Mel Abraham says skip the debt-first rule and split your money 80/20 between paying debt and investing instead. Wealth creation is a behavior you build through practice, not a balance sheet number, and extreme frugality kills it. Start now, even with small amounts, because the curve stays flat until you begin.
How to eliminate debt while building wealth without living like you're broke. The financial industry has sold us a lie. They basically said that you don't do anything until you get out of debt before you start investing. Beans and rice until you are on your feet. That advice is plain wrong. And here's why. Wealth creation is a behavior, not a balance. And if you never start to practice investing, you'll never build the muscle. Then there's the other thing that I tell people to do, and that is to use a split. Like, for instance, 80/20. You can literally pay down debt and invest at the same time and build your wealth. Now, all of a sudden, you're exercising both the debt payment muscle and the wealth-building muscle. Now, I get it. It may slow down your ability to get out of debt, but it is developing your skills to build wealth in the process. So even if all you have is $5, You start to put that into the behaviors to create wealth. And number 3, I think we need to think about is that extreme frugality, it fails. See, if you strip every joy out of your journey, you're indoctrinating yourself into scarcity. You won't enjoy the destination either because you're not enjoying the journey because you've trained yourself to live in deprivation. Build 2 to 3 joy points along the way. Because the real goal is freedom of choice. This isn't about a number in your account. It's about building a life of choice. The money machine, building the wealth, separates your earnings from your efforts to earn it. So you no longer have to trade time for money. That is freedom. And freedom isn't retirement. It's having the bandwidth, the clarity, and the options right now. So last thing to think about is start today. Not someday. The wealth creation curve at the beginning is flat at the first part, and then it accelerates, but only if you start to get in. Waiting until your debt is gone, that doesn't get you there. So get in the game, stay in the game, and build small. Let it be messy, but build it regularly. So that's how you eliminate debt while building wealth without living like you're broke for years.
