. It’s there! Keep going and you, too, will find your happiness.
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@ William
Actually you DID spend someone else’s money on it since you didn’t have the cash and owed the money until you earned it, you were just responsible enough to pay it back. As I said, since you have paid it back the point is moot. A lot of people don’t miss a payment…until they do. Had you or your wife lost your job you very well might have been looking at bankruptcy, partially because of $30k for your cat. That isn’t to judge your decision, but that was the situation.
As far as the risk of loaning money, you might be surprised to know that many creditors in bankruptcy aren’t willing lenders. They are service providers who provide a service and are never paid. For example if your dentist gives you a crown and then hands you a bill he’s a reluctant creditor. In my case I am a landlord. I know unpaid rent and property damage is a risk of that kind of venture, but I reserve the right to be pissed at not being paid due to such an expense.
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Wow, the part about losing money on a business with friends really hit home with me. Our biggest financial mistake ever was to invest $9000 in a friend’s game store business and stress out for 4 months and invest another $6000 trying to keep it alive while our friend ran it into the ground (we did end up with a little of the Magic: The Gathering inventory, but it didn’t help much).
Luckily, it was money we could technically afford to lose, but for a young couple just buying their first home, it sucked. My husband is over it but I still kick myself for that little lapse in sanity…
As for the $30,000 cat, that’s a personal decision. I personally have two dogs instead of kids but wouldn’t put that much into them. That’s not a judgement though, just my personal take on it. Everybody values their pets differently. We did just spend almost $1000 in the course of a year on a rescue Pug that had a skin tumor, 5 teeth extractions, and major allergy issues that we have yet to resolve fully, so I am totally not one to judge.
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Wow, I’m rather surprised there are so many responses about the cat, but this highlights the fact that money and debt are not just about dollars and cents but about emotions, values, morals and life choices.
So you spent $30K on a cat with cancer. Sometimes animals do things for us that cannot be measured, and it sounds like your wife identified her fight with MS to the cat’s ability to fight cancer. In that case, letting the cat “go” probably would have felt like losing your fight with multiple sclerosis, which == one life. In that case, $30K is a steal, if it gave you the courage to move on with your own disease and search for treatment, because that money literally saved your life.
We are currently moving on our own debt snowball, and one of the unusual things we are doing is selling our home at cost in a down market. We can make the payments, and there is nothing truly *wrong* with the home but we find our finances repeatedly derailed by repairs on an old house. We finally got rid of our old car, which we drove to its death (we bought a 2002 Ford Focus new, JD can sympathize, and after 3 transmissions it needed a 4th at 103,000 miles). We bought a 1999 Acura RL and I love it. We should be able to pay it off in a few months.
Currently we have about $10K in credit card debt and $45K in student loan debt on top of our mortgage. We bought the car with our credit card (long story, but strangely enough the rate was cheaper) so we should be totally free of consumer debt and ready to start paying off student loans this summer. If we can sell our house (a big IF!) we hope to break even and rent for a bit. I would love to save up a nice big down payment and buy a newer home that is turnkey — no more fixer-uppers for us! However, I am waiting to hear on an out-of-town job, so it’s hard to say how that will work out. The good news is that we finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.
JD, great pick for a reader’s story. Once we are debt-free, maybe you can publish ours.
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Will and Sara, congratulations on making such terrific progress with your financial health, and best wishes for your future physical health.
And sorry there are so many judges out there to harass you about your choices.
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I really can’t believe that people are more shocked that we spent so much on the cat and not that we spent so much supporting other adults in a failed business endeavor. After the death, we added up all our receipts over time to come up with an estimate for what we spent on the cat, but I cringe to think of what we’ve spent on trying to start our own business. And frankly looking back, the cat was a much better person than some of those we’ve tried to build businesses with. One commenter above was so right in pointing out how hard it is to build a new business. We could write a novel on the mistakes you can make doing that. In fact, we could write several novels on mistakes in general.
That said, even with all of the supportive and neutral comments, after having some people suggest we should have just given up and killed our treatable and potentially curable cat who wasn’t suffering or even uncomfortable 99% of the time I hope you’ll all understand why I’m going to get defensive now.
