Dont Trade Your Future for Todays DooDads
"Easy Low Down Monthly Payment," "Buy Now Pay Later," "You Deserve the Car Today and We Can Finance It for You," & "Spend Today, 0% APR until Next Year!" We see those statements above every where today, on TV commercials, car dealership, banks and magazines. Those statements have put a lot of people into a financial disaster, because the statements make a lot of people believe that acquiring bad debts is an ok thing to do.
One of the main reasons why a person gets into a financial disaster is because he/she can't wait when it comes to buy the things she wants. They keeps buying doodads and liabilities (things that lose values/luxury that goes beyond your current means) because they have no control of their spending habit.
For example, I have a friend who loves to use her credit cards to buy jewelry when she is depressed! Today she has over $20,000 bad debts. Every month, she can only pay off her interests from her credit cards only! Her office looks nice and well decorated but her financial statement looks very grim. She only lives from paycheck to paycheck to pay her debts.
Another example is if you buy a $500 computer with your credit card that has 18% interest, within a year you will pay approximately $300 interest from your card if you only pay the minimum payment every month for 12 months. A $500 computer + $300 interest = $800. So you pay $800 for a $500 computer. That's not very smart move to make. Someone who is smart won't pay $800 for a $500 computer! In a year, that $500 computer won't even sell for $500 anymore on eBay or a garage sale.
A luxury car is another good example, a friend of mine decided to buy a luxury car because he thought he could afford the monthly payment, but what he didn't realize was, a luxury car requires a luxury maintenance cost! It's called the true cost of owning a car! The month payment of a car is not the true cost of owning a car! Go to edmuds.com to find out the actually true maintenance cost of your car. The car that he bought ended up owning him. He had to pay the repair cost, gas, waxing it, cleaning it, and other maintenance fees. Don't even think of owning a luxury car is you can only afford the monthly maintenance.
So this is the wisdom key that I want you to remember "Don't Trade Your Future for Today's Doodads." It's not worth it & wise to buy something that will lose values by using your credit card. Think long term instead of short term. Think of what will happen with your financial future before you buy things on credit. Think of the amount of the interest that you will pay to the credit card company.
The next time you're tempted to buy liabilities or thing that you know that you can't afford yet, wait, take the time to wait! Say this to yourself "I will not trade my future for today's doodads."
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Entjik Jeffrie
