It was a dark and stormy night in the bayou. No wait…I’m just joshing you. Ha ha! This story doesn’t start off like a ghost story you tell beside the campfire or even in a bayou. I mean who do I look like, Bayou Billy?
For those who don’t know who that is, Bayou Billy is a fictional character in an NES game from 1988.
As a 90’s kid, I liked playing all types of Nintendo games. What I loved about video games is that not only are they entertaining and fun to play, but they teach you critical thinking and problem solving skills as well. Nevertheless, I digress. Now back to how I paid off this $85k of debt.
Paying down massive amounts of debt involves sacrifice, effort, planning, hard work and fortitude. It doesn’t really happen by accident or luck It is consistent effort over time to keep paying your debt obligation while at the same time not continuing to borrow more of it. This is what I had to do to make it happen.
The number one thing I had to figure out was how much I owed. Opening up bank and credit card statements showed me this. I had to get this debt off by back: a $20,000 personal loan, $30,000 car loan, various credit card, and other debt of $35,000.
Those credit card statements showing me how much to pay over three years before it is paid in full really motivated me. Therefore, I would just put my head down and work. I worked on paying off one debt at a time.
Then I would go to the next one and concentrate all my time and energy on that one until it was gone. It took more than eight years to pay off all that debt.
I had to pay $448.65 monthly on my car note, $333 monthly on my personal loan, and additional over $500 on the other debt. Paying all that money out every month motivated me to do two things: 1) Not to get any more personal loans; and 2) Not to get anymore car loans.
I paid off my car in 2009. I am happy to report that as of 2021, I have not had another car note since. I kept my old car for 17 years total and then the next car I bought, I paid cash for it.
Instead of siphoning off my money to service debt, I began to invest that money in myself. I went back to school and starting dumping my money in my retirement accounts. Got an extra $5. Put in in the Roth IRA. Got a raise or bonus. Put more money in my 401(k).
All these years later and I am still contributing to my retirement accounts.
I have read more than enough articles on the retirement crisis and the shortage in Americans retirement accounts to know I had better take this seriously. I didn’t want to wake up one day and be 50 with no money saved for my golden years.
I know that those years feel like they’re in a galaxy far, far away, but trust me, no one stays young forever.
I want you to protect your 401(k) as Luke Skywalker protected Princess Leia in Star Wars.
Debt are the storm troopers. Your ability to avoid debt is your use of your strong will over your spending. Your checkbook is your light saber.
Your control over how you wield these funds is your Jedi mind trick over all those who try to part you from your money.
I hope that this post helps awaken the sleeping giant within that lets you choose financial freedom over spending.
For those of you out there that grew up in the in the 90’s, then you may remember a video game by the name of Maniac Mansion.
It was released on October 5, 1987 on multiple platforms such as Apple II, Atari and Nintendo to much fanfare and critical acclaim and was developed by the man who created Luke Skywalker and the Star Wars franchise, George Lucas, through Lucasfilm Games.
This was long before the iphone was released to worldwide sensation back in 2007, which was developed by another pioneer, Steve Jobs of Apple.
What I absolutely loved about this game was the character development. They were so much fun. Interacting with Weird Ed and Edna and the tentacles was a riot!
Even how the characters spoke to each other was hilarious. Let me provide you with this example.
However, as with anything, you have to look below the surface and take a deeper look. Therefore, I wrote this post focusing on the financial aspects of this game in regards to how you can relate money to the world around you. Even a video game.
And do not even get me started on the price of games today! Growing up we thought $60 a pop for one game was outrageous! Boy, were we wrong.
Today, you can spend $80 or more for a subscription to play your Playstation or Xbox console. Another subscription! Come off it marketing departments across America! You know people can’t afford to barely buy toilet paper out here, let alone video game subscriptions!
Don’t believe me?
When the longest government shutdown in United Sates history, it lasted 35 days, happened people were in line at soup kitchens!
Missing one check caused people absolute panic. And I don’t mean at the disco! One lady said that she was down to $1.26 in her checking account; that was all the money she had and she didn’t know what she was going to do.
