Having helped people with problem debt since 1994 and having lived through financial problems myself in the late 1980s, I'm always amazed how badly people manage the art of getting out of debt.
When I listen to “the debt experts” it almost seems they have never lived through really bad debt problems since they miss the most critical aspect of the entire issue.
Getting out of debt is, almost inconsequentially, about the money; yet it's the bills people focus on. It's no wonder why debt ruins the lives of masses of people who struggle under its burden.
The actual debt is really nothing more than a misdirection. It is in fact the symptom, not the problem. Debt is like the charred wood in the aftermath of a fire. The problem is not the burned wood, it was what caused the fire that is the problem. The debt is really the litter that comes from problematic income and expenses.
This is what debt really looks like.
Problem debt becomes an easy way for others to manipulate you into making bad decisions. Debt collectors and others know how to push your emotional buttons in order to have their way with you. A little applied fear goes a long way to making you do what they want. It always has and it always will.
It might not be right but it is what it is. Debt collectors and others know how to get you to do what they want by pushing your fear buttons. They do it because it works.
People approach dealing with debt by rendering the real issues that need to be dealt with, cloaked and invisible.
Being in debt is about 90 percent emotional issues that surround the death of your finances and 10 percent or less about the specific financial affairs.
Your financial self-confidence creates a pillar of the self-esteem and self-worth people feel. When that pillar crumbles unexpectedly it can bring down those other critical self-support areas of our lives. When debt goes bad and you are laboring under the angst of money troubles, it impacts you most like the death of a loved one. It creates, loss and grief that nearly everyone discounts and avoids.
But here is a truth; you are not your debt.
When it comes to the math of debt, the answers are instantly and readily apparent. It adds up or it doesn't. Math provides instant answers and direction about what must happen and what has to be done. Sometimes it is making more money, reducing expenses, negotiating a settlement, or coming to a joint agreement about altering the terms of the financial obligations. Sometimes it is using the law to erase bad debt and starting over again.
To get the real answers, do the math and listen to what it has to say. Math does not lie.
