Episode: 377 - The Real Reason Most People Fail at Getting Out of Debt

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The Real Reason Most People Don’t Get Out of Debt

If getting out of debt was just about knowing what to do, most people wouldn’t be stuck.

Budgets are free. Advice is everywhere. You can Google a debt payoff plan in seconds. And yet, millions of people start strong, make a little progress, and then quietly fall off.

Not because they’re lazy.
Not because they don’t care.
And not because they aren’t smart enough.

The real problem isn’t knowledge.
It’s follow-through.

Why Motivation Always Fades

Most people start their money journey the same way. Something triggers them. A stressful holiday season. A credit card bill that feels suffocating. A moment where they finally say, “I can’t keep doing this.”

They get motivated.
They download the worksheets.
They create the plan.

And for a few weeks, maybe even a few months, things feel good.

Then real life shows up.

Work gets busy. Kids get sick. Unexpected expenses pop up. The motivation that once felt powerful starts to fade. And suddenly the plan that felt exciting now feels heavy.

That’s usually when people don’t fail loudly.
They just stop.

Why Willpower Isn’t the Answer

Willpower is one of the most overrated tools in personal finance.

It works when life is calm.
It works when you’re excited.
It works when nothing is going wrong.

But real life is messy. Stress, exhaustion, and overwhelm drain willpower fast. And getting out of debt is not a short sprint. It’s a long climb.

You don’t take an elevator out of debt.
You take the stairs.

And that climb requires more than motivation.

The Real Secret to Getting Out of Debt

People who get out of debt and stay out of debt almost always have one thing in common.

Support and accountability.

Not shame.
Not pressure.
Structure.

Someone who knows what they’re working on.
Someone who checks in.
Someone who encourages them when motivation dips.
Someone who helps them adjust when life throws a curveball.

This is why community changes everything.

When you’re surrounded by people working toward the same goal, progress starts to feel normal. Setbacks feel manageable instead of defeating. You stop thinking, “What’s wrong with me?” and start realizing this is just part of the process.

Why Doing Money Alone Makes It Harder

Debt thrives in isolation.
So does shame.

Community changes your identity. You stop being someone trying to get out of debt and start becoming someone who follows through. Small wins add up. Confidence grows. Quitting feels harder because you’re no longer alone.

That’s how consistency is built.

As You Step Into 2026, Ask This Question

Not “What’s my plan?”
But “Who is supporting me while I work the plan?”

Information is free. We teach it every week. But education alone won’t change your life. Consistency comes from connection.

If you’re tired of starting strong and fading out, what you need isn’t another spreadsheet or podcast episode. You need support. Accountability. People in your corner who won’t let you quit on yourself.

That’s the real secret to getting out of debt and staying out.

And it’s how 2026 can be different.

Resources

The Totally Awesome Debt Freedom Planner https://www.debtfreedad.com/planner

Connect With Brad

Website- https://www.debtfreedad.com
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/thedebtfreedad
Private Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/debtfreedad
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/debtfreedad/
TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@debt_free_dad
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@bradnelson-debtfreedad2751/featured

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Transcript

Brad Nelson: [00:00:00] So if getting out of debt was just about knowing what to do, most people wouldn't be stuck. Hey, budgets are free. Advice is everywhere. And you can Google a debt payoff plan in about 30 seconds, especially now with the tools like ai. And yet, here's the thing, millions of people start strong, but guess what?

We fall off, we get distracted, and eventually we quit. So today as we kick off 2026, I wanna talk about the real secret. To getting out of debt and it's got nothing to do with math spreadsheets or willpower.​

Hey guys, welcome to a today's show. My name is Brad Nelson, founder of Debt-Free Dad. I paid off about $45,000 of debt. I've been debt-free now for more than 12 years. I've also helped thousands of people save and pay off tens of millions of dollars with the work that we do here at Debt Free Dad. After listening to this episode, if you are someone who's ready to take things to the next level, especially as we start [00:01:00] out a new year, you're ready to break free from living paycheck to paycheck.

