Getting Out of Debt in a Lousy Economy
While the drop in the economy hasn`t hit too hard yet here in Guatemala, things are really starting to get out of hand all over the world. This is not a good time to be in debt, and yet the number of people who owe money is astounding. Did you know that the average credit card debt owed per cardholder is over $12,000? And that 1 of every 50 households owes more than $20,000?
I`m a firm believer in not going into debt, but there are times when it`s unavoidable. When my son needed surgery, we borrowed money and I know that many families have similar problems. Unexpected things happen and you end up in debt. But often we have control over whether or not we borrow money. Since I`m no financial expert, I`ve dug up these links to help you figure out what you can do to reduce and even eliminate your own debt.
Leo from Zen Habits polled his readers and came up with a great list of tips on staying out of debt and paying off existing debts. It`s definitely worth reading to get some ideas you can put into practice.
You might want to go a step further and actually study how to handle your finances. This site lists free open courses that you can sign up for and learn to deal with debt and money management. This would be good even if you aren`t in debt, we can always learn more about money!
If you`re looking at losing your home, as so many Americans are right now, then this article on how to avoid foreclosure could be useful.
10 Ways to Save Money and Live Frugally offers some great tips that won`t necessarily pay your bills, but they will help you cut back on living costs. That, in turn, leaves more money to pay those nasty bills.
Do you have any additional tips for staying or getting out of debt? Share in the comments!
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I was always taught by the investment gurus that debt was a good thing if you could use it to leverage your quickly-growing assets. They never mentioned what happens when the asset drops in value.
That $500,000 home that was growing at 7% a year seemed like a nice way to prepare for retirement, but if it’s worth $350,000 now, the $400,000 mortgage doesn’t seem like a stroke of genius anymore.
I think a lot of people are realizing now that their original financial strategies were all wrong for an economy heading south. It`s a bad lesson to learn at this point in the game, but there`s also a chance to teach our children a better way to do things now and set a good example for them.
This is all great advice. I think it has not been but the last few years, being the last 90 years or so debt has come to be an accepted part of life.
We got brainwashed into thinking we children needed everything mom and dad, had after working all their lives, all at once when we started out. Not so. Now thousands are paying the price of our indiscretions.
Debt should be avoided like the plague, except for maybe business debt if you need it to expand carefully.
Great post.