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Excerpt from Quick Steps to Financial Stability

- Alan Lavine and Gail Liberman



Over the next few months, Alan Lavine & Gail Liberman's column will consist of excerpts from their new book from Quick Steps to Financial Stability, (QUE Publishing 2006).

Making sure there is enough money around to live the good life now and during your later years often means making a few changes in how you spend today.

In Alan and Gail's book, Quick Steps to Financial Stability , they suggest you look at ways to lower your debt which means taking time to figure out how to trim some expenses.

Here's more on that topic:

"Controlling Your Debt. One major key to controlling your debt---as you no doubt have heard before---is to stop paying interest on all loans. Revolving interest can be a money management killer.

This might be easier said than done! But if your net worth needs a major turn-around, we urge you to start by taking the credit cards out of your wallet. This immediately will stop you from accumulating more debt by charging purchases on impulse.

Yes, credit cards generate impulse spending---exactly what you're probably trying to avoid.

It's true. Why do you think major retail stores all issue credit cards? Credit card promoters have them convinced that you'll spend some 24% to nearly 70% more per purchase in their stores. We've seen the sales literature. Do you really need to be letting all that extra dough fly out of your financial life?"

My thoughts: If you've got a handful of credit cards, take some baby sets and leave all at home when going out shopping then pick one and work on paying it off until the balance is zero. Then close the account. In this credit conscious world odds are you don't want to left without a credit card, but you don't need a half dozen of them either.

You can purchase Alan Lavine & Gail Liberman's latest book Quick Steps to Financial Stability (QUE Publishing 2006) online at www.moneycouple.com or at your local bookstore.

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