You wanna reduce financial stress, you wanna build your savings and, and finally pay off your debt for good, but maybe you're not really quite sure where to get started. Well, we've got an incredible free resource, especially on today's episode that I'm gonna be sharing with you later on in today's show.

Now guys, as we kick off the new year here in 2026, one of the biggest myths in personal finance is that people fail because we don't know enough. We don't have enough education. We, we might tell ourselves if I just had the right plan or if I just understood money better or if I was just smarter, or if I just found the perfect budget.

But let me tell you, I've helped thousands of people over the years. That's not the real issue. Most people already know what they should be doing in general, at least. You may not know all the fine details, but in general, most people know like spend less than they are. Stop relying on credit card debt, build a savings, an emergency fund savings, [00:02:00] or be in the habit of paying off your debt, not adding to it, right?

So the problem isn't knowledge, so to speak. The problem is the follow through. Follow through is the hardest part about getting out of debt, especially if you're going about it alone. And here's the pattern that I see all of the time. And guys, this isn't just in people I've helped. This is in my own life when I was getting out of debt.

We get motivated. We might listen to a podcast, read a book. We might watch a video, we might feel that emotion of like, I really need to fix my financial life, especially maybe after a stressful holiday season, you've added on more debt. You download worksheets, you get all the tools. We make a plan, right?

And for a few weeks, sometimes maybe if you're lucky, even a few months, things feel great, you're making a little progress, right? You're, you're doing that budget, you're following it. You're finding ways to save some money. You may have even paid off a little extra debt, but then guess what? After a few weeks, few [00:03:00] months, real life begins to show up again.

Work gets busy, kids get sick, kids have activities, kids have things going on. Unexpected expenses hit and motivation that you started with in the new year, or even if it's not the new year, you just started. Eventually that motivation, that urge, it fades and suddenly the plan that felt exciting. Guess what?

Starts to feel pretty heavy now. Right?

And this is where most people don't fail loudly. They don't announce that they're quitting. We just stop. And again, not because we're lazy, not because we don't care, but it's because doing hard things alone. Is really hard, and guys, improving your personal finances, getting out of debt, fighting the system that a lot of us have grown up to know it's really hard work.

See, willpower is one of the most overrated tools in personal finance. It works when life is calm. It works when you're excited. It works when nothing is going [00:04:00] wrong. But let me tell you, and you guys know already, like, like when? When is life ever perfect? When is life ever calm? When is life never, you know, having something go wrong in it, right?

Willpower disappears. When you're stressed, when you're tired, you're overwhelmed, you're discouraged, which is basically our real life, right? We're gonna deal with those things on a regular basis, and any of us can sprint for a short period of time. Heck, I'm not even a runner. I could, I could sprint for a short period of time.

I get tired pretty quickly, but I could do it for a little bit. You see, a lot of us just can't have or run the marathon without the support that we need and getting out of debt. There's no quick fixes. There's no elevator out of it. You've gotta take the stairs. And for a lot of us, it's a lot of stairs and a lot of floors to climb.

It's a long game. And the long game requires more than just motivation and emotion.

And here's the real truth, most people just don't hear enough. The people who actually get out of debt and stay out of debt [00:05:00] almost always have support and accountability somehow. Some way, someone who knows what they're working on, someone who has someone that's checking in with them regularly, encourages them when motivation begins to dip, helps them adjust when life throws a curve ball.

And this is something that we talk about inside Roots all the time. Lot of people have asked over the years. Brad, how have your roots members been able to save and pay off tens of thousands of dollars? I mean, these are normal everyday people making normal incomes. , It's almost impossible , what they're achieving in some cases.

The reality is, is it's the support and accountability that's the secret. And if you ask any of them, if you go back and listen to the countless people we've had on this podcast over the years, and they share their story, they say that's been the biggest thing is the community and the support and accountability.

