LISTEN TO THE WHOLE INTERVIEW HERE - fast forward to 70:00 to hear me and Gail!
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| Look out Radio! John is on the rise! |
There was so much build-up to my big interview with my idol,
Gail Vaz-Oxlade, and yet, somehow I feel like it didn’t live up to all the hype
that I had envisioned in my mind (us celebrities can be so fickle). Don’t get
me wrong, I think that it went well for the most part, but there were moments
where I felt that I was a bit inaudible and maybe mumbly. This is completely
contradictory to all the feedback that I got from everyone though.
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| Bon Iver with a Kittay!! |
What really annoyed me is that the caller before me wasted
so much of my airtime and I felt that I had a lot to say in my interview (which
I waited THREE months to do and missed a Bon Iver concert for) that really got
cut off. I could hear him rambling on and on and then when I finally got on the
show, I wasn’t able to really share the big picture of what I had been doing to
get the debt paid off. When I got on the air finally, I really wanted to make a
joke about how that guy took forever to shut up and how if I were the bank
teller, I wouldn’t want to serve him either (if you’ve heard the interview,
you’ll get the joke) but I kept composed and got to talk my financial hero!
While I was on the call, all I could think about was making
sure that I stayed positive and not become another one of those people who looks
back on their financial situation and become as depressing as a puppy with face
cancer. My heart really was racing whenever Gail said anything, especially my
name. I swear that throughout the months leading up to the call I had had
several Gail-themed dreams (yes we were fully clothed, get your minds out of
the gutter people, jeez) to prepare me for the moment when I would actually
talk to her. Not only did I take the dreams as a sign that I would be ok on the
call, my Grandma had won a CAR that same morning, so I really felt like the
stars were all aligned for this to be a great day for an interview.
In the end, I did manage to get about 5 minutes worth of
time with Gail, which if you look at her schedule, you can appreciate is a
pretty big deal. I guess part of me was hoping that she would want to talk to
me for longer for whatever reason, but the reality is that I am yet another one
of the many success stories that are the product of Gail. When it was all
finished, it felt like I was only on the phone for about 2 seconds, but I
remember getting a huge Gail hug (swoon) and a mission from Gail which was to
continue to “SPREAD THE WORD” which I will continue to do here on this
blog.
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| Much love for this lady! |
Gail left me feeling rejuvenated and reaffirmed that what I
am doing here really is worthwhile. Ever since the interview, I have been
approached by many different people who have been sharing debt stories,
debating some of the things that I have written, and engaging in conversations
about debt – which is exactly what I set out to achieve. After I got off the
phone with Gail, someone called in and asked how to be so open about debt. The
reality is that putting up the first blog post was nerveracking as heck, but
once it was out there, it became easier and easier. Once I showed everyone that
I can practice what I preach, they started to really respect the struggle that
I have been facing with the debt repayment.
I don’t recommend that everyone go out there and share exact
details about what kinds of debt they carry and how much, but I do want to say
that, if you share your situation with people, they will be more likely to
respect you and where you’re coming from. This goes the other way too; if
someone tells you they can’t go out partying with you because they can’t afford
it, don’t be an a$$hole and guilt trip them, or pay for all their drinks and
expect them to pay you back!
All in all, the majority of the people who listened to the
interview thought that I did an amazing job. I’ve been told I really do have a
face for radio, and that Gail and I sounded like old friends shooting the
financial $hit over the interview. I swear I will get my coffee date or class
of wine in with Gail one day when I am in Toronto. I’m starting to think that
the only way for that meeting to happen will be to make myself into some kind
of Canadian celebrity, which believe me, I’m working on!
In case you get to read this Gail, I really do want to say
thank you for taking the time to talk to your obsessed fan, and making me feel
like a million dollars. Depite how my ramblings in this post may sound, this
was truly a positive experience, which I will never forget.
One last thing, I think that most of the people who listened
might not have known that I had 3 months to prepare my answers to the questions
that Gail had given me in advance.
Yes, there was a LOT of improvisation in the interview, which I feel is
evident from the number of times that I said “absolutely”, but as my bit of
redemption for those moments where I don’t think I got my point across, I’m
attaching the complete answer section from what I sent to Gail for your reading
pleasure.
Xoxo
John
1. Where you were:
As a frequent viewer of your show
Til Debt Do Us Part, I would sit on my butt watching people who had completely
derailed their finances and I would say to myself "these people are
insane. How could someone my age have accumulated so much debt in so little
time?" I thought, "I will never let my finances get that bad,"
but the reality was that I had let it get out of control. It wasn't until I
actually looked at my bills and added them up that I realized at 28 years old,
with no car, no home, no kids, not so much as a pet hamster, that I was almost
$40,000 in debt!
I was so shocked that I had let it
get so bad. I definitely remember shedding a few tears that I had lost control.
I had really bought into the world of credit and consumerism. I felt
depressed and trapped because of my financial situation and I really didn't
know what I was going to do to get out of debt.
I had tried to do a consolidation
loan and my bank told me that my credit was so bad I would need someone to
co-sign the loan with me. Since I'm also a bit stubborn, I didn't want to drag
someone else into my mess. So, I decided that I would need to figure out a way
to do this on my own.
After my brief little pity party,
it hit me, I had all the tools right in front of my nose, I just had to get off
my butt and do something about it. I figured if Gail has a TV show, she must
have some kind of book about how to apply her debt repayment plan, so you can
imagine how thrilled I was to find your book "Debt Free Forever".
