Tag: credit card debt

Posted in Debt Free Me

Month End: May Snapshot

Posted on by jamesmachawk


Thankfully this month, I paid off the Prosper loan, and now I’m focusing solely on the credit card balances. Remember that paying off your debts will give you a raise. Without debt, you will be able to experience your true take home pay (gross profit). Having a budget, will help you know how much your disposable income will be, and your disposable income is how you will build wealth. Mind your own personal investment portfolio. As you pay down debt, look for ways to increase income. I’ll plan on taking advantage of the loan balance transfer offers to reduce my personal line of credit to pay for emergency expenses and look for income producing opportunities. My wife is preparing to interview and will start working in the field that she loves starting next month. I believe you should do what you love and do it with excellence. If it’s possible to do what you love and generate income from it, then leverage the internet to reach as many people as possible. If it’s not possible to generate income from what you love, then let it be your motivator to do your profession with excellence. Our time is finite, but our impact can be eternal.

Over the next few months, my goal will be to reduce either credit card balance by $1000. By year end, my goal is to position myself to be able to make $1000 debt payments toward my debt via my job, and businesses. Some of the new habits I’ve adopted is listening to motivational videos, and relaxation videos through YouTube. However, for me, my core foundation remains the same, prayer, the Word, and worship. What’s your 1st response when things go right or wrong?

If you want to learn more about how I’m increasing my income, while reducing debt or if you want to have someone to discuss your debt reduction strategy with, or if you need a financial check-up, contact me.

Also, learn more about how I use the self-lending principle through Mustard Seed in the mustard seed section.

“The LORD will send rain at the proper time from his rich treasury in the heavens and will bless all the work you do. You will lend to many nations, but you will never need to borrow from them.”
‭‭Deuteronomy‬ 28:12‬ NLT‬‬
http://bible.com/116/deu.28.12.nlt‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

I believe in your journey to….

A Debt Free Me

Here’s this month’s video: THROUGH HARD TIMES – Powerful Motivational Video 2017 | PART I from the Motversity YouTube channel.

Posted in Debt Free Me

Month End: February Snapshot

Posted on by jamesmachawk

This month I celebrated my first full month living with my wife. We were fortunate enough to go to the marriage conference together at the last minute, and I was thankful that we did. Our apartment is starting to look like a home, and my wife has begun studying to take her test to be licensed as a registered nurse. This month especially is filled not just with numbers and budgeting but faith also. Faith in things not yet seen and having the will to continue to do a good work regardless of the outcome. I have the opportunity for a new position at my job and having to rely on something greater than myself to handle these new responsibilities. Either way when I get paid my process remains the same and I look to use my self-lending principle whenever I can.

I’m looking to sell as many plans as possible not just to reduce debt, but to also help protect people. My thought process remains the same: increase income, and lower expenses, look for income producing assets, and build wealth to leave a legacy. Over the next few months you should see my debt reduce significantly. My wife and I have talked about using a consolidation loan to consolidate and reduce the payments on my two installment loans which should free up more cash flow. The only drawback of an installment or term loan is the payments are set for the term of the loan unless you can convince the loan officer to re-amortize the debt.

If you want to learn more about how I’m increasing my income, while reducing debt or if you want to have someone to discuss your debt reduction strategy with, or if you need a financial check-up, contact me.

Also, learn more about how I use the self-lending principle through Mustard Seed in the mustard seed section.

“The LORD will send rain at the proper time from his rich treasury in the heavens and will bless all the work you do. You will lend to many nations, but you will never need to borrow from them.”
‭‭Deuteronomy‬ 28:12‬ NLT‬‬


http://bible.com/116/deu.28.12.nlt

I believe in your journey to….

