Let face it, times are tough.  Worry and fear are going to be your worst enemies if you let them take over.  Once you have overindulged in negative thinking, it’s hard to get your brain back on track.  Think of it as a diet.  Losing weight can be tough once you have packed on the pounds.  The habits of eating can be tough to change.  The same it true for your thinking.  Once you have gone down the path of negative thinking, it can be tough to bring yourself back to being present to the miracle of being alive.

How Do I Stay Positive In A Bad Economy? Continue Reading »

This Christmas season use cash to pay for your holiday gift purchases.  Using credit cards to buy your holiday gifts can be a trap.  There is a lot of social pressure to buy gifts for people.  My motto if you want to stay debt free over the holidays give up worrying about what people are thinking.  They are not going to help you pay your credit card bills when they come.  Buying gifts for people is not worth it if you cannot afford to.  Going into debt to buy gifts just because you think you should is not a good enough reason to do so.  Suffering over money is a terrible thing.  It is not worth it, so do not worry about what people are think.

If you do not have the money do not buy it.  Try using a debit card this holiday season or just carry cash with you.

Tough times call for tough decisions when it comes to money.  If you are facing a mountain of debt in a slow economy you should be nervous.  Large debt is what brings people down fast.  Once you start getting behind on your bills, it may be impossible to catch up.  It is important to tackle you debt head on and pay it off as soon as possible.  If you have to eat kraft macaroni and cheese and top ramen every meal it will be worth it.  You need to start living by your needs and not your wants.  Your wants are what got you in a pickle in the first place.  Just think that you are learning a new habit.  It may be painful at first but you can do it.

Cut Back On Expenses Where You Can To Pay Off Bills Faster Continue Reading »

Many Americans are facing foreclosure due to the credit crisis.  What should be your first step if you cannot make your mortgage payment?  Your first call should be to the bank.  You want to speak with someone in loss mitigation.  See if you can work out a forbearance agreement or perhaps even work out new loan terms.  Sometimes a bank will even lower your principal balance as well as interest rates.  At the least you can hope for a forbearance agreement.  This will allow you to pay back a smaller mortgage payment for awhile.  The portion of the payment not paid will be tacked on to the end of the mortgage.  At the least it will give you some relief in the present.

What Is Loan Modification? Continue Reading »

The full brunt of the credit crisis is hitting home and more people are concerned and scared about thier financial future.  As well they should be.  If you are burdened with a big debt load heading in to a slowing economy you should be nervous.  Your chances of making it ok will go down dramatically as compared to someone that is not carrying any credit card balances.  If you have debt now, you should be focused on trying to get rid of it rather than taking on new debt or just making minimum payments.

Cut Up Your Credit Cards And Start Using Cash Continue Reading »

Many debtors will wake up one day and ask the question, how did this happen to me.  How did I get in this much debt?  The truth is that it does not happen all at once.  Debt is a consequence of a series of decisions that are usually lies to yourself.  You may tell yourself that you will pay the bill in full when you get it, only to pay the minimum payments.  There may be emotional triggers that push you to buy things that you really do not even want.  You may be trying to fill up that empty hole inside of you.  Unfortunately it is short term pleasure and long term pain.  The joy of a purchase may only last a few minutes or even a few seconds but the reality of paying of a credit card purchase can last for years or even decades.

What Is The Long Term Cost Of Being In Debt? Continue Reading »

What is the best advice to staying out of debt? Have more money coming in than going out. I have been in the financial world for nearly 18 years. It upsets me to see people suffering over money. The American Dream, keeping up with the Jones’s whatever you want to call it does not work. Stay out of debt and own your own life. It is better not to owe it to a financial institution.

Why Your Car Payment Is Keeping You From Buying Your Dream Home Continue Reading »

Contrary to common thinking, you are not what you eat. Rather you are what you think. What got you into debt was not a lack of money but what thoughts you where indulging in in you head. All of the fantasies and stories that you told yourself that were not real about why you needed to buy things that you did. I’ll pay it back at the end of the month, this is what you tell yourself only to make the minimum payment. But next month I’ll pay it back in full.

The More You Think About Debt, The More Debt You Will Attract Continue Reading »

Being in debt can be like being trapped in a vicious circle.  I am not talking about money.  I am talking about the conversation that you have with yourself that go on in your head.  Being in serious financial crisis may trigger memories from your past.  You may be dealing with times in your past where you have failed or it did not work out.  This only validates you current experience of making yourself wrong or blaming others for the situation that your are in.

The Little Voice In Your Head Is Not A Cheerleader Continue Reading »

Just because you are in debt does not make you a bad person. You are only human. If you were perfect you would be a perfect being and not a human being. You can learn from your mistakes and become a better person for it. I promise that you will come out of your financial circumstances better than when you went into them. Continue Reading »