The New York Times ran a story today that says the next consumer crisis is credit cards — a sobering fact in a nation that has racked up massive amounts of credit card debt.
Unfortunately, when times get hard, many people turn to credit cards to help them make ends meet … and only dig themselves into a deeper hole.
I’ve been through this myself, buying things on credit when I had no other way to pay for them. I’m not talking about plasma TVs, but about necessities like medical bills. As a result, I dug myself deep into debt, and one of the biggest decisions of my life was to get rid of credit cards and begin eliminating my debt.
At the beginning of this year, I finally got completely out of debt, and I celebrated. But it wasn’t easy. It took some hard decisions, some sacrifices, and a commitment to change my spending habits.
I highly recommend that people get out of debt and stay out of debt, especially as the economy hits difficult times. It’s not a good position to be in if you lose your job while burdened with lots of debt. Better: become debt-free, with a good emergency fund and a small budget. That’s recession-proof personal finances.
Here’s how to get there in six steps:
1. Curtail spending. The first step is to stop the bleeding. If you’re trying to get out of a hole, you’ve got to stop digging first. So make the decision right now to not use your credit card except in emergencies. Cut back on your spending in any way you can, at least for now as you try to get out of debt. Consider tracking your spending for a week or two at least, writing down every purchase, so that you can see where your money is going. Some suggestions for cutting back: eating out, going out, magazines, expensive coffees or other drinks and snacks, new gadgets, non-essential clothing purchases, non-essential furniture or home purchases, to name a few. Now, I’m not suggesting that you never eat out or go out to have fun — but I am suggesting that you cut back on these types of spending. Find other ways to have fun that don’t cost as much.
2. Save an emergency fund. With the money you save from Step 1, begin saving an emergency fund as quickly as possible. Let’s say you identify $200 per paycheck that you can save from cutting back on specific spending items (as an example — your amount will vary). Now put that $200 into a savings fund each paycheck, and within 5 paychecks you’ll have a $1,000 emergency fund saved up. This is extremely important, as there will always be unexpected emergencies that come up (you have to go to the hospital, you car breaks down, you home floods, etc.) and many people will use credit cards to pay for these expenses when they don’t have an emergency fund. If you have an emergency fund, you can avoid going deeper into the hole when these expenses inevitably come up.
3. Make debt elimination a priority. Once you have a small emergency fund saved up ($1,000 is best to start with, but you can get by with as little as a $500 fund), begin channeling your extra money toward debt repayment. Make this a top priority, or you won’t get to it. That means make it your first payment each payday: set up an automatic payment at your bank where you automatically pay an extra amount to your highest-interest debt. Pay the minimum on your other debts for now, and once you pay off the highest-interest debt, put all your extra money to your next highest-interest debt … and so on, until all debts are paid off. An alternative is to pay your smallest debt first, then focus on the next biggest debt, and so on.
4. Scale back your lifestyle. While Step 1 asked you to find ways to cut back on spending immediately, there are longer-term changes you can make that will have a big impact on your spending. For example, you could trade in your large car or SUV for a smaller, less-expensive car that gets better gas mileage. You can eventually move to a smaller home and get rid of a lot of the clutter in your house that requires a lot of space. You can work at cooking at home more instead of eating out, brown-bagging it to work instead of having expensive lunches, making your clothes last longer instead of buying new clothes all the time, and deciding you don’t really need the latest computer, TV, video game system, or smart phone — the ones you have work well enough already. These changes may take time, but a commitment to scaling back can pay huge dividends over time.
5. Make sacrifices and buy on cash. This is an extremely important habit that may become the keystone to this entire plan. While many people buy on impulse and put purchases on credit cards so they can have it now, that’s rarely necessary. Rarely do you really need to make a purchase right away. A much better habit is to save up until you have enough money to buy the item on cash. Get into the habit of waiting. Sure, maybe you need new shoes, but can you wait until you have the $50 to buy them? Yes, you can. Sure, maybe you need a new computer, but can you save up the $1,000 you need for it? It’s possible. It’s even possible to make your current car last longer and save up enough to buy your next car on cash — I did this with my last car purchase (actually it was a slightly used mini-van), trading in my SUV and paying the balance on cash. The key is to wait, save up, and buy on cash.
6. Make a commitment to stay away from credit. Getting into some debt may be unavoidable — student loans, for example, or housing loans are usually seen as good debt, especially at low interest rates. Even auto loans aren’t necessarily bad debt, although as I said above, it’s possible to save up enough money to buy a decent used car on cash so you can avoid getting into that debt. But credit card debt is rarely ever desirable, for the average person. I’m not saying you should never use credit cards — obviously they are convenient for online purchases or traveling, although for these purposes you could use a debit card that’s backed by a major credit card company in most cases (I have). But my advice is to just have one credit card (cancel all the rest) and to keep the balance at $0. Only use it when you actually have the money in the bank, and then pay it off immediately. Don’t use your credit card when you don’t have the money — that will just lead to trouble. Make a commitment to doing this, and you’ll avoid credit problems and be in good shape, whether a recession hits or not.
