STARS: Building My Credit To A Stellar Level

I used to have horrible credit. I was in my early 20s with credit card debt and a repossessed car. I had to hit the reset button on most everything. 

I knew I had to grind and pound pavement the hard way. 

For 10 years, I saved as much money as I could from my checks, some weeks it was 20%, others up to 50%. 

I paid down and ahead as much debt as I could, including my next car. I paid that off in 5 years on an 8 year plan. 

I got a couple of credit cards to build more credit, a safety net, kept one paid off and never closed any I opened. 

I had other assets such as land and stocks to get me back into position. 

My credit score went from a 500 to a 740 over the course of a decade. I did it the simple way, worked hard, worked overtime, had side income and made it happen.