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Dealing with debt can be a daunting task, especially when you've piled up a good amount over time. Between student loans, car loans, and credit card debt, figuring out where to even start can be difficult. That's why financial planners always start with the basics when it comes to helping their clients pay off their debt fast.
There are a few simple steps that you can do from home to keep you on track and even help you pay down your debt faster. Below, three financial planners share the tips and tricks they use with their clients.
1. Figure out what got you there in the first placeWe all have certain spending habits that we could do without: an endless list of forgotten subscriptions, eating out too often, or online impulse shopping. If you want to start paying off your debt, you have to stop accumulating it. And reevaluating your spending can help.
Financial planner Chloé A. Moore of Financial Staples doesn't tell her clients what they should and shouldn't spend money on. Instead, she asks them a series of questions that will help them align their spending with their values.
"Once I have their transactions, I'll ask them three basic questions. The first one is, what expenses align with what's important to you? The next one is, are there any areas where you want to spend more money and why? And then, are there areas where you want to spend less money and why?" Moore says.
This process helps her clients re-prioritize the things that are actually important to them so that they are not aimlessly spending money on things that are a momentary distraction.
2. Write down all your debts in one placeYou may not realize the amount of debt you owe, which means you may not be aware of how much you're spending on interest fees alone. That's why financial planner Mari Adam of Mercer Advisors encourages her clients to put it all down in front of them and take a good look at it.
"What you owe, what the rate is, what the minimum is. Most people have more debt than they realize because they never write it down on one piece of paper. Keep that list in front of you constantly and keep updating it," Adam tells Insider.
Keeping a document or a record of your debt also helps you track your payments. This simple step is likely to encourage you to stay on track because you can see your progress as your debt begins to decrease over time. There are numerous apps that you can download right to your phone that will also help you manage your debt.
3. Take an overall look at your financial picture and re-prioritize if neededEach person's circumstances will be different. Taking an overall look at all your financials, including your savings, investments, how much you owe, and where you owe it, is important. You may have a brokerage account or an investment portfolio that you're contributing to every month, but if you have a high-interest loan, it may be advisable to prioritize paying that off. This will offset the amount you're losing from paying more in interest than you may be gaining from your investments.
"When our clients have debt, the best methodology we share with them is an attention to detail. All of our clients want to pay off their debt. We help them see the opportunities within their portfolio to reduce their debt consistently and/or all at once," Jason Howell, financial planner at Jason Howell Company, tells Insider.
Howell encourages his clients to focus on eliminating consumer debt, then getting back to building savings. Sometimes that means making a decision between whether they should change their 401(k) contributions or take a pause on funding their 529 plan to pay off certain debt. Howell considers this a way to optimize cash flow.
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