Posts Tagged ‘best debt consolidation’

Best Debt Consolidation Advice Ever?

If I had to choose a single piece of advice that I consider to be the best debt consolidation advice ever, you might be surprised at what I said.  You might expect a super secret, profound tidbit that you could take and apply to your situation that would magically put you on the path to recovery.  Well, you would be partly right.

The Magic Word: Action

You read that right.  The magic word, the single biggest piece of advice I would give if I could only give one piece of advice would be to take action.  I know this is very general, and you probably think it is obvious, but knowing what to do, and doing it are two completely different things.

Putting ‘Action’ into Action

Part of the reason so many of us get so far into debt is that we simply put things off until later.  How many times have you thought of putting together a consolidation or payment plan and then let that plan sit on your computer for 6 months without putting it into action?  How many times have you approached a purchase you couldn’t necessarily afford with cash, only to put it on a credit card that you knew you could simply pay later?  The biggest thing you can do now to improve your financial picture is take action.  Take action by actively refusing to charge purchases you know you cannot afford.  Take action by putting a plan together to consolidate your debt payments and executing it immediately.  These are simply two things you can do, and do right now, that will have a huge impact on your financial picture.  Let’s explore this just a little bit to show you how simple this all really is.

Action Now, Save Later

First, let’s assume you put a budget together and identify what you can and can’t afford on a monthly basis.  Break this down into weeks, now you have a weekly affordable expense number.  This should be based on your income and nothing else.  What do you do with this information?  Simple, don’t spend more than that number in a given week.  This will stop the accumulation of debt immediately.  Next, take all of your credit, loan, and other debt-related balances, and put them in a spreadsheet.  Include all important information such as balance, monthly payment, interest rate, and term.  This will give you a solid picture of all of your debt/credit-related expenses on a monthly basis.  This will show you your total obligations and how much interest you are paying.  Once you have this, you can begin to look for debt consolidation programs that will lower your monthly payment and put you on the road to paying off your debt once and for all.

Don’t Put it Off

The best debt consolidation success stories always start the same way.  The subject took action and took control of their financial situation.  If I could give one piece of advice to someone struggling to manage their financial situation, it would easily be to simply take action!