Time is good for wine, but it’s very bad for debt. Blue Lobster Though it should be obvious to everyone, I’m going to say it again. Debt is not wine. Hear me now! Time makes debt get worse. This is not a secret. Nor should it come as a surprise. The longer you keep it, […]
When I was younger, I was convinced that student loans are an anchor. I believed that the best course of action was to eliminate them as soon as humanly possible. Full stop – no further discussion needed. Paying off student loans ASAP was a sign of being a mature adult. One did not carry debt […]
The silver linings are there if you look for them, even in a pandemic. We all know that COVID-19 has changed things in a fundamental way at a societal level. However, as with most things in life, its impact on individual lives is different depending on one’s access to money and resources. Over the past […]
It struck me recently that one of the reasons I’ve achieved some of my personal finance goals is that I’ve followed old-fashioned advice. These are the top three nuggets that come to mined. Stay Out of Debt. This particular pearl has served me well. I’ve had credit cards in my wallet for more than 25 […]
Over the past few weeks, I’ve heard people talking about the right of offset. As I understand it, the bank who lends you money has the right to take money out of your bank account, held at the same bank, if you don’t pay your debts on time. Wait! What? Start from the beginning, Blue […]
Right from the get-go, I’m going to ask those of you who already know this to forgive me for stating the obvious. Minimum payments benefit the lender way, way, way more than they benefit the borrower. Beware the minimum payment! When you borrow money from the lender, you’re taking out a loan. And when you […]
We are just over a week into a new year – hooray! I hope that 2020 is off to a great start for all of you. What I love about this time of year is crunching my numbers. I track all of my expenses in two self-created spreadsheets, one for my monthly fixed expenses and […]
The shopping season is upon us once again! It used to be called the Christmas season or the holiday season but the notion of Christmas or holidays is no longer emphasized. When I look around, all I see is the emphasis on shopping. Apparently, the proper and just way to show your love to family […]
It is ridiculously easy to incur as much vehicle debt as much as possible – aka: more than absolutely necessary – when buying a new set of wheels. You simply have to do the following three things: borrow as much as you possibly can, get a really high interest rate; and pay the absolute lowest […]
What is a Home Equity Line Of Credit? Short answer – it’s a debt trap that’s best avoided. At its heart, a HELOC is a debt product that banks offer to homeowners which permits the homeowner to go into debt by spending the equity in their home without selling it first. For example, if you […]