Debt Consolidation Blog

Posts Tagged ‘financial advice’

Biggest hurdle that every American is facing in today’s economy is how to manage debt.  It is a growing problem of the Nation. People can incur debt in many forms like credit cards, car loans, mortgage, personal loans and medical bills. Credit card debt is one bad debt that will affect your life in many ways and brings stress.

Do all you can to not accumulate more debt by downsizing your spending habits, creating budget and implementing, and avoiding late fees.  Any individual can analyze their financial position and create a budget to maintain financial discipline. In order to do this effectively, one may need to have financial knowledge and experience.

For this reason, a professional advice of a Credit Counsellor  may help you to get back into good financial shape. A credit counsellor is expert in the field of finance.  We are amateurs who lack finance knowledge and experience in dealing with creditors and budgeting.

Debt consolidation may be one solution to your debt problems. These services could help you as the financial advisor will analyze all your financial information regarding all unsecured debts and negotiate with lenders to help you reduce monthly payments with the goal of clearing the debt in the end.

In this process, proper and professional management of credit cards is required.  As a result, it may become necessary for debtors to seek guidance of professional in an effort to eradicate credit card debt. Getting professional help is always recommended because it reduces the stress and will help manage finances in a better way.

Although you would expect to see some reductions in payments, a process of debt consolidation will have many other benefits that can derive from professional debt consolidation service. Here are some of those benefits:

By hiring a debt consolidation professional, you can make use of his knowledge and techniques that can be very helpful in clearing debt.

By practicing healthier financial management methods, you can learn helpful tips and tricks that can benefit you long term in staying away from debt

Articles on this site have been acquired from a variety of sources.  No content on this site should be considered financial or legal advice.

The Dollar Stretcher Blog
by Gary Foreman

I have a 5 year old that is a very picky eater. Will not eat veggies, except green beens or corn. Meat only hamburger or ham. Can you give me some suggestions as to what dishes I can make? My husband and I are tired of eating the same meals. Thank you.
Sonny

Sonny asks a good question, although at first I wondered if it weren’t better suited for a parenting column. But given more thought, it occurs that it really helps illustrate a point about raising financially responsible children. How so? Let’s take a look.

We’ll begin by considering what Junior is saying when he refuses to eat anything but hamburger or ham. Part of it is good. He’s exploring how much control he has over his world. And, although I’m not a child psychologist, that strikes me as healthy. It’s all part of the growth process.

The bad part is that Junior is attempting to dictate his surroundings. In effect, he’s telling Mom and Dad that he expects them to feed him only the things that he likes. And, it’s up to them to perform to his standards.

Sonny, understandably, wants to make her child happy. But making him happy now could set the stage for much unhappiness later. Now might be the perfect time to teach Junior a better way of relating to the world around him.

What does eating peas and carrots have to do with finance? In this case quite a lot. If Sonny gives in to Junior’s demands, he’ll expect that others will, too. Not only at dinner, but in other areas. It will be an unhappy surprise for Junior when they don’t.

He won’t know how to handle it when a boss expects him to perform a task that he doesn’t like. He’ll rebel when a purchase doesn’t make him as happy as he expected. In short, he’ll expect to get his way all of the time. And, as we adults know, that’s not the way that life works. Especially our financial lives.

So what can Sonny do to avoid mealtime boredom and a lifetime of financial frustration for Junior? She can begin by serving Junior a variety of foods. Whether he likes them or not.

If dinner tonight consists of chicken and mashed potatoes, then that’s what’s available for Junior to eat. He may fuss and demand something different. That’s when Mom and Dad need to tell Junior that nothing different will be prepared for him. He can choose to eat the chicken and potatoes or wait until the next meal. It’s his choice.

Chance are Junior will run away refusing to eat dinner. Don’t chase after him. If he asks for a snack that evening, inform him that you’re willing to reheat the chicken and potatoes for him. If that’s not acceptable he can wait till breakfast.

After a day or two, Junior will realize that Mom and Dad aren’t going to give in. He’ll be faced with a choice. Eat the healthy meal that’s presented to him or go hungry that night. It won’t take long before he discovers that chicken isn’t so bad!

It’s important not to get into a fight with Junior or to try to force him to eat. That could be bad for your relationship with your child. Just prepare a healthy meal (as a good parent should) and offer it to your child. Then give them the opportunity to eat if they’re hungry.

Ok, now let’s tie this back to Junior learning about personal finance. It’s important for all children to learn that we don’t always get what we want. Trying to do so will mean spending money that we haven’t earned. Buying things that we can’t afford. And, then expecting the world to fix the problem that we created.

Junior is much better served by learning early to adjust his wants to the world around him. He may want hamburger every night, but chicken is good, too. He may want a new luxury SUV. But he can afford a less expensive used cross-over. Not everything he sees in the store fits within his income.

So to answer Sonny’s question, she can make whatever dishes that she and her husband like. Not only will they be happier, but in the long run Junior will be happier, too.

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Gary Foreman is the editor of The Dollar Stretcher.com website <www.TheDollarStretcher.com> and various enewsletters including Financial Independence <mailto:subscribe-fi@hub.thedollarstretcher.com>
To learn more on teaching children about money click here  <http://www.stretcher.com/stories/01/011001b.cfm>

(end Dollar Stretcher Blog)