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Did you realize that two addictions both start with the letter “c”?
You can see from the title of this article I am speaking about Cocaine and Credit Cards.
Prior to learning how to handle my expenses correctly, I had difficulty with credit card debt. It seems that even though I earned more money each year, my credit card debt also grew larger each year.
Drug dealers give you a little cocaine free to try it out. That is how they hook you.
Credit issuers do the same thing with credit cards.
It is just so common to increase our standard of living as our income increases. Have you noticed that also? This is no way to create wealth.
It is much easier to spend more as income rises than it is to cut back if our income drops. You may have also discovered that any quick and easy way to pay off credit card debt allowed it to come right back again.
If you, and me included, did a refinance to pay off the cards, it likely would built up again. This goes for using an inheritance, consolidation loan, lawsuit settlement, family bailout, lottery winning, or any other easy way. Only about 1% of the people I ever met over the last 40+ years were able to avoid this roller coaster of paying off debt and having it return over and over again. And that 1% is generous.
One solution I discovered was to learn how to manage expenses first and increase income second.
Another, which is one of the most important concepts about creating wealth, was NOT to focus on paying off debt, but to start saving and investing first. I spend time discussing this in my award winning, best-selling book, Wealth On Any Income.
If you don’t already have a three page summary of my book, just send me an email to rennie@renniegabriel.com and ask for it. It’s free and also comes with the forms wealthy people use to see where their money is going and how their net worth is growing.
If you want to buy the whole book, 100% of the profits are donated to charity. It’s even been translated into eight languages. You can buy it here: https://wealthonanyincome.com/book/
To Your Prosperity,
Rennie
