My mom and dad never borrowed a dollar in their life. When my dad was a young boy the farm his dad was buying got reposessed and they had to move to a very poor 80 acres tenant farm (rented it), not really enough to make a living on (I just happen to own that 80 now, bought it many years ago - not from any family). That was during the great depression and left a mark on him. Mom was in a very successful farming family that owned three quarter sections and an 80 that was all farmed by horses at the time. BIG farmers for their time. But mom saw neighbors get sold out because they could not come up with enough cash to pay the taxes. They lost the farm to back taxes and my grandpa came close. So she insisted there always be enough money to pay taxes for at least two or three years. They were both desperately afraid of debt.

I was the black sheep of the family, LOL. I operated on my own money till my divorce after 7 years of marriage and to get out of that went into debt and was indebted for the rest of my life up till about 5 years ago.

My parents only bought what they could pay for. Never bought on time. By the time they died owned about 1500 acres total. Without using debt. Hard work, frugal living, and for an eighth grade education, pretty good business sense.