Will and I talk together all the time – we have a lot of difficult conversations. We talked about the cat constantly when he went through the treatment. He might have a really bad day occasionally and we would have “the conversation” and the next morning he’s playing and wolfing down breakfast. We talk constantly about what we need to do to make sure we’re okay if I’m unable to walk or work tomorrow. I agree – a couple can’t ever shy away from a difficult discussion. Please don’t assume we didn’t have these discussions. For anyone in a relationship where these discussions don’t take place just know that they have to eventually. You get out of a relationship what you put into it.
@Jason – I feel like you wanted to be very shocking : shoot the cat it’s cheaper than treating him. We wanted to treat him. I grew up on a farm. Until moving out, all of my pets’ lives ended with a bullet, bumper, or large beast. Shocking is having your pet rabbits served to you for lunch. This wasn’t your hunting dog – it was our once in a lifetime pet that we loved. I’m sure you would likely spend much more on a gun than I would. You perhaps go through a lot of ammunition, buy camo here and there. Maybe a new sight. Hunting isn’t cheap. Hunters like my dad often spend a lot of money on trucks because they like hunting and it’s generally necessary depending on what it is you’re hunting. That would be a tremendous waste of money to us. Instead we share one car and save that money. I understand that you wouldn’t spend this much on a pet’s life, and I wouldn’t spend much on hunting. I don’t want to distill my relationship with the cat down to a hobby, but I hope that it illustrates that although we spent the money on a cat, for the objective financial portion of the story, $30k could have been spent on number of things.
@Michael – Would you spend $100 on some blood tests for a pet you loved? Ok, then maybe $25 on a prescription. Then something strange comes up and you decide it’s worth $200 for an ultrasound to look at his kidneys. We aren’t talking about a $30k miracle procedure from an evil vet. We have a group of veterinary specialists who we came to adore during the long battle of pretty small expenses that *added up* to an ungodly amount. Once we addressed his anemia we kept him comfortable with an exception of a bad day here and there until we got to the point that he couldn’t be cured and wasn’t comfortable. Honestly he was very happy until the very end. We would never have let a pet suffer.
@Shara – I understand your point about spending money you don’t have. What we did wasn’t what we wanted to do. It’s what woke us up more than anything else. What we said before was that we now know that it’s never a good idea to spend someone else’s money. It sounds like you’ve seen more than one unfair situation. I’m sorry that you’ve had family treat you in such a way and hope you come to terms with them about it one day. My mother was a success at running a (very) small business and I know how it feels to be the service provider left holding the bag after you’ve spent money on materials, labor, etc and someone never shows up to pay or their check bounces.
Looking back I can say with certainty that I regret that we specified how much of the medical expenses that year were for the cat. To us it was worth it. I’ve had a lot of pets over the years, and as I said before this is the only one I’ve ever had that I can imagine being willing to accept treatment. We were able to do it, he wanted us to do it, and we pushed our own limits. We had an amazing last year with him and I would do it again. If I could have thrown $30k at the hospital and kept my grandmother alive one more day I would have done that too.
Bringing up the cat seems to have polarized all the comments and clouded the rest of the story. When we emailed JD our thanks, the point we were making was that 2 very bad financial things happened resulting in the wake-up call we needed. That we made progress WHILE keeping current on the medical bills, and that much of our faith and ability to do that and plan for the future came from this blog.
Give the cat a rest. The guy pretended to read books with us, looking left to right over and over. When our house was broken into once he ran down to fight the intruder. He would tangle his legs and tail up with our other cat when they napped together all day. We treated him and it was worth it to us. If we were better people or smarter people we would have understood before a crisis that we needed money saved and no debt in order to prepare for those things you can never really prepare for. That’s why this is a turnaround story. We’re a hop skip and a jump away from all debt aside from our mortgage and have a financial plan for the future.
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Good job on the debt repayment so far. I’m quite impressed…and with all the setbacks, illnesses, etc.
Keep up the good work. You’ll be there before you know it!
