Steve Repak left the Army in 1997 and through contacts he made in the military was offered a job in finance. It was a life-changer for Repak, who carried a big burden into his civilian life: $32,000 in credit card debt.
Repak, now a financial planner in Charlotte, N.C., said he didn’t feel right giving advice with his own finances in disorder. “I needed to lead by example.”
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So he set about changing his ways. He was guided by his own clients, who he says helped him change the way he thought about money. A school teacher came to him with $400,000 to invest — money saved from her modest salary — while another client, a software executive making $300,000 a year, needed to exercise her stock options to pay off $50,000 in credit card debt because she could no longer make the minimum payments.
Those experiences taught him that it isn’t how much money you make that matters but rather the way you think about money. He realized that just as the Army had made him a soldier by training him to think differently, he needed to train himself to think about money differently.
Now he’s written a book to train others, “Dollars & Uncommon Sense: Basic Training for Your Money” (RFS Publishing, $14.95).
In his book, Repak offers a mix of common-sense advice, inspiration and personal stories. He also offers practical examples, useful work sheets, a glossary of financial terms and work sheets for tracking spending, a spending plan and debt assessments.
Repak said it’s never too late to change your thinking about money. “Some people say, ‘I’m 50 years old; it’s too late.’ But you could live another 30 years. There’s plenty of time to get finances in check. … The truth is you don’t need a lot of money to retire if you don’t have any debt and your expenditures are low.”
Asked how he got out of debt, he said: “I would go out to eat lunch every day. I looked at small ways I could make changes. I started packing lunch. Once I identified wasteful spending, I was able to cut it out and use the savings.”
His first step to financial relief: “You have to make a commitment to yourself that you want things to change. If you don’t want things to change, nothing will. … There’s no magic wand, shortcut or secret. … There are very simple steps, and if you stick with it you’ll be successful.”