A few months ago I learned some alarming facts about debt and money management.
According to NerdWallet’s 2017 American Household Credit Card Debt Study, the average American household with credit card debt has a balance of approximately $15,432.
Indebted households pay hundreds in interest each year, and many Americans use credit cards to cover medical expenses.
Since I started this blog a few weeks ago, I’ve been asking friends and family to share their perspectives on wealth, personal finance, and money. When you were younger, what did you learn about money?
Like most broke people, I hate money. From a historical standpoint, money was basically just made up.
Nothing: Go to school. Get a good job.
I wish there was more emphasis on saving money. I don’t know if I would’ve ever listened. There are certain concepts I wish I knew earlier because a lot of things are time-based. I wish had learned better business sense too.
According to a 2017 report published by CareerBuilder, 56% of U.S. workers save less $100 each month. Most Americans, 75% of full-time workers, live paycheck to paycheck.
Nearly 1 in 10 of those earning more than six figures said they struggled to make ends meet.
All things considered, I know how to save money. I’m pretty good at it.
I want to lose about 40 pounds, and I want to finish at least one of the books I’ve started (finish reading one or writing one).
These seem much, much, much harder.
But at the grocery store today it occurred to me that I should approach my SMART goals the same way I approach saving money.
Read more10 Simple Questions To Help You Save 20% of Your Income
Since I started this blog a few weeks ago, I’ve been asking friends and family to share their perspectives on wealth, personal finance, and money. When you were younger, what did you learn about what it meant to be rich or poor?
It’s just a thing that’s needed to live within the current society. It’s neither evil nor good; it’s just a tool, and people use it for their own devices.
I don’t see any moral or ethical issues with billionaires/millionaires existing because they are not all inherently bad or good. It’s their actions that reflect who they are as people. We have people like Bill Gates who donate a lot of money to many good causes, and then we have people like Trump who are just in it for the money/power.
We can’t even blame it on our capitalistic society because even economically socialist countries like Sweden have Ikea and Spotify, whose leaders make millions of dollars. That said though, there shouldn’t be preferable treatment towards these individuals, but there is, and we have to change that norm.
I think the proper idea to have is to be financially free.
Yesterday I read a post from NerdWallet’s 2017 American Household Credit Card Debt Study stating that the average American household with credit card debt has a balance of approximately $15,432.
Indebted households pay hundreds in interest each year, and many Americans use credit cards to cover medical expenses.
I am sensitive about my credit card debt because not all of it belongs to me; but as the cardholder, I understand that I am responsible for it.
Since this January 2018, I’ve paid off about $10,000!
If I continue to be successful, this December 2018 I hope to report that I’m completely credit card debt free. Hold me accountable!
I’m learning as much as I can about personal finance, money management, and investing.
If you’re finally able to pay down unwanted debt, please answer these questions first.
Read more7 Questions You Must Answer Before You Can Eliminate Credit Card Debt
I used to sell life insurance in one of those thinly veiled pyramid schemes.
To be fair, I didn’t know what a pyramid scheme was at the time.
To be completely transparent, I never actually sold any insurance.
Way back then, I was too young and too green to be embarrassed about it.
I kept hope alive that that opportunity would work out for me in the end.
It didn’t.
I’d wanted another job on the side, but I hadn’t completely committed to getting rid of my debt.
To date, I have (1) credit card debt + (2) a car note + (3) and student loans.
Since I’ll be paying student loans off forever, I’m pretending that I’ll be “debt free” once #1 and #2 are done.
Don’t judge me.
Read more5 Things To Consider Once You Commit To Eliminating Debt