When Hal and Dee were in their mid-fifties, they found themselves with $50,000 of credit card and tax debt. That would have been bad enough, but they had been there before, which only made it worse. They had been riding a financial—not to mention emotional, spiritual, and marital—roller coaster for years. Repeating history Early in […]
Finances seem to always top the list of what people are stressed about, and debt is usually the top financial stressor. If you have credit card debt, there’s a remarkably simple step you can take to greatly speed up the process of getting out from under that debt. Just fix your payments. Let’s say you have a $1,000 balance […]
Even though winters are much milder here in Louisville than in Chicago where we used to live, I have still found myself longing for spring. And isn’t that how it is whenever we go through a wintry financial season? We can’t wait for a better one to begin. In my mid 20’s, I inherited $60,000 […]
Making an important lasting change in our life can be tough. We vow to get out of debt, but old habits are hard to break and we just can’t seem to make progress. We commit to putting more aside for an emergency fund, but spending comes so much easier. In their book, Switch, Chip and […]
Weekly roundup of some of the best personal finance articles from around the web. Smashing 6 figures of debt & learning what doesn’t apply to me (She Picks Up Pennies). Getting out of debt has much to do with how you frame the conversation. Two years after huge Equifax breach was revealed, consumers are still […]
Many people imagine that using a budget would be like strapping a ball & chain to their leg, when it fact, it’s the opposite — a tool that leads to great financial freedom. But there is a financial ball & chain. It’s called debt. It’s actually far worse than a ball & chain. It’s a […]
People often think of a budget as a ball & chain. In truth, it’s the exact opposite – a tool that leads to great financial freedom. But there is such a thing as a financial ball & chain. It’s called debt. Debt is a drag. It creates stress, keeps us from achieving our financial goals, […]
There’s an ongoing debate among personal finance teachers: Should someone who’s trying to get out of debt pay off their highest interest rate debt first or their lowest balance debt first? In this installment of the Two-Minute Money Toolkit, I’ll introduce you to a simple online tool, Unbury.me, that’ll help answer that question. While the […]
I was surprised to read recently that there’s been a strong drop in the number of people turning to credit counseling agencies for help in paying back their debts. After all, plenty of people are still struggling under the weight of too much debt. Gail Cunningham, spokesperson for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, said, […]
I thought I knew a thing or two about making financial mistakes. After all, I’m the guy who once received a $60,000 inheritance and turned it into $20,000 of credit card debt. And it only took me two years! I messed up with money the old fashioned way. I didn’t pay attention to my income […]
