(Small business coaching) Conquering Credit Card Debt
No commentsBy Dillon Norris
Thinking about conquering your mountain of debt but too scared even to give your debt much thought? Read this real-world scenario of how one person erased $10,000 of credit card debt within a few years.
Ever wonder how some people deep in credit card debt manage to come out on top financially? This is the hypothetical but realistic story of Emily, one person who dug herself out of $10,000 in credit card debt in just a few years.
Never a big spender, Emily was shocked when she noticed that her two credit cards had a combined balance of $10,000. What happened?
* Emily took a lower-paying job when the economy went bust at the turn of the millennium.
* Hoping her lower income would be temporary, Emily didn’t sell her house to get one with a lower mortgage. She didn’t sell her expensive car to buy a cheaper one, since she would get much less than she had paid for it. In reality, the thought of driving a less-nice car was painful
* Emily paid only the minimum monthly credit card payment most months. She was paying interest, and interest on interest, buying the privilege of having the credit card company hold onto her debt another month.
* When one of Emily’s credit card balances got within a few hundred dollars of the credit limit, her interest rate on the card skyrocketed from 17 to 27% .
Loans: Emily’s Salvation?
Emily considered taking out a loan to pay off her credit card debt. She owned a condominium whose property values had increased 40% since she bought it, so she could easily get a good low-interest second mortgage.
But a loan scared Emily: it would mean admitting her debt would not go away soon. Besides, Emily wanted to get rid of her debt, not trade (her unsecured debt for secured debt). Plus, she knew that if she ever couldn’t pay the second mortgage, she would lose her house, while failing to pay credit card bills would just mean a ruined credit rating.
For about a year, Emily argued with herself over whether to take out a loan to pay off her credit card. Then catastrophe hit: her beautiful car was totaled in an accident. While shopping for a new car with friends, Emily finally had to admit to herself that buying another car like the one she had had would be financial suicide.
Finding an Answer
Emily cried and cried as soon as she got home from the car dealership that day. It wasn’t just that she would have to admit that she wasn’t someone who could afford the car she had been driving. When Emily’s parents were her age, they had already bought a five-bedroom house; Emily’s one-bedroom condominium was already a stretch. If she ever got married to a man with the same financial picture as she had, she wasn’t sure they’d be able to afford children. Growing up, her parents had always told her she’d do better than they had. What went wrong?
Emily did not have to think hard about what went wrong. Her father had been able to pay for college with what he earned at summer jobs, and then got a manager-level job straight out of school. Between college and graduate school, Emily had accumulated $70,000 in student debt that she was still slowly paying off. Houses in Emily’s town, even adjusting for inflation, cost several times what they did when Emily’s parents bought one. Cars had leaped in price about as much. The only thing that hadn’t gone up was income.
Unable to cope with having less than her parents had, Emily had used her credit cards.
Solving the Problem
Emily knew that since her lack of financial skills had dug her into her rut, she would need outside help to dig herself back out.
She had heard about credit counseling services that took large chunks of the payments you made against your debt, so she was careful. She found a counseling agency that was a member of the Better Business Bureau, American Association of Debt Management Organizations and whose credit counselors are certified through the National Institute for Financial Counseling Education. Doing a quick search on the web, Emily verified that these were organizations with real standards and not just empty names.
Here’s what Emily got from the credit counseling service:
* Relief. Emily was relieved to learn that her $10,000 credit card debt is in fact about average for Americans. The credit counseling agency showed her that even if she didn’t have the advantages she had-a decent job and home equity-she would be able to rid herself of her debt if she just faced up to it.
* Surprise. The agency urged her to put money away for a rainy day fund, even as her credit card interest mounted. But once she started saving, she felt amazing. She realized she had been under enormous stress from always being one paycheck away from poverty.
* Understanding. The counselor understood Emily’s reluctance to take out a loan, and helped her create a budget that would let her pay off her consolidated debt within a few years. Besides the car, all Emily had to give up were smaller expenses.
* Clarity. With her finances planned, Emily could think much more clearly about her financial situation. She figured out how much more money she would have to make to have her desired lifestyle, and aggressively pursued a new job. Starting fresh with her new coworkers, Emily focused on meeting people who were less materialistic-and even met her fianc.
Though her fianc has no better financial prospects, Emily’s confident they can afford to give their children all the essentials she had, even if in a smaller house.
After all, Emily knows that solid finances are just as good a shelter as a roof over your head.
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Get A Business Coach To Assist You With Building Your Fortune
MLM Business Opportunity Network Marketing
By David Alexis
To give a brief introduction, Network marketing, which is also known as multi level marketing (MLM), is a marketing strategy that incorporates direct interaction with the customer instead of involving a retailer as a middleman. Network marketing operates by recruiting levels of salesmen below a chief sales representative, thereby creating more than one ways of earning for these representatives. Customer satisfaction remains the most important criterion although the major portion of advertising is implemented via word of mouth and informal relationship with potential customers instead of depending on magazine ads and telecasting etc. Network Marketing is popular because it provides higher commissions due to absence of the middlemen. Moreover, direct interaction with the customers brightens the chances of them becoming future promoters of the product.
