I owe a lot of people. I owe my parents for giving me the tools to succeed in life. I owe my teachers for giving me the education I needed. (Mount St. Joe?s Carl LaVerghetta, for instance.) But like most Americans, those aren?t the debts I spend my days worrying about.
I owe everybody else, it seems ? for my house, my car, my credit cards (even though I pay those off) and more. Nationwide, credit card debt is at a six-month high right now. We owe $9 trillion, or about $30,000 for every man, woman and child. With The Mall in Columbia filled to the brim, I?m betting many folks are adding to that debt right now.
I?m betting some people are determined to be dumber than whale spit.
Not because they are going into debt. There are lots of good reasons to go into debt. I?m talking about overdoing it ? digging yourself a hole so deep that you can?t climb out. If you need a new car (need!), have to have surgery, have to put food on the table, then debt is understandable.
But Americans bury themselves under mountains ofdebt to buy … stuff. Always new and shiny goodies ? not just an iPod, but a better iPod. Throw in a new flat-screen TV, a bigger house and a faster car, and all of those things add up into piles of debt. Push them together, and we get a mountain many of us can?t climb.
I owe you. You owe me. We are singing the Barney song in endless, penniless repetition. It?s got to stop.
If you think I?m not talking to you, look at your bank statement or checkbook. If there?s money to spare and you are saving for retirement, then relax. But if you are scraping by every month, struggling to pay basic bills, listen up.
Stop.
That?s it. Stop spending so darn much money. Do you need a new fill-in-the-blank? If not, then don?t buy it. Pay down those credit cards until they are paid off. Stop stopping by Starbucks every day. One cup can set you back $4 at least. Buy one every workday and say goodbye to $1,000 a year. Enjoy a fancy meal for two once each month at $100, and you are dropping $1,200 a year. Once each week is more than $5,000 a year.
Now do I have your attention?
I hope so.
You don?t have to stop spending. Starbucks makes wonderful coffee. And I love dining out more than most people. Just stop spending more than you make. Then set some aside for a rainy day. Then there?s your retirement and your kid?s college fund.
Pretty soon, you realize you need to save a lot more than you?ve been doing. That retirement or those college funds are a bit more important than a Skinny Cinnamon Dolce Latte ? most days, anyway.
I?m sure you can think about other people you owe, but you owe it to yourself to try to live debt-free.
Dan Gainor can be seen each week on Thursday afternoons on the new Fox Business Network. He is the T. Boone Pickens free market fellow at the Media Research Center?s Business & Media Institute, a career journalist and media commentator. He can be reached at [email protected].
