Hello Again

projectforty

I have posted once before under a different name but now wanted to start a fresh as I never really used the old account and finally am taking a stand against the daylight robbers that are credit card companies.

A bit of background

I am very happily married with two hungry little boys(5 and 7), a modest house and outgoings etc

I have built and run an IT Company(which is 7 strong) and whilst times are little tough at the momment I have decided that our financial debt situation is a ball and chain that impacts every decision that I make both personally and business wise.

The fact that we have so much(approx 40k) on credit card debt means that we cannot get credit. We have looked at loans - "you have too much credit" Doh!

We have tried to remortgage - "You have too much credit" Doh!

We have tried secured loans - eek! - "Your loan to value is too high, oh, and you have too much credit!" double doh!

Currently minimum payments are serviced by the business cashflow(this impacts my directors loan account but I leave that for my accountant to worry about)

Therefore we have a lot of CC debt but personally it does not impact us as the business pays for it. HOWEVER, as the economy slows, the business has its own finance etc to grow and when sales slow the personal debt just adds greater pressure to the whole thing.

Having done a lot of soul searching I have decided that I have two things which are imperative, because other than bankrupcy - which I REALLy dont want to entertain - the following are my only two options as far as I am concerned:

Business: sell sell and sell some more....This is being dealt with
Personal: Finally(and I mean FINALLY) face up to this and make a concerted effort to pay them off.

So....here is the plan:

My username is called Project Forty because in five years I will be forty. In the next five years I am absolutely determined to grow my business to the position where it is a very saleable proposition - I think this is perfectly feasible and I am doing everything I can from the business perspective to lay down and achieve these plans

The second objective is to be personally, debt free by the time I am forty. This has only just appeared to be an ACTUAL reality as I have just been reading about the snowballing technique.

Until I punched the numbers in I assumed a loan or whatever would take us AT LEAST ten years to repay the debts. But amazingly, based on what we pay already it thinks it can be paid off by December 2016 WOOOOOOWWWWEEEEE!!!

This ties in perfectly with my five year plan and means that if we DO sell the business, a large chunk will not be going to paying our personal stuff on so I am feeling really motivated.

By way of a distraction to the bi polar episodes that I think come from runnign your own business I plan to spend more time on here with a view to getting some positivity.

I would love to connect and hear from other business owners - as it can sometimes be a lonely place! and of course everyone else as well.

Wish me luck....Im going in..

Happytogetdebtfree

Hi and well done for posting :-) don't want to read and run. It's surprising what the snowball figures kick out, I'm sure once you put your mind to it you will be well on your way to financial freedom :-). I'm hoping to clear all my negative wealth this year, as they say shoot for the stars :-)

Willow_K

Hi

We're in a similar situation - DH runs his own business as a sole trader. We got into a load of debt thanks to some silly business decisions about 3 years ago and have never managed to dig our way out of it - partly due to cash flow and partly due to a lack of motivation.

Some of the debt is pure 'business' debt e.g. overdraft and credit cards (although in reality as DH is a sole trader he is personally liable for it), and some is in the form of a personal loan.

We've been coasting really, so I am determined this year to get the debts cleared. The only problem is that I am the main wage earner and I am on maternity leave until at least June, so the first half of the year is going to be spent learning to budget in reality and then the debt will be hit with a vengeance when I go back to work.

downsizer3

Another self-employed here - same amount of staff 'mouths to feed' too. Business has been tight for the past 3 years but we're still here and hanging on as best we can. Some days are positive and I think we'll make it - other days I really wonder.
So - I downsized and am trying to clear my debts and mortgage ASAP so at least my house is safe.
I'm looking at 2017 to clear all if I can follow my plan - so roughly the same timescales as you - and all in all its about £40k really.
Good luck - I'll follow your journey!

projectforty

Thanks downsizer and Willow.

Having your own business can make you think you are Bi Polar the amount of mood swings that you have - well me at least.

I think the hardest thought is that I dont want to go back to being employed and also, because I have personally helped finance the business on cards - even if we did fold it, I'd struggle to find a job to pay me whats required to service the debts.

Frustrating all round but really appreciate the support

downsizer3

There's no doubt that self employment brings extra sleepless nights. There have been times when I'm simply worried about getting out with my sanity.
We've been around for a long time so had time to build up a safety net - and that has diminished quite a lot over the past 3 years.
When you start turning a decent profit - ditch that debt and build up a pot - forget the Porsche for a few years...........haha ( if only....)