Last Updated on September 1, 2019

Having access to social media while being on this debt-free journey is amazing.

As a newbie in the game, it’s inspiring to read debt-free success stories. Especially those with six-figure debt. Because of Instagram, I can connect with so many individuals who are currently in my shoes or those who have been in my shoes. I often look for inspiring debt-free stores that not only resonate with me but also encourage me to keep going. BTW if you don’t follow me on Instagram, follow me right now!

Today, I am extremely excited to share the following story with you!

Meet Julien and Kiersten. They’re the content creators of Rich and Regular.

Their story has been featured in Black Enterprise, Essence, Forbes and Glamour Magazines.  Recently, their story was featured on CBS: This Morning.

When I launched my Instagram page, their page @richandregular instantly caught my attention. Their story is inspiring. They live in Atlanta and I believe their down home approach reeled me in. We southerners like to call it Southern Hospitality – LOL! You can tell from their online presence that they’re truly passionate about their debt-free journey! I truly felt like I was sitting in their living room having a conversation with them as I researched their debt-free journey!

Their debt free journey truly defines the motto work hard and play later. They have paid off $200,000 of debt in 5 years! Their mission is to encourage others to join them in the pursuit of becoming Financially Independent. In fact, they’re strong advocates of the FIRE ( Financially Independent Retire Early) Movement.

I hope their story inspires you with the inspiration to start your debt-free journey, keep going, or finish it with a BANG!!

Let’s get started.

Complete the sentence “I knew I was debt-free when….”

…we knew we were debt-free on my (Kiersten) birthday in 2017. We walked into Wells Fargo to schedule the final wire transfer, paid the little $30ish fee and transferred the final payments from our checking account to the mortgage to completely pay it off. It was an incredible feeling. Now that property is a debt-free rental and pays us every month.

Tell me a little about yourself?

We met back in 2012 as co-workers and immediately clicked.  When we weren’t working, we traveled, had tons of fun together. A few years later (2015) we got married. When we were dating Julien had the audacity to tell me (Kiersten) that if he’d known I had credit card debt, he wouldn’t have dated me. It was the first time I’d ever felt shame about my spending and while I didn’t appreciate his words or his tone, I now understand a bit more why he said it.

Previously, he was in a relationship with big money issues and was already on the path to financial independence so our mindsets about money were very different at the time. Luckily, that comment led to some very real early conversations about money and gave us an opportunity to understand each other better. We were able to overcome those differences and now we’re both on the same page.

What did your debt consist of and how much did you (or do you) owe? 

We had credit card debt, car loans, student loan debt, IRS debt, and a mortgage. Altogether, it was approximately $200K

At what point did you realize you wanted to be debt-free?

We realized we wanted to be debt-free in 2014. After our honeymoon in South Africa (2015), and spending a few weeks away from work and the US, we really had an opportunity to think about what we wanted out of life. Living a debt-free life gave us the flexibility we wanted to live our life on our terms.

What steps did you take to reduce your debt?

We invested in real estate (rental properties) and worked hard to get promoted at work. After the promotion, we decided to continue living the same lifestyle. This allowed us to have a really high savings rate.

What was the most difficult challenge you faced in eliminating your debt?

The hardest part of debt payoff was definitely having to say no to certain events for people in our lives. There were trips, milestone birthdays and other big events we would’ve loved to go to that we decided not to. At times we really wanted to “go all out” for some of the people we love but we had to stick to our plan. Looking back, there was no love lost and we have no regrets but not everyone understands our lifestyle so it may have rubbed a few people the wrong way.

Now that you’ve reached this goal, what’s next for you?

We’re working towards financial independence. Our goal is to be in a position where we don’t have to worry about working for money because we can live off our investments. We are planning to hit that goal by 2021 and then we can decide to retire early if we choose to. We’ll likely always work in some way but it will likely be our own businesses or projects.