Don't Sabotage Your Financial Goals
One of the surest ways to sabotage your
financial goals is to take on an excessive amount of debt. Unfortunately,
it's not difficult to get yourself into that situation. Just consistently
spend a little more than you make over a period of time and you
will eventually find yourself overburdened with debt. At that
point, with much of your discretionary income going to make debt
payments, you will typically find you have little or nothing left
over to save toward your financial goals. If debt is hampering
your ability to work toward your financial goals, make some strict
rules:
- Using a mortgage to purchase a home can
be a good financial strategy, since you are using debt with a
reasonable, tax-deductible interest rate to purchase an asset
that will probably increase in value over time. Just make sure
you can easily afford the home. Don't purchase the most expensive
home your lender will allow, putting the least amount down. Instead,
make a large down payment and purchase a home that won't stretch
your budget. Typically, you'll get a lower mortgage rate if you
make at least a 20% down payment.
- Be extremely cautious about taking equity
out of your home in the form of a home-equity loan. You might
want to set up a home-equity line of credit to use for emergencies,
but then make sure it's only used for emergencies, not as a convenience.
It may also make sense to use a home-equity loan to pay off higher
interest rate consumer loans, but then make sure you don't run
up those debts again.
- Control credit card debt. Credit card
balances typically carry high interest rates that aren't tax
deductible. The best strategy is to only use credit cards if
you can pay the balance in full, thus eliminating any interest
payments. If you have trouble controlling the use of credit cards,
get rid of them. Only use cash to make purchases. If you don't
have the cash, don't purchase the item.
- Come up with a plan to pay off all your
credit card debt. Make a list of all your credit card debts,
listing the balance and the interest rate. Are you able to transfer
higher interest rate balances to lower rate alternatives? Can
you obtain a new lower interest rate credit card so you can transfer
balances to that card? Have you contacted your lenders to see
if they will lower your interest rate? Once you've consolidated
as much as possible, come up with a plan for paying off those
debts. Start by paying extra on the card with the highest interest
rate. Once that debt is paid in full, move on to the card with
the next highest interest rate, continuing until all your debt
is paid in full.
- Work on your spending habits. Face it,
you wouldn't be in this situation if you didn't have problems
controlling your spending. Put yourself on a budget and stick
to it. Look for ways to reduce spending so you'll have more money
to pay down debt.
- Get help if you can't stick with your
plan. If you can't seem to make any progress in paying down your
debt or find yourself running up credit card balances again,
call for help.
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About David K. Sebastian
David K. Sebastian is the Team Leader of the Physicians Wealth Management Group and specializes in working with individual physicians and group medical practices. He has more than twenty-five years of experience and derives tremendous satisfaction providing advice and management for a wide array of clients’ concerns from tax reduction to asset protection, insurance, investment, retirement and estate planning.
Commitment to his clients’ financial needs and well being is a primary motivation for David.
The Physicians Wealth Management Group was specifically created to address and manage all of the unique financial challenges that doctors are facing both individually and through their group medical practices.
Just as most Physicians are specialists, what we have discovered is that most prefer to work with experts that not only understand their personal situation, but who also are proactive in developing and implementing the strategies required to remedy them.
Feel free to contact me via e-mail at
dsebastian@sfr1.com
or call me at (973) 285-3600
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