Borrowing wisely can make a difference
Jan 12, 2012 |
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2
comments
"I AM badly in debt but made a big effort at the end of last year to use my bonus to pay off as much as possible. I want to try to keep away from borrowing again, but I may need to go into debt to pay for school fees; how can I do this without getting into too much trouble?"
Answer from Magauta Mphahlele, CEO of the National Debt Mediation Association:
Borrowing wisely can make a big difference and help you to build a good financial footing. With bills to pay and debts mounting, many people need a clear plan.
Start by revising your budget, cutting back on unnecessary spending and looking for better deals.
Set some clear financial goals and develop the discipline to stick to them.
Good financial planning involves prudent spending, making provision for emergencies and savings and ensuring manageable debt levels and a clean credit record.
To remain in a healthy financial position, you shouldn't be spending more than about 35% of your disposable income to pay debt.
Jan 12, 2012
Nelson
i thought you will include ways to increase her income. Salary alone is just not enough. how can you save the money you dont have? but overall financial discipline is a key.Report Abuse
Jan 13, 2012
Jaja'sQueen
I am totally new to money, no one in my immediate family has ever earned what I would call a decent leaving. So the only financial training I had was to borrow when short of money. When I started earning what I thought was a lot of money I bought a house, a car, another house, lots of nice clothes, big name cosmetics...you get the picture? Then came the 2009 recession, everthing tripled and I went into debt. I sorted my debt by going into a debt diet. You just have to stop spending and go to the bare minimum. If you can't pay necessities like school fees - maybe the school is too expensive. By the time you go to the bank to borrow, it's already too late and recovering from that debt will be a miracle if you do not plan your finances. I had to sell my other house to settle some of my debts. I know a group of guys who have a 'society' where they put money together and pay lump sums on each other's bonds, cars to reduce interest, you can save thousands. I belong to a group and we put money together and buy food from wholesalers which saves me thousands a month. Once we were lucky to get a whole container shipped from China and we paid next to nothing for the goods. Goods unclaimed are sold very cheaply.Report Abuse