3 Tips for Eliminating Credit Card Debt

3 Tips for Eliminating Credit Card Debt

Healthy financial habits will have you sleeping like a baby

If you’ve ever woken up in the middle of the night panic-stricken about the amount of debt you have racked up, you’re not alone. Credit card debt is the second-most-common type of debt after mortgage debt (and I’m going to assume we all know that your house is not an asset and therefore your mortgage is not considered good debt, right?). In fact, the average American family owes $8,377 in credit card debt, according to personal finance site WalletHub, which analyzed credit card debt trends in 2016. That’s certainly enough to keep someone up at night.

As a reminder, there is good debt and bad debt. Good debt is debt you use to acquire assets. Bad debt keeps you trapped, pulling you back instead of moving you ahead. In most cases, credit card debt is bad debt. And that’s why you must get rid of it, because it’s serving no positive purpose in your life. Here are some suggestions for obliterating your credit card debt once and for all:

1. Pay off new credit card charges every month

Credit cards have their advantages so don’t cut them into pieces or put them in the freezer. Instead, use them as a convenience, as a record-keeping tool, and as a way to verify to other creditors your ability to be financially responsible.

From this day forward, if you so agree, do not accumulate additional credit card debt. If you charge an item to your credit card, then pay that amount off when the statement arrives. If you have credit card debt that is more than 30 days old, then pay off all newly acquired debt and put a plan in place to pay off the old credit card debt. Why?

Credit card interest is always compounding, and over time it quickly adds up. Let’s say you have $100 in debt and it accrues 20% interest every month. In your first month, you will be charged $20, which gets added to your original debt. The next month, you are again charged 20%, which now comes out to $24. So after only two months your debt has gone from $100 to $144. Yikes. That’s literally throwing money away and nobody can afford to do that.

2. Don’t charge the small stuff

It’s astounding how quickly all of our minor daily purchases add up—from your daily coffee fix to a magazine at a convenience store. And it’s becomes very easy to justify all those small purchase at the moment. Only $3 for a lip balm because I accidentally left mine at home? No problem! But at the end of the month, those purchases really do add up.

Using physical paper money creates tangible awareness of how much you’re dolling out each day. It might even cause you to reconsider some of those small purchases when you find yourself running out of cash too quickly. Starting today, try using cash for any purchases under $20 and see how your spending habits adapt.

3. Pay off existing credit card debt

Robert and I were in a great amount of bad debt years ago—around $400,000. It was incredibly stressful. Talk about sleepless nights! But we paid off all of our debt in less than 10 years, including credit cards, car loans and home mortgages.

For our credit cards, we came up with an extra $100 in income per month. How? By getting creative. We then applied that additional $100 to our monthly payment on only one of the credit cards and paid the minimum payment plus the extra money on that one credit card. While we were focused on that, we paid only the minimum amount due on all other credit cards.

Once the first card was paid off, we applied the total amount we were paying each month on that card to our next credit card. This mean we were paying the minimum amount due on the second card plus the total monthly payment we were paying on our first credit card.

Continue this process with all your credit cards—with each debt you pay off, apply the full amount you were paying on that debt to the minimum payment of your next debt. As you pay off each debt, the monthly amount you are paying on the next debt will escalate.

It is possibly to become debt-free—often within five-to- seven years—but you must make the decision to do so and start today.

Source:http://www.richdad.com/Resources/Rich-Dad-Financial-Education-Blog/April-2018/3-Tips-for-Eliminating-Credit-Card-Debt.aspx 

7 Wealth Secrets

Money is power; it can be a vital source of happiness and a paramount entity for some people. The gurus can give you hundreds of secrets to becoming wealthy. But, the catch to the "get rich soon" equation is simply a law of attraction. On the contrary, some people ruin their lives by becoming hungry for money that results in destroying and harming themselves and others.

Although, a healthy monetary asset is essential to survive in the world, which also demands a comprehensive understanding of how the money game operates. We leave you with 7 wealth secrets that will enhance your income:

Acceptance:

Firstly, to understand the game, it is vital that you acknowledge the universal truth, which is to acquire heaps of money. Once the mindset changes, you can strive to make your first million. Setting smaller and achievable goals can help you get focused.

Don't be Negative about it:

Secondly, try not to utter phrases like "I am poor". Picturing yourself to be rich can attract a lot of resources. It is vital to have an empowering mindset, which says; through my mental capacity and hard work I can achieve any task. The first person to convince in this situation would be you.