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@Sara
Are you the Sara in MA? If so, I spoke to you last week. Small world / Big Blog. If you’re not that Sara (but surely you are) then I’ve been in touch with the Accelerated Cure Project and am in the process of rallying my family together to add themselves to the repository. I can’t imagine any more promising pathway to finding how to stop MS, treat the disease, and repair the damage it causes than this project.
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Great post, so awesome to read stories like this where people took responsibility and changed their lifestyles to pay of their debt. Now wouldn it be great if everyone did that hard things in life and became debt free. Im sure you will not regret the temporary hardships for a future without debt. Good luck in the future!
Preferred Financial Services
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Sara,
I AM Sara in MA!
Amazing.
Sara
PS And I remember our conversation well but wouldn’t have put 2+2 together without this comments thread.
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Will and Sara,
So sorry that you’ve had to put up with bad business partners, life threatening diseases of you and your loved ones, the difficult learning process of personal finance, and judgmental comments on top of it. The two of you have shown amazing strength, love and commitment! Keep doing what you’re doing, and know that it’s inspiring!
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@Sara:
I’m thinking about your response, and the difference here is that you didn’t list a number when you mentioned your failed business, while you listed a specific amount spent on vet and medical bills. A failed business could mean many things — mail order scented candles? A coffee shop? You could be out $1000 + some hangers on or you could be out $100,000 + some hangers on + food and utilities for 3 extra people. This lack of specific information made it somewhat easy to focus on the vet expenses.
Also, it touches a nerve, this pet business. I have a friend who is drowning in credit card debt, caring for 13 aging cats. Every time I see her I get the update on their medical care, which ranges from kidney failures and fluid transfers to multiple diabetic cats. There has been a cultural shift toward pets, now that so many people choose to be childless, that has caused a rift in values. I know my vet gives me the eye when I forego extra procedures for our dog (we’re watching a leg tumor, rather than removing it) but I have two young children, so that’s my focus. However, I do understand — sometimes an animal can be precious. Just keep in mind that this is cultural rather than personal, and few people are going to understand.
The fact that you had a failing business isn’t as shocking also because you gloss over it. How long did you support 3 people? How difficult was it to recover from this? Did you have to go bankrupt? This isn’t clear.
What is clear is that you’ve done a bang-up job of fixing what was wrong with your finances, and you’re definitely an example of how to turn things around. The real question is, what are you going to do with your extra money once your consumer debt is gone? What happens first, the emergency fund, the index fund, or a combination?
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@Missy
You’re absolutely right.
We should’ve written that differently, but I guess we didn’t since it was a bullet point in the “top things we screwed up reeeeeeeeally bad” list.
We have never declared bankruptcy, and we quit the business after it became clear we could no long support it on our resources. But we waited far too long to stop it.
We spent about 6 years trying to start up a couple of similar businesses – web design / hosting / etc. For each, we usually had several hundred dollars per month in server and software fees before the other more significant costs.
We supported 3 people for a year and 2 people for about a year and a half to 2 years following that. We were suckers. I remember one particular $700 grocery bill.
I don’t think we’ll ever completely give up on wanting to work for ourselves, but we’ve done a great job at failing at it so far. If we try it again one day, it will be from a very different financial and mental state.
I used to love watching the Chef Ramsey show – the one where he goes to a failing restaurant that’s cost the owner their home and the mafia is after them for money. He tells them clean the restaurant and cook better tasting food and suddenly they have an epiphany. I know that after what we’ve done thus far we won’t allow a business to cost us our home. We will know next time (if there is ever a next time) when to cut our losses before they grow.
As far as your real questions at the end – emergency fund vs. index fund. We change our minds a little from day to day. I think it will end up being a combination after a significant amount is in the emergency fund.
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^No, Missy, the real question is what are YOU going to do once your consumer debt is gone – if you have any. That’s the whole point of reading other peoples’ experiences, so we can a) be inspired to do better and/or b) learn something to apply to OUR lives … not so we can endlessly reverse-engineer the story we’ve just read.
I, too, found the whole starting-a-business thing more apposite than the pet care and would love to get a Reader Story from someone else – or a sequel from Will & Sara – that focuses on either the success or the failure of a small business, and the PF lessons we could take from that.
