Getting Off the Credit Card Crack Pipe
You can’t imagine going a day without it. Using it gives you a short-lived adrenaline rush that soon fades to feelings of remorse and guilt. It strains your finances, and keeps you awake at night wondering how you will continue paying for it.
It’s soul searching time as you look at yourself in the mirror and admit that you are addicted….to your credit card.
Credit card debt in the US has increased from 238 billion in 1989 to over 800 billion in 2005. An entire generation is being transformed into virtual slaves to a tiny piece of plastic. How did we get to this point, and more importantly, what can we do about it.
The combination of easily available credit at deceivingly low interest rates, the incessant barrage of marketing messages encouraging people to live above their means, and the stagnation of wages, have conspired to create a credit crisis that threatens to undermine the foundations of our economy.
The days of delayed gratification are a quaint memory as we rush to fill our McMansions with the latest electronic gadgets and trendiest furniture to maintain the appearance of wealth. The irony is if you look past the veneer of success in upper middle class neighborhoods across the country you will find a community of people filled with angst as they sink deeper into a cycle of debt trying to keep up with their neighbors who are doing the same thing. The average American family carries a monthly balance on their credit card of almost $10,000.
It’s time for a collective “Credit Intervention” that forces us to face reality and admit that many of us cannot afford to live the life we are living. Once we do this we will be prepared to start down the three step road to recovery:
1. If you can’t afford it, don’t buy it. You can watch the same game on a regular TV as you can on the latest 60” high definition plasma that you will be paying for until Superbowl XXXXXX.
2. Pay off your credit card balance each month. Paying your full credit card balance each month is the same as getting an interest free 30 day loan from the bank.
3. Grow your own portfolio, instead of the profit margins of the credit card companies. Every dollar you give the credit card companies in interest payments is one less dollar for you to invest in your future.
Admittedly, these steps are easier said than done in today’s hyper consumer driven environment, and certainly there are people in emergency situations who have no choice but to use credit cards to feed their families, and pay their medical bills. However, too many people look at their credit cards as a shortcut to a better life. This mentality needs to change or many people won’t be able to retire, and the only thing they will be able to leave their heirs is a legacy of unpaid credit card bills….and maybe a broken down 60 “ plasma TV.
It’s soul searching time as you look at yourself in the mirror and admit that you are addicted….to your credit card.
Credit card debt in the US has increased from 238 billion in 1989 to over 800 billion in 2005. An entire generation is being transformed into virtual slaves to a tiny piece of plastic. How did we get to this point, and more importantly, what can we do about it.
The combination of easily available credit at deceivingly low interest rates, the incessant barrage of marketing messages encouraging people to live above their means, and the stagnation of wages, have conspired to create a credit crisis that threatens to undermine the foundations of our economy.
The days of delayed gratification are a quaint memory as we rush to fill our McMansions with the latest electronic gadgets and trendiest furniture to maintain the appearance of wealth. The irony is if you look past the veneer of success in upper middle class neighborhoods across the country you will find a community of people filled with angst as they sink deeper into a cycle of debt trying to keep up with their neighbors who are doing the same thing. The average American family carries a monthly balance on their credit card of almost $10,000.
It’s time for a collective “Credit Intervention” that forces us to face reality and admit that many of us cannot afford to live the life we are living. Once we do this we will be prepared to start down the three step road to recovery:
1. If you can’t afford it, don’t buy it. You can watch the same game on a regular TV as you can on the latest 60” high definition plasma that you will be paying for until Superbowl XXXXXX.
2. Pay off your credit card balance each month. Paying your full credit card balance each month is the same as getting an interest free 30 day loan from the bank.
3. Grow your own portfolio, instead of the profit margins of the credit card companies. Every dollar you give the credit card companies in interest payments is one less dollar for you to invest in your future.
Admittedly, these steps are easier said than done in today’s hyper consumer driven environment, and certainly there are people in emergency situations who have no choice but to use credit cards to feed their families, and pay their medical bills. However, too many people look at their credit cards as a shortcut to a better life. This mentality needs to change or many people won’t be able to retire, and the only thing they will be able to leave their heirs is a legacy of unpaid credit card bills….and maybe a broken down 60 “ plasma TV.
