// archives

debt

This tag is associated with 11 posts

Christmas: Not the Time To Go Into Debt

By ⋅ December 18, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment

My life with debt has seen its ups and downs.  When I got out of college, one of my first big purchases was a used car.  It cost me $6,000, for which I took out my first auto-loan.  Of course, with little expenses1 and a full time job, I was able to repay the loan [...]

$534,000 Per Household

By ⋅ June 7, 2011 ⋅ One comment

How do you plan on paying off this one? The $61.6 trillion in unfunded obligations amounts to $534,000 per household. That’s more than five times what Americans have borrowed for everything else — mortgages, car loans and other debt. It reflects the challenge as the number of retirees soars over the next 20 years and [...]

Could I Please Have Some More Credit?

By ⋅ March 17, 2011 ⋅ One comment

What would happen if you told the bank that you were underwater financially, that you were paying more than you were taking in, and for the forsee-able future the situation would just get worse… and then you ask them to raise your credit limit? I would think that they would probably laugh you out of [...]

Is This The End of the United States of America?

By ⋅ March 11, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment

Depending on who you read, this country is in for a bumpy ride.  The problem centers on a debt spiral that is out of control, and only getting worse. The latest reason for this pessimism comes from some recent statistics—35 percent of wages and salaries this year come from social welfare benefits such as Medicare, [...]

Should We Stop Making Pennies?

By ⋅ January 6, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment

Penny for your thoughts? I can remember, as a kid, when I could get a gumball for a penny in the machine at the grocery store.  Today, it’s a quarter.

Over Two Years and Still Out Of Debt

By ⋅ September 26, 2009 ⋅ One comment

This past week, I was in a conversation with a coworker about cars.  You see, ever since I decided to be done with debt and my wife and I decided to have our third child, we’ve only owned one car—a 1997 Dodge Grand Caravan SE.  It’s old, but it has low mileage for the age [...]

How’s Your Income to Debt Ratio?

By ⋅ July 2, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

I saw this handy graphic the other day and just had to share.  You can click on the image on the right to see the original, full sized image. The green represents income and the red represents debt.  Pardon the language in the 29 year old comment, but it’s very real.  The more income we [...]

Is Debt Consolidation Right for You?

By ⋅ October 15, 2008 ⋅ 3 comments

When my wife and I finally decided that we had had enough of debt and we wanted out we decided to do a little debt consolidation.  At the time, we had two credit card bills—one with two different balances fixed at 3.99% and 4.99% and one with a variable percent.  We were getting deals for [...]

How’s Your Financial Health?

By ⋅ September 12, 2008 ⋅ 6 comments

So, this morning I was presented with a chance to go through some questions about my fiscal health.  Getting out of debt was an extremely freeing experience that I recommend for everyone.  Contrary to the image at the right, I received a 92% A from billsIQ for my financial health—but they reminded me of a [...]

Having Trouble Getting Out Of Debt?

By ⋅ August 7, 2008 ⋅ 6 comments

Times are tight.  With the dollar inflating, gas prices temporarily going down (but having been higher than they have been in a long time) and the cost of food going up, people who have been living near the edge are finding themselves digging a deep hole as they attempt to live “the American dream”.

My War On Debt: Don’t Consolidate Your Debt, Unless…

By ⋅ April 9, 2007 ⋅ 3 comments

The technique that Dave Ramsey uses to coach people to get out of debt is called the Debt Snowball. The reason that it’s called a snowball is because of the basic premise: that you have an amount of cash that you can spend to get rid of debt and as you pay one off, more [...]

—

Active Discussions

The Latest From MInTheGap