Just based on personal observation, I know one thing I would never do is put my money into someone else’s business. My time yes, as an employee – but not my dollars!
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Will & Sara, kudos to you for how far you’ve come, truly amazing!
And do just ignore those who don’t understand spending $30k on a beloved pet’s healthcare. I’ve often said that if it came down to it, I’d sell a kidney on the black market to care for our dog…obviously that’s a joke, but it’s not too far off from the truth.
Our dog got kidney stones a few years back and it was only then that we learned about pet insurance – alas, those pesky pre-existing conditions! It was an expensive surgery (about $1500 all told I think) and he’s on special medication and prescription dog food that costs an arm and a leg, and he needs more frequent vet trips and extra testing done to be sure he’s still doing okay. To care for him every year, it costs us at least twice if not three times the cost to take care of an average dog. But if I had known all this when we saw him at the shelter, would I have made a different choice and selected a different dog? HELLS NO! This dog has been such a blessing and has brought me and my husband more joy than I can even begin to quantify.
I totally understand not putting a cap on healthcare costs for a loved one (pet or human). Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, and some people just don’t understand the unconditional love between humans and pets. I wish you both happiness and health and good luck getting debt-free!!
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@chacha1: Not sure what you’re trying to express here. I was asking specifically because we are very close to that point ourselves, and I thought the point of this discussion was to talk about how to make a financial turnaround AND what to do once the debt is gone.
Also, I put my money into someone else’s business every month. It’s popularly called “the stock market.”
@Sara: Ouch! My husband is just starting a software engineering company. He is already doing subcontracting for a large firm, and we *just* decided he should start a business (primarily for tax purposes). We haven’t put a lot of money into it so far — mainly a new computer/printer, less than $1K so far — but your failing business story really hits home. We will have to be very careful. Luckily he is under the umbrella of the main contractor, and so far it’s just him, so I will keep my fingers crossed.
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Congratulations on your amazing progress this past year! It is such a great feeling to put your money towards your goals instead of to debt interest to car companies and banks. I am inspired by your courage, keep up the great work!
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Thanks so much for sharing your story, including the good, the bad and the ugly. It takes a lot of courage to do that. It is too bad that so many of the comments were focused on the pet, because you really have made incredible progress, despite some serious setbacks. Congratulations, and keep up the good work!
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I can’t believe everyone here isn’t agreeing that spending $30K on a cat is INSANE.
I am not trying to be mean, but stuff like this destroys my faith in humanity. Do you know how many PEOPLE you could have helped with $30,000? Or other animals? Argh. Talk about ridiculous priorities.
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I was also a lot more struck with the business than the cat (I haven’t the faintest clue how much we’ve spent over the years on kitty #2 with the heart condition that we knew she had when we got her). I’m glad you got out of it!
My DH started a business this year, but from the start it had to not cost us anything but his time and equipment he already owns, and it hasn’t. We had to be very careful making sure it was limited liability too. I guess we’re too risk-averse to try to do something that could end up with a bigger loss than opportunity costs, even if there’s a potential for gain.
We’re also not supporting his partners– that’s what their wives are for.
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@ christiana
Everybody is not agreeing it’s insane because everybody has their own opionion and they are entitled to it. You may think it is insane. Others may not.
@ Sara
I appreciate you putting yourself out there. A lot of people will always ridicule you for your decisions. I spent $5000 as a poor, broke, college student on my cat. I stopped when the vet told me he was not going to improve. If he told me he was going to improve, would I have spent more? Yes! My husband and I don’t have children, we drive one car and save and scrimp on other things.
You are absolutely right; you are a grown woman and you can spend your money on whatever you want.
One lesson I learned is to never tell people how much you have spent on vet bills. They will never understand.
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William,
My prayers are with you and your wife as she battles MS. My sister has it and it is no fun. It is frustrating for the family as she sinks into depression and does not want to help herself do the things she still can do.
