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Showing posts from January, 2018

Cure the Debt Plague

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Debt is one of the plagues of our day. It is rare to talk to someone who doesn't have debt. Borrowing money for wise and good purposes can be helpful and lead to greater wealth. But that is not usually what borrowing money is used for by the average American. What do people do when they can't afford something? Put it on a credit card. This is true for most people for things they want, as well as emergencies. It's hard too, because sometimes people are just wanting to build their credit, and then next thing they know they are drowning. Debt becomes stressful and frustrating and even debilitating. Even when you work hard to make it go away, it seems to come back and even grow. There's a psychological reason for that. What you focus on is what has importance in your life. So if you are always thinking about debt, and working on debt, you might get to the point where you wouldn't know what you would do without it! So... you get more. In the book Geometry of Succes

Budget Making Step 1: Tracking

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Saving money is almost always a New Years Resolution for people. Yet years go by, and things don't seem to get much better. Money seems to fly in and out of your account before you even had a chance to see it. A huge part of changing this around is budget management. People come to me asking for Budget help all the time. Which is great! I think people conceptually understand that making a budget is important. They want to, even if they don't do it. I think a lot more people would budget, if they only knew how to get started. Step 1 in making a budget is: TRACKING YOUR CURRENT EXPENSES. What happens every time I help someone make a budget without tracking first, is that they always under estimate things - especially groceries. They think they spend maybe $200- $300 a month on food, but it is almost always closer to $600 - $700. What do you get if you write in your budget $200 for food when you are used to $600? A budget that quickly goes does down the drain. It is unsustai