Credit Card Survivor

Your Curated Journey to Financial Freedom: How to Recover from Credit Card Debt

Welcome to Your Curated Journey to Financial Freedom! In this comprehensive guide, we will take you step-by-step through the process of recovering from credit card debt and regaining control of your finances. Debt can be overwhelming and stressful, but with the right plan and determination, you can pave the way to a debt-free future.

Get ready for an absolute ripper of an article! Inspired by Case Study 1 from our best-selling book, “Make Money Simple Again,” this article is packed with captivating graphs, charts, tables, and real-life scenarios. Discover life-changing tips and strategies that will revolutionise your finances. Don’t miss the chance to download the book for FREE and embark on a journey to financial freedom!

Understanding Your Money Story

You have a solid income, and while you’ve enjoyed the freedom and fun of inner city living, you’re now focused on building a sizable deposit of $100,000 to secure a property closer to the city. Let’s dive into the 7 steps of the Money SMARTS system to help you achieve your goal.

Assessing Your Current Financial Situation

To embark on this journey to financial freedom, you must first assess your current financial standing. Gather your financial documents, including payslips, bank statements, and credit card statements. Familiarise yourself on where to look for those information cause you’ll need it soon. Is it on an online banking platform? What’s your log in to it? Or is it a paper trail? Do you know where you’ve stored them? Or perhaps, is it in your email inbox?

Take a deep breath, and let’s dive into the numbers. Understanding where your money goes and identifying your debt is essential to crafting a plan for the future.

Building Your Money SMARTS System in Moorr - 7 Step Process

Step 1: Ready – Embrace the Change

The first step toward financial recovery is to acknowledge that change is needed. You must believe in your ability to achieve financial discipline and self-control. Think about past achievements in your life, such as getting through university or moving out to live independently. These experiences show that you have the strength to take control of your money.

How can Moorr Help?:
Create your free account in Moorr, log in, and follow the prompts. You’ll be asked to enter some numbers. Don’t worry if you don’t know it off the top of your head. Just put in a rough figure, and you can update it once you know for certain.

 

Step 2: Gather & Sort – Assess Your Money Situation

With your financial documents in hand, it’s time to sort through the numbers. Record your income, savings, assets, and outstanding debts. This process will provide you with a high-level view of your financial position and help you identify areas for improvement.

How can Moorr Help?:
Now that you have the financial documents, update each section on Moorr, particularly the income, assets, and borrowings sections. We’ll work on the expenses next.

 

Step 3: Calculate – Determine Your Financial Picture

Now that you have a clear understanding of your finances, it’s time to break down your spending into essential living expenses and discretionary items. Identify your surplus money, which will be crucial in paying down your debts. Knowing how much you can afford to allocate to debt repayment is key to creating a sustainable plan.

How can Moorr Help?:
Let’s track your spending!

  1. Get a copy of your bank statement for the last 12 months
  2. And start categorising and get your calculator ready! If you’re wondering how to categorize from a statement, it might be best to have it in an Excel spreadsheet first, and then transfer it to Moorr.
    • Regular spending – Ideally it’s best to go back and look over bank statements and credit card statements from the past 12 months to get a clear picture of where all your money goes. (Getting your numbers as accurate as you can might take a bit of effort now, but you will be glad when you’ve done it, because it will mean a lot less work when you have Money SMARTS up and running.) Note the monthly average in your excel sheet. We’ll transfer it to Moorr soon.
    • Provisioning spending – Think about the big things you plan to spend your money on over the next year. Some of you could be planning on replacing your couch. Others could be spending big on gifts. You need to document what these planned expenses are for the coming year.
  3. Go to the Bills & Spending section on Moorr and enter those regular spendings that you have recorded.
  4. Next, go to the MoneySMARTS Dashboard and enter the provisions.

 

Once you’ve completed all this, check out your Dashboard on Moorr! This is the coolest part because it tells you how much surplus you have and more. It’s like a profit and loss statement. If the dashboard shows that you should have a surplus in place, but you don’t, it means you may have overestimated your income or underestimated your expenses/repayments. Make sure to check and update accordingly.

This could be a reality check, but use this opportunity to motivate yourself!

 

Step 4: Banking – Set Up the System

To successfully execute your financial recovery plan, you’ll need a solid banking setup. Choose a high-interest savings account as your Primary Bank Account and arrange for your salary and direct payments to flow into this account. Create a separate Living & Lifestyle Bank Account for weekly allowances. Make sure your weekly allowance is transferring each week into your Living & Lifestyle account – so you have your 7 day float up and running. Additionally, keep only one credit card and use it wisely.

How can Moorr Help?: Check out our default recommendations!

As you go through Steps 1 to 3, you’ll be amazed at the awareness and understanding you’ve developed about your own money habits. Fascinating, isn’t it? From the very beginning of this journey, we mentioned that having awareness and the correct mindset will help you in the long run. Now, when you look at your Dashboard on Moorr, we hope you’ll clearly see your household’s financial structure, which will assist you in setting up your banking.

Additionally, leveraging our years of experience in money management and insights from the thousands of users we’ve served, we’ve incorporated our account structure recommendations for each category of bills and spending. Please note that this is a general recommendation based on all our users and MoneySMARTS, and it may not be customized to your unique spending habits. So, feel free to tweak it as you see fit.

Once you’ve reorganized your banking structure, make sure to update it in Moorr!

 

Step 5: GO – Start the Journey

Now that your Money SMARTS system is in place, it’s time to take action. Commit to your financial transformation and stay motivated. Track your progress using monthly check-ups to ensure you’re staying on course. Avoid unnecessary spending and be mindful of your weekly allowance. Remember, this journey requires discipline and determination, but the rewards will be worth it.

