Financial Planning For An Uncertain Future…with Payday Loans!

Where have our spending habits led us?

Debt, we almost all have it. American is buried in it with the average citizen, man, woman and child owing over eight thousand dollars of consumer credit debt alone. To add to that we have mortgage, student and auto loans to take into account. We have become a nation obsessed with credit, burdened by debt, and in the middle of current and pending national crisis, and the middle class is running for payday loans.

How can we cope is a question that many Americans are diligently seeking the answers to. We are a want it now society which has not learned to prioritize are money or our spending habits to insure our future economic health. To make matters worse we are about to enter a new crisis that many are not aware of, which is the Retiring of 78 million baby boomers.

Baby Boomers will be the last recipients of Social Security benefits. What will you do?

Consumer and government spending is catching up with us!

If you have not started to think about your financial future, now would be a good time. The chances of you receiving any Social Security when you retire is highly unlikely if you are not currently receiving it already or are at the tail end of that generation which was born between 1946 & 1964.

By 2030 government spending will have to decrease by 60% or the average Americans taxes will need to double to compensate for funds which we the government has been borrowing from the Social Security fund. This looks grim as i tend to think the later would occur before the former. How will you fair if your taxes double?  It will take more than payday loans to solve this problem!

Speculation by some think that Americas middle class which are those of us which make under a hundred thousand a year, will be wiped out. Small business’s would be forced to close their doors or be consumed by the larger and more established corporations.

They are no sure fire solutions at the moment, just a pending national crisis that I believe has been pushed off for the current generation to deal with and live through.

With the current credit crunch, recession and growing unemployment, many don’t have the means to adequately prepare for there futures without the help of the Social Security. Could this recession be leading us into a depression?  We aren’t prepared to deal with a disaster on that kind of scale – no one ever is – and if it happens, no amount of payday loans will get us out of the mess that was created for us to deal with.

What Can You Do Now to Start Taking Control of Your Financial Future

1. Refrain from accumulating any additional debt. If you are currently over extended consider moving to a smaller or cheaper home. Refinancing may also be a good option if interest rates provide you the opportunity to do so. If so, try to refinance any of your higher interest rate debt into the loan.

2. If you have a car payment you may want to consider trading it in for a cheaper model or even better yet for something you can own out right. Also consider that insurance is cheaper on older vehicles and if a car is a sedan (4 door) it will be less expensive than a coupe (2 door). You can quickly reduce your debt load by $300 to $500 dollars per month by compromising for an older reliable vehicle versus a newer one. These savings alone can make a significant difference in your paying off other debts and or investing in your financial future.

3. Devise a plan to eliminate your current debt load. There are many things you can do to save money and make headway on your debt. The article entitled “Saving Money From One Payday To The Next” will show you a few of the many ways you can start saving money today.

4. Credit counseling or loan consolidation may also help you tackle your debts quicker. If you find you are in way over your head, some of these credit counseling companies will negotiate your debt with your creditors so that you will only have to pay back a percentage of you currently owe. This will come at a cost to your credit so you will have to decide if the benefits are worth it after taking your current circumstances into account.

5. If the company you work for currently has a 401K option, you may be able to get a certain dollar amount matched each year by your employer. This is free money! Take advantage of this opportunity and be sure to get the highest dollar amount as matched by your employer deposited into your 401k each year

These are just a few tips but they should get you thinking and heading in the right direction. Take control of your financial future today or you will be wishing that you had when things really take a turn for the worse, and the worst of payday loans would have seemed wonderful in comparison.