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What do your finances look like?

If you had to visualize what your finances looked like, what would come to mind?

• Water down the drain? (It's slippery, moves fast, and it's almost impossible to hold in place.)
• Maybe one of those barrels of peanuts at a restaurant? (A few shelled peanuts in a pile, a handful "reserves" still in the shell, but mostly lot of remnants of what use to be — i.e., not at lot there that's worth much.)
• Perhaps Rich Uncle Pennybags from Monopoly? (Financial life is good, you have money to throw around, and plenty more where that came from!)

Before you answer, maybe you should visualize it on a calendar, like Matt did from Steadfast Finances. Matt had the great insight to look at how long he works to pay for his different obligations and then plotted the findings on a calendar (this is similar to Tax Freedom Day, but rather than freedom from taxes, this is from your stuff... perhaps a "tax" in its own right). Here is what he found:

Here's what he learned:

1. I bought way too much house on a single income.
2. I was two paychecks away from defaulting on a loan (if I couldn't borrow money from family).
3. I wasn't living beyond my means, but I was very close!

What an eye-opening experience this was for him and would be for most of us should we take the time to do it. You just might find out that Rich Uncle Pennybags better plug the drain or he won't be worth peanuts.

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