We have 2 kids and 3 cats, and I would not want to add up the totals we’ve spent on any of them. The cats are 12 now – “seniors” – and it’s easily close to $1000/year just for regular exams and the occasional temporary illness. Yes, it hurts our wallet, but fortunately, we’re not at a point to have to make the difficult decision about treatment for something serious. They make us smile and laugh out loud – every day. I understand the “just a cat” mindset, but it doesn’t have to be spoken. We pet “saps” know you feel this way; you needn’t remind us. Everyone has their crutch/weakness. And Joe was right – the cat’s wellbeing could be closely tied to your wife’s health.
As much as the cat has been debated here, I suspect it was more difficult to admit all of the issues related to your failed business venture. Some of us just take longer to “know when to fold ‘em.” (Myself included.)
Thank you so much for taking the chance in sharing your difficult story. Kudos to you both for making a plan and sticking to it!
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William and Sara: my sympathies on the loss of your cat, the MS diagnosis, and the people who are ridiculing and haranguing you when you are bravely being honest about your private life in an attempt to benefit others in a similar situation. I think you should be proud of how you took care of your cat, not because of how much you spent (that’s a personal decision), but because you didn’t prolong his life beyond his ability to enjoy it. My mom kept our cat alive with daily injections for an extra month after his kidneys failed, and she still regrets it, not because of the money, but because she feels it didn’t really improve his quality of life.
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@ Sara
Thanks for responding! That is awesome.
I like you, you sound fun and it is obvious you have some “spirit” in you, we all like a bit of fight in a girl.
Your right, we all choose to spend money on different “wants and needs” and we all assign a drastically different value to those items. I admire you for your willingness to try to save the cat no matter the cost. If there is one thing an American can admire it is a person that works toward a goal and completes that goal while ignoring controversy and outside influence. We like a winner, and even though you lost in the end, you won because you got to spend more time with your pet and you accomplished your goal of keeping the cat alive beyond the time it should have passed away. I am sure some of the people that you know left your house shaking their head thinking. Why are they spending all of that money on a pet? It is the natural reaction. But you plowed through these various objections and did what you had to do. Do you know what other goal you have accomplished that is very similar…. Getting out of debt!
You did a fantastic job of getting out of debt. I am sure you had to turn down various offers throughout that time you were paying things off. Things such as going out, vacations, small trips, buying the newest Blu-ray’s, etc… You made sacrifices to reach your goal and you probably had to defend your position to stay home or drink the cheap wine just like you probably had to do defend the decisions with the cat.
I admire the willingness to stick to a course of action even though I might not agree with it and I find it irrational to spend x amount of money on a pet. That is my personal decision. I am sure you would think that the amount of money I spend on guns or electronics is irrational (my wife would agree J). I wasn’t trying to shock you, that is just how it is done in the country, as you know firsthand.
I truly am happy that you are back to a clean whiteboard of debt. You should reward yourself with a vacation (paid for upfront of course). And just to ruffle your feathers a bit more don’t buy another pet without pet insurance J
Jason
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Thanks so much for sharing that story. I’ve spent over 10K on my cat, too. He has seizures and problems going to the bathroom, from time to time (cats can die if they haven’t gone to the bathroom in 24 hrs). He is family! He is not a decoration or a toy. He is our son. When he’s flopped on the floor in the sun and looks up at me, it’s all worth it.
On to the financial stuff. It’s great how you two have kept your cool and stuck to your plan. That seems to be the underlying theme to most financial success stories. Stories like this keep me inspired to stick with our plan. Best of luck to you both.
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I’m a veterinarian.
It always amazes me when good ‘ole boys and gals launch into some self-righteous polemic about how any amount of money spent on pet health care is excessive and wasteful. Meanwhile, these same people fill their homes and garages with tens of thousands of dollars worth of new boats, atvs, LCD tv’s, high-end furniture, nice watches, jewelry and shoes.
This stuff is inanimate, soon-to-be junk. It’s depreciating faster than most people can make the payments. It will never give a sad look, a playful nudge, affection or companionship. And yet, somehow, accumulating this STUFF is understandable and rational to most people. Someone please explain this to me.
Everyone makes their choices about discretionary spending and debt. Frankly, I question those who choose to pile it into new and shiny, depreciating objects. This seems to roughly approximate the emotional intelligence of a racoon.
