You are currently browsing the monthly archive for July 2008.
Posting is going to be cut off for the time being until August, because I’m really in crunch time to finish a bunch of assignments and take two really big tests in July before I can start doing my student teaching and get my credential. There are a lot of things I want to cover, but I just can’t do all things correctly. Something has to give, and I’ve worked too hard in school to not finish.
Quickly though, I strongly suggest that you become known for something positive. Case in point, there is this little restaurant that I like to go to with my wife (I use the term restaurant loosely). We’ve been going for years. I used to be known for getting a particular order that was less than healthy. I’ve mentioned that I’m fat, but since my wife and I have started going to the gym, we (sort of) reward ourselves by going back to this place once a week and getting salads. We always get the same salads, and they are pretty good.
Because of a recent tomato/salmonella scare, we haven’t been in about a month. Since we couldn’t find a place we liked better, we finally went back, and the girl at the counter didn’t miss a beat: She just asked me if I was getting something different than the regular.
You know what? It feels pretty good to be known as the salad guy at a restaurant instead of the chilli cheese fries guy.
Nothing about finance, just a little bit of “I had a good day.” Wish me luck on the CSET and the PRAXIS, as well as in staying sane while doing a butt-load of written assignments, and I’ll see you again in August!
Last week, a guy came to my office and asked if I was the Wil Stanton that taught Personal Finance. He had a problem that he needed help with, and he didn’t know where else to turn. He and his wife have a mountain of debt, and they are afraid that they can’t get out of it.
As is standard in these circumstances, I asked him to bring in copies of all of his bills, along with copies of all of his income for a month. In order to find out how bad things are, I have to be able to see the entire picture. What he showed me was 19 credit card and unsecured loan statements where the MINIMUM PAYMENT on each added to over $7,000.00! I noticed that he only brought in credit card statements, and not rent, utilities, or anything else. That’s when he told me that he and his brother-in-law had bought a house together and his portion of housing expenses were another $4,000.00.
He only makes $3,000.00 a month…, his wife doesn’t work because she is caring for their one-year old son…, and he is only 32 years old!
I’m not going to go into the details of the plan we are working on, but I will tell you that there is no good answer for him. He is really screwed here, and all of the ways out will keep him screwed for a long time. What is important to note is that he is just now learning some of the basics that young people need to have drilled into them if they are to avoid this same situation:
- Keep track of your spending
- Try to avoid wasteful spending
- Communicate openly with your spouse, family, or other people who might be able to help when you are in a bind
- It doesn’t matter how bad you think things are, there is always a way out as long as you keep following the principals of personal finance that Finance For Youth teaches.
I’ll try to keep you updated on my new friend, but I don’t know that he is going to be able to remain strong enough to keep doing what I told him was the first steps to financial recovery.