You can’t imagine going a day without it. Using it gives you a short-lived adrenaline rush that soon fades to feelings of remorse and guilt. It strains your finances, and keeps you awake at night wondering how you will continue paying for it.
It’s soul searching time as you look at yourself in the mirror and admit that you are addicted….to your credit card.
Credit card debt in the US has increased from 238 billion in 1989 to over 800 billion in 2005. An entire generation is being transformed into virtual slaves to a tiny piece of plastic. How did we get to this point, and more importantly, what can we do about it.
The combination of easily available credit at deceivingly low interest rates, the incessant barrage of marketing messages encouraging people to live above their means, and the stagnation of wages, have conspired to create a credit crisis that threatens to undermine the foundations of our economy.
The days of delayed gratification are a quaint memory as we rush to fill our McMansions with the latest electronic gadgets and trendiest furniture to maintain the appearance of wealth. The irony is if you look past the veneer of success in upper middle class neighborhoods across the country you will find a community of people filled with angst as they sink deeper into a cycle of debt trying to keep up with their neighbors who are doing the same thing. The average American family carries a monthly balance on their credit card of almost $10,000.
It’s time for a collective “Credit Intervention” that forces us to face reality and admit that many of us cannot afford to live the life we are living. Once we do this we will be prepared to start down the three step road to recovery:
1. If you can’t afford it, don’t buy it. You can watch the same game on a regular TV as you can on the latest 60” high definition plasma that you will be paying for until Superbowl XXXXXX.
2. Pay off your credit card balance each month. Paying your full credit card balance each month is the same as getting an interest free 30 day loan from the bank.
3. Grow your own portfolio, instead of the profit margins of the credit card companies. Every dollar you give the credit card companies in interest payments is one less dollar for you to invest in your future.
Admittedly, these steps are easier said than done in today’s hyper consumer driven environment, and certainly there are people in emergency situations who have no choice but to use credit cards to feed their families, and pay their medical bills. However, too many people look at their credit cards as a shortcut to a better life. This mentality needs to change or many people won’t be able to retire, and the only thing they will be able to leave their heirs is a legacy of unpaid credit card bills….and maybe a broken down 60 “ plasma TV.
It’s soul searching time as you look at yourself in the mirror and admit that you are addicted….to your credit card.
Credit card debt in the US has increased from 238 billion in 1989 to over 800 billion in 2005. An entire generation is being transformed into virtual slaves to a tiny piece of plastic. How did we get to this point, and more importantly, what can we do about it.
The combination of easily available credit at deceivingly low interest rates, the incessant barrage of marketing messages encouraging people to live above their means, and the stagnation of wages, have conspired to create a credit crisis that threatens to undermine the foundations of our economy.
The days of delayed gratification are a quaint memory as we rush to fill our McMansions with the latest electronic gadgets and trendiest furniture to maintain the appearance of wealth. The irony is if you look past the veneer of success in upper middle class neighborhoods across the country you will find a community of people filled with angst as they sink deeper into a cycle of debt trying to keep up with their neighbors who are doing the same thing. The average American family carries a monthly balance on their credit card of almost $10,000.
It’s time for a collective “Credit Intervention” that forces us to face reality and admit that many of us cannot afford to live the life we are living. Once we do this we will be prepared to start down the three step road to recovery:
1. If you can’t afford it, don’t buy it. You can watch the same game on a regular TV as you can on the latest 60” high definition plasma that you will be paying for until Superbowl XXXXXX.
2. Pay off your credit card balance each month. Paying your full credit card balance each month is the same as getting an interest free 30 day loan from the bank.
3. Grow your own portfolio, instead of the profit margins of the credit card companies. Every dollar you give the credit card companies in interest payments is one less dollar for you to invest in your future.
Admittedly, these steps are easier said than done in today’s hyper consumer driven environment, and certainly there are people in emergency situations who have no choice but to use credit cards to feed their families, and pay their medical bills. However, too many people look at their credit cards as a shortcut to a better life. This mentality needs to change or many people won’t be able to retire, and the only thing they will be able to leave their heirs is a legacy of unpaid credit card bills….and maybe a broken down 60 “ plasma TV.
posted by zzzzzzzzzzz at
10:42 PM
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