134: Paying Off Debt - And Avoiding Debt Relapse with Chris Browning from Popcorn Finance

BiggerPockets Money Podcast

BiggerPockets

Investing, Education, Business

4.6 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 20 July 2020

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Chris Browning had dreams of creating movies for Pixar - until he started art classes in college and realized that wasn’t his calling. He was also taking a personal finance class and thoroughly enjoyed it, so he changed his major to finance and never looked back. Chris should have perfect finances, right? Well… Chris found himself in debt after graduating in 2009 and working as a bank teller, trying to impress his girlfriend (now wife). He took control of his finances, telling his girlfriend that they needed to reign in their spending so he could pay off debt. But once his debt was gone, he started saving in earnest for an engagement ring, spent everything he had on that, and found himself in debt again when they started planning their wedding. Life happened, debt continued to stack up until they realized they were $27,000 in debt, with salaries just over that amount - all while living in Southern California. Living paycheck-to-paycheck makes it hard to throw extra money at your debt. Chris and his wife reviewed their spending and were shocked by what they were spending on. Once they knew where their money was going, they were able to drastically reduce their spending and throw more money at their debt. It turns out, tracking your spending and sticking to a budget are both excellent pieces of advice that can help anyone turn their financial situation around and start down the path toward financial independence. In This Episode We Cover: His journey with money How much debt he has on his wedding What he did on paying off his debt Changes he make while paying off his debt How he approached his wife on making changes about their budget Talking about his emergency fund Dave Ramsey's baby steps How he plan his retirement Steps towards saving for early retirement When did he discover Financial Independence His vision for retirement How to use credit card responsibly His tips on travel hacking And SO much more! Links from the Show BiggerPockets Money Facebook Group Mint: Budget Tracker & Planner BiggerPockets Money Podcast 75 with Justin from Saving Sherpa BiggerPockets Money Podcast 39 with Jamila Souffrant BiggerPockets Money Podcast 15 with Brad and Jonathan from ChooseFI Dave Ramsey's Envelope System Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Scott and I often record episodes in advance to make sure our schedules never get too full to release a new episode every week.
0:05.6	We plan to bring you stories of debt pay down earlier in the year,
0:08.8	starting with Chris Browning from Popcorn Finance on March 16th.
0:12.0	But when the US effectively shut down the Friday
0:14.1	before, we decided to put Chris's episode on hold so that we could cover the new biggest
0:18.8	topic of the year. With unemployment claims skyrocketing, we felt it would seem out of touch to tell how Chris paid off his debt and hope to be able to release them in the future.
0:28.0	Chris Browning's story is still a great story, and while the world has changed since we recorded this episode there
0:34.7	are still great lessons to be learned from his journey.
0:37.6	So today we bring you Chris Browning's story of paying down debt.
0:41.0	As you listen, please keep in mind that this was recorded in January in a very different time, but we hope you find as much value in Chris's story as we do. Thanks for listening.
0:50.0	Welcome to the BiggerPockets Money Podcast, show number 134, where we interview
0:55.3	Chris Browning from Popcorn Finance and get his story of debt, debt payoff,
0:59.6	re-accumulation of debt, and how he finally broke the debt cycle to pursue financial independence
1:05.3	and his best life.
1:07.3	Hello, hello, hello, my name is Mindy Jensen and with me as always is my always adaptable co-host Scott Trebch. I just love the evolution of your
1:16.4	introductory adjectives. Thank you so much. Scott and I are here to make
1:21.2	financial independence less scary, less just for somebody else,
1:25.0	and show you that by following the proven path, you can put yourself on the road to early financial
1:29.5	freedom and get money out of the way so you can lead your best life.
1:33.0	That's right. Whether you want to retire early and travel the world, go on to make big-time investments
1:37.5	and assets like real estate, start your own business, or simply change your identity
1:42.0	and how you think about your profession and your worldview will help you build a position capable of launching yourself towards those dreams.
	...

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