Conquer Debt Year Round

[ProfMoneyWise]

Conquer Debt Year Round
Sunday February 27

Life insurance needs to cover only your individual situation. Don’t be talked into buying more than you really need should something happen to you.

If you live your life using good financial sense, by the time you reach your 50’s you won’t need life insurance at all. You will be self-insured by then.

 

[ProfMoneyWise]

Conquer Debt Year Round
Monday February 28

Live your financial life based on reality. You can fool everyone else with “stuff” but you can’t fool yourself or your calculator.

Following the rule that income minus outgo is what you have to spend. Writing down what you spend. Planning what you are going to spend. Owning all you have outright.

These are status symbols that matter. Don't get caught up in the fake symbols others see.

 

[ProfMoneyWise]

Conquer Debt Year Round
Tuesday March 1

If you use cash you always know where you stand financially. No mystery there.

Studies show those who use credit cards, even debit cards, spend more than those who use cash. The idea is that you are more aware of what you spend if you actually see it leaving your hands.

You also set a good example for your children. If they see you using plastic what behavior will they think is acceptable when it is their turn?

 

[ProfMoneyWise]

Conquer Debt Year Round
Wednesday March 2

Do you really want to go to a job every week to make money you've already spent? No fun there. Get ahead of this one, your sanity depends upon it.

If you buy on credit you are promising to pay with future dollars you will someday earn.

If you use cash you will pay with dollars you have already earned.

This concept alone should make you rethink purchases you were considering making using credit.

 

[ProfMoneyWise]

Conquer Debt Year Round
Thursday March 3

Utilities aren't forced upon you. They are choices.

You don’t have to have running water, electricity, hot water, heat. These are services most people pay for because they like to be warm, washed, and otherwise comfortable. So, quit complaining about how much they cost.

Complaining should be saved for your debts.

 

[ProfMoneyWise]

Conquer Debt Year Round
Friday March 4

You are the only one who really cares about your own finances. So quit waiting around for someone else to come up with solutions to fix your problems.

Money is one of the easiest problems to solve. If you want to have more money you need to earn more. If you want to have less debt you need to pay back those you owe.

 

[ProfMoneyWise]

Conquer Debt Year Round
Saturday March 5

Do your own research. Finance is really very simple. Don’t let others who create financial schemes or give financial advice for their own livelihood confuse things.

The world of money has its own unique language but it all comes down to a basic principle, "Don't spend what you don't have!"

 

[ProfMoneyWise]

Conquer Debt Year Round
Sunday March 6

Subscribe to the “same as cash” program all the time. How? Use cash, that’s how.

Using cash as your personal financial barometer is a good measure (pun intended) as to what you can and can't afford. If you have the cash you can afford it. If you do not . . . you get the idea.

 

[Rommey]

Conquer Debt Year Round
Tuesday March 1

If you use cash you always know where you stand financially. No mystery there.

Studies show those who use credit cards, even debit cards, spend more than those who use cash. The idea is that you are more aware of what you spend if you actually see it leaving your hands.

You also set a good example for your children. If they see you using plastic what behavior will they think is acceptable when it is their turn?

There are times using a credit card can work towards your advantage. Two examples:
1. Our driving habits are generally set and between my wife and I, we need to fill up roughly the same amount of times every month. Our gas buying habits wouldn't change much (if at all) if we used cash vs. credit card. The card we use gives us 5% back every month; there is zero interest since we pay the bill every month and there is no annual fee. We make money by using the card.
2. A few years ago we needed to replace our furnace and air conditioner at our house. Instead of writing a check to the HVAC company, I used my Amex card and received enough points for two round trip tickets. I wrote a check to Amex at the end of the month...again no interest paid.

 

[ProfMoneyWise]

Conquer Debt Year Round
Monday March 7

Don't buy a home as an investment. Buy it to be your home. If you happen to make money on it someday that's a plus but you have to like, and be able to afford, where you live first.

Too many homebuyers are talked into buying more home than they can afford because they constantly hear it referred to as an investment. Then they end up in foreclosure because they let someone else tell them what to do with their money.

 

[ProfMoneyWise]

Conquer Debt Year Round
Tuesday March 8

Our grandparents didn't spend what they didn't have. They weren't constantly bombarded with credit offers either.

They paid their own way throughout their lives, and when the end came they owned what they had outright and didn't owe a soul. How are you going to go out?

 

[ProfMoneyWise]

Conquer Debt Year Round
Wednesday March 9

You flat out owe it to your family to keep them out of debt.

No excuse works here.

 

[ProfMoneyWise]

Conquer Debt Year Round
Thursday March 10

While a sensible home mortgage is the only kind of debt you should ever have, it is not meant to be kept forever.

Debt is debt regardless of a good interest rate or whether you can deduct that interest at tax time.

Remember: Home loans should be 15-year fixed mortgages and the total principal, interest, tax, insurance (PITI) and HOA payment (PITI+HOA) shouldn't exceed 25% of your take-home pay.

 

[ProfMoneyWise]

Conquer Debt Year Round
Friday March 11

Pay cash and watch the reaction of the checkout clerk.

It's sad, but paying cash has become such an oddity the simple act can prompt confused looks and head shakes.

Those who use cash are more likely to spend less than those who use plastic. Studies show even debit cards tend to make buyers spend more than they planned.

Cash only. Try it.

 

[ProfMoneyWise]

Conquer Debt Year Round
Saturday March 12

If you are debt-free you own what you have. Unless you've paid for it in full, you don't own it.

Do you like wearing rented clothes, walking in other people's shoes, driving someone else's car, using other people's money to eat? This is what you're doing if you live on credit cards.

People who are debt-free value things they own much more than those who are not.

 

[ProfMoneyWise]

Conquer Debt Year Round
Sunday March 13

It doesn't matter how much sense it makes to lend kids money. Do them a favor and DON'T do it.

For example. Grandpop loans his grandson money to buy a car. All are happy until the grandson quits making payments. Now Grandpop is disappointed and the kid's parents are upset. Nobody is talking to each other. Why do this to your family?

On paper the deal may make sense but emotionally it could cost you.

 

[ProfMoneyWise]

Conquer Debt Year Round
Monday March 14

Suck it up and get the second job. Any embarrassment you feel pales in comparison to having your belongings stacked on the curb later on.

No one wants to work all day long, but you are the one who put yourself in a position of having to make more money in order to pay your bills so take care of your problem before it escalates to the point of no return.

 

[ProfMoneyWise]

Conquer Debt Year Round
Tuesday March 15

Who said car payments are a fact of life? They don’t have to be.

The people who view car payments as a fact of life drive cars they can't afford. Don't be one of them.

Start by paying off your current car. Then begin saving in a separate account every month the amount of a car payment. Vow that your next car will not cost more than the value of your current car plus the amount of money in the car fund.

 

[ProfMoneyWise]

Conquer Debt Year Round
Wednesday March 16

Keep 1% - 3% of your home’s value in a separate account for home repair, maintenance, and upkeep. Once you spend some, replenish.

It’s all about being financially prepared. Furnaces and hot water heaters break. Yards need to be mowed and landscaped. Windows need to be replaced. Walls need paint. The list goes on and on.

Don't let the house of your dreams become a house of horrors.

 

[ProfMoneyWise]

Conquer Debt Year Round
Thursday March 17

You can't succeed financially while in debt.

If you have $1,000 in the bank but owe $10,000 the $1,000 is not yours.

If you have $10,000 in the bank but owe $100,000 the $10,000 is not yours either.

Even if you have $100,000 in the bank and owe only $10,000 you really only have $90,000.

Quit fooling yourself. You can't succeed financially while in debt.