Whether exercising, managing weight, saving money, or paying off your mortgage, Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard maxim of self reliance nails it. “Diligence is the mother of good luck.”
- Exercise: Last year, on the day my little boy was born, I stepped on the scale and was shocked to see the number. I weighed more than I had ever weighed in my life. Women talk about pregnancy weight gain. I think I had pregnancy sympathy weight gain through my wife’s pregnancy. I decided to start riding my bike regularly. I didn’t really change anything in my diet — except eating more energy bars (more calories). After 4 months, I had dropped 15 pounds.
- Mortgage: Paying off your mortgage is a huge hurdle for most everybody. But read the book! You’ll see how “Diligence is the mother of good luck” is so appropriate. “A dollar saved is Five dollars earned.” For the typical homeowner, $1 paid extra towards the mortgage saves $5. Diligence makes it even more substantial. “Two dollars saved is a Thousand dollars Earned.” If the typical homeowner were to pay just $2 extra every month, they would save $1,000.
Here’s an example of a typical home sold at today’s mortgage rates. When you input the numbers into the mortgage pay off calculator, you can see the results in the amortization table.
Savings: Diligence is the mother of good luck. Just $20 of diligence per month would save over $7,000 in interest, and would save a total of over $14,000. Pay off your mortgage! It’s the best investment going.