Sexy World, Here I Come!

I'm so excited about this new project. It all started when...

I was reading the National Post last week and began leafing through their Financial Post Magazine. I came across a section called Trend Spotting which completely caught my attention. In it was an article called 'Their Money, Their Life' about a 26-year old marketing coordinator, Krystal, who was steeped in debt and managed to turn it around and grow her net worth to over $30k - all the while blogging about her journey and getting support from her friends in the personal finance blog community.

This article jarred me. I mean, there are so many things about it that I just hadn't considered before. Mainly,

1) Sharing personal FINANCIAL information online with strangers (and telling the truth about it?!)

2) The possibility of being 'debt-free' - ok, I had considered this before but literally not in years.

When I used to think about being debt free is was more of a 'when I grow up' type dream, along with marrying Leonardo Dicaprio and winning best actress at the oscars. I also thought about it in different terms... Not in terms of debt free necessarily but I wanted the financial freedom to travel and live the life I wanted. Now I understand that my debt is hand-cuffing me and I'm not free. My Dad was the one who coined the term Financial Freedom for me and when I think about this, it's pretty intense for a 14-year old.

Fast-forward 14 more years. I have a great job which I sincerely enjoy and in theory pays decently, however I do feel under paid because I work so hard. My financial portfolio includes, 2 Visa's with about an $8,000 balance combined, 1 Line of Credit with about a $6,000 balance, 1 student loan - no idea how much I owe on that.. around $7,500 maybe? I better find that out.

It hasn't all be for not though.. post high school I've also earned a 2-year diploma in accounting, completed a third year of business school, travelled all over the world, completed a successful cross country move, sharpened my saw as a business woman, paid off a BC student loan & a large MSP debt and launched an engaging career I'm excited about. I've also been married (oops), married again (wonderful) and live a happy and comfortable life.

But I still have compiled a whole wack of debt which is holding me back and weighing me down.

The point is, I can completely relate to and am inspired by a 20-something year old blogger who's managed to get her financial goals back on track. The subtitle of her blog is One woman's journey out of debt and into the sexy world of financial independence...

I want to be part of that sexy world too.