A Debt Free Me

Here’s this month’s video: Retrain your Mind from the Be Inspired YouTube channel

Posted in Pursuit of Excellence

December 14, 2016

Posted on by jamesmachawk

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/012016/how-anheuserbusch-makes-money-bud.asp

Tobacco companies and gun manufacturers get plenty of scorn. Yet for some reason, the multinational corporations that make and sell perhaps the most addictive and damaging legal substance of all get a free pass. To the point that when such a company is the target of an acquisition or merger, senators and governors of opposing parties will band together to see that nothing even threatens to jeopardize the company’s future. We’re referring to purveyors of alcohol in general, and Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) in particular. The world’s largest brewer sells $43.6 billion worth of the demon liquid (and related, less satanic potables) every year, boasting a high gross margin of 60.7% and inspiring some of the strongest customer loyalty this side of Harley-Davidson Inc. (HOG). The result is a $177 billion company that seems capable of doing little wrong in the eyes of investors. In 2008, InBev merged with Anheuser-Busch. Anheuser-Busch InBev operates in 25 countries. The company divides its operations into 9 regions: North America, Mexico, Latin America North, Latin America South, Europe, Asia Pacific North, Asia Pacific South and Global Export & Holding Companies. The company’s North American region was responsible for 25.8% of total volume in 2015 – totaling in 118 million hectoliters (over 3.1 billion gallons). We take it for granted that the region that includes the United States has to be Anheuser-Busch InBev’s largest, right? Wrong. That would be Latin America North, at almost 27%. This includes Brazil, one of the combined company’s countries of origin. The Asia Pacific region follows at 19.3%. On a per-capita basis, no one drinks like Europeans do. Volume there accounted for 9.4% of the company total, followed by Mexico at 9.1%, and Latin America South at 7.9%. Anheuser-Busch InBev has announced plans to buy SABMiller, the world’s second-largest brewer. The investor who goes long on Anheuser-Busch InBev stock is rarely disappointed, whether in the short term or beyond.

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/121316/americas-rising-household-debt-whats-behind-it.asp

Credit card debt can be a major roadblock to your financial goals, such as saving for retirement or increasing your net worth. Unfortunately, new data from the New York Federal Reserve suggests that after a debt decline, Americans are borrowing money at a rate that approaches pre–Great Recession levels. The result: Household debt is rising and credit cards are a major driver, along with mortgages, student loans and auto loans. Here’s a quick breakdown of what the Fed’s research uncovered. Credit card debt continues to contribute to a household’s total indebtedness, as well as student loan and mortgage debt. The increase in household debt may be attributable to two primary factors: a steady increase in the cost of living and stagnation in wages. Since 2003 household incomes have increased by 28% but the cost of living has climbed by 30%. That gap doesn’t sound big, but the disparity between earning and spending may be a driving force for some Americans to turn to credit cards to cover the gap. Some items, such as medical costs (57%) and food and beverage prices (36%) increased massively more. The cost of living is going to force people to create a debt repayment plan, and at the same time force others to create additional streams of income. I suggest that if you haven’t created a budget, then you should. A budget will show you how much you are spending, and when your income is the most vulnerable.
If you need are interested in creating a budget, then contact me for a financial checkup in the contact me section.

For this week, I’ve included How to Retire Early: The Shockingly Simple Math from Video School Online YouTube channel.

“If you think you know it all, you’re a fool for sure; real survivors learn wisdom from others.” Proverbs 28:26 MSG

Posted in Debt Free Me

Month End: September Snapshot

Posted on by jamesmachawk


This month, I was able to reduce the credit card debt, and I continue to make the scheduled payments to the term loans on time without issue. If you’ve consolidated your debt into a loan that is set to pay off, continue to make your payments on time. It’s important in general to make your payments on time, because missing payments will affect your credit score. If your payment due date isn’t in line with your cash flow for the month, it’s important to contact your credit card company or lender as soon as possible to see if they can change the payment due date. Changing the payment due date may require signing new loan documents or verbally agreeing to the change, but it’s important to contact your creditors as soon as possible if you are faced with a life event that can affect payments to them. I don’t recommend ignoring or avoiding the situation. The worst-case scenario is you can have liens and or judgements placed against you. If you find that your fixed expenses are more than 50% of your take home pay you are at risk to losing your assets. To clarify fixed expenses are rent/mortgage payments, utilities, insurance, subscriptions, phone payments, and any other monthly reoccurring transactions. These payments should not be greater than 50%, because it gives you no room to save money and reduce your debt. For example, if you make a $1,000 a month and your fixed expenses is $600 per month then you are at risk, simply because if you have any type of emergency you may have to borrow to cover the emergency. If your fixed expenses are greater than 50% you are more likely to stay in debt. Personally, I continue to do my plan of reducing debt and increasing income. I may use a balance transfer option to take advantage of the promotional balance transfer rate to continue to accelerate my debt reduction. Next month, I’ll discuss three strategies you can use to reduce debt.

