“What you do daily is part of what you become permanently.” – Chris Brady
This Financial Fitness testimony is a powerful example of the impact that the Green Box is having in people’s lives. Here is Bill and Brandie Schmidt’s story:
I (Brandie) did not grow up learning about money. I don’t think either of my parents knew much about money except from what they learned on their own through trial and error. Going to nursing school was always a dream of mine so the thought of accumulating debt to get there wasn’t even really a thought. I had joined the Air Force to earn a GI bill to help with the expenses, however, that was used to live off of during the time I attending school so I didn’t have to have a full-time job. By the time I had graduated from school, the student loan debt was around $35,000, which in my mind wasn’t all that bad considering a lot of my other classmates had more than that. After graduation, and getting my first “full time” nursing job without any good financial education, I went and bought my first “new” car along with a car payment. I had the thinking that if I could afford the payment then I could buy it. This mentality applied to all aspects of my life to include vacations, shopping trips, cars, homes, entertainment, etc. Before I knew it, my life had become all about money and making more to be able to spend more. I had accumulated over $60,000 in debt to include my student loan debt, credit card debt, personal line of credit, and a leased car payment. It wasn’t until being introduced to the Financial Fitness Program that my views of money changed. I had never heard the principle “if you can’t pay for it with cash, then you really can’t afford it.”
“Since learning these different principles, I was able to pay off all of my debt, get rid of the leased car and pay cash for a different car, and now I don’t buy anything without paying cash and applying delayed gratification. What a difference learning and applying different information can make in your life!!” – Brandie Schmidt
I (Bill) only knew money from the view that my Dad taught me growing up. My Dad was an entrepreneur who wasn’t afraid of taking risks in conventional business. So when I turned twenty, my Dad and I moved to northern Michigan and bought a pizzeria restaurant for $500,000 that we knew nothing about! We thought that was going to give us our financial freedom; boy were we wrong! Going into debt for that much and trying to leverage debt to get our goals and dreams wasn’t working out! Then, a few years later we started another Pizzeria and went into to debt for another $400,000. You think I would have learned the first time, but that wasn’t the case.
So by the age of 25, I was drowning in debt of about $800,000 to $1,000,000 because that’s what we were taught to do. We were making good money, or so we thought! I was making six figures a year, then came the leased cars, the big house with the toys, and everything else that comes with mortgaging a house for 30 years! The financial stress was starting to take its toll! We also were working over a 100 hours a week just to maintain our pizzerias and our lifestyles. I had no time for anything besides work, work, work. Then, you start to justify spending money because you work so much that you deserve to treat yourself to something nice, like leasing brand new Audi’s and Porsche’s. Things like that are easy to justify when you’re making great money, and you’re not very good with finances!
I realized when I turned 30 that my finances had to change and I could only go as far as what my parents taught me.
So I started to look for something different; I started looking for different business adventures, but didn’t want to get into debt again by buying another conventional business. I knew there had to be something else out there: how were the wealthy living this great life, and Bill wasn’t?
“On they outside, Brandie and I looked successful. She was an E.R. nurse and I was a business owner for almost 20 years in our community. But on the inside we were struggling with our finances, with our relationship, and we just didn’t know what to do.” – Bill Schmidt
As Chris Brady often says, “You Don’t know what you don’t know!”
Fast forward years later, a gentleman I knew from the gym had handed me the book, The Magic Of Thinking Big. As I started to read that book, everything started to change in my life as I began to apply the principles from that book. Then the Financial Fitness Program was introduced to Brandie and I! We were still over $425,000 in debt at the time.
“I had to face my reality and look in the mirror and own up and take responsibility for our financial mess! The first audio I listened to in the Green Box was “Money as a Slave,” by Chris and Terri Brady. Wow, that just spoke truth to me and really kicked me in the butt. I realized I was doing it all wrong all those years. So, by going through the Green Box and applying these 47 financial principles, in a little over 6 yrs, we paid off all of the $425,000 in debt and are now officially debt free!!” – Bill Schmidt
When you start to hear truth in your life, its sweet to the ears! We still had to face the reality and realize that we were not good with money. Money had control over us, not the other way around.
As Orrin Woodward often says, “WE DON’T PROMISE YOU EASY, BUT WE DO PROMISE YOU IT’S WORTH IT!”
Congratulations to Bill and Brandie Schmidt on escaping the Financial Matrix once and for all! Your story is an inspiration to many!
Brandon J Perry says
Great job Bill and Brandie! Love watching all the hard work you guys are doing!
Peggi Kern says
Such an inspiring testimony! Congratulations, Bill & Brandie!
Kirk Birtles says
Way to lead from the front Bill & Brandie!
Kb
brian barrett says
Super Bill (and Brandi) Keep leading you guys are the best