2. What you did:
The first thing I did was read your
book and did my financial analysis. That's when I found out I was overspending
by $1,100 every month. Some of the worst offenders were Restaurants: $400,
Booze: $175, Clothes: $160, and a whopping $314 in interest costs! Of course I
had been putting nothing into savings and these figures made it pretty clear
where I needed to trim the fat to get my debt paid down.
The next step was figuring out
which of my debts were the most expensive (based on their interest rates) and
develop a repayment strategy. I had a credit card, line of credit, student line
of credit, and a student loan. My credit card was sitting at almost $15,000 and
had an interest rate of 19.99 percent, so I knew that I would have to pay that
one off first. Using your advice, I called the credit card company and they agreed
to lower the interest rate to 12.90 percent (with an annual fee of $25). That
instantly saved me a fortune in interest charges.
To get the total I would put toward
my debt, I used the percentages you recommend in your book and tweaked them to
suit my lifestyle. I put 15% of my income immediately into savings to have
money in case of emergencies and to keep me from being tempted to reach for my
credit card.
Not having to rely on a car saved
me a ton of money. I only needed less than 1% to go to transportation because I
live within walking distance of work.
I learned that having roommates
really pays off because my housing costs are only 18.5%.
And since I spent so much money on
clothing in the past, I had no need to buy anymore stuff and was able to cut my
"Life" category to only 20.5% of my income!
That left me with 45% of my
earnings to put toward debt repayment.
I know that this seems a bit crazy
to only have 20.5% of my income for the life category, but I needed the debt
repayment number to be high in order to get all of my debt paid off in less
than 3 years. This still gave me $130 per week to live on, which after a bit of
practice, it became quite reasonable.
I started my debt repayment by
paying off the credit card. I snowballed the majority of my debt repayment
amount toward paying it off while I made only the minimum payments on all the
rest of the debt. This was really effective, but it was tough to kind of
"neglect" the smaller debts because I am from the generation that wants
everything happen "right now"! So paying off a lower debt, gets you a
bit of that instant gratification that we want. However I stuck to my guns and
within 16 months I got the credit card debt completely eliminated and threw a
"Screw You Credit Card Party"! the last thing I had bought on
my Credit Card was a bottle of expensive vodka, which I didn't allow myself to
open until I got all my credit card debt paid off. It was really fun to get
everyone together to celebrate my achievements along the way.
The funny thing about the credit
card company as well was, when I finished paying off the card, I called them to
lower the credit limit to $5,000 because I didn't want to ever get $15,000 of
debt back on that card again. The agent that I spoke to told me that she had a
flag on my file to offer me a new limit of $20,000 on my credit card, and I
told her about how I just paid off a lot of debt and how I did it, and she told
me I was smart to lower the limit and congratulated me on getting it all paid
off!
3. Where you are now:
Today I am ahead of schedule in my
debt repayment and I only have about $13,000 to go! My credit card is still at
zero and I've completely paid off and closed my line of credit. Now I am
chipping away at my Student Loan and my Student Line of Credit. Since the
interest rates are low and I only have 2 debtors to pay, I am paying these off
really fast!
This year has been phenomenal and
now I feel completely in control of my not only my finances, but my life as
well. I have a restored sense of optimism and I know that I will be able to
take care of myself and my loved ones for the rest of my life.
I really have to thank you from the
bottom of my heart Gail. I was in such a bad place and you really helped me get
back on track. Lord knows where I would be right now if it weren't for you. You
have changed my life, and have become my hero and inspiration. For you to be
talking to me on your radio show makes me feel like a million dollars and this
is truly a dream come true.
4. One tip you have for
listeners:
The best advice I can give
listeners is to be open and honest about your financial situation.
I went a little bit crazy with my
disclosure and started a blog to tell EVERYBODY about where I was with my debt.
I shared how much I owed, down to the last penny, and my readers knew exactly
how bad the situation I had put myself in was.
When I told people I was almost
$40,000 in debt, some people were pretty surprised, but my friends who also
paid for school on their own were able to relate to me. Going to school is
certainly good debt, but after you've been living like a poor student for 4
years, you want to indulge in a few things like a trip or something to
celebrate. And that sort of lifestyle continues like a chain reaction. Once
everyone knew about my debt, they were understanding when I would say no to
things or if I decided I wasn't drinking with them because I needed to get rid
of this debt. In fact, they all started saving money because I wasn't the
spending monster that I used to be!
The other thing my blog does is
show where my progress is at and it holds me accountable to my friends and
family. People were skeptical at first, but now that I am doing it, I
have inspired other people to change their financial situation and that feels
incredible.
Every time that the seasons change, I feel like I need to
make a change to some aspect of my life, and I’m not really sure why this is.
Yesterday I was a huge sack of $hit towards my partner about stupid things that
really don’t matter (at least not in the grand scheme of things) but the main
focus of my discontent was money. OSAP (Student loans) still hasn’t come
through for my partner due to an error on their part and it has left me
covering the shortfall for my partner and I. Of course when the loan comes in,
I will get all the money I’ve lent back again, but I really hate not being able
to be aggressive with my debt payments. I also hate seeing him getting
frustrated that he cannot contribute the way he wants to and struggling to
find a job while I am able to have two jobs. 
Certainly I have proven that I know how to make a budget and
my skill set has been expanded to new limits, so now I need to think about what
I can do to get myself setup for a job that I will love in another city where
competition is fierce and rent is high. Obviously I seem to have found my
“what’s next” for when my debt is paid off – I need to start saving for some
kind a big change. I can say that I am happy with the way that things are going
overall, but at the same time, I get these feelings that I am becoming stagnant
and need to do something to shake things up in my life. Again, this really
isn’t the case, but it’s just how I feel. 
