Skip to main content

Review


I know everybody is coming off a “Holiday High,” so we’re going to keep this low-key.

In October last year, I told a story about a step in my daughter and son-in-law’s journey to financial independence (see “Half the Battle”). In that post, I said that much of the time, knowing where you stand can quickly project you toward the midway point in your battle (and this can go for more than just your finances). Once you know what your problem is, you can create a strategy to overcome it. I gave direction to start gathering all debt statements that come every month. If you have not done that yet, now is the time. Make sure you have ALL of them.

You will also need a notebook (you can still use You Can Make Your Money Behave: Go ahead...I dare you! By U. Will B. Rich and can get it on Amazon. It’s $10).

On each statement, I want you to find the BALANCE of your debt–what you owe to that particular creditor–and circle it or highlight it. At this point, I don’t want you to concern yourself too much with the interest rate or amount of the payment. We will talk about those too, but I want to make this as simple as I can at first. Now, put them in order according to that balance, smallest to largest. Lastly, put all this paperwork together in a place where you will be able to find it next week.

You are done for today. Aren’t you glad that step is over?!?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Gifts that Matter

When I think about my childhood, there are a few events (some good, some not so good) that really stand out. These specific incidents made big impacts on me, so they really stuck. I bet you can say the same thing. These encounters, good and bad, help shape who we are. As parents, it is our job to teach our children to be honest, upstanding, contributing members of society. This does not happen by accident. Part of this process involves the experiences we give our children–we can orchestrate PEAK moments for our families that will leave lasting impressions on young, impressionable minds. What is a PEAK moment? According to de Jager Meezenbroek, Garssen, van den Berg, van Dierendonck, Visser, and Schaufeli in the Journal of Religion and Health , “Peak experiences are often described as transcendent moments of pure joy and elation. These are moments that stand out from everyday events.” Christmas offers an EXCELLENT opportunity to offer experiences that can become “PEAK moments” in ...

Remove the Specs

You have probably heard the phrase, “looking through rose-colored glasses”? If not, allow me to introduce you to this idiom. It basically means seeing things the way you want to see them while putting a positive spin on that. It’s not a bad thing, but sometimes you need to see something for what it really is. How many of us have ever spent impetuously because we were upset or angry? “Gee, my spouse spent $500 on a (insert whatever he might buy to feed his hobby here) without asking, I should be able to spend the same on (insert what you would like to get here)!” I’m sorry/not sorry, but this is NOT a healthy way to look at things. It’s just wrong. And it’s a great example of erroneous thinking when it comes to managing money. According to Kingsford, “Thoughts create the emotions that drive us...” Oh, how true it is! She also points out how events lead to thoughts, which in turn lead to feelings. For purposes of today’s post, I’m going to call this “The Cycle.” If you want to be f...

Choose Good

Someone I know recently made a trip to the grocery store. Another shopper thought she was buying too much bread for her family of nine and assaulted her. My friend is shaken but okay. The assailant was escorted from the premises. Unfortunately, emergencies bring out the worst is some. Whenever there is some sort of trauma going on in the world (and when is there NOT these days?) all kinds of crazies are going to come out of the woodwork. Don’t fall prey to one of them. You’re probably going to get phone calls from people claiming to be from different charities that are raising money for this and that. I used to try to tell them “No” politely. Now I just hang up. Or, better yet, don’t answer numbers you do not recognize, even those with the same area code you have. If you can and want to contribute to a charity, use one you have used before. While disasters bring out the scary, they also can bring out the best of us.   Be one of them. We are all spending more time a...