Emergency fund...

My younger brother found out how lucky he was to have an emergency fund. He had unexpected car trouble recently and the bill turned out to be $725. Since he had a $1000 emergency fund saved up, that expense didn't break the bank.

Mom and dad are on board...

Friday night I stopped by my parent's house to show them how they too can win with money. We wrote down all of their monthly expenses and bills, their non-monthly expenses and anything else and then came up with a written budget. With the success that my wife and I have had, that's as good of a way as any to get other people on board.

2006 Personal Savings Drop to 74-Yr. Low

People are spending more and more and saving less and less according to this article. I'm not saving or investing as much I would like to right now but once the debt is gone, a lot of that money will go into savings and investments. But only after all debt is paid.

2006 Personal Savings Drop to 74-Yr. Low - The Associated Press

With a few regrets, grads offer college debt advice

Here's an article about debt and college. A fella from Kansas is quoted and says do not use credit cards at all. They're a trap and if you can't pay cash for something then you don't need it. Very good advice until the end of the paragraph when he says to "keep one card, use it wisely and pay it off regularly." Don't get suckered into the notion that you need a credit card to make it in the world today because you don't.

With a few regrets, grads offer college debt advice

The car is paid for...

Well, today was a special day. We paid off our car. We bought a 2003 Mitsubishi Galant for $7000 in July and in almost 7 months time, we paid it off. Originally, I didn't want to buy that much car but I made a deal with my wife that if we got that car, we're going to pay it off as quick as we can and change the way we handle money. And we've been doing so ever since then. We averaged over $1130 paid each month on the car. And now we can use the debt snowball to take that money and pay off my student loan and then after that, pay off my wife's since her loan amount is the biggest. She's also attending class to get her Masters and Doctorate so her loan is in deferment so while we don't have to pay anything now, we will once my loan is paid for. There's no reason not to.

Giving 50% effort to get out of debt

A lot of the articles, like this one, I read about people in credit card debt, people paying off debt or advice from a "professional" only goes about halfway when it comes to figuring out how to get out of debt. And that's by simply paying off the debt by paying anything extra income on top of the minimum payment. Sounds pretty simple if you want to take the next 5 or 10 years to do it. They never address the issue of how someone got into trouble to start with and that was the use of credit cards and spending more money than what they make. One needs to change their behavior and get rid of the credit cards because there will always be that temptation to use them even if you keep telling yourself you'll use it for emergencies only and you convince yourself that big sale at the mall is one. If you want to win with money, you have to change your behavior.

The Courier News :: Business :: Debt limits credit-offer advantages

E-mailed responses to previous post story

Yesterday I posted about a story from CNN.com. Here are some e-mail responses from some readers of that article. The first response from Katherine Peal of Washington, DC shows how one can get into trouble but also how can work their way out. Others think you need credit cards for a variety of reasons.

Your e-mails: Students paying off the past - CNN.com

College can be a crash course in debt

It's only been a few years since I graduated college. There was always a table or booth set up somewhere on campus enticing students with a free t-shirt to sign up for a credit card. I was never a big enough sucker to sign up for one but I sure did apply for as much as I could receive in student loans. There really wasn't any good reason for me to do so. The thought that I needed this money outweighed common sense.

According to this article, student loans and credit cards are normal things to have to make it through college. Well that's just wrong. Someone in the article is quoted saying that you should wait until after your freshman year in college before you get a credit card. Well, sophomores, juniors and seniors have demonstrated they aren't any more responsible. So if you work hard to earn money and save a lot of it, use that to pay for school.

College can be a crash course in debt - CNN.com

2 more Real Financial Heroes

Here's a link to 2 other Real Financial Heroes:

Part 2

Part 3

Real Financial Heroes

A friend of mine sent me a link to this. Absolutely hilarious. There are 2 other Real financial heroes. All 3 are really good and really drive the point home about how a lot of people unfortunately handle money.

Discover has better "rewards"?

If you're familiar with Dave Ramsey, you always hear him talk about cutting up the credit cards, a plastectomy as he calls it. Well Discover got the bright idea of doing the same thing, only doing that to all of your other credit cards because their's is the only one you need since they have better "rewards". I used to have a Discover card as well as a Capital One and Bank of America card. I had my plastectomy a couple years ago. Now there is far less temptation to spend money I don't have. The only open account I have with a Visa logo on it is my debit card from my bank.

Debt, it's not just for the young anymore.

I've heard a lot lately about seniors and debt. While I'm far from being one, I'm already looking ahead to what I can do so that I don't end up like some of the people in this article. Priority number one for my wife and I right now is paying off debt. After that, we'll start investing more of our income. And we'll have more money to invest since we won't have any monthly payments on a car or student loans. Seeing the big picture and looking a lot further ahead than just tomorrow can make a big difference when it comes time to retire.

Rockford Register Star | Web site of the Rock River Valley

Holiday debt

Are you still paying off the credit cards you used to buy last year's Christmas gifts? If so, you're not alone according to this article. There is a way take away a lot of the stress and it worked really, really well for my wife and I. First we decide how much we're going to spend on gifts for everyone including friends and family. We then take that whole amount we came up with and divide it by 12 and save that amount of money each and every month. It's as simple as that. If you go to the store with a set amount of cash, it's a pretty safe bet you're not going to be spend more than you have in hand. It teaches self-discipline. And that's the key to winning with money - self-discipline.

Buffalo News - Holiday debt a shock? Maybe you spend too much all year long