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Perpetual Mindset: Paying Off Debt Forever

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Today we are going to define a phrase that we will probably be using quite a bit in the future.

We are going to better define the phrase “perpetual mindset” for our purposes and uses. 

We will first give its literal definition, then we are going to apply a more specific definition for our purposes.

The Literal Definition

Perpetual means ongoing, indefinite, and without end.  If you’ve ever heard of perpetual motion, it basically means motion that will never stop.

Mindset is a person’s understanding, attitude, or acceptance of what they understand.  It is composed of their assumptions and attitudes towards ideas and reality.  A person with a positive mindset is generally a happy or optimistic person.  A person with a mathematical mindset tends to approach topics and ideas more mathematically and have a tendency to use less emotion in their decision-making.

So, perpetual mindset means a never-ending mindset.  Now, that doesn’t make too much sense literally which is why we are defining it.

Our Definition:

For our purposes, perpetual mindset means: A person who believes or accepts that debt repayment is a perpetual process.  They don’t think about the end of the payment, they consider it a part of their monthly budget indefinitely.

This can commonly be found in people who have a 30 year mortgage, but have too much stuff going on to worry about the end of it.  They make their payments faithfully, without much regard to when it will end, or making it end sooner.  They almost treat it like rent, but at the end there is the surprise of the landlord saying “Here, it’s all yours!”

30 years is a long time, and this type of time-frame has lent people to being more desensitized to such long periods of time.  It’s almost like the math equation to them is: 30 years = Infinity.  This perpetual mindset has allowed people to become complacent about their mortgages, and thus they pay the full 30 years, every single penny’s worth.

Quick Recap

  • We will be using the term Perpetual Mindset
  • It refers to people who pay on their debts as though it is indefinite
  • The debtor accepts that the payment is indefinite, whether they acknowledge it or not
  • This leads people to not pay ahead, and pay the most interest possible
  • Most people of this mindset, don’t realize that is how they are thinking about it.
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