Numis Network is a renowned company that deals in tangible assets. It is entirely based on the concept of Network Marketing. Founded by far-sighted leaders with strong as well as ethical history of constant success, the company is fast expanding in the international arena. Keeping money as its product, the company also has profitable compensation plans for its investors, which makes it an ideal propagator of multi level marketing.
It is an understandable fact that during this extended period of global recession, you must be looking to save your assets as far as possible. And observations from the 1970-80 decade, recession show that gold and silver assets are the ones that recovered the quickest and outperformed even energy assets. This makes gold and silver assets an automatic choice for you to stay on the safer side either way. Moreover, statistics from this particular financial crisis suggest that the price of gold and silver has maintained its stability as compared to other assets. Hence, it is only worthwhile to be investing in what we call the recession proof investment.
Numis Network, being a company that employs Network Marketing to offer you the assets, whose value will eventually increase with time, is one of the best in business when it comes to such investments. To be precise, the company deals in silver and gold assets thereby giving you an opportunity to collect such valuable assets and eventually earn lots of money. Besides, you can list these products in your financial statement too. So, it is you who gets the opportunity to create wealth, collect wealth, and preserve wealth by owning something that all of us could use more of gold and silver!
For all those who are in the business industry must be knowing the importnace and influence of home business network marketing.It an excellently unique part of mlm business opportunity network marketing, to earn handsome money by investing a very small amount.
The Value of an Online Education
By Dillon Norris
In this article were going to explore the new revolution in education that’s taken place in the last 10 years via the internet and how you can turn back the clock so to speak and get that degree and job you’ve always dreamed of.
Quietly and unannounced right now, while I write this article, there are thousands and thousands of people becoming doctors, lawyers, business administrators and nearly every other profession known to man. They are in their bedrooms, living rooms and other quiet places of their own home. Just a computer with internet and time to study is all that’s needed in today’s society to obtain the degree or diploma you always regretted not getting.
These days pretty much anything can be done from the comfort of your home, be it shopping, booking tickets, sending gifts or even education. Education is a top priority for most people as it nearly guarantees that you’ll be in demand and paid handsomely for your knowledge or services. It’s known as distance learning university or online college and university.
An online degree holds the perfect solution for those who had always yearned for some academic degrees but had no interest or resources to join the traditional educational institutions, now you too can join this revolution and turn back the clock so to speak by learning through a distance learning university.
An online education is available in almost every field where you can earn a bachelor’s degree, a master degree or even a certification diploma. The fees for such courses are also very affordable due to low overhead and very little administration by the educating facility.
Some online colleges and universities work hand in hand to provide the on - field training to their candidates to increase their practical experience, helping you to gain more knowledge about your course. An online course such as this, one that forces you in the field right away is absolutely brilliant because you’ll begin to meet new people with whom you will be working with after getting your online education.
Attending an online college and university is a perfect solution for those individuals who are presently employed and need or desire to pursue a different career or further their knowledge in the career their currently in.
Most of the programs will provide you with downloadable lessons that you work at in your spare time; these modules will help you to stay on track and pursue your goal. You’ll be given time frame requirements and projects to work on just like being at a college or university in person.
One large concern people have before endeavoring into an online education is how much support they will get, after all, when you’re in a class setting if you don’t know a question you can often just ask another student or the professor directly. Well don’t worry because online colleges and universities provide all kinds of support to its online students allowing them to complete the course within the specified time frame. With live chat rooms, direct phone calls and email you’re sure to stay connected.
Before selecting any online college or university, it is wise to do some due diligence about the college, their authenticity, their success story, what their class embodies etc. Ask to speak with some previous online students and find out first hand what their experience has been. Also, more importantly, find out if the students that completed their courses are now successfully employed in the field they studied.
Before you enroll yourself to any online college or university it is important to know the degrees they provide and if you are really fit for it. Study the module to check whether they meet your standards or else it will be a mere waste of time and money. Many colleges offer various online programs but most of them are specialized in some fields only. So it is important to make a thorough study and study from the best university for your degree.
Here is a list of some online colleges which you’ll easily be able to find with a simple Google search:
1. Ashworth College
2. Phoenix University
3. Kaplan University
4. Walden University
5. Concord Law School
6. Pierce University
7. Strayer University Online
8. Capella University
9. Aiu Online
An education the online way allows you to have your own liberty, keep your current job with freedoms, pay the bills and at the same time get an advanced education. So if this article has twigged something you’ve always had in the back of your mind, what are you waiting for, get an online college education now!
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