Cash is King

Most of you might be surprised to know that I am only just learning to understand the mythical world of finance. It's true. I am great at spending money. I am a perfect consumer, I love impulse buying, and even " feeling sorry for myself" shopping. I buy stuff because it makes me feel good. Unfortunately I buy a lots of stuff on credit which means debt. It means I have been suckered in to believing that the best thing I can do in my life is buy whatever I want for minimum monthly payments. That's what the great North American marketing machine is always telling us, and I know because I have used the same tactic. But, we are being bamboozled out of our paycheques.

So this week my advice to you is to get a handle on your credit cards, and destroy them if you can. Promise yourself that they are for emergency use only. (shoes are not an emergency purchase, even on sale) You see, when you buy stuff on credit you are spending next week's unmade money. Sometimes it's next month's or next year's money even. If you are like most people you live about three paycheques away from serious trouble. So kill the credit and make cash the king. This discipline is empowering because the work you do today won't go for something like the pizza you bought last week. Trust me on this. Debt free means all the money you make is yours and not a bank or card companies who are killing your life with interest, the fee that let you borrow you money in the first place. Get that under control and then we'll talk about your mortgage, which comes from the words Death and Grip. Yikes!