You see back in the good old days, you would go to the store, buy an item, do the transaction one time, and like Cinderella’s fairy Godmother’s would say, “bibbidi-bobbidi-boo” and you owed the thing free and clear as the transaction was done, over, finito.
This post will show you how to save money, get rich, and maybe decide to put a down payment on some property, but it doesn’t have to be a mansion. So here we go.
5 Money and Life Lessons from Maniac Mansion
But first… What is Maniac Mansion?
Maniac Mansion is a 1987 graphic adventure video game developed and published by Lucasfilm Games.
It follows teenage protagonist Dave Miller as he attempts to rescue his girlfriend from a mad scientist, whose mind has been enslaved by a sentient meteor. The player uses a point-and-click interface to guide Dave and two of his six playable friends through the scientist’s mansion while solving puzzles and avoiding dangers. Gameplay is non-linear, and the game must be completed in different ways based on the player’s choice of characters.
MONEY AND LIFE LESSON ONE: MANSIONS COST MONEY
It has been over twenty years since a mysterious purple meteor came hurtling out of the sky and made a large crater in the front lawn of a large Victorian mansion belonging to the Edison family. Dr. Fred, his wife Nurse Edna, and their son Weird Ed were reclusive people who left the house very rarely, but the meteor’s arrival brought about a strange change in Dr. Fred. Now, a local cheerleader has vanished without a trace. Dave, her boyfriend, has gathered a few of his close comrades on a mission to invade the mansion and save Sandy!
However, if we just focus on the part about the mansion…basically, big homes costs big bucks! For fun, I looked up the cost of Victorian homes.
The Main House at Skywalker Ranch inspired the design of Maniac Mansion‘s setting, which is reported to have cost self-made millionaire George Lucas around $100 million dollars.
The Skywalker Ranch
So unless you are onstage with your two friends Kelly and Michelle or creating the next new franchise, you may want to stick with buying a home you can afford.
Let’s not forget that property taxes are forever! If you can’t pay your taxes, you can still lose your home, even if you own it free and clear.
Taxes are an ongoing expense to owning a home.
Let us not forget that even celebrities have to sell homes for unforeseen reasons and sometimes at a loss.
It was reported that Johnny Depp was suing his management company for $25 million and in the court filing it detailed his spending at at $2 million- a-month! He had considerable property holdings and it was also reported that he was advised to sell a family home located in Paris, France or something along those lines and possibly at a loss at that!
Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson was also recently in the news as his Connecticut manse was costing him $70,000-a-month to maintain. That basically is the cost of running a small boutique hotel or miniature bed-and-breakfast. He ended up selling the property at a loss, he paid $4.1 million and sold at $2.3 million, to stop paying the exorbitant cost of owning the place.
Lastly, Mary J. Blige was reported to own a couple mansion-style properties in New Jersey that were unable to be rented. You read that right. She is paying for properties that are uninhabitable, costing her money every single month night and day, and collecting no rent on the properties. In her divorce filing, she was reported to make over $300,000 a month so it is unclear why exactly these properties are unable to be renovated and sold without a closer look at her financial records and proper accounting.
The reason I refuse to buy a big home is because they along with cars can be wealth suckers.
Doing the math, if you buy a $350,000 at a 5% interest rate and take 30 years to pay it off it will cost you around $700,000! Or a $500,000 home could cost you $1,000,000. Yes, twice what you bought the home for.
And most people are working to pay for this behemoth, fancy vacations, and expensive nights on the town with bottle service meaning they are not even home enough to enjoy paying double the cost of it!
All good things come in time. Building wealth is no exception to the rule.
I started out with a toothbrush, a bag of clothes, and some books.
Now I have a home, paid off vehicle, stocks, investments, and even more books. The point I’m trying to make here is that you accumulate money and things over time. You may not have everything you want right now, but keep working.
Never let yesterday use up too much of today. – Will Rogers
If you are working towards something, the don’t stop or quit for anything. I turned a $450 car payment into $100,000. It took like a decade.
Come to think of it, it usually takes people 10 years or more to perfect whatever it is their doing so you may as well chill out.
