25 Years of Paying Attention, Not Interest

It’s been 15 years since the launch of this podcast, and 25 years since my wife and I started doing life together.

A lot has changed in 25 years. In this episode, I’ll share:

  • How compounding has made my wife & I millionaires despite crashes
  • How we qualified for a big honkin’ mortgage on only my self-employed income and WITHOUT a traditional credit score or manual underwriting
  • And the 1 thing I should have done better

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WE DID IT! How we got a mortgage without a traditional credit score

  1. Plan ahead. Budget. Save. Be intentional
  2. Pay bills (and debts) on time
  3. Review credit REPORTS regularly for errors
  4. Make $1,000 your new $0!
View of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains from Steve's home office

View of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains from my home office. #nofilter

Investment growth (and declines) over the past 25 years

We have no control over what the market does. But we do make the decisions on whether to invest or not.

My three “secrets” to investing the easy way:

  1. Make contributions automatic
  2. Don’t look at quarterly statements or daily market reports
  3. Stay invested, even when things look bleak!

Average gains and loses we experienced between 2000 and 2025

The graph shows the average monthly gain or loss between listed time periods.

*Contributions are factored into the results

How our net worth was impacted over time.

Notice the historical events that impacted markets. They may have effected our balances, but only for a short period of time.

While things like hard assets (house, vehicles, other belongings) don’t change in value very quickly, the value of our retirement investments continue to grow…so long as we remain invested!

There is no doubt in my mind that the market will turn and our investible assets will drop. A lot. So what else is new?

I hope you enjoyed this little recap of the past 25 years of our financial journey.

Resources mentioned:

Written By

Hello. My name is Steve Stewart and I HATE YOUR DEBT MORE THAN YOU. I believe everyone should be rich so they can help others in times of need. Life is too short to be this broke! Let's work together on designing a plan for your house of financial freedom.

I may not be creating personal finance content anymore, but I'm still here to encourage you and maybe even answer a question or two about your money. Don't hesitate to reach out!

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