If you want to learn more about how I’m increasing my income, while reducing debt or if you want to have someone to discuss your debt reduction strategy with, or if you need a financial check-up, contact me.

The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.
https://bible.com/1/pro.22.7.kjv

I believe in your journey to….

A Debt Free Me

Posted in Debt Free Me

Month End: April Snapshot

Posted on by jamesmachawk


Every journey has its own setbacks and detours, however despite those moments, you must remain consistent about where you want to be. Will you run into unforeseen expenses and liabilities? Absolutely! I encourage you with this idea: I’m in no way perfect, but I serve a perfect God. He knows an exit strategy into every situation I’m placed into whether it’s good or bad. Repent quick, Forgive quick, and Move on quick. This previous month, I had to adjust my strategy and take advantage of the zero percent balance transfer offered on the Capital One card. As the wedding date draws closer, Jill and I have had to discuss the costs involved in the wedding. I’ve found this discussion very important, because in discussing finances, we’ve come into agreement on how to handle our finances together. I love her more and more each day, because she fills in and covers the weaknesses I never knew I had.

Specifically, I’ve re-focused my debt reduction on paying down the Barclay’s card while slowly reducing the other debts and applying principal reduction payments where I can. Always seek wise counsel where you can and use their counsel to take advantage of the best situations that present themselves. Their counsel will help you discern if the choice you make is the best one for you. When I got out of debt before, all I did was focus on making extra money to pay off debt. This time I’m paying down debt, saving, investing in assets, and growing my assets that produce income. Why? Time is fixed. We only have 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week, and 52 weeks in a year. Time will run out. Use and manage your energy efficiently and effectively so that you can get as much out of each moment as you can. If you consistently focus on saving and buying assets, then when you finally are out of debt, you will have a larger amount in savings and more income producing assets vs. getting out of debt and then having to build savings and assets. Also, by saving and investing while you are getting out of debt, will create a discipline inside of you. How am I able to do it this way vs. the last time? I have a budget. A budget will put order into your life. Order proceeds increase and increase proceeds multiplication. Knowing your net income number is the key to being able to get out of debt, save, and invest. There is a process that I follow that I will share in future posts. Remain consistent and diligent on your journey.

Have someone to discuss your debt reduction strategy with, and if you need a financial check-up contact me. More details about a financial check-up is in the contact me section.

The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.
https://bible.com/1/pro.22.7.kjv

I believe in your journey to…. A Debt Free Me

Posted in Debt Free Me

Month End: March Snapshot

Posted on by jamesmachawk

Over this past month, I’ve had the opportunity to pay off the Wells Fargo Line of Credit and utilize a zero-balance transfer option on my Barclay’s card to reduce the payment amount of my overall debt. My next target will be the Barclay’s card as I chip away at the Capital One card. It’s important to be flexible with your debt re-payment strategy. Set your sight on a balance and target it but be open to opportunities to reduce the debt faster, even if you utilize a promotional balance transfer option. A word of caution, when you do use a promotional balance transfer remember two points: 1) the offer is for a 12-month period on average (check your terms) and 2) you are charged a balance transfer fee (weigh the cost vs. benefit). In the end, a balance transfer can eliminate the high interest debt which can not only eliminate the payment but also create a lower payment overall which increases cash flow.

An increase in cash flow, creates more money to reduce debt, or to be used towards living expenses. In your journey, you’ll experience a lot of emotional forces at play which may encourage you to spend. The best process to fight these forces is to seek help from others, set up small reward systems to curb the spending, and grow your asset column. As I said in one of my earlier posts, I’ve gotten out of debt before, but when I did, I had no control over my spending and got right back in the hole again. Why? Because I didn’t take time to address my spending issue in the first place, and I didn’t grow my asset column. While you’re getting out of debt, see if you can create something which will produce money for you. The one thing we have which is absolutely fixed is time. At some point the clock will reach zero. Value your time and maximize your use of it.

