Christmas Credit

"The fact is, nearly 75 percent of Americans who use credit cards make only the minimum payment each month. At that rate (minimum payments) you could spend the next thirty years paying back a $3,000 credit card debt and give the financial institution $8,000 worth of interest. It's the principle of compound interest in reverse." - Raymond McHenry

I hope I'm not too late with this post!

To all of those millions of people that use and live by credit cards, it is abundantly clear that we are prey to our own human nature. Credit card companies understand and exploit the mere fact that we are human.

Once you are approved for a credit card, which is quite easy to accomplish these days, they are betting on the fact that you will use that card. These companies are even more sure that you will not pay off your credit card each month.

This is where they make their money...interest charges.

It is those interest charges which begin to create a circle of debt that can make it nearly impossible to ever pay off a credit card. It is this constant debt upon which the companies make their money.

Now comes the rub, late fees.

Most late fees average around $34, instant profit to the credit card company and an addition to your balance collecting interest charges if you don't include that amount in your next payment. The pile of rocks (your debt) grows even higher.

How do you overcome the pitfalls of credit card usage?

Kristyn Kusek Lewis suggests these following tips.

* Remember a due date on your card statement is just that. A postmark date is not the same thing. Many card issuers impose ultra-specific cutoff times (American Express, in example, won't process some payments received after 12 noon in a customer's time zone until the following day), try to make your payment, by mail or online well in advance.

* One way to avoid going over your limit (and facing extra fees as a result): Go to the card company's website. Most will alert you via e-mail when you creep close to your cap.

* If you've historically been a good customer, it can't hurt to ask the customer service department to waive over-limit or other fees.

* Also, if your interest rate goes up, it's worth asking to have it lowered. A study by the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group found when cardholders requested a reduction, about 6 in 10 had their rate reduced at least a third with just one five-minute call.

What I caution everyone is to use credit cards with care.

Do not overuse them and keep them to a minimum balance. Cash is always better but use of credit can be useful. One good way to limit the need for credit card purchases is to pay yourself at each paycheck (10%) and build up your savings. This will cut down the need to use a credit card.

Lastly, read as much as you can about using credit and creating a savings account. Knowledge is power in many instances and the more you know, the better prepared you will be to handle your finances.

Again, I hope I'm not too late with this post!

Stay inspired my friends!

Christmas Learned Experience

“And if my heart be scarred and burned, The safer, I, for all I learned.” ― Dorothy Parker

Many things happen in life that we would just as soon not have to go through or deal with. It could be small minor things such as a flat tire, an expensive electric bill, or possibly a small stomach ache. There are also major ones in life such as job loss, divorce or death of a loved one.

There are many flavors in between all of the daily living we do.

We tend to focus on these bad things which happen to and while that may seem like enough, the television and newspaper stir up our lives with everything else. The good in life never seems to have a chance to surface and breath. The negative will always try to consume us until it feels like complete darkness.

The message remains that it is going to be okay.

When you fail at something, it is going to be okay. When you have issues going on in life, things will change. From failure or pain will be a new thing learned about yourself. There will be something you will learn from the situation, large or small.

That something can propel you to something greater.

If a person gets terribly ill and you have to face their death, remember the cycle of life will never end. Take from the experience what you learn or experience from having known the person. Turn that experience into a memorable and loving one.

Life occurs in cycles of good, bad and sometimes the ugly.

What we can do is not let the negative dictate our life. You are in control of your own attitude towards all the good, bad or ugly. The greatness comes from not allowing negative things in life to keep you down. Greatness comes from living life and knowing everything is going to be okay.

Stay inspired my friends!

Christmas Glow Stick

"Love is never lost. If not reciprocated, it will flow back and soften and purify the heart." - Washington Irving

So which type of holiday person are you? The "bah humbug" or the "I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach" Ebenezer Scrooge from the Charles Dickens novel A Christmas Carol?

This time of year, hardly any one of us would say we are the "bah humbug" version. What with the many gifts and cards we gather and give to others, it would be hard to imagine we are anything like a Scrooge. We are giving gifts as proof, correct?

The thing we must consider is "we are giving out of cheer and love for others", without any expectation of a gift in return? Or are we giving as a way to either receive a gift in return or as a penance for having been a Scrooge the rest of the year?

Giving to others both of love, time or gifts can be very liberating. It has been shown in research from the field of health psychology, that one of the best ways to rid ourselves anger and grief is to actively help others.

Science supports the assertion that "giving help to others measurably reduces the giver's stress; improves health and well-being in surprising and powerful ways; renews our optimism about what is possible; helps us connect to family, friends, and lots of amazing people; allows the deep, profound joy of our humanity to flow through us and out into the world; and improves our sense of self-worth."

There will be a glow of something that seems undefinable, but is quite evident coming from you. The hurt, grief or other gets broken inside and a glow begins to shine from inside of you. It is revealed in your eyes, your smile and in your words.

Consider those glow sticks that are used in a variety of ways. What happens when you break the stick? Of course, it glows and becomes a bright and radiant light.

Take what brokeness you might have and be a light that shines upon others not only during the Christmas holiday season but throughout the year. And stay inspired my friends.

Christmas Rush

“I’m in no hurry: the sun and the moon aren’t, either. Nobody goes faster than the legs they have. If where I want to go is far away, I’m not there in an instant.”
― Alberto Caeiro

The author Leigh Hershkovich has written “In the rush of life, it is quite easy to forget what’s important. As cliche as this is, it’s easy to take life for granted when you don’t have time to focus properly. It is only when life diverts from the ‘plan’ that we suddenly take time to see what is really important.”

A poignant and true statement of how easily we get wrapped up in trying to create a life instead of living our lives.

Not only do we speed about our day during the holiday Christmas rush, but most every day of the year we are pressing along faster and faster. No one is a stranger to this way of life. Multi-tasking with a cup of coffee in one hand, the other feverishly working the computer mouse; a day's worth of tasks to complete.

We rush through the grocery store shopping for the next holiday meal, all the while a cell phone is planted to our ear discussing even more plans. All of this having to occur before we pick up the kids, the dry cleaning or a day planner calendar.

A glance at the wall clock and wonder where the time went.

Have we forgotten how live life and are simply rushing around creating life instead? Do you ever slow down and enjoy longer moments or are those moments only fleeting? Can you slow down the rush of Christmas, of the month, the day or the hour and live what is important?

The maddening speed of Christmas is increasing even more as we near the actual day. Stop for a few minutes in your gift buying, in your perfect meal planning, in your party participation and reflect on the wonders of your life. Reflect upon the important things that will carry you to the end.

There is no need to reach the end in an instant. Enjoy this time, every day and the great and grand things in and about your life.

Stay inspired my friends.