Image by Getty Images via @daylife"Those who can, do; those who can't, teach."Coming from parents who are both teachers, that's not an especially popular saying in my family. And it's probably not the best way to start off a blog intended to help people with financial issues, primarily getting out of debt. It resonates for me, though; not that I can't get out of debt, but that I have been drowning in debt, and gotten my head above water, only to find myself drowning again when circumstances have conspired against my financial freedom. So while I know it's possible, I also know that it's not easy and for some, it's more than just finding extra money. It's a matter of changing your entire outlook on money and debt.
Some people are born with money sense. Many of us aren't -- and I don't know about you, but we were never taught personal finance in school. Sometime between the '50s and the '80s that subject was eliminated from the curriculum in many schools. Is it any wonder our country is in a deep financial crisis, or that consumer debt is near all-time highs? We've never been taught how to manage money, and it's so easy to use plastic to pay for things. It's not "real money", after all, so what difference does it make how much we spend?
Image by eric731 via FlickrOf course, the credit card industry is going through some major changes these days, which will benefit consumers. As disheartening as it is to see the little box on credit card statements that tells you how long it will take to pay off your balance, if you only pay the minimum, seems to have served as a wake-up call to many Americans. Credit card debt has been decreasing over the last couple of years, even as the economy has continued to tank. Americans are getting smart, and doing what they can to get out of the debt spiral.This is great news for consumers, though maybe not so much for credit card companies. Still, we as a country have a long way to go before our citizens, on the whole, can be considered fiscally sound and financially responsible. America is a young country, comparatively, and it seems to me that we spent the '90s and '00s in the throes of financial adolescence, spending like crazy with no thought for tomorrow. Now we're entering adulthood, learning there are consequences for our actions and trying to figure out how to get out of the mess we created. The good news is, we can do it. It won't be easy, and it might be downright ugly, but we can get rid of credit card debt, maintain "good" debt like a mortgage, and become financially free. (We as individuals, anyway; I have no idea if the government will ever be able to fix their mess!)
In this blog, I hope to give some information and insights into how you can become debt-free. I don't claim to have any earth-shattering new way of getting out of debt; everything I have to say you can find somewhere else, too. I'm not a financial expert, although I have worked in an investment advisory, accounting, and tax preparation firm for the last decade. I'm just someone who has been over her head in debt, has done a lot of reading and learning from a lot of different sources to find ways to get out of it, and has a knack (or so I've been told) for explaining sometimes complicated situations in a straightforward and unemotional manner. If one person learns something from this blog, or pays off a credit card because of information I've passed along, then it will be worth it. (And if no one does, well, at least I'm doing some writing and reinforcing my own plan for financial freedom!)
