I’m just going to come out and say it: there is NO “right way” to get out of debt. In fact, there are a number of ways that you can support your clients (or yourself) to pay down your debts - and today, we’re going to examine five of those strategies. 

When I first started coaching clients whose goal was to pay off their debts, I would have ask the client to give me their financial details, which included balances, interest rates, payments, etc. Then I’d use the information they provided to create a “debt snowball” spreadsheet. Next, I’d show their spreadsheet to them and say, “see- this is how you do it,” or “see- this is what you’ll do.”

I found out rather quickly that while some clients had no problem sticking to the plan, others just couldn’t seem to stay on track. When my clients “failed” to “execute” the plan I’d given them, I dug deeper, asking them questions about what wasn’t working for them. Then I’d tweak the plan, taking their feedback into consideration, and give it back to them with the hope that it would work…this time. 

I quickly realized that I had been looking at my client’s goal to pay down their debt totally backward - once I had that revelation, I stopped telling every client that they needed to “snowball” their debt. Instead, I started asking more questions to figure out which debt payoff strategy would be the best fit for the client. And it worked! My clients were more engaged - excited even - which resulted in them getting results and enjoying the process. 

Let’s take a look at some of the different tactics you can use with your clients to take care of their debt.