The humorist Will Rogers (1879-1935) once told a young John Wayne some sound and simple advice. I will share it with you here.
After John Wayne (1907-1979) complained for a full 10-15 minutes of why he wasn’t being paid more to act on film, he asked Will Rogers what he should do? Will Rogers replied, “Well kid, are you working?” To which, John Wayne replied, “yes.” Then Will Rogers says, “keep working.” And then proceeds to walk away.
So my reply to anyone who wants something NOW, “have patience.” This is me NOW moving on to the next paragraph and lesson in this post, which is my equivalent to Will Rogers walking away. I have given you all the advice you need on that topic. Moving on.
MONEY AND LIFE LESSON THREE: MAKE FRIENDS NOT ENEMIES
One of the best things about the game are the characters. Each have different looks, mannerisms, ways of speaking, talents and abilities. This is part of what makes the game so much fun.
Dave is on a mission. To save his girlfriend Sandy. But he can’t do it alone. He brings along his friends to help him out and watch his back.
This is also sound advice if you want to build a fortune and an empire. Nobody does it alone. Eventually you will need to work with bankers, lawyers, businesses, investment professional, and tax attorneys.
It is always best to make friends than enemies as you never know when it is the next time you will see someone again.
When you are climbing that corporate ladder, those same people you tried to step on on the way up, you may see them again on the way down.
Hopefully, you offered them a piece of the pie instead of one to the face.
Mark Cuban said some great business advice in that if you start a company, then make sure your employees have some stock options invested in it as part of their compensation. That way if the company is successful and gets sold then the employees make money too.
This does two things: 1) eliminates wealth inequality (many of Mark Cuban’s former employees, 300 out of 330, became millions); and 2) encourages people to pay it forward through philanthropy and spend money that gets circulated back into the economy.
MONEY AND LIFE LESSON FOUR: RESCUE THE GIRL OR GUY FROM FINANCIALDUNGEONS
In the game, if you get caught snooping around the mansion, then you are sen t to the dungeon.
The game is notorious for constantly getting you thrown in the dungeon by almost every member of the household if you are seen.
Fortunately, the game has a cheat in which you can get the dungeon key and let yourself and others that have been captured out of the dungeon. Without this trick in the game, you are toast.
Speaking of toast, avocado toast is not causing millennial’s to be broke. It is the ever escalating cost of education, housing, and healthcare that makes it harder to save.
All wealth building starts with saving. Period. A good cash reserves is a must. Here is a tip for you. Pros have cash. Amateurs do not. Pros are not under any kind of financial pressure. They remove the pressure and make rational decisions because they have money in the bank. Only amateurs allow pressure to get to them. Remove much of the pressure in your life by having cash reserves.
I recommend that being $10,000 or more in savings. That is how you are able to rescue yourself from being trapped in a financial dungeon. Just have cash.
MONEY AND LIFE LESSON FIVE: ALWAYS HAVE A BACKUP PLAN
The video game Maniac Mansion has 5 possible endings. Depending on what players you chose to play and what actions you take.
The game allows you to have 3 characters for game play out of about 6. These are the people that have your back in case things should go wrong.
In addition, their different talents and unique abilities allow each kid to be an asset to the team. You must too do this in life. You must have back up…plans that is.
For example, I try to keep a minimum of 2-3 months or more of savings in the bank at ALL TIMES! Then I ramped it up to a goal of $10,000.
In addition, if you can save $233,000 in your 401(k), then you do not have to add another cent! After 20 years, with a return rate of 8 percent, you will have $1,001,857.35 in your retirement account. That’s Plan A. Cant’t envision making that happen? Then go to plan B. Save $168,000 in your 401(k), then do not add another penny. After 25 years, with a return rate of 8 percent, you will have $1,001,358.03 in your retirement account.
Are you starting to get the idea?
You can move the finish line and change your actions according to what is happening in your life, but keep the goal. If necessary, you can have a Plan A, B, C, D, etc. The point is to make it so that you are always moving forward by planning ahead.
Just like you have to do when playing Maniac Mansion.
So let’s get out there, have some fun, and start saving!
