American personal debt is at an all-time high, and it shows no signs of reducing in the near future – but sooner or later a drastic change will come.
Adding up all the credit card debt in the country and dividing it by the number of Americans with credit cards, we find that the average debt is around $8,000 - and that’s just on credit cards!
"The safest way to double your money
is to fold it over and put it in your pocket.”
- Kin Hubbard |
Student loans, car loans and other consumer debt brings the average up even higher. It's definitely time for some serious American debt counseling!
Before the bankruptcy laws changed in 2005, there were more than 1.6 million personal bankruptcies filed per year. That’s right: More Americans are filing for bankruptcy than they are filing for divorce.
American personal debt strikes people from every walk of life, but there’s one thing that every debt-holder has in common. They all fail to adhere to a preplanned monthly budget, and they all live beyond their means.
Living beyond your means has become so common that many people simply believe it’s normal. MASSIVE DEBT MUST NOT BECOME NORMAL.
Living beyond one’s income leads to the heavy burden of debt, which causes anxiety, marital strife, and even suicide. When you’re in debt, you are OWNED by the credit card companies.
You can never experience true freedom until you get out of debt. And you’ll never get out of debt without following a clearly written monthly budget.
Yes: There’s that dirty word. “Budget.” No one likes it. It has connotations of reducing your spending (boo-hoo!) and not being able to do anything fun (BOO-HOO-HOO-HOO!).
The truth is, getting out of debt DOES require reducing your spending. That’s not what you want to hear, but it’s true, and it’s the ONLY way (aside from experiencing some sort of financial windfall) to get out of debt in the short term.
But here is the good news, preparing a budget isn’t difficult. In fact, with American personal debt at an all-time high, it’s a necessary skill that everyone should have.
Budgeting simply means evaluating your true expenses, eliminating the unnecessary ones, reducing the ones that can be reduced, and then living your life according to the new, streamlined figures.
Budgeting does not require extraordinary math skills or a “head for numbers.” What it mostly requires is self-discipline - the lack of which is what has led to so much American personal debt in the first place.
If you can commit yourself to living on a reduced budget, and to putting all your extra income toward getting out of debt, then you’ll have taken the first steps toward true independence.
You’ll be doing what most of your neighbors have failed to do. Best of all, you’ll be taking charge of your own life, and taking it out of the hands of the credit card companies.
To be your best, get out of debt. The goal should be nothing les than complete American debt relief!
"Creditors have better memories than debtors;
and creditors are a superstitious sect,
great observers of set days and times."
- Benjamin Franklin |
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Debt is NOT your friend. It's not a wonderful "tool" for building wealth. That's a myth.
