Having worked in the field of debt relief and credit repair services for as long as I have, there isn’t much I haven’t seen or heard when it comes to people’s credit. And now that the economy itself is in as bad a shape as a lot of people’s credit, it seems that our past deeds have finally caught up with us.
While it’s true that everyone’s situation is different and you can’t really pin the blame for any one person’s financial strains on a universally-applying cause, there are at least a few main factors we can all point to as a reason our wallets all look a little too thin these days.
Cuz we are living in a material world…
Ah, consumerism. Many people like to point out money itself as the root of all evil, but that same hive mind is posting that on their new iPad while sitting comfortably on their faux leather couches, watching their new 60” LED TVs and downloading apps on their new iPhone 4 before they head outside to wash the car they picked up last week to replace the one they leased two years ago.
My point is, the money itself isn’t so much a problem as is the culture of consumerism we’re funding it with. Every time some hot new product launches, especially a new cell phone, people line up to be among the first to purchase it. Apple fans know a thing or two about consumerism – just look at every product Apple has launched since the iPod.
Consumerism by itself isn’t necessarily bad, if kept in check. However, when it’s taken to the extreme – when people start dreaming far beyond their means, buying their dream houses and cars without a thought of how they’ll actually pay for them – well, that’s when we all run into a huge financial roadblock. But not all our problems can be pinned on the fact that we’re all lemmings, can it?
You lack discipline!
People may buy an iPhone 4 because they’re told it’s the best thing to happen to us as a species, but you can’t solely lay the blame for that on Apple’s marketing department; after all, they’re not holding a price gun to your head and forcing you to buy it.
No, the problem here lies in our completely frivolous spending habits. When was the last time you were out running errands, and decided to pick something up that you didn’t need, just for the hell of it? I’m not talking about a major purchase (although those certainly apply). I’m talking about driving past a McDonald’s and pulling into the drive-thru for a Frappé, or stopping to grab a Starbucks coffee every morning, or snatching up a movie off the shelf at Best Buy because you want something to watch tonight.
These kinds of purchases seem miniscule in our day-to-day lives, but as anyone who’s made too many of them and then felt the sting hit them hard when they get their bank statement at the end of the month knows, those purchases do come back to bite (and yes, that’s a bit of personal experience talking). A little discipline, along with the ability to make our own coffee and pack our own lunches, could go a long way towards getting our finances back on track.
You gotta spend money to make money!
And now even the US government is encouraging our spend-thrifty ways! After all, the only way to dig our economy out of the pit we put it in (though they won’t put it like that), is to fuel it back up with our money. So don’t hold onto your money in a mattress or in the crawl space in your attic, spend it! After all, who better to tell us how to turn our economic and financial hardships around than a bunch of people who have never actually run companies in their lives and who, whenever the subject comes up in the news or on talk shows, dance around the subject like a man with two left feet dragged out to salsa dance classes?
These people demonstrate on an almost nightly basis they have no clue how to get us back in the black. Hell, just look at the fact that you can deduct mortgage interest from your taxes, and then having to turn around and pay taxes on the interest. Don’t save it, spend it! It’ll make you money and save the economy somehow!
You don’t need to conform to the same lack of discipline that got us into this mess though. If you’re personal finances aren’t where you’d like them to be, and your credit is suffering for it, give one of our specialists a call on that brand new 4G phone.