One of the most challenging aspects of my job is counseling people who have cost concerns. As a profession we are well-aware that most people don’t have insurance for their pets, and that even those policies have their limits. We are also aware that more care is not always better. There is hardly a day that goes by that I don’t euthanize a pet whose owners can’t afford care, or for whom further care is not a humane option.
In these moments and others I am struck by the profound impact animals can have on the lives of people. It’s hard to place a price on companionship; it certainly seems worth more than a TV, or a couch, or even extra chrome. Then again I don’t think like a racoon so what do I know?
@J.D. Given the amount of discussion this has generated, you ought to do a post on pet health care!
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I love this blog and all the different perspectives brought to it. I am a fan of the reader stories and all the writers that now make this blog what it is. I have been reading for years without feeling the need to comment but I do now.
I believe one of the core values of this blog is to “Do what is right for you.” Nothing infuriates me more than those sitting on high dictating that it was wrong of Sara and William to spend their money on their cat and berating them for doing so. They do not have to justify their choice to you. (You certainly are welcome to your opinion but elaborating beyond the “I would not do that.” statement is just cruel and self righteous.) They did what worked for them and still made significant progress on their financial journey. They determined what was important to them. They alone have that right.
It is often repeated on this PF blog and on others that the cheapest option is not always frugal and that mindful spending on the things one values the most in life and not the things they don’t is one of the things that makes people content, and makes them feel wealthy. Sara & William are well on their way if this is the case. Perhaps those blinded by the amount spent on their cat and not their success will never understand that concept and how it can be applied in their cases to help them on their financial journey. That is sad.
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Missy made a good point about the structure of the post and may have answered my question.
But what really made me think about this post all night last night was how people thought it was insane you spent money on a cat and totally glossed over the almost equal amount you dropped in ONE day for your new car. Yet no one said anything about the car…or the business venture…
I wonder, did no one say anything because you had clearly recognized the car purchase as a less than optimal choice? And because you were not repentant of spending money on a cat – they thought you insane?
If anything, it should be remarkable that you could continue to make a financial turnaround WHILE allocating a significant amount of money towards a specific endeavor – yours was your beloved cat, but how inspiring it is to me! What could I do if you could do that?
Again, kudos for “we pushed our own limits” and “we made progress” despite your circumstances.
Your progress means you are finding your happiness and you are using your money as a tool along the way. Oh, and another gold star for talking everything through with your spouse!
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I like what one poster said about the cat. Substitute “cat” for whatever means the world to you. People have different priorities. If you have no children and your animals are your children, then they are a priority in your life. I have a bird that I would spend that kind of money on. Don’t judge. And to the OP, congrats on what you have accomplished! You and your wife should be very proud of yourselves!
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I spent probably $10K in the last 4 years of my cat’s life (she was diabetic). Probably $2K or so on the last day of her life…I almost didn’t try to save her but my boyfriend begged me to give her to him and said that he would pay for everything…so we gave it a shot but she wasn’t responding so we had to let her go.
I agree that the business stuff is much more interesting than the cat, though. Would’ve loved more detail there.
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Oh my God….many of you ( I chose to change my initial personal attack) need to just get a life. I cannot believe what 15 minutes of fame will do. How much of this mis-spent time could have gone towards helping out a community w/ volunteerism or the like…wow. Money, Healthcare, and Animals—the be all, end all.
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@Todd: And yet you took the time to comment on how lame we all are for commenting. Well done!
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@Honey
The last of the failed business stuff is a few years in the past now so it wasn’t the primary focus of what we are dealing with today and was relegated to a bullet point in the road to ruin. It was a substantial investment at the time and if I had been aware of Ramit@I Will Teach You To Be Rich we could have avoided a lot of the mistakes we ended up making. We still have K1 filings and all of the financial documentation for our LLC filed away so we could have given more information on it but this kind of leads into my next point…
@Todd
Neither my wife and I were looking for 15 minutes of fame and frankly I am surprised how much attention this article has generated. I was actually sending JD a congratulations and thank you e-mail to mark the fourth anniversary of GRS and to let him know how much help his blog had given us in understanding and learning how to manage our financial situation. I never expected this post to be a featured reader story and when JD asked if I would mind if he posted the story I was surprised he thought his readers would find any value in it. We were happy to help him out with an article since his blog has helped us so much. If we were looking for fame we wouldn’t have chosen to keep the article anonymous and asked he remove the links to our blog.
