Basic HTML Version
·WILLYOU
EVER
GETOUTOF
DEBT?
by
Ronald Kelly
Yo
u
need to learn how to handle your personal
finances, how to get out of
debt, and how to stay out of debt!
T
HE CHANCES
are you, right
now, are in debt!
If
you are an ..average" citizen
in Canada or the U.S., for example, you
have obligated nearly 25 percent of your
take-home pay to short-term credit pur–
chases. And you are going to pay for
them with monthly installments and add–
on interest charges for two or three or
even five more years.
But as you pay off on one account, you
will
have charged on another. Sorne of you may
not foresee a time you will ever get out of
debt.
And in addition you are probably making
long-term monthly payments on your borne,
your furniture or your automobile.
The world of
CREDIT BUYING
has made
it all possible.
Time to Pay t he Piper
At the same time millions of families accrue
debts by credit buying, scores of tbousands
among them are filing for bankruptcy.
How did these scores of thousands reach
the point of economic collapse? Surprisingly,
most of these families were average. They
were not multimillionaires who went broke
over bad investments. They were the average
neighbors down the street in suburbia who
hold regular jobs and have regular debts.
Here is a profile.
The typical bankrupt family in Canada or
the U.S. earns between $15,000 and $25,000
Aprll 1982
annually. The head
of the household will
be in his middle 30s.
The family will have a
30-year mortgage on a
middle-class borne in
the suburb of a major
American city. They
will have accumulated
credit debts in addition
to the borne mortgage of a
little more than $8,000.
And
they can't make the payments!
That's what you might call "head over
heels in debt."
How l t Got That Way
Let's analyze this "average" family for a
moment. You might fit the mold yourself. You
certainly want to avoid the pitfalls so many
have fallen into.
During the past quarter century credit buy–
ing has become a way of Ji fe.
If
you do not have
a wallet full of plastic cards, you are indeed
handling your finances different from the aver–
age person. You may have even felt compelled
to obtain a credit card since many stores today
will not even take a check in payment unless
accompanied by your driver's license
and
not
only one, but
TWO
major credit cards.
Obtaining these credit cards has heretofore
been fairly s imple. Just fill out an application
where you bank and one comes in the mail.
Lured by high-power ads on television and in
magazines we have found it convenient to
charge gasoline, clothing, department store pur-