My wife, Sharon, and I started with nothing when we got married. I was driving a 1902 Pinto and eating off a card table.
I will never be unemployed.
A vacation home is a wonderful 'extra' as you start building wealth. Remember, though, it's still basically a very large, very expensive toy.
There are no shortcuts when it comes to getting out of debt.
The thing I have discovered about working with personal finance is that the good news is that it is not rocket science. Personal finance is about 80 percent behavior. It is only about 20 percent head knowledge.
It takes some discipline and hard work, but relying on credit when things go wrong is a trap.