Thought for today: Taking a fearless moral inventory is essential to getting solvent. It takes courage, but by the time we’re through processing it, we get a “10,000 foot view” of how we fit in to the rest of the world. A member shares: “The members of my group told me that if I wanted to get past my […]
Continue reading →Thought for today: A Spending Plan* is not a budget. It is a tool to avoid vagueness around our expenses. If our disease tells us that we want to avoid knowing where our money is going, our Spending Plan offers clarity. It is the antidote to financial vagueness. A member shares: “Before DA, I kept wonder, “Where is it going? I […]
Continue reading →Thought for today: At the end of our Pressure Relief Meeting we will want to schedule our next one, usually one month into the future. In between, we will continue the daily practice if tracking our numbers, gathering useful perspective along the way to help measure our progress. A member shares: “Doing my numbers has […]
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: One of the signs of compulsive debting is “unwarranted inhibition and embarrassment” around normal discussions of money. A false sense of shame can inhibit our growth. We need to counteract these feelings by remembering to have dignity, however humble our finances. Our money is important to focus from time to time with an advisor. A member shares: […]
Continue reading →Thought for today: There are times when we need to take on extra work to increase our income and make a workable Spending Plan. After some time in recovery from compulsive debting, and after getting a prudent reserve, we can consider letting go of the extra work. When the time is right,we can let go of the extra […]
Continue reading →Thought for today: Today our jobs need more of us to gather, process and act on information than ever before. Mundane work is quickly being replaced by intellectually demanding work. We get paid to think more. Our minds build hierarchies of understanding that machines can’t build yet. That’s what makes our thinking valuable in our jobs. But computers are catching up. One day not […]
Continue reading →Thought for today: Now that the first half of the year has come to a close, why not stop and contemplate how we’re doing with money, and adjust our Action Plans to better suit our goals? Just as a sail boat veers off course and the sailor adjusts the sails, so our money-course needs adjusting. Everyone needs course-correction to get […]
Continue reading →Thought for today: Let’s continue our study of how the Steps and Tools of Debtors Anonymous can work together to improve a debtor’s life. It is said that if a truly compulsive debtor doesn’t take a personal inventory of their character defects, they will eventually debt again. And for debtors, this is a disastrous proposition. […]
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