THE DEBT TRAP
It bites like a bear trap, lying in wait silently. You move through life, day to day feeling confident in providing your families needs. Using your credit card here and there when it's convenient. A small purchase here, a gas fill up there. Before long that trap springs and bites down hard!!
Suddenly you realize your debt has grown into some uncontrollablecreature. This creature doesn't attack as normal creatures do. Oh no, it attacks your inner self. You health, through stress, worry, anxiety and possibly depression. Some people find that debt hit them like a ton of bricks when they lost their job, or experienced a medical issue that resulted in the inability to work or excessive medical expenses.
This scenario also has a tendency to result in a "double whammy" because if your medical issue results in your inability to work, and your inability to work causes you problems paying for your medical expenses and other obligations debt is going to take over.
Avoidable debt happens when people who have relied on credit cards to stretch their income a little further and then over time, and with the help of excessive credit card interest rates and late fee charges, found that they were suddenly having difficulty keeping up with all of their expenses. For every person who has unavoidable debts, there are probably 10 who are in over their heads in debt that could have been avoided.
I realize we live in a "me first" and "I want it now" world. Just imagine what shape financially we'd be in if we actually set goals for ourselves, budgeting and saving our income for things we hope to acquire in the future. There's nothing wrong with earning it and WOW actually paying in cash! Not only does it empower us with the feelings of accomplishment but we also no longer have to worry about the interest rates that will follow you for years.
I would really like to see all of us make an effort in going back to planning, budgeting and actually buy what we want with money we have saved/earned. I realize there are times we have to rely on using other means to get us through tough spots... The saying comes to mind. A fool and is money are soon parted.. What I want to know.. is how did they get together in the first place?