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How to Become CFO of Your Life Why not apply the money principles you use for business to your personal finances?

By J.D. Roth

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

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In college I got hooked on credit cards, and I graduated with an addiction. My habit grew with my income. By the time I was 30, I had more than $35,000 in consumer debt and a big mortgage, to boot.

Eventually I turned things around, but it didn't happen overnight. It took years for me to master my own money, and it became possible only when I realized that I should treat my personal funds the same way I treat my business finances. I decided, in effect, to become CFO of my own life.

It wasn't easy to bring the rigor of cold cost-benefit analysis to my day-to-day living, but the result is that I no longer work to pay off debt. I now work to live the life I want to live.

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