I began listening in April of this year (2019) and have listened to almost every single episode. I grew up in American “poverty” - free school lunches, second hand clothes, etc. But what I never seemed to learn was financial literacy. I don’t blame my parents. They were unaware themselves. But now to the point of my itunes-review- I was making all the wrong decisions until I listened. House that stretched my budget, a truck payment that had a rolled over loan from my previous car, personal loan, credit card debt, school debt... all totaling roughly $40,000 excluding my mortgage. I resigned myself to just managing minimum monthly payments and hoping someday this would all be gone. My friend had invited me to the chooseFI Facebook group about a year prior to me listening, but I thought everyone posting was either crazy or lying. “You paid off $120k in student loan debt? Ya right!” I thought. Until this past April I chose to listen to the podcast out of curiosity. After listening to a few episodes that piqued my interest, I got to “Why everyone needs Dave Ramsey (and why you should ignore him)”, that was the moment it all clicked. I then voraciously listened to every episode I could. I found MMM and the “shockingly simple math” article and I was completely and utterly hooked. Now just 3 1/2 months later, I am on track to pay off all my $40,000 of debt I had by the end of next year. With some side hustles I’m looking into and other life hacks, I had cut that number down from 25 months (already way sooner than I ever thought possible) to 18 months. And now maybe sooner! All this with a mere $50k/year GROSS income job. The best part is I don’t feel I am depriving myself! I feel like I have joined a cult, because everyone I meet, I just want to show them the light! The FIRE is spreading!

I just discovered this podcast, and have lots of questions but am gaining so much knowledge already and have shared with my sister and broth-in-law!!!!! Thank you!