Personal Finance Blog | Money Management Blog | Financial Help

As of today my wife and I are officially consumer debt free! We still have our new mortgage, of course (we got a great deal through Finicity Home Loans), but it is way more affordable now that we don’t have to worry about paying down the stupid consumer debt we had so quickly accumulated.

Our debt started with the mistake of applying for a Wal-Mart Credit Card to buy a $240 television a little over three and a half years ago. I reasoned with my wife that since it was 0% interest for 6 months, we could just pay a little each month until it was paid off. Now, I should mention that this was our very first credit card…ever. We were quickly lulled into the “Buy Now, Pay Later” mentality and we, of course, never got around to paying that card off in those first six months. Shocking, I know. And since we hadn’t paid it off, we got slammed with a 17.9% interest rate that was applied quickly to the ever-increasing balance. We would eat out and “put it on the card” here, and then buy some new clothes and “put it on the card” there, continuing to increase that balance. We then, falling further into the “Buy Now, Pay Later” trap, transferred the balance over to two cards with 0% interest for an additional year. Needless to say, things spun completely out of control and before we knew it we had accumulated well over $6,000 in credit card debt, and all in less than six months.

Thankfully, this was about the time we started using Mvelopes.

We quickly had our finances under control and were rapidly paying down our consumer debt using the debt roll-down principle. It wasn’t easy. It took a lot of determination and diligence, but we worked on it together as a team and that made a huge difference. We, of course, had some emergencies that slowed our progress and it took us nearly three years to pay it all off, but we did it!

I recently read an MSN money article “Your 5-minute guide to managing debt” and the closing statement really struck home:

“Whatever you do, don’t give up. You didn’t get into debt overnight, and you won’t get out that quickly. Getting out of debt takes time and patience, but it pays big dividends down the road.”

While it seemed to me that we got into debt overnight, the freedom that we now feel is the biggest and most valuable dividend of them all. We can’t wait to join the ranks of “Credit Deadbeats” as we no longer carry a balance and now pay off all of our cards in full each and every month with the help of the new Finicity Money Manager (formerly Mvelopes)!

Kristopher Higley, Designer

I have to admit that I am a big fan of Financial Guru, Dave Ramsey. I recently went to one of his Total Money Makeover Live events and absolutely loved it! He has tremendous passion for teaching people how to get out of debt, get control of their finances and ultimately better their lives. My wife convinced me that we could move money from one of our discretionary envelopes to purchase a few of the children’s books they promoted at the event. Now, not only am I telling my friends and family about how Finicity helps us budget with the envelope method, but my 4 year-old is too! Whenever she hears someone talking about money she has to tell them that her Daddy uses Mvelopes (we’re still working with her on the whole Mvelopes to Finicity transition thing).

One of the best results of this has been the transformation to our mornings! Leaving for work in the morning used to be a ritual of her whining and begging that I stay home and play all day with her. But now, thanks to Ramsey’s “Jr.” books, the morning dialogue with my daughter goes simply:

“Daddy, where are you going?”

“When you need money…” I say, “You gotta go to work!” she chimes in excitedly.

Then she gives me a kiss and a hug, and I’m off. Who knew that something like the “Envelope Method of Budgeting” would not only lead to financial control and freedom, but a whine-free morning!

Kristopher Higley, Designer

We’re pleased to announce to all our users that Mvelopes is broadening it’s scope to become Finicity. The new Finicity BETA site is now open for your viewing pleasure! Expect to get an e-mail soon with more information on this exclusive invitation (although if you’re reading this, you’ve already been to the site - nice job!).

We think you’ll like what Finicity has to offer; you’ll notice a ton of new features, all of which are designed to provide support and insights into using the application and managing your money. So join a group, talk with our mentors, read the money tips and enjoy the new site!

Oh, and to access Mvelopes, just use your current username/password and login at www.enjoy.finicity.com. Once you’re logged in you’ll see the “Launch Money Manager” tab in the upper right corner of the site. Click this link to launch the application.

Finicity is still a work in progress (beta), and you can expect to see more site changes in the coming weeks. But we’ll be launching the full site soon, so keep checking to see what’s new!

The Finicity Team

Hello there.

Now that you’ve found us, it’s probably a good time to explain what this blog is all about, so here’s the quick version:

• Enjoy Your Money (EYM) is a new blog from Finicity, a Utah-based money management company
• We’re best known for Mvelopes, the award-winning money management system
• Hopefully you like your blogs spicy (i.e. variety), since EYM is written by numerous Finicity employees

Now if at this point you’re asking yourself “This is madness! Why? Why would they do something like this?” here is the answer you seek: EYM is designed to offer you a wide variety of views and opinions on money, life and anything else that strikes our fancy (which is rare). And even if we don’t always take ourselves seriously, rest assured our #1 goal is to help you manage, save and (you guessed it) enjoy your money. Check out www.enjoy.finicity.com for a trial of our Money Manager and helpful tips, advice and more.

Cheers!

The Finicity Team

*Okay, so maybe the whole world isn’t rejoicing, but we’re still excited!