If you're one of the many many people out there who has debt in a lot of different forms (a credit card or two, student loans, car loan, home equity line, etc.), when's the last time you added up the balances?  I bet not recently.  Take a moment, collect info about all of your debts.  Gather bills, statements, go online, whatever.  And add up the balances of all that you owe.  This number is probably bigger than you think.

I suggest this not to depress you but to inform.   Reality sucks sometimes, right?  But that doesn't mean you shouldn't face it.  When money is concerned, debt especially, it's so vital to live in the real world.  It's too too easy to just stick your head in the sand and ignore it all.  And that won't end well.

Figure out the total amount you owe.  Face it.  Reckon with it.  Start thinking of a plan for what you're gonna do about it.  Over time, you can get out of debt.  You can.  If you make a plan and follow it.  It might take a while, might take years.  But if you get there, you will be damn proud of yourself.  

Please do this.  Care for yourself.  None of your lenders will.

Good luck and peace!

I had a conversation with someone the other day who had what I think is a pretty common misperception about store loyalty cards.  You know those cards, right?  You're about to buy something from some department store or other big box retailer and they give you a 10% discount if you sign up for their card.  Sounds like a great program, right?  Sign up and you save all sorts of money.

Of course you know they are trying to get you to shop more at that store.  But what a lot of people don't seem to understand is that those cards are debt, just like a credit card.  Every time you use it, you are increasing your overall debt load.  Problem is, sometimes when people carry very small balances on these different cards, they don't think of them as important.  Or at least not as important as say their Amex or MasterCard.  But you need to pay these off just as regularly as any other debt.  If you don't pay these cards, even if it's only a few bucks a month, they go into default and you trash your credit score.

Many of you probably already know this.  But I know for a fact that some of you don't.  Your best bet?  Get rid of all these cards over time by paying them off.  Look through prior blog posts here for strategies to pay down debt.

Good luck, and peace!

Sometimes dealing with banks or other financial institutions can drive you completely crazy.  They can seem so insensitive, judgmental, inflexible, byzantine, etc.  Here are two things to keep in mind if you have to deal with a bank:  one, they are servants of their bureaucracies; and two, you have choices.  Let's think about each of these.


One, if you are stuck in a process that seems absurd, don't despair - the process IS absurd.  There are so many regulations and policies that banks need to follow as they deal with customers.  These policies are usually the result of some regulation put in place after some horrible misdeed by some wildly dishonest person or in response to some drastic market convulsion.  Every time there's a crisis, politicians bellow in front of cameras about how they will fix things.  Then they go back to their offices and listen to lobbyists bellow about God knows what.  Then they go to battle with their counterparts in congress.  And what comes out is some bizarre patch on the problem that then is layered atop other previous patches.  Then bank regulators periodically audit banks to make sure they are following all of the rules.   Seem like a stupid process?  Well it is.  And this doesn't even begin to include the internal policies that each bank puts on their own employees.  


Two, you have choice.  Now, all banks have to deal with similar policies.  But that of course doesn't mean that all banks are alike.  If you don't like the way you are being treated at some bank, it might be the fault of the individual you are meeting with (maybe they are having an off day... maybe they only have off days).  Or it might be the fault of the specific bank (some banks have corrupt or morally bankrupt corporate cultures).  Whatever the cause, if you don't like 'em, leave 'em.  Go to another bank.  That's what competition is for - use it to your advantage.


So, in conclusion, banks follow processes that are kind of like the animal designed by committee, and many banks or bank employees aren't worth your time.  If your needs aren't being met, walk.
And finally, make them explain their process to you.  You should be able to find someone to work with who can acknowledge that the process stinks and can explain what steps need to be taken and why.

Good luck and peace!

Transferable skills.  That's something that we all need to be careful to cultivate in our careers.  If your education is in the humanities/arts, your focus should be on building some concrete skills in an area such as marketing, accounting/bookkeeping, database management, etc.  These types of hard and specific skills, when combined with your broad-based humanities education will make you a killer employee over time.  You'll understand the big picture and you'll have functional/technical expertise.

If on the other hand, you have been trained/educated in a specific technical area (such as a programming language, a machine process, some IT application, etc.), then your challenge is to make sure that your skills and knowledge aren't too narrow to remain useful over the long-term.  Try broadening how you look at your area of knowledge.  How can you be an expert in a functional area, not just in one narrow task?

Many people are still struggling out there: looking for a job, looking for a better job.  We can rail against the government and against employers all we want.  But at the end of the day, if you have a solid, transferrable set of skills, in an area that is important to many many employers, you will find work.

But it takes time and care to acquire skills.  So if you are feeling stuck, try focusing on what you need to add to your resume in terms of skills.  And hang in there.

Good luck, and peace!