Best financial decision i ever made was deciding to get out of debt. And by debt i mean ALL debt. I owe nothing to no one. Anyone can do it if they want. I make a middle class income. Never been rich. Never had ppl to cosign or buy me expensive shit like a college education or a car. Besides thats what the military is for? Lol. Did the debt free thing with 2 kids in tow and a wife that was stay at home. That was our decision. Now shes working as both kids are in school. Since we accomplished all that on just my income. Her fancy new director title and the fancy salary that comes with it is pure savings. On top of the savings i have from my salary. Its scary how fast things change when 2 ppl decide we arent settling for anything but a robust financial future. Its also scary how much money ppl(like i used to be) waste w/o even thinking about it. Auto loans keep ppl in debt till they die because every body has to have the newest flavor. If they had to pay for that car/truck in cash bet damn sure a very very large portion of americans wouldnt be riding in the newest thing to hit the show room floor. Credit cards and payment plans have taken over common sense in the majority of ppl now days. Long ago if yo ass didnt have it in cash yo ass wasnt gettin it! Novel idea right? Now every asshole can budget anything to constrict that budget more and more every month. A compounding effect. Cuz now thats more money thats not being saved. And things like autos are a terrible investment to say the least.
Everybody has the tools to succeed. Just takes hard work and vision. The thought of eliminating all overhead but basic essentials and using all the saved money to pay off debt is far more than most are willing to give up. Cuz that means no fun for a looong time. No late nights on the town, no expensive purchases, no vacations they cant afford. Even may require selling some things to get your head above water. Im not directing this at the wealthy. Those ppl for the most part have no idea what it means to struggle. The poor and middle class are the ones who suffer most from debt and its the target of MOST these companies efforts to get them in that ride or that credit card.
Its not the system. Its the ppl. They have the power. Their just not following the right role models. I came 1600 miles away from home to find my piece of america. Came down here with just my f150. No job waiting for me. Knew no one. Had no ties in the area and decided to put all bets on me. Just balls man. Only took 5 yrs to get where i am now. And i wouldnt trade the last 13 yrs of a debt riddled lifestyle and all the stresses that come with it for anything. It was what formed us to who we are today.
And the future is not only bright. Its blazing with the fury of a thousand suns.
We made the decision to live like no one else now we get to LIVE like no one else.

Life is better without debt
Everyone does not have the tools to succeed... more people have more of a chance anywhere in this country to be sure- but saying anyone can do it reeks of a lack of understanding about the many constraints life bestows upon people before they have a fighting chance.
There are physical and mental constraints- people born without limbs, without basic motor functions. People with cerebral palsy, downs syndrome, spina bifida- a multitude of disabilities and illnesses handed out by the random. There are also many mental illnesses that one is born with or can be developed- family members rape you, abandoned by drug addict parents- countless forms of abuse that can break a child for good.
Then there is not just poverty- but crushing poverty. There is a constituent that thinks success is color blind- but when you have groups targeted by police who were forced into poverty by this targeting- defunding of education in urban areas, defunding of social programs, food shelves closed- and private prisons with minimum occupancy requirements. Fatherless families die to the mass incarceration from non violent offenses performed to put food on the table... all because jobs that actually support families are just not available to people with records- records handed out randomly to any dark skinned passer by that your average middle class American wouldn't see the inside of a courtroom for.
I sense the eye roll.
The fact of the matter is that there is a color wheel that determines success. It isn't just skin color- but being black sure is not the upper hand in any situation in this country.
You hit the nail on the head with role models... when the only heroes taught about are white (blacks get one- maybe two vs 12 years of white history) and 98% of people on tv, in high corporate positions, in politics, etc are all white, who does a minority look up to? Born into ghettos formed from the segregation born of the jim crow "freedom" that began with the arresting of blacks who were forced into chain gangs rebuilding the south and has simply been exacerbated by selective arresting/profiling, selective hiring, selective renting and credit and drugs funneled in from government agencies since the 60s that helped destroy any community that might have formed that would have been formidable enough to demand more.
I too am debt free. Pursuing dreams. Living a life far beyond what I could have pictured in my wildest dreams....
But the trouble I have slid out of- my skin helped with that. Jobs I got along the way, opportunities afforded- the fact that I never doubted my ability to make it in life was a mental gift not given to all... if I was black, Mexican, whatever- I doubt it would have been the same route if possible at all. I didn't have baby brothers and sisters to care for because my parents were in prison. I wasn't profiled at every twist and turn and thrown in prison for partying in my teens.
So- there is a path to success. A discipline. Hard work, focus. The able bodied, the people with mental acuity and a dearth of mental impairments can follow that road. If they have the right people to show them the way, to keep them from trouble- it's possible.
Unfortunately the world is full of fucked up people who pull people down... ruin their lives for their own gains. Ruin children and ruin adults. It's not just choosing Michael jordan instead of kanye west as a role model... it's a societal rot perpetuated by those in power who seek to seperate the masses by income, debt, race... etc. In a class war that race is the biggest schism used by the elite to keep the many from usurping the few since the jeffersonians first threw their arguments across that parchment.
Saying anyone can do what you did makes light of impossible circumstances of physical, mental, and societal types that people are born into. Everyone doesn't get a trophy dude. You are just as blessed and lucky as you are a hard worker. Some people, no matter what they do, will not ever have a chance at what we do. Period.