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Teaching you to embrace today while making yourself a millionaire!

I wish I would have understood how easy it is to become a millionaire by starting to save small amounts of money when I was younger...

I feel compelled to share the simple concepts you can apply today....

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20 November 2008

Are You Kidding Me - Make A Wish Come True......

I saw a commercial from Sears right before I went to bed last night that really bothered me. Apparently, it haunted me because I am back up and writing a post on it at 3:40 am.

The ad basically states "Make a wish come true" for the holidays. Purchase a gift you can not afford to make someone else "really happy" now. Credit terms 12 months same as cash.

Here is what you need to understand - if you can not afford it now - Don't buy it.

The way 12 months same as cash works is - if you pay the entire amount back prior to the 12 month window - you pay no interest, however if you can not pay it ALL back - all the interest over the past 12 months is added to your amount due. It is normally at a very high interest rate. The wish becomes your nightmare.

Please be careful over the holidays. Do not go into debt for a gift or an impulse purchase for yourself. We just had a contest on creative low cost gifts. Go back through the posts get some ideas. Things will not bring you happiness no matter how much the marketers what you to believe that.

Stay tuned...........

3 comments:

Look Photography said...

Couldn't agree with you more! The holidays are a tough time to be frugal, but if you can make it thru December, the rest of the year is a cinch.
Speaking of that - let's forgo the traditional presents this year and spend an afternoon together (lunch too!) - maybe at Thai 9?
-V

Stefan said...

I love Thai food, and I have some PTO to use up...maybe I could get in on this Thai holiday lunch?

Also, great point about not spending beyond your limits for a gift/impulse.

I was listening to an evening radio show last night and the topic was money management, and the guest host on the show was a longtime financial advisor.

Someone called in and asked how much debt was too much debt (referring to credit cards, not loans or mortgages). His response was what I expected: if you can't make the monthly payments it's too much. However, the person then asked if they made the minimum monthly payments was that okay?

I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT!!!!

People don't seem to realize how much interest they accrue or at what pecentage they are accruing, and that all they are doing by making the minimum monthly payment is getting further in debt.

It just makes me shudder to think about where our economy is and the uneducated people getting pulled into debt traps to keep companies alive.

It just shows we really need this type of financial eduation and knowledge. Thanks Gen-M.

Anonymous said...

Couldn't agree more with Stefan's comments!! I was watching Suzie Orman on Saturday and they played an episode that had a woman who was TOTALLY maxed out- credit cards, mortgages, etc. She was 'only' bringing in $10k/month and had $19k in expenses. Suzie said she had to give up her expensive multi-million $$ house and other trappings.The guest flat out REFUSED! She said she had to keep up with 'apperances'. And she could not LIVE without those items that we ultimately going to cost her EVERYTHIGN! Frightening!!

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