MoneyWiseWomen

What to do with your stimulus package check?

By Karen Ramsey

After much talk and anticipation, here come those stimulus package checks!

Creating a Healthy Financial Life

The January Issue of the Chief Learning Officer magazine states that Financial Education Could be the New Employee Assistance. It says 70% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck and USA Today cites concern about personal finances as the number one cause of stress on the job. Does this resonate with you?

Are you ready to create a healthy financial life for yourself and your family? You don’t have to do everything all at once. It’s really all about taking one step at a time. But, if you don’t take the first step you’ll never reach your goal. And, everyone’s goals are different. The goals I have today are much different than the goals I had when I began getting my financial act together. What’s most important is to get started and get started today because time is not our friend when we procrastinate. I’m going to share a few steps with you:

Digging Yourself Out of Credit Card Debt

If you’re tired of being in credit card debt and ready to dig yourself out you can do it – one small step at a time.

Begin by making a list of your credit card debt including the account, current balance, interest rate and minimum payment. I know this scares the heck out of a lot of people because they know they owe a lot – just not how much. But as Eleanor Roosevelt said “You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience you stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

Give Yourself the Gift of a Debt-Free Holiday Season

Now’s the time to sit down and plan how you’re going to get through the holiday season without a pile of debt. I’m going to give you some tips for a stress and debt free holiday season.

If you’re like me and buys gifts year round and tucks them away – pull out the gifts and go through them. If you don’t check out what you’ve already bought, you may end up buying another gift you don’t need. Trust me on this one – I’ve done it more than once!

Debt Settlement - almost NEVER the right choice . . .

I hope I caught your attention with the word 'never' in the title.  I know we should *never* use the word 'never' but I'm getting very frustrated with the number of clients who end up in my office having been misled about what exactly a debt settlement company does.

Charge-offs Continue to Rise

A 'charge-off' is a debt deemed uncollectable by banks.  They are 'written off' on the books of the lender, and the loan is considered a bad debt.  All banks and lending institutions allow for 'bad debt' in their budgets.  They know that there is a certain percentage of debt that will not get repaid, for one reason or another.  Likewise, in the accounting practices of banks, adjustments are made in earnings to show this 'bad debt' and the bad debt is able to be written off.

There has always been charge-offs in the world of banking - lending is a 'risk' and having some debt turn into charge-offs is inherent in this type of industry.  However, what is alarming now, is the sky high charge-off rate that continues to rise.

How *not* to get into debt

I am often asked, ‘How do you get out of debt?’ and I have myriad responses and plenty of information, strategies, and advice to pass on to people. However, what I am more passionate about and most interested in talking to people about is how not to get into debt in the first place. I know, I know, this is easier said than done, but there are a few main points that I’d like to emphasize; these are undeniably the main reasons I see so many clients in my office who are struggling with their money.

Oprah's Debt Diet

Yesterday's Oprah show was all about money and her Debt Diet challenge. Featured on the show were everyday people in debt and not knowing how to dig their way out. Financial experts David Bach, Glinda Bridgforth and Jean Chatzky worked with them; advising them on the steps to take: Determine how much debt you have; track your spending to find extra money to pay down your debt; learn to pay the credit card game and stop spending.

A Womans Lifetime Lender - Protecting Women and Their Families

Women are primary targets of subprime lenders and unscrupulous lending practices according to a recent Consumer Federation of America report.  Minority women were reported as the most prone to victimization. 

The statistics are alarming and the destruction that these unethical practices cause is already being seen in our communities. Awareness and education are necessary in order to preserve the financial well being of single women and their families.