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Debt Reduction: Which debts do you pay off first?
If you've gotten yourself into some debt problems and are trying to drag yourself out, how do you prioritize your debts in terms of repayment? This can be the toughest decision you face - it will make a huge difference in how fast you're able to pay...
Securing a Debt Consolidation Loan
It's the day you've been waiting for the last two weeks...
payday and the only time when your face lights up and you
actually go to the office with a lot of wonderful, dreamy
thoughts in your head - such as how fast you'll be able to bolt
out of...
Tips to Lower Your Debt Levels
With the levels of debt in America today many Americans should
take a compulsory course in credit and debt management.
Unfortunately, this ignorance in relation to positive credit
management means many Americans are doing untold damage to...
UK debt becoming a cause for concern
The UK attitude toward debt has received a major shift over the past few years. Where once the UK was seen as a nation that held up thrift as being virtue and considered debt a vice, it has now changed to owing £1.3 trillion on mortgages, credit...
Why "Mom's" have the Upper Hand in Debt Collection
If you are a mom, you can be a successful bill collector. In my opinion, if you are a mom, you are superwoman and can do anything you set your mind to. Some of the things moms and bill collectors have in common are:
Teaching
Being assertive and...
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The Avoid Debt Secret
Financial talking heads on television and radio try to tell you how to get out of debt, stay out of debt, or what dance steps to use to avoid debt. Just about everything they say is the wrong thing. I don’t mean they are lairs and you should ignore them. Actually, many of their ideas do make sense.
They are wrong when talking about debt because they say “live within your means”. By focusing on this phrase, what they are not telling you becomes a secret - the true secret to avoiding debt. Do you want to know the secret? If you didn’t, why are you reading this?
The secret to getting out of debt and avoiding debt again is…
Living below your means.
I’m serious that this is the true secret to staying out of debt. If you live within your means you are spending everything you take in. While this avoids going deeper into debt, it will not dig you out of debt or keep you out. Living within your means is like walking on a treadmill, you work hard but you fail to go anywhere.
How do you live below your means? The best way is to create a spending plan. This can be a simple hand written graph listing your expenses or it can be as complex as a fancy computerized program tracking every dollar you spend through PDA and laptops. I prefer the Spending Plan Creator at Slave2Work.com, it’s flexible enough to be used on your computer, or to be printed out.
Why is living below your means so important? When you live below your means you are generating a surplus amount of money each month. This surplus is money you use to pay extra on your debts until you are debt free. This surplus can be used to build an Emergency Fund,
develop a savings plan for your children’s college or prepare for your retirement.
Living below your means is the real secret to personal financial success. It also will not come easy. We people like to live as high on the hog as we can. However, this doesn’t help us have a surplus each month. You might have to make some difficult decisions to produce a steady supply of surplus money each month.
How difficult of decisions? You may have to sell your house and move into a smaller rental. Perhaps you will sell one car, stop eating out except for special occasions, come home from work instead of stopping by the bar or even taking on a second job. Be careful of the second job, though. It comes with more taxes, stress and its own set of issues.
When you are done reading, I want you to think about what you can do to start creating a surplus this month. What plans are you going to make, and steps you will take to provide a surplus to pay off your debt and begin a regular savings program?
After you have thought about them, go talk to your spouse about creating a surplus. When you are done talking, writing the surplus creating plan down and hang it on your refrigerator. If the two of you work together, you will be able to conquer your debts and put your family back on a secure financial footing.
About the Author
Roger Sorensen is America’s Financial Guide. Learn more at his website www.Slave2Work.com – ask and receive answers to your personal finance questions, read his writings, or join the newsletter Money Basics. “How-To Be Debt Free!” is now for sale, read about it today at www.Slave2Work.com/debtfree.html
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| Advertisements Promising Debt Relief May Be Offering Bankruptcy |
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| Articles on debt relief, and credit management and repair. |
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| Factsheet - Debt Relief Under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries ... |
| The HIPC Initiative is a comprehensive approach to debt reduction for heavily indebted poor countries pursuing IMF- and World Bank-supported adjustment and ... |
| www.imf.org |
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| Special report: debt relief | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited |
| February 6: A year ago the Guardian set out to track the west's promises of action for Africa on aid, trade, health and debt relief. As G8 finance ministers ... |
| www.guardian.co.uk |
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| Debt Relief Options - Findlaw for the Public - |
| Welcome to Debt Relief Options. This section contains information about the ... To begin, select one of the Debt Relief Options topics from the list below ... |
| bankruptcy.findlaw.com |
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| William Brewer |
| The Brewer Law Firm. William E. Brewer, Jr., Attorney at Law Board Certified Consumer Bankruptcy Specialist. 619 N. Person Street Raleigh, NC 27604 ... |
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| Debt Relief - InCharge Debt Solutions |
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| www.incharge.org |
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| Economic Policy and Debt |
| May 2006, IMF And World Bank Support Cameroon’s Completion Point Under The Enhanced HIPC Initiative And The IMF Immediately Grants 100 Percent Debt Relief ... |
| www.worldbank.org |
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| Economic Policy and Debt - The Enhanced HIPC Initiative |
| The Initiative’s debt-burden thresholds were adjusted downward, which enabled a broader group of countries to qualify for larger volumes of debt relief. ... |
| www.worldbank.org |
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| Debt relief - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| Debt relief is the partial or total forgiveness of debt, or the slowing or stopping of debt growth, owed by individuals, corporations, or nations. ... |
| en.wikipedia.org |
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| Debt Analyzer, Debt Reduction Software, Home Page |
| Debt Elimination at its best! Potential savings of hundreds or thousands of dollars! Build debt reduction, timed elimination or consolidation schedules. |
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| Superior Debt Relief |
| We help you get rid of credit card debt much faster than you may believe possible with credit card debt settlement and negotiation tactics, providing debt ... |
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| Debt Relief - Social and Economic Policy - Global Policy Forum |
| Aid Inflows, Debt Relief Yet to Translate into Reduced Poverty (March 20, 2006) ... Fearing that the IMF could tie debt relief to economic benchmarks, ... |
| www.globalpolicy.org |
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| Debt Relief - Global Policy Forum - Social and Economic Policy |
| Debt Relief - Global Policy Forum - Social and Economic Policy. The Debt Relief Page Has Been Moved to: ... |
| www.globalpolicy.org |
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| BBC NEWS | Business | Q&A: African debt relief |
| BBC News looks at the progress of international debt reduction efforts, and the sticking points which continue to hamper the process. |
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| Debt Relief Australia - Start Reducing Debt Today! |
| Debt Relief offers Australians in debt assistance with finding the most appropriate debt relief solution. |
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| Debt Consolidation Australia, Debt Relief & Bankruptcy Information |
| Specialising in debt agreements, mortgage refinancing and bankruptcy. Company profile, calculators, solutions, media releases, testimonials and existing ... |
| www.foxsymes.com.au |
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| Oxfam - Debt and Aid - Debt Relief for Nicaragua: breaking out of ... |
| Oxfam policy paper on relationship between international debt servicing and poverty. Linked to table of contents and also zipped for download. |
| www.oxfam.org.uk |
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| What debt relief means for Africa | csmonitor.com |
| This weekend's $40 billion debt cancellation deal could spark major improvements in the lives of the world's poorest people. |
| www.csmonitor.com |
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