The article and comments are dominated by money, health care, and animals, because this is a financial blog and health care and animals were our catalyst for change.
Thanks again for the comments. The variety of opinions expressed here have been educational.
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“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” – Anatole France
Aloha e William & Sara,
Up until April of 2009, I would have agreed with some of the other reader’s views that spending such a large amount of money on your pet wasn’t the best thing to do. However, that changed on May 1, 2009 when my boyfriend and I decided to adopt a tiny two-week-old orange tabby kitten who had been abandoned by its mother, was found beneath the staircase of someone’s house, and was suffering from an acute eye infection. The person who found him was unable to afford the needed veterinary care. She placed an ad on the pets section of our local Craigslist and I fell for the little guy.
He came into our lives at just 8 ounces with eyes that had just opened, could barely stand and walk, and ears that were still folded shut and pressed against his head. The boyfriend and I received a crash course in learning how to bottle feed a kitten and helping it to eliminate (kittens don’t have control of their own bowel movements until they’re more than a few weeks old).
Hilo is now a slightly pudgy 15 1/2 lb cat who has free reign of the house and our hearts.
I relay the history of my beloved kitten (soon to be cat) because, like the quote says, I never experienced what it was like to honestly and truly love and care for a pet. I’ve had fish and a mouse, but it has paled in comparison for what insurmountable joy, laughter and goodwill this 1 cat has brought into our lives.
As a fellow cat owner and cat lover, I empathize and understand the motivation behind your decision to continue seeking treatment and the costs associated with it over time. I don’t have any children and my pets are my “children.” My family and friends probably think I’m crazy for spending $42 on a single 12-lb bag of Wellness CORE dry cat food instead of purchasing the 30-lb bag of generic store brand food that costs half as much. Like my friends who have children, they only want the best for them and I share in this philosophy.
Your actions demonstrated such utter love and compassion for your cat that it brought me to tears as I was reading this article. I actually had to go into the other room to pick him up and give him a long, big hug (I know the day will come when I’ll be forced to make decisions about his healthcare in his old age). Instead of pet health insurance, I opened a high-yield online savings account at ING Direct and each month, a certain amount of money is automatically deducted from my checking account. My hope is that, over time, these funds will accumulate into a nice nest egg that can be used for his vet bills later in life.
Mahalo nui loa (thank you very much) for sharing your story with the rest of the world! You should be extremely proud of yourselves for all that you have accomplished thus far and the ones that are to come.
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@Janey and everybody else who prioritizes their pets:
Your words about cat food reminded me of one thing. Personal finance blogs often touch the issue of nutritious whole foods and avoiding processed products. Shouldn’t the same principles apply to pets? Do you really believe that even the highest grade dry food will compare to what they were designed by evolution to eat?
I strongly encourage caring pet owners to research buying RAW foods for their pets. My cat has never before purred when eating – but he does now, as he devours a mix of ground animal tissues and organs similar in composition to his whole natural prey. You can buy expensive pre-made mixes, or do more time-consuming but budget-friendly preparation yourself – but it may save you money in vet bills in the long term. There are enough books and websites out there to help you make your mind, if you let yourself become open to the idea.
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This has been one of my favorite financial turnaround stories. You have made a great turnaround with awareness of your errors without bitterness and resentment. It is truly inspiring how far you’ve come from where you were. Also, it reads as if it may have brought the two of you even closer together – it’s so cute how you two defend each other in your comments! Best wishes to you both for health and wealth!
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William and Sara,
Thanks so much for sharing your story!
A request: please consider writing a blog post on that failed business venture — how it began, what happened, and what you have learned from it. It would make another great article.
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I admire the honesty of this post.
The venom of some of the responders is frankly ridiculous. If there is a single one of them who hasn’t blown thousands of dollars on cars, or entertainment, or eating out, or clothes, or tchotchkes, I will eat my hat. Get off your high horses, people.
Best wishes to Will & Sara in the future, and thanks for sharing your story.
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