by Brad Homer
"How can I manage my debt?" you may ask. Many people have succumbed to the overwhelming marketing efforts of money lenders to the point where they think that being in debt is just a normal, expected state of being. It's not. They're robbing you of your future prosperity. When you are in debt, paying interest to money lenders, the power of compound interest is on their side, not yours. So, what is the answer to the question, "How can I manage my debt?" Simple. Make a plan to get rid of it...especially so-called 'credit' cards.
You have a choice. You can live the 'good' life now and pay double or more for it later. Or you can get yourself out of debt starting now, and live prosperously later. Or, put another way:
- Live large now for a short time and pay for it for decades with the stress and reduced living standard of drowning in debt.
or
- Live modest now for a short time to get yourself out of debt and live large for decades with your new debt free lifestyle.
Getting yourself out of debt isn't complicated. The steps are simple, but not easy at first. The hardest part about getting debt free is changing your attitudes and fears related to money. Most people worrying about how to manage their debt feel overwhelmed, like they'll never really get out of debt. And if they do something like a second mortgage on their home to pay off all their credit cards, they usually wind up running those cards back up within a couple of years. Before you start trying to get yourself out of debt, you need to understand the root cause of how you got there.
The root cause of carrying a lot of debt is overspending - spending more than you make. Overspending, for most people, is an addiction. The root cause of all addictions is trying to 'get happy,' but going about it in a way that gets you happy in the very short term with the expense of long term negative consequences. In other words, you need to take a long, hard look at your life in general - not just your personal finances - and see where you're trying to 'get happy now' at the expense of your future happiness.
The happiest people in the world also tend to be disciplined. They know how to control their short-term wants so that they can reap much greater rewards down the road. Learn to control your spending by focusing on how good it will feel to be free of debt and amassing a small (or even big!) fortune a little later on. Just the act of becoming more disciplined in your every day life will begin to bring you great joy within a few weeks or months of starting this new way of thinking.
Focusing on your debt and how to manage it will only amplify your fears related to money. Shift your focus from managing your debt, to getting rid of your debt and the overspending that got you there. Then think about how good it will feel to be debt free and amassing great wealth to secure a comfortable future for you and your loved ones. Learn the value of discipline in your personal finances, let it carry over into the other areas of your life, and great success and happiness can be yours.
Millionaire 2020™ includes The Debt Hammer™ which can help you eliminate your debt and get you on the path to good budgeting.