Debt Reduction
Getting on your right track with money and finances is difficult work. It requires consciousness, commitment, discipline and dedication.
Debt reduction professions often start out with forms to fill out. How much do you earn? Other sources of income? How much is rent? Etc.
I start with a conversation. I want to know about you: about your habits, your values, if you like or resent your job and more. The first step is a decision to be transparent, honest, and committed. Then I want to know about the numbers and from there we come up with a plan that will yield success.
In my mind “Habit” is everything. Your body will act when your head isn’t in the game. It’s like overeating or any other addictive behavior. Your debt reduction plan is a journey toward bringing sanity into your financial situation.
I worked with a couple who had every right reason to have the debt load they carried. They valued education and disproportionately spent their resources on expensive private school for their children. Had there not been a health issue one year everything would have been worked out. But there was, and while their financial affairs are slowly moving to a more comfortable place, it's a cumbersome task.
I fully understand the “value” they placed on education. Given they've been set back years because of it, it would have been worth exploring. Simply put, they didn't have the financial means to afford it.
Another person I worked with asked me one day, “So Betty (his wife) wants the kids to continue at the ______ School. (private school). What do you think?”
My answer was honest and easy. “You can’t afford it.” I did the books for his company and knew their finances as well as my own. In no way was there a spare $30k available for private school. He knew it too. Sometimes you have to draw a line in the sand.