If you have been hanging around www.JosephSangl.com anytime at all, you have heard me talk about how important it is to continue learning about how to manage your finances.
I have recently completed watching Oprah's Debt Diet series.
Here are some things I took away from watching this series:
- Americans are very disorganized
- Spouses who do not work together are susceptible to hiding debt
- Debt is a disease – DIS EASE – uncomfortable
- When faced with their true financial picture, people KNOW that it is out of order! They will make statements like, "This is eye-opening", "This is nuts!", and "Wow!"
- There is ALWAYS a way to spend less money
- Some people are just plain stupid with money
- People know their real story, regardless of the facade they present
- Folks feel stupid when it comes to money and are scared to ask for help!
- Americans feel validated by their credit score
- Kids don't really care about STUFF – they just want to spend time with you
- 43% of homes purchased last year were with $0 down!
Hey Joe! Check out http://www.msn.com today (tuesday may 22nd). There is an article on how to start your own university!
Joe,
I was thinking about the $1000 emergency fund. Do you really think that is enough? If my Aunt in Michigan died and I had to run up there for the funeral I could spend that just on airline tickets. Is $1000 in the emergency fund just a place to start?
Sangl says …
Julie – loved the article!
Tina – You are correct! The $1,000 emergency fund is just a BEGINNING emergency fund. I made sure that I had at least $2,500 from day one – because that would actually replace a transmission or a furnace! Great observation!
Now that I have stopped my collegiate monetary hemorrhage(~ I graduated), I am joining the get-out-of-debt revolution!
My wife & I had a combined $248,500 in debt.
We recently mailed in $27,000 to reduce that to $221,500 in total debt.
We have no other debt than the student loans.
My goal is to be debt free in 5 years.
Watch for smoke as we burn this debt down!