Tag Archives: debt free calculator

Three habits that may be keeping you in debt and one that can change everything

By Kathryn Mandelcorn, FMA

Erasing Debt

Have you ever dreamed about what you do if you won the lottery? It can be fun to imagine sudden wealth and all its possibilities. Many people preface their plans with; first I’d pay off all my debts.

We all like the idea of being debt free, so why don’t more people achieve it? There are as many reasons as there are people, but here are three habits in particular that can keep us stuck.

Confusing talk, or thought with action.

We make new year’s resolutions, we read financial blogs and books, we decide to spend less on groceries, maybe clip some coupons, we talk with our friends about how we never catch a break, that just when we decide to make bigger payments on our debt the car breaks down, or our child’s sport fees go up or our furnace needs repair… Money is so constantly on our minds, that we think we are doing the best we can, when in fact we have often done nothing concrete to change the situation. Continue reading

Do you have a debt free date?

Credit is seductive. Credit card companies spend millions of dollars to convince you to borrow their money. They have catchy slogans like:

  • It’s everywhere you want to be. (Visa)
  • There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else there’s Mastercard.
  • What’s in your wallet? (Capital One)
  • Don’t leave home without it. (American Express)

Couple Calculating BudgetIt’s no wonder that credit monitoring agency TransUnion is predicting the average consumer’s debt will reach an all time high by the end of 2014. It’s also no wonder that if you google debt stress you’ll get over 69 MILLION results

But there are things you can do right now to lower debt and debt stress. Continue reading