How Debt Upsets Creativity
by Jose Ordoñez Jr.
March 2018. The number on the white board did not lie. I asked my then finacée: “Is this it? Are you sure we’re not missing anything else?” She shook her head. $31,500 - a bit less than my salary. That’s how much we owed in debt.
$4,200 in credit cards.
$6,000 in a car loan.
$21,300 in student loans.
Debt has this awful power of hiding its impact, when the reality is bleaker. It’s only when you put it in the perspective of how much you earn yearly that you can truly fathom the amount of money at hand. Our number was about 8 months of work if we spent exactly $0 on anything else, including housing, food and taxes. Oh, we also had to save $6,500 for our upcoming wedding.
The worst part of it all: we were in less debt than the average household. The average American owes $38,000 in non-mortgage debt, 25% of which is owed on credit cards. The average credit card APR is 17-26%. My calculator tells me that’s about $1,615-$2,375 per year on interest alone. 20% of households spend at least 50% of their monthly income on debt repayment. This is not good.
Our first debt-free trip to Pigeon Forge, TN. Debt-free makes us silly.
As an artist working in the most expensive art form, this was nothing but bad news. How would I ever be able to save enough to invest in my own projects? How could I ever make a feature in these conditions?
Artistry is not an easy career choice. Left and right you hear parents warning their kids against pursuing this path. Most people listen, the other are crazies like myself. There’s just no way around it, pursuing art is financial suicide; it is a risky proposition that only those with enough passion end up pursuing. This presents a conundrum to the artist. He or she must choose between career, lifestyle and money. Most artists end up choosing the former two, and neglect the latter. “Corporate America sucks!” I can hear them scream. Idealistic in manner but neglectful in practice, most artists believe that they will be able to keep a proper lifestyle and career while neglecting their financial status.
There’s just a small problem: Just like your money affects your lifestyle, it also affects your artistry.
Over the past two years my worldview has shifted, and after thinking long and hard (and because I host a podcast talking about the path to creative freedom) I can now firmly declare that financial freedom directly yields to creative freedom. Period.
What if you had a year’s salary saved and you were able to spend a year solely focused on writing? How much better would your writing be? How much cooler would it be to solely focus on your art without having an investor or client looking over your shoulder dictating the terms?
“But Jose, there’s no way I would ever have that kind of money.” Not with that attitude! But even if you weren’t yet fully financially independent, at least you could be debt free. And at least you could have an emergency fund. Having those two things alone would allow for more creative space. BOOM. You’re on your way to creative freedom.
The more money you give away to the banks, the less money you get to keep. The more money you get to keep, the more quality creative time you get to have. There is an inverted relationship between debt and creativity. The more you have of one, the less you have of the other. You have to stare at your financial situation in the face and ask yourself: “Who here has hold of my creative freedom and how can I get it back?”
My wife Sunday and I had the awesome opportunity to repay all our debts this past month. We truly wish we could have done it sooner, and I can now see areas where we could have improved and purchases we could have avoided. A wedding, feature film, and business opportunity definitely affected our timeline, too. Yet, today we are so glad to be debt free. We would never change this feeling for anything else in this world.
Wish Creative is dedicated to helping artists get their creative freedom back. We are excited for this 2020 and to be able to announce our plan to help you get that freedom back. For now, email me at jose@wishcreative.co if you have any questions and need help to get your finances in order.
If you enjoyed reading this blog, consider subscribing to our newsletter. The Wish Creative blog is a platform to encourage you, the artist, whatever stage you may be in. To hear about how we’re doing and receive practical tips on creative sustainability you can also follow us on Instagram and Facebook.