My low point financially was immediately following the 911 attack. I was an insurance agent at the time, and our company (Farmers) implemented a huge rate increase on all of their commercial insurance products, my main line of income. Basically, I was no longer competitive with other insurers in our market, and my income went from five figures per month to just a couple of thousand on a good month. I was up to my neck in personal debt (mainly credit cards and college loan payments.) It got so bad I missed at least one mortgage payment (my first one ever) and had creditors constantly calling me on the phone demanding payment. This was the lowest financial point in my life. A change in careers turned everything around, and discovery and adherence to Dave Ramsey's Seven Baby Steps got us 100% out of debt and on our way to financial freedom.

"All that the South has ever desired was that the Union, as established by our forefathers, should be preserved, and that the government, as originally organized, should be administered in purity and truth." – Robert E. Lee