And it's not that members suddenly become more disciplined or smarter, it's just that they're not doing it alone anymore. Accountability, it doesn't mean shame, it doesn't mean pressure. It means structure. [00:06:00] It means constant encouragement and reminders. It really drives consistency, which is key. It's knowing someone is going to ask or we're gonna have different tools.

How did it go this week? Not to judge you, but to help you keep moving forward, to make that small progress consistently day in and day out. And when you're surrounded by people working towards the same goal, something powerful begins to happen because progress starts to feel normal. Setbacks feel manageable instead of defeating.

You start to realize like a lot of people out there who are working their way outta debt or else they're gonna have setbacks and those things are normal, don't allow those things to let you quit. We also make it a big point to celebrate wins. Quitting feels harder because you're not isolated anymore,

and the beautiful thing is, guys, you stop thinking. What's wrong with me? Because, you know, when you're in debt, when you have credit card debt, heck, you'll see these on social media posts like TikTok and Facebook reels, and [00:07:00] people will be saying, like, I, I'm creating this video to, to out myself on my credit card debt.

And there's so much shame around that. Like they, we all think that there's something wrong with us. Like we're unique. The reality is, is most of us are struggling with a lot of the same things, and you begin to stop thinking that whole phrase of like, what's wrong with me? What did I do wrong? How come I can't get this right?

And you start realizing, oh. This is just part of the process.

You see, community helps you change your identity. You stop being someone trying to get out of debt and start becoming someone who follows through, and that identity, that progress, that you're gonna start getting those little wins. It shifts everything. It shifts your whole mentality. So as you step into 2026, as you step into the new year, here's the question I want you to think about. Not what's my plan, but who is supporting me while I work the plan? Because knowing what to do, it's not enough. The information is out there, guys, the information to get out of debt, it's free.

Heck, we teach it [00:08:00] on this podcast for free. But again, motivation and education isn't enough. Even discipline isn't enough on its own. Consistency comes from that connection. It comes from that support and that ongoing accountability because again, getting out of debt, for the majority of people out there, it's a long game.

It's that marathon race, and you need that person on the side handing you that water bottle, handing you that granola bar right, to keep you going because it can get exhausting. And that brings me to something really important. If you've been listening to this podcast for a while, if you've tried on your own before,

if you're tired of starting strong and fading out like most of us do, you don't need another YouTube video. You actually don't even need another podcast episode from us. You don't need another spreadsheet. What you actually need is support. You need accountability, and you need people in your corner. And that's exactly why we created Roots of Personal Finance.

Now, roots is our membership, where we actually are gonna walk you through. The process of getting out of [00:09:00] debt step by step, we're gonna hold your hand through it. Not just giving you the plan, but helping you actually follow through and put it together. You're gonna get structure, you're gonna get ongoing coaching and encouragement.

You're gonna get that community, and most importantly, you're gonna get that support and accountability along the way. And this is what makes progress really stick. Here's the thing guys. As we open up our first episode of 2026, we are opening up roots in the new year. We are actually gonna be opening up January 12th through January 15th, and we only have limited spots available.

I don't bring in a large group of people in here, so if you have been someone that's been waiting, the doors are about to open. So if 2026 is the year that you want real momentum, not just motivation, I'd love for you to join us inside Roots. Now here's the thing, you can get all the details. On roots of personal finance.com.

Now and again, if you come across this podcast episode and it's not timely because we are kicking off 2026. If you came to this episode after, you can also still join our Roots Personal Finance wait list. You can go to [00:10:00] that website, roots personal finance.com and if Roots is not open, it will bounce over to the wait list.

I encourage you to sign up for that wait list, and you'll be one of the first to be notified when those doors open the next time. So guys, if 2025 taught you anything, let it be this. You don't need to try harder. You don't need to be tougher. You don't need to be perfect at this. What you need for ongoing progress is that support and that accountability.

You need people who won't let you quit on yourself. And that's exactly what we created roots of personal finance for, and that is the real secret to getting out of debt and staying out of debt. So let's make 2026 the year you stopped doing this alone. I wanna thank you guys for joining us on today's episode, and we will see you guys on the next show.