You don't own it

If you are debt-free you own what you have. Unless you've paid for it in full, you don't own it.

Do you like wearing rented clothes, walking in other people's shoes, driving someone else's car, using other people's money to eat? This is what you're doing if you live on credit cards.

People who are debt-free value things they own much more than those who are not.


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Pay cash and watch the reaction

Pay cash and watch the reaction of the checkout clerk.

It's sad, but paying cash has become such an oddity the simple act can prompt confused looks and head shakes.

Those who use cash are more likely to spend less than those who use plastic. Studies show even debit cards tend to make buyers spend more than they planned.

Cash only. Try it.

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Debt is debt

While student loans or home mortgages are the only kinds of debt you should ever have, they aren't to be kept forever.

Debt is debt regardless of a good interest rate or whether you can deduct that interest at tax time.

Remember: Home loans should be 15-year fixed mortgages and the total payment shouldn't exceed 25% of your take-home pay. Student loans should not exceed one year's salary of your chosen field.
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No excuse works here

You flat out owe it to your family to keep them out of debt.

No excuse works here.
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Our grandparents

Our grandparents didn't spend what they didn't have. They weren't constantly bombarded with credit offers either.

They paid their own way throughout their lives, and when the end came they owned what they had outright and didn't owe a soul. How are you going to go out?
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Buy a home as a home

Don't buy a home as an investment. Buy it to be your home. If you happen to make money on it someday that's a plus but you have to like, and be able to afford, where you live first.

Too many homebuyers are talked into buying more home than they can afford because they constantly hear it referred to as an investment. Then they end up in foreclosure because they let someone else tell them what to do with their money.
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“Same as cash”

Subscribe to the “same as cash” program all the time. How? Use cash, that’s how.

Using cash as your personal financial barometer is a good measure (pun intended) as to what you can and can't afford. If you have the cash you can afford it. If you do not . . . you get the idea.




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