Hot Topic of the Month - February 2009

Today we start the series on Building Sound Financial Practices and our first goal for the year Getting Out of Debt. In these times it is so important that everyone takes a realistic look at their debt. Recent news shows how bad of shape the economy is in! Lays offs and unemployment are soaring! People are losing a great deal of money in the stock market. People are losing their homes to foreclosure. With all of this going on there is still hope if you start to build sound financial practices that take you through the good and bad times.

Some of the topics that will be addressed this month are...

• Starting and Keeping a Budget
• Making Decisions on How To Handle Debt
• Consolidate vs Bankruptcy

Check back throughout the month to see these and other topics being discussed. Ideas to help you, if you are in debt, will also be provided for you to consider.

In the mean time the first step is to find out exactly how much debt you are in. One way this can be done is by gathering together all your account statements and bills. Remember this to get to a good action plan on how to deal with your debt you need to first know how much debt you are in.

After you gather together all of your information the next step is to put it down in one place. I personally use a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet but it can be a bill book or software package that have this feature or even just a writing pad. The important thing is that in one place you have all your debt written down or inputted.

This is a process that I do every year so I will be going through it with you every step of the way. It will take time and a desire to get out of debt and be financially free but this is one goal that if you realize it will make your life better and less stressful.