A wise man once said bottom is just where you stop digging. If you want, you can dig deeper and deeper, and there might be bedrock down there somewhere, but its hidden behind new layers of pain and stress, that you don’t have to go through if you don’t want. You could keep saying to yourself “it’s not that bad, I just need to a raise, get that new job, get cash flowing again and I’ll be OK.” Or you could look at the hole you are in and say “that’s it, this is bottom, we’re climbing out from here.” If you are constantly worried about money, frequently overdraft your checking account, hitting up friends and family for loans to cover a few weeks, it’s time to start climbing out. Your financial life doesn’t have to feel like this. If you build a financial cushion, you have 1-2 months worth of expenses safely sitting in checking, everything can be so much better. But you have to start, right now, living within your means and using credit as it was intended.
Rock Bottom: Realizing You've Got To Change
Fraud Alert: Holiday fraud is on the rise.
Fraudsters don’t take vacations for the holidays. In fact, they only have happy holidays if they are successful in ruining yours! There are three important steps in preventing holiday fraud – let’s call them Ho Ho Ho:
Money can be a scary thing to talk about, but it’s worth it to try
The first thing I do when I’m thinking about buying someone a gift is think about what gifts have meant the most to me in my life. While this might seem selfish, the idea isn’t as simplistic as “oh, I loved that cup I got that one time, and so I should get this person a cup,” the point is to think about what are the qualities of the gift that made it stand out. What about that particular Christmas gift in High School makes me still think about it, what about that moment has stuck, and why. Then, as best as I can, I try and shop with those qualities and values in mind when I think about gift giving with others.