How can Moorr Help?: Monthly Checkup!

Monthly check-ups allow you to track and understand your money and cashflow position in a shorter timeframe to give you some clearer insights into how well you are progressing and controlling your money. In short, you are assessing the cashflow for the month – money in and money out – and tracking it against your yearly targets.

The great news here is, when set-up and it’s running smoothly, this check-up should take less than 10 minutes a month to do! To see the full reporting and insights, you only need to input three figures in Moorr:

  1. The balance of the Primary Bank account
  2. The balance of the Credit Card account
  3. Your total provision spending for the month. (Tip: You can add this On-The-Go via the app! That way, you don’t have to note it down and best yet, you can see how much provision is left before making that buying decision.)

 

Step 6: Tweaks – Adapt and Improve

We’re going to be upfront with you… The first few months of MoneySMARTS are the hardest. From our data, most users tend to understate their expenses. That’s mainly because we’re simply not aware of ALL the transactions.

As you progress on your financial journey, you will need to make adjustments to your plan. Be open to tweaks and improvements that will help you reach your goals faster. Focus on reducing discretionary spending and increasing your trapped surplus money to pay off debts more quickly.

How can Moorr Help?: The best way to do this is to get a trendline of your spending

If you noticed either of these scenarios:

  • You constantly ran out of money on your 7-day float.
  • You have a lot left on your 7-day float
  • You’re spending on something that is not provisioned for
  • You’ve got a lot of provision left

Review it, ask yourself if you can optimise this and get fitter with the spending and update Moorr. Stay grounded in reality, but never lose sight of the ultimate goal—to pay down your debt and achieve financial freedom. Moorr is here to support you every step of the way, providing the tools and resources you need to succeed.

 

Step 7: Rollover – Reflect and Renew

At the end of the year, review your progress and reflect on your achievements. Prepare for the next 12 months by setting new financial goals and recommitting to the Money SMARTS system. Remember, this journey is ongoing, and each year offers a chance for renewal and improvement.

How can Moorr Help?: Annual Rollover

We’ve made it super easy for you to do an Annual Rollover on Moorr. Simply head to the rollover section on the MoneySMARTS page and follow the prompts.

 

Potential Outcomes - The Power of Your Choices

Note: These potential outcomes are only snippets from Case Study 1 of our best seller book, Make Money Simple Again. 

If you’d like to see the full chapter with its accompanying charts and tables, download the book for FREE here

 

Scenario 1: The Baseline – Doing Nothing

If you continue making minimum repayments, it would take a long time to be debt free.

In the case study, it took Jenny over 60 years to be debt-free, with a staggering interest cost of $77,814. This scenario highlights the importance of taking action and implementing your Money SMARTS system.

 

Scenario 2: Debt Snowball Approach

Using Money SMARTS and paying down debts from smallest to largest, you can be debt-free quicker.  In the case study, if MoneySMARTS is implemented correctly, Jenny will be debt free in 60 months, with an interest cost of $9,729. This approach allows you to build momentum and motivation as you eliminate smaller debts first.

 

Scenario 3: High Low Approach

By paying down the most expensive debts first, you could be debt-free even sooner than scenario 2.

In the case study, if MoneySMARTS is implemented correctly, Jenny will be debt free in 55 months, with an interest cost of $7,673. This approach minimizes interest costs and helps you become debt-free more quickly.

 

Scenario 4: High Low Approach Plus Trapping $50 a Week

Using the same approach as Scenario 3 but trapping an extra $50 per week, you can be debt-free sooner than scenario 3.

In the case study, Jenny will be debt free in in 35 months, with an interest cost of $4,510 if she implemented scenario 4. This showcases the impact of conscious spending and how it accelerates your debt repayment.

 

Scenario 5: Debt Consolidation Approach

Consolidating your debts into one credit card with a 6-month interest-free period and not trapping extra money is also an option.

In the case study, using this method, Jenny can be debt-free in 56 months, with an interest cost of $6,009. Debt consolidation can simplify your repayments and reduce interest charges.

 

Scenario 6: Debt Consolidation Plus Trapping $100 a Week

Consolidating your debts while trapping an extra $100 per week, you can be debt-free the quickest.

In the case study, using this method, Jenny can be debt-free in just 22 months, with an interest cost of $1,260. This scenario emphasizes the power of trapping surplus money to accelerate your journey to financial freedom.

 

Free Download

Glad you made it here! If you find what you read so far insightful, we strongly encourage you to download the the free copy of Make Money Simple Again. There are charts, graphs and tables in there that will make even easer to understand.

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Conclusion

Congratulations on completing your Curated Journey to Financial Freedom! Your commitment, discipline, and determination are needed on your way to being debt-free. Remember that this journey is not just about escaping debt; it’s about building a strong financial foundation for a brighter future.

By implementing our Money SMARTS system in Moorr, embracing conscious spending, and making smart choices, you can take control of your finances and be in a better position to achieve your financial goals. Remember that financial freedom is a lifelong journey, and there will be ups and downs along the way. Stay focused, keep learning, and continue making informed financial decisions.

You now have the power to create the life you desire—one that is free from the burden of debt and filled with financial security. You are in control of your financial destiny, and with your newfound knowledge and discipline, the possibilities are endless.

Try Moorr For Free Today

Spend money on the things you want without guilt and save for the future with confidence. You can have the best of both worlds. Achieve more, with Moorr

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