Utah woman paying off debt
Bianca Young grew up in a household where money was never talked about. She was never taught how to save or manage money. But after years of personal and financial setbacks, she’s managed to teach herself.
“The roads have been tough all my life. If I’m given the opportunity to change that, then I’m going to change it,” she said. “I have grown smarter about money. I realize how important it is to save.”
The change began several years ago, when a failed relationship and a long and costly custody battle had left her with nothing. Having spent some time working in the credit counseling industry, she started to educate herself about saving, retirement, and how to manage money successfully.
One of her first steps was to put herself on a budget. “It wasn’t easy, but it was necessary,” she said. “I had to learn how to say no to my children when they asked me for things. I went to the grocery store and asked myself, ‘What do we need, and what do we want?’” Only after she had gotten the things on the “needs” list did she add one or two items from the list of “wants.”
She also developed a new appreciation for the importance of saving. “I didn’t know how important it was. As you watch TV and you hear speculation about the Social Security reform, you kind of get worried, because Social Security may not be around when the time comes for me to retire. That scares me. I worry about my retirement, my children going to college, me going to college. I said to myself, ‘I have got to start saving.’”
Although she opened a savings account, she still wasn’t finding the money to save until she heard about Utah Saves. They taught her about the importance of paying off debts. “I didn’t know that paying off debt was a form of saving. But after I thought about it, it all made sense,” she said.
When she signed up as a Saver, she made paying off her debts her first goal. “I have set goals before, but as I continued to deal with the challenges that were constantly being thrown at me, I never stuck to my goals. Signing up as a Utah Saver gave me the opportunity to set my goal and see the goal in front of my face.”
Part of her motivation comes from wanting her children to have something to fall back on if anything happens to her, she said. “I don’t want to have debt left behind once I’m gone. I want to retire comfortably. I also just want to be happy.”
Once her debts are paid off, she plans to put the extra money into a savings account. “Many people don’t look at the future because they don’t want to think that far ahead,” she said. “They’re wrong. You have to be prepared to face those challenges. You don’t have to be rich, you just have to think smart,” she added. “Without the knowledge of saving, credit, budgeting, and debt, we lose.”
“You don’t have to be rich, you just have to think smart.” --Bianca Young