I'm usually loathe to use other bloggers material, but I thought this funny little article deserved inclusion into SOC. It's a cute little premise about staying financially healthy, give it a read!
To get lean, sexy, and rich: Get out of debt
Posted Jul 1st 2007 9:40AM by Gary E. SattlerFiled under: Consumer experience, General Electric (GE), Getting started, Money and Finance Today, Personal finance
I'm here to help you be successful. That's part of the reason that BloggingStocks picked up my option. Buying, holding, and trading stocks is a fine way to create wealth if you have some money to start with, but there's a time-tested strategy that you may need to apply first that will help make you healthy, sexy, and more financially successful in quicker fashion than almost any other investment ever could. It's so simple that it's almost stupid and anyone who denies the truth of it is in need of your compassion. The strategy is this: Reduce your debt load.
Consider that most of your consumer credit options are costing you between 9% and 12%. That number can climb as high as 21% if you're in the higher risk credit rating brackets. Sure, the lending institutions will still lend you money if you're a higher risk, but it's going to cost you -- big time. What most people don't stop to think about is the fact that those interest charges actually do triple damage to your financial health.
First, when you add your interest expense to your purchase cost, you are then reducing the power of each dollar you are spending on an item. In other words, in very rough terms, if you buy a $1,000 item with credit that's costing you 10%, you actually have agreed to pay $1100 for that item. You just lost 10% on the dollar, in an instant.
Second, When some people buy a $1,000 item at 10% interest, they tend to think it will cost them $120 per month for twelve months, but then they put that credit purchase on a consumer credit account that may already be carrying a significant balance. The danger here is that credit companies apply your monthly payment to your oldest charges first, so the new $1,000 purchase that you made can be sitting there collecting interest charges for a long time before your payment money ever catches up with it. That $1,000 purchase could conceivably have a price tag of $2,000 before you actually start paying it off.
Additionally, some consumer credit contracts have you agreeing to allow your interest charges to be added to your outstanding balance. That means if you don't pay your interest charge for any given month, the next month you'll be paying interest charges on your unpaid interest. This is what spins some people totally out of financial control. What happens is that the required monthly payment can very quickly ratchet upwards without you actually having borrowed any additional funds. In a few months time, your monthly payment can get beyond what your budget will handle and you'll find that you are forced to use credit for smaller but more important purchases, which then makes catching back up impossible unless you can accomplish a measurable increase of your income or quickly slash your debt load.
So how does this all translate to becoming fit, sexy, and filthy rich? It's really very basic and logical. People who have realistic debt loads tend to take better care of themselves. They eat less because they are not looking for artificial satisfaction through consuming food. People with manageable finances have higher metabolisms because their energy isn't consumed by worry. People who aren't worrying about money feel more energetic and are quicker to get on their feet to do something active. People free from financial worry generally make better food choices and have better digestive function.
People with realistic debt loads feel more attractive because they feel more in control. This projects thorough their personality as an air of confidence and confidence is something that most people find themselves drawn to. Both men and women alike express the desire to associate with people who are in control of their own lives. Get in financial control of yourself and you will most certainly become more appealing to those around you. It's also makes a better impression on a date when you can talk about the interest rate on your certificate of deposit rather than how the collection agencies won't stop hounding you.
People who have manageable debt loads end up with what we call disposable income. That means there's some money left over after all the bills are paid. What you do then is put some of that money into a passbook account and let it build up. When you have reached $2,000 in your passbook account, you are ready to consider taking some risk. You could take half of that money and put it into a solid company such as General Electric (NYSE: GE). They should then send you a dividend check every month. Before long, you will find that you are on the opposite end of the financial debt cycle and every month you'll be getting a slightly bigger slice of the pie than you did the month before.
I don't know how you may feel about it, but to me there's something very sexy about a healthy stock portfolio!
Posted Jul 1st 2007 9:40AM by Gary E. SattlerFiled under: Consumer experience, General Electric (GE), Getting started, Money and Finance Today, Personal finance
I'm here to help you be successful. That's part of the reason that BloggingStocks picked up my option. Buying, holding, and trading stocks is a fine way to create wealth if you have some money to start with, but there's a time-tested strategy that you may need to apply first that will help make you healthy, sexy, and more financially successful in quicker fashion than almost any other investment ever could. It's so simple that it's almost stupid and anyone who denies the truth of it is in need of your compassion. The strategy is this: Reduce your debt load.
Consider that most of your consumer credit options are costing you between 9% and 12%. That number can climb as high as 21% if you're in the higher risk credit rating brackets. Sure, the lending institutions will still lend you money if you're a higher risk, but it's going to cost you -- big time. What most people don't stop to think about is the fact that those interest charges actually do triple damage to your financial health.
First, when you add your interest expense to your purchase cost, you are then reducing the power of each dollar you are spending on an item. In other words, in very rough terms, if you buy a $1,000 item with credit that's costing you 10%, you actually have agreed to pay $1100 for that item. You just lost 10% on the dollar, in an instant.
Second, When some people buy a $1,000 item at 10% interest, they tend to think it will cost them $120 per month for twelve months, but then they put that credit purchase on a consumer credit account that may already be carrying a significant balance. The danger here is that credit companies apply your monthly payment to your oldest charges first, so the new $1,000 purchase that you made can be sitting there collecting interest charges for a long time before your payment money ever catches up with it. That $1,000 purchase could conceivably have a price tag of $2,000 before you actually start paying it off.
Additionally, some consumer credit contracts have you agreeing to allow your interest charges to be added to your outstanding balance. That means if you don't pay your interest charge for any given month, the next month you'll be paying interest charges on your unpaid interest. This is what spins some people totally out of financial control. What happens is that the required monthly payment can very quickly ratchet upwards without you actually having borrowed any additional funds. In a few months time, your monthly payment can get beyond what your budget will handle and you'll find that you are forced to use credit for smaller but more important purchases, which then makes catching back up impossible unless you can accomplish a measurable increase of your income or quickly slash your debt load.
So how does this all translate to becoming fit, sexy, and filthy rich? It's really very basic and logical. People who have realistic debt loads tend to take better care of themselves. They eat less because they are not looking for artificial satisfaction through consuming food. People with manageable finances have higher metabolisms because their energy isn't consumed by worry. People who aren't worrying about money feel more energetic and are quicker to get on their feet to do something active. People free from financial worry generally make better food choices and have better digestive function.
People with realistic debt loads feel more attractive because they feel more in control. This projects thorough their personality as an air of confidence and confidence is something that most people find themselves drawn to. Both men and women alike express the desire to associate with people who are in control of their own lives. Get in financial control of yourself and you will most certainly become more appealing to those around you. It's also makes a better impression on a date when you can talk about the interest rate on your certificate of deposit rather than how the collection agencies won't stop hounding you.
People who have manageable debt loads end up with what we call disposable income. That means there's some money left over after all the bills are paid. What you do then is put some of that money into a passbook account and let it build up. When you have reached $2,000 in your passbook account, you are ready to consider taking some risk. You could take half of that money and put it into a solid company such as General Electric (NYSE: GE). They should then send you a dividend check every month. Before long, you will find that you are on the opposite end of the financial debt cycle and every month you'll be getting a slightly bigger slice of the pie than you did the month before.
I don't know how you may feel about it, but to me there's something very sexy about a healthy stock portfolio!
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