Debt Archives - Page 3 of 41 - Making Sense Of Cents

Black Friday 2018 Doesn’t Have To Be The Start Of Holiday Debt

November 12, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 10 Comments

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Black Friday 2018 Doesn’t Have To Be The Start Of Holiday Debt #blackfriday #howtosavemoney It’s almost Black Friday 2018, which will start the largest shopping season of the year. And, the average person will spend around $900 on gifts this holiday season.

That amount doesn't even account for other holiday spending, such as travel costs, food, get togethers, decorations, and more. And while the holidays are a great time to spend with your family and friends, all of that unplanned spending can easily add debt if you aren’t prepared.

In fact, according to a survey done by MagnifyMoney, American consumers took on an average $1,000 worth of debt in 2017 holiday spending, and that number has grown in the past few years.

Putting your holiday spending on a credit card is a major problem because of the interest and finance charges you will rack up if you can’t pay your credit card off when the bill comes. That will hurt your credit score, your credit history, your debt to income ratio, and more. [Read more…]

12 Strategies I Used To Avoid Getting Buried in Student Loan Debt

November 9, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 7 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Today, I have a great guest post from Matt from Method To Your Money. Here are the strategies he used to graduate (nearly) debt-free from college.

12 Strategies I Used To Avoid Getting Buried in Student Loan Debt #payoffstudentloans #studentloans #debtfreejourney #moneysavingtips If you’re getting ready to attend college, or if you’ve got kids who are preparing to go off to school, student loans can sometimes feel like a forgone conclusion.

In fact, over 70% of graduates leave school with significant student loan debt. That’s 44 million people who owe $1.5 TRILLION dollars, or around $37,000 per person!!

It’s all a bit INSANE!!

But what if I told you that I have found a way to avoid being one of those indebted graduates, a series of strategies to avoid the anchor of student loans and to start your career off on the right foot? A method that I’m already starting to instill in my children so that when they go to college, they’ll be fully prepared to CRUSH it both in the classroom and with their bank accounts.

My family was firmly entrenched in the middle class. My dad is a pastor and my is mom a nurse. Growing up, money was not a limitless resource and my parents always made decisions with finances in mind. [Read more…]

The Best Money Advice I’ve Ever Received

November 7, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 26 Comments

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The Best Money Advice I’ve Ever Received #moneysavingtips #howtosavemoney

I’m often asked about the money advice that has helped shape the life I live today.

While I still have a lot to learn, I have grown a lot in just the past few years, and part of that comes from following the things I’m sharing with you today.

And, I am happier than I have ever been. I run a business I love, I have the option to retire whenever I want, I am quite frugal, I'm not the spending disaster that I once was, and I travel full time.

Now, to preface this article, I have not always been good with money. Just a few years ago, I was actually quite horrible with money.

I lived paycheck to paycheck, had student loans, didn't save for retirement, had a car payment, and all of that added up to A LOT of financial stress. I still vividly remember the constant worrying that went along with all of that– it was a horrible feeling. [Read more…]

Finding Freedom And Happiness In A Materialistic World

October 29, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 29 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Finding Freedom And Happiness In A Materialistic World The idea for this post came after watching an episode of Rich Kids of Instagram. I honestly don’t watch a lot of TV (just a few hours a month, at the most, is the norm for me because we don't have Netflix, cable, or local channels), but somehow I found this show and got sucked in.

These people are wealthy, like super wealthy, but the show was basically about spending money to impress other people.

And, my main thought the whole time was why do people care so much about STUFF?

As I was watching what was happening in the show, my jaw hit the floor a few times. It's just crazy what people spend their money on, the things people will do to flaunt their wealth, and the lengths people will go to in order to chase material items.

I'm sure some of these people were actually happy, but I don't think that's the norm for the average wealthy person. More importantly, it shouldn’t be the norm for the average American. [Read more…]

Parents Paying For College – Is This A Good Idea?

October 22, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 39 Comments

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Parents Paying For College - Is This A Good Idea? #shouldparentspayforcollege #parentspayforcollege #collegedebt Do you think parents should help pay for their children’s college education? Do you think parents should be required to pay for their children’s college education?

These are tough questions to ask and to answer, but they are very important when thinking about the ever increasing cost of higher education.

These kinds of questions are quite personal to me and relevant to my blog. A major motivation for starting Making Sense of Cents was my $40,000 student loan debt (you can read about how I paid off my student loans in just 7 months).

My student loan debt was higher than the average $30,000 per student, and surprisingly, it is often parents paying for college by taking out loans to cover kid’s education.

I've read countless stories of parents who have $200,000 in student loan debt for their children, and it’s these parents paying for college who have found that these debts are causing them to struggle financially, unable to reach their retirement goals, etc. These parents end up drowning in debt because they just honestly want to help their children get through college. What they don’t realize, though, is that there are other ways to help your kids graduate from college. [Read more…]

How We Visited 8 New Countries in 2 Years – While Also Paying Off 58k in Student Debt

October 19, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 3 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Recently, a reader contacted me and told me about how her and her husband paid off around $58,000 of student loan debt in 2 years, all while traveling. Below is their story. Enjoy!

I always knew I wanted to travel. Ever since I was a little girl watching enviously as my older sister went abroad for the first time, I knew traveling was going to be in my future.

However, I was still unsure how I was actually going to make it happen. As I inched closer to my graduation date from Boston College in 2014, I became increasingly concerned because I had no real career path in mind (or even a trail or a gap in the woods to be honest). My husband (though we were only dating at the time) and I had 58k of student loans between us but all we wanted to do was travel.

So, how did we combine our dream of international adventures with the reality of crushing student loan debt? These are the exact steps we used to make it happen, along with some advice for anyone who is interested in following in our footsteps! [Read more…]

Pay Off Debt And Break Free Of The Debt Cycle – You Can Do It!

October 15, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 15 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Pay Off Debt And Break Free Of The Debt Cycle – You Can Do It! #payoffdebt #debtfreecommunity #howtolivedebtfree Do you want to pay off debt and learn how to live debt free?

Do you feel like you are stuck in a cycle of debt? Are you able to pay off your debt, only to fall back into it shortly after? That is what a debt cycle is, and many people fall into this cycle and can't seem to get out.

Falling into debt over and over again can lead to insane amounts of stress, unhappiness, sadness, and feelings of hopelessness. No one wants to experience these feelings.

The thing is that there are lots of reasons for why you may have debt, like student loans, a mortgage, etc. In some ways, that kind of debt can be good, as it can be an investment in your future. Going to college can lead to a higher earning potential, and a home can add to your net worth. [Read more…]

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