<center>![financewordconcept7D83VF7.jpg](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/derangedvisions/mKcuC5qh-finance-word-concept-7D83VF7.jpg)</center>
<center><sup>[source](https://elements.envato.com/finance-word-concept-7D83VF7)</sup></center>

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# <center>Getting the finances in order for the future</center>

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Over the past month and a half, my wife and I have been working on getting our home refinanced. We started this process a couple weeks before we left for Steemfest. We finished everything last week and today is the day that all of the funding becomes official.

Our house has gained some significant value over the years that we have been in it, so we were lucky enough to get a decent amount for the refinance. We didn't want to refinance for the full 100% value of the home, but instead just enough to pay off some of the large bills that we have so that we can begin working towards becoming debt free in 2020. 

The first major thing we are going to be paying off is one of our cars that has the higher interest rate and a higher loan amount. Both of our cars are new, but I got a 0.9% interest rate on my car, so that is going to be one of the last things that we pay off. 

Dave Ramsey has a program that helps you get out of debt that we have used before and has helped lower our bills and one of the things that he talks about is the "[debt snowball](https://www.daveramsey.com/blog/how-the-debt-snowball-method-works)." It is a really effective way of taking care of your debt, but does take discipline. Here is how it works:

>Step 1: List your debts from smallest to largest regardless of interest rate.
Step 2: Make minimum payments on all your debts except the smallest.
Step 3: Pay as much as possible on your smallest debt.
Step 4: Repeat until each debt is paid in full.<sup>[source](https://www.daveramsey.com/blog/how-the-debt-snowball-method-works)</sup>

<center>![cryptocurrencycoinsEBJ8QYN.jpg](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/derangedvisions/iXWvE64C-crypto-currency-coins-EBJ8QYN.jpg)</center>
<center><sup>[source](https://elements.envato.com/crypto-currency-coins-EBJ8QYN)</sup></center>

I will also be taking a portion of my paychecks each month and investing into different cryptos to increase my holdings across the board. I do believe in the future of Steem and will be investing more into the platform, but I also am a firm believer in not putting all eggs in one basket and having a diverse portfolio. 

I think 2020 is going to be a breakout year for crypto as a lot of the projects are going to be "coming alive" and reaching the points in their roadmaps where they are in the actual use case portion of them. More and more people are getting interested in the real world application of cryptocurrency each day, and blockchain technology is being integrated with more things that it will soon be hard for people to deny the power of the blockchain. 

# <center>In closing</center>

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I hope that you all are ready for an amazing year. I am glad that 2019 is coming to an end. It has been a rough year, but I have high hopes for 2020. I got an awesome thing in the mail yesterday from @kommienezuspadt.

<center>![IMG_1410.jpg](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/derangedvisions/Qpa31vZ8-IMG_1410.jpg)</center><br>

I got this for supporting the [IndieGoGo Campaign for Copper Coins](https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/copper-coins-horror-anthology-vol-1-passchendaele#/) which I am glad to see was fully funded, which means that I am going to be getting an autographed copy of the comic book. It is awesome that we have talented members of the community like this here on Steemit that are doing great things off of the blockchain while also promoting the Steem Blockchain at the same time.

Thank you all for stopping by and checking out this post. I hope you are excited for 2020. Now it is time for me to go to the store and get some stuff to make my world famous nachos in preparation for my New Years Eve party. Stay awesome!

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