GenM you can avoid Bankruptcy!

All we seem to hear about is the financial crisis. Globally, National, Corporate, Small Business, Charities, and Personal. It doesn't seem like anyone is a good role model for fiscal responsibility. I believe your generation with education and action can change the headlines all over the world. It will be a slow and gradual shift. No one will really notice until the credit card companies start to panic while you are traveling and enjoying your freedom - debt free.

Let me paint a picture of what you can avoid. I went to a presentation last week from a wonderful organization. Credit Abuse Resistance Education. - The CARE Program.

The Hon. John C. Ninfo II started this program and has created chapters in all 50 states by recruiting volunteer bankruptcy lawyers to run the educational program. They go to schools, organizations and anywhere people will listen to teach them to avoid bad financial choices.

If they are successful they will put themselves out of business. Noble cause to say the least.

They discuss creating a realistic budget for college students, top 20 mistakes made by people who file bankruptcy, top 10 financial tips for high school and college students, using credit cards and predatory lending traps.

I am going to start with "Creating a realistic budget that you can stick to" by Hon. John C. Ninfo II. He lists 10 steps. I will list 5 today and 5 tomorrow. This will give you an opportunity to figure out how you are going to track your spending and implement the steps into your life.

Budget - a comparison of all your expenses to the funds you have available to pay for these expenses. If your expenses exceed your available and you want to stay out of debt, your only choice is to balance your budget by either increasing your available funds or decreasing your expenses.

How to create a balanced budget...........

1. Start now to carefully observe and record your spending. Keep a journal and write down EVERYTHING you are actually spending your money on. You may be surprised. I was recently in a clothing store and overheard a conversation between a mother and her high school daughter who didn't have enough money left to buy some things she had seen in the store the week before. They were trying to figure out where all the girl's money had gone. Finally, the daughter acknowledged she had been buying specialty coffees two or three times a day.

2. Take a realistic look at your habits, interests, lifestyles, and activities. Determine whether while at college will you be continuing, discontinuing or adding some things that you regularly do. That way you can plan and budget for them. Do you have an expensive hobby like skiing that you may want to participate in on a regular basis if you go to school in Vermont, but will only do if you go to school in Florida? If you are an avid golfer at a club where your family has a membership, how many times will you be able to afford the greens fees to play golf at school? Do you have enough cloths so that you won't have to do laundry that often? Are you likely to be involved in extra curricular activities at college that can be more costly, or will you spend most of your time studying and hanging out with friends? Are you going from an area that does not have professional sports to a school in a city where there are professional sports teams that you will want to see? Do you have some health issues that may make your expenses for prescriptions or over-the-counter medicines higher?

3. Ask yourself, what are you doing now that you don't have to spend money on because your family is paying for it, but that you or your family will have to pay for separately for when you are at school. For example, now when you have a headache you just go to the medicine cabinet and take an aspirin, your favorite snacks are always in the kitchen and laundry soap is always in the utility room and you don't need quarters to use the washer and dryer.

4. Be honest with yourself so you can determine whether some of your actual or projected expenses are wants or needs, and if you have to, how you might be able to reduce some of the expenses that are not truly needs. Almost every one of the expenses on the budget template can vary. For example, you can buy a brand new lamp for your dorm room or a really cool one at a garage sale; you can buy designer clothing or find interesting things at a discount stores, second hand shops, or retro clothing stores; you can buy your friends and family expensive gifts, or make them relatively inexpensive gifts or take them for an inexpensive breakfast or lunch instead of buying a gift; you can buy store brand over-the-counter medicine that is just as effective as the name brand medicines; you can fly home with a discount fare if you purchase your tickets in advance or pay full price if you wait to long; or you can buy your school supplies at the campus bookstore or at one of the discount office supply stores.

5. In addition to keeping any particular expense down by looking for the best buy, you can and should set a limit on how much per week you will spend on certain items like eating out or ordering in, buying beverages, going on road trips to see your friends, attending concerts or sporting events and shopping at the mall.

I will have the last five steps in tomorrows post.

Your next steps - review your attitudes, actions and decisions starting today. You have the power to do it differently. Have financial and mental freedom which creates options everyday of your life.

Stay tuned.........