Taking your own wealth as a responsibility:

For instance, by creating wealth and jobs for others, you would create some for yourself. Not only that, you are also responsible for your family, stakeholders, and employers. A positive contribution to the society is only possible when you simultaneously have more than one income stream.

Find a mentor:

Stick to like-minded friends and family members who are equally passionate about wealth. Searching for an industry mentor is probably the best thing you could do. By far some of the best teachers of life lessons are these mentors. Making excellent friends allows you to create an aura of success around you.

Make an outstanding use of all the resources that you have:

Time is a virtually the best resource, it is an incalculable asset. Time is everywhere, you have a lot of it, but how do you spend it?

Financial resources are secondary when we talk about time, therefore we must not waste it. You can make principles for smart time management. If you work well in the morning, then allocate it to time-consuming tasks.

Make a habit of saving:

Rest assured, the money that you earn will not last, so it is better to start investing in stocks, property, and gold. Hiring a team of financial advisors can be an option later on.

Make money flow through various sources:

Further, having more than one source of income would be a preeminent task. Once you have started to pay you bills and taxes, then you can focus on reinvesting the money into investment schemes. Opportunities would start to flow in your direction, with plenty of options as a back up.

By applying the rules mentioned above, you can achieve a sound financial independence. The law of attraction only works if you do. It clearly states that you can bring positivity in your life by focusing on positive thoughts. Likewise, remember, "What you seek is seeking you".

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Robert Kiyosaki talks about Financial IQ

This is a snippet of what Robert Kiyosaki was teaching at a symposium, interesting stuff. For anyone interested you really should go and read that book called 'Finanical IQ). How high is your financial IQ?

Keep Track of Your Total Net Worth

Business and professional practice owners know they cannot effectively run their company without understanding its financial position. In the same way, when it comes to making a comprehensive wealth plan, they also need a framework to assess their overall financial status.

A "Life Balance Sheet"[1] provides a complete view of the owner's assets, liabilities and net-worth. Though similar to the more traditional balance sheet used to monitor their company, the Life Balance Sheet includes both real and implied assets and liabilities.

The left side of the sheet lists the owner's assets and includes the traditional financial assets (cash, stocks, bonds, alternative assets, etc.) and other tangible assets (real estate, precious metals, art collections, etc.). It also includes implied but expected assets.

Implied assets are non-liquid assets that are often non-tradable yet have value. In a previous article, this was referred to as, "Human Capital." Though often overlooked, Human Capital represents the present value of the owner's expected earnings.

Liabilities, on the right side of the sheet, should be viewed in the same manner. Mortgages, business loans and other debt secured by property are explicit liabilities. Additionally, business and practice owners should include their succession goals as an implied liability and career professionals and non-business owners will include the estimated costs of their retirement.

For example, if you want to maintain a certain standard of living after leaving your business or retiring from your career you are creating an implied liability that must be funded by the assets on the left side of the Life Balance Sheet. Aspirations to purchase a vacation home, start another business or fulfill a charitable commitment represent implied liabilities as well.

Think about a Balance Sheet with Assets Listed on the left side and Liabilities on the right. The combined assets include a house, retirement plans, and the family business. Taken together, these are worth $2,000,000. To this we are going to add $800,000, the amount of money the owner expects to earn as income from the business. This increases the value of the Total Assets to $2,800.000/

Under Liabilities we will list three common assets including a mortgage, college expenses and estimated retirement costs. These total $1,800,000. This leaves $1,000,000 as Discretioinary Wealth; an amount the person can use as he/she desires, but that will make a signiticant impact on their net worth, their retirement, even their legacy.

Using the Life Balance Sheet helps owners, professionals and others place a value (present value) on their implied assets (their projected earnings) as well as their implied liabilities (retirement and other costs). This information should cause owners to review all their tangible and real assets - including the value of their business - to make certain they are on track to meet their long-term goals.

[1] Wilcox, Jarrod, Jeffrey E. Horvitz and Dan diBartolomeo, 2006. Investment Management for Taxable Private Investors, Charlottsville, VA: Research Foundation of CFA Institute.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Paul_Brown/2461119

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All The Financial Advice You’ll Ever Need Fits On A Single Index Card

Some people think being successful at managing their finances like the super rich is super complicated and beyond their reach, but that simply isn't true - as you'll find out in this video, all the financial advice you'll ever need fit onto a postcard!

Do you follow these principals for financial success?