Thought for today: Feeling financial pressure? Having a Pressure Relief Meeting, as outlined in DA Tool Four, can help. It starts with tracking our spending for a few weeks, and ends with sharing what we find with others more experienced in the program. Tracking what is going on with our money, summarizing it, sharing it with a Pressure […]
Continue reading →Thought for today: When a person first attends a DA meeting, they may hear the concept in studying the Twelve Steps that Pride is a defect of character. How can Pride be a that? A newcomer asks: “How can Pride be bad? Isn’t it a good thing – pride of country, being proud of my accomplishments, being proud of […]
Continue reading →Thought for today: Savings Plans can start very small and still grow surprisingly well. Many DA members review their plans with their Pressure Relief Group, for unbiased perspective on what is within their means to invest. Some companies encourage their employees to take part in automatic payroll deductions on pre-tax dollars into retirement accounts, such as a 401k account in […]
Continue reading →Thought for today: In the disease of hoarding, areas of the brain associated with recognizing how important things are get highly stimulated. “Clutter junkies” are an extreme case.* Many underearners and compulsive debtors suffer from some form of this behavior. A member shares: “Evaluating and letting go of things became very tough the more debt I was in. I would get ideas […]
Continue reading →Thought for today: The term “time value of money” means that each payment applied to a loan’s principle amount (the amount before interest) will slightly reduce the remaining interest payment. It shortens the life of the loan a bit more each time you pay an extra amount. Paying off the highest interest rates first makes the most sense. Making […]
Continue reading →Thought for today: Many employers encourage their workers to “unplug” from work during their vacations, to rejuvenate. Even though we give coworkers clear instructions and emergency numbers to call us, underearners can find it difficult to let go of work, unless we fill the void with something. When taking a vacation, why not fill some free time with a “Higher […]
Continue reading →Thought for today: After we stabilize our spending, and have been fully tracking and reviewing our numbers for a while, we will want to begin setting aside a small amount of money toward a prudent reserve fund, and toward debt repayment. The amount we put aside is not important – what matters is that we […]
Continue reading →Thought for today: Secured debt is debt that’s backed by collateral, such as a house, car, or other asset. When a person borrows against collateral, they guarantee that they will turn over this property to the lender if they default on payments. Members share: “I once took out a home equity loan to build an accessory apartment […]
Continue reading →Thought for today: Debt consolidation companies have been known to charge up to an extra 60% of a person’s total debt, on top of an interest rate sometimes 7 percentage points or more above prime. How are they able to charge such exorbitant fees? Fear of talking with creditors is the main reason these businesses […]
Continue reading →Thought for today: What happens after bankruptcy is over? The saying “If nothing changes, nothing changes” may apply. A member shares: “I was a kid when my family declared bankruptcy. Credit card debt for business expenses had become untenable. Payrolls couldn’t be met for their business. IT was a mess of confusion and angry phone […]
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