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译文:
在经济状况欠佳时可以避免赊账问题的六个简单步骤
今天，纽约时报刊登了一则报道，说即将到来的经济危机是信用卡危机——大量信用卡债务不断增多已经成为全国一个清晰可见的事实。
不幸的是，当面临经济状况欠佳的时候，很多人会求助于使用信用卡以使收支平衡……这只能使他们在经济漏洞中陷得更深。
我曾亲身经历过这样的情况，当我没有其他办法可以购物时，我只能选择赊账。我赊账购买的不是等离子电视，而是诸如药物等日常必需品。结果是，我使自己陷入了债务的深渊，因此摆脱信用卡，还清债务成为我人生中最重要的决定之一。
我庆幸于今年年初我终于还清了债务。然而实现这一目标并不简单。我需要做出一些艰难的决定，一些牺牲，一些辛劳才能改变我的消费习惯。
我非常敬重那些没有债务的人，尤其是那些当经济处于欠佳状况时却不负债的人。如果你因为失业带来大量的债务，你将处于一个不佳的状况。较好的方式是成为无债务的人。应对个人财政紧缩的方法是有一份足够的应急基金和一小笔预算。
以下是如何实现在经济状况欠佳时避免赊账问题的六个步骤：
1. 削减开支。第一步是停止大量消费。如果你正在努力摆脱债务，首先，你得停止欠债。马上做出决定，只在紧急情况下使用信用卡。用任何你能采取的手段削减开支，至少从你打算摆脱债务的日子开始。至少一个或两个星期检查你的花销，记下你买的每一件商品，以便你了解钱被花去了哪里。一些削减开支的建议：不要下馆子，不要外出享受娱乐，不要买杂志，不要买昂贵的咖啡或其他饮料和小吃，不要买新的小玩意儿，不要买不必要的衣服，不要添置不必要的家具或家具用品，这里只是列出一些。在这，我并不是建议你绝不要下馆子或外出享受娱乐——我只是建议你削减这一类花销。寻找其他可以为你增添乐趣的方法，你就不必花费太多。
2. 筹集一份应急基金。把你从步骤一节省下来的钱筹集成一份应急基金，并且越快越好。你确定从每份工资中取出200美元，你可以通过削减具体事项的开销来筹集基金（这只是一个例子，你取出的金额可以不同）。现在把每份工资里的200美元存入一项储蓄基金中，5份工资你就有一份1000美元的应急基金。这一点极其重要，因为总有意想不到的事故发生（比如，你必须住院，你的车坏了，你的房子被水淹了等），很多人因为没有应急基金而使用信用卡支付这些开销。如果你有应急基金，当意外事故不可避免地来临时，你可以避免更深地陷入债务的深渊。
3. 把还债当作优先考虑的事情。一旦你有了一小笔应急基金（1000美元是最好的起点，但少至500美元也勉强可以），就开始把你额外的钱用于还债。把还债当作优先考虑的事情，否则你将无法还债。那意味着你获得薪水的第一天就要还债：在你的银行账户设立自动转帐服务，在那你可以自动把额外的钱偿还高利率债务。从现在开始偿还其他较小的债务，一旦你还清了高利率债务就把剩下的钱用于偿还另一个高利率债务，以此类推，直到把所有债务还清。另一种可选择的方法是先还清最小的债务，再偿还大的债务。
4. 使你的生活方式变得拮据。尽管步骤一建议你立即寻找方法削减开支，但你可以做一些长期的改变，它们将对你的消费产生巨大影响的。比如说，你可以把运动型多功能车或大卡车换成小型车，因为便宜的车耗油量较少。你甚至可以搬进小一些的房子里住，这样可以避免太多杂物占去过多空间。你可以在家吃饭而不是下馆子，可以自带午餐上班而不是购买昂贵的午餐。可以把衣服穿久一些而不是总买新衣服。你还要下决心不买最新的电脑，电视，影像电玩系统或智能手机——你原有的东西足够用就行了。你需要花时间去改变，但为缩小开支付出的辛劳会随时间流逝给你带来巨大利益。
5.做出牺牲并用现金购物。这是非常重要的习惯，也可能是整个计划的基础。然而，很多人因为冲动使用信用卡购物，现在他们拥有了物品，但这是完全没必要的。你不需要立即购物。较好的习惯是等你攒够钱再用现金购物。养成等待的习惯。当然，也许你需要一双新鞋，但你能等攒够50美元再买吗？是的，你可以。当然，也许你需要一台新电脑，但你能攒够所需的1000美元吗？这是有可能的。你甚至有可能把现在想购车的想法推迟，并等攒够了现金购买另一辆——我是这么做才购买到现在这辆车的(事实上它只是一辆二手的小型货车)，我把我的运动型多功能车卖掉，并用现金保持收支平衡。关键是学会等待，攒钱，用现金购物。
6. 立下远离赊账的诺言。欠债也许是不可避免的——比如，学生贷款，或住房贷款常常也是一项很重要的债务，尤其是处于低利率时。我之前提过汽车贷款是不必要的债务，通过攒钱购买一辆尚可接受的二手车，这是有可能的，这样你就避免了负债。对一般人而言，信用卡债务是很不可取的。我并不是说绝对不能使用信用卡——显然，信用卡方便于网上购物或旅行，为了实现这些目的你可以使用大多数情况下由较重要的信用卡公司支持的借方卡(我也有一张借方卡)。但我的建议是只要有一张信用卡就足够了（撤销其他的信用卡），并使卡上余额保持为0美元。当你确定你有钱存在银行里时才使用信用卡，并马上偿还债务。不要在你没有钱的时候用信用卡——这只会带来麻烦。立下誓言，无论财政紧缩与否，你将避免赊账问题，将处于一个良好的状态。
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