Spending Action Plan
The financial crisis has served as a deafening wake-up call that will not stop ringing in your ears. You know in the very core of your being that you need to change how you run your financial life.
| There’s no room anymore for just getting by or putting of the hard decisions for tomorrow. Tomorrow is here, and it requires a commitment to taking the actions that put you and your family on a lasting path to financial security .You know you need to pay down your credit card debt to keep your credit line intact and your FICO score strong. You also know you can’t rely on having easy access to a large credit card limit or HELOC in 2009 to cover emergency expenses. You know—or I hope you’re at least beginning to realize—that you must come up with cash to put in a savings account for emergency protection. You have also woken up to the notion that you can’t rely on huge home-price appreciation as your de facto retirement account. You know you must contribute more to your retirement savings because now is actually a great time to be investing for the long term. |
|
|
| There’s only one problem. You don’t know where you will come up with the money for all this. The truth is that the most effective cash-generating action you need to take in 2009 is to spend less. The less you spend, the more money you will have after paying the monthly bills to put toward reducing your credit card debt, building your emergency savings, and increasing your retirement investing. It’s not a news l ash; it’s just a fact. This year is all about making more by spending less. |
| - Separate wants from needs. - Get over your guilt that you aren’t “providing” for your kids. - Strike the word “deserve” from the conversation. What you deserve is irrelevant; what you can truly afford is all that counts. - Try to negotiate better terms on a car loan you can’t keep up with. - Be very careful when asked to cosign any loan, no matter how much you love the person who is asking for your help. |