This new year has been challenging, because of the wedding planning and the financial obstacles that present itself. Every obstacle creates an opportunity to trust God and those closest to you. You’re not in this process alone. There’s a four-step process that I do whenever I receive income, which I will share with you in a later post. This process has blessed me in my journey to debt freedom. I’ve included a short video clip from Joe McGee to help you turn an obstacle into an opportunity. Enjoy:

Turning an obstacle into an opportunity is about changing your vision and your thinking. Have someone to discuss your debt reduction strategy with, and if you need a financial check-up contact me.

The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.
https://bible.com/1/pro.22.7.kjv

I believe in your journey to….

A Debt Free Me

Posted in Debt Free Me

Month End: February Snapshot

Posted on by jamesmachawk

Over this month, I’ve had the opportunity to pay off the Upstart loan and reduce the balance on the Capital One card. Thankfully I was able to do this payoff and reduction through a zero percent balance transfer to a new card. With this transfer, my payments to the Capital One card will be reduced, and the term loan payment of $207.29 is no longer a part of my debt repayment schedule.

Remember that the benefit of a term loan is that the principal and interest payments will in a fixed time pay off your debt. Even though this type of loan pays off debt, it can reduce your cash flow. Positive cash flow is important to survive and acquire passive income producing assets. With the debt now being converted to a zero % interest debt for 15 billing cycles, I’m able to focus use more of my income to pay down that balance or because now the payments are interest only, I’m able to focus more money towards other debt balances. It is important to stand firm and maintain your debt reduction strategy. The minimum balance payment of this card will be less than the original payment to upstart. Have someone to discuss your debt reduction strategy with, and if you need a financial checkup contact me.

The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.
https://bible.com/1/pro.22.7.kjv

I believe in your journey to….

A Debt Free Me

Posted in Debt Free Me

Month End: January Snapshot

Posted on by jamesmachawk

Below is a progress report of where I am at the end of January:

Welcome to a new year! Since 2013, I’ve begun my year with 21 days of prayer and fasting following the habit established by church: Church of the Highlands. https://www.churchofthehighlands.com/ If you are a person of faith, then I encourage you to connect to your local church. Our Pastor Chris Hodges says that real life change happens in the context of relationships.

During this time of fasting and prayer, I sought God to strengthen my finances and prepare Jill and I for the upcoming year.  During that time, I felt God say for me to grow closer in friendships and family members I’ve let slip away over the past years. And in that moment, I realized how much we need each other.

Jill and I talked over our vision for 2016 and what we’re believing God for in our finances. I specifically had three specific points, which I will share with you in the next post. During the mid-month, we agreed to start a part-time business selling identity theft protection plans. It’s so exciting for us to be able to talk openly about business and grow something together.

We also discussed my remaining line of credit and credit card, and with her agreement, I decided to balance transfer $1000 to the Barclay’s card I paid off last year. The card was offering a low 2.99% rate. This low rate would allow me to save money on the interest I was currently paying on that line of credit. Also, my Capital One card is offering a zero percent balance transfer rate. I plan on accelerating my payments to $500 per month to pay this line of credit off faster.

Once this line of credit is paid off, I will either re-focus and pay off the balances I transferred over or set aside more money for the wedding. I’m believing and trusting God for big things this year, and in the next post I’ll share how powerfully he’s worked in my life.

The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.
https://bible.com/1/pro.22.7.kjv

I believe in your journey to….

A Debt Free Me

Posted in Debt Free Me

Vision 2016: Grow in three areas

Posted on by jamesmachawk

For 2016, I’ve discussed with my fiancée to grow in three areas. The last time I got out of debt, I was so focused on debt that I forgot two valuable factors: lost time and missed opportunity. I didn’t save while I was getting out of debt, nor did I look for opportunities to create passive income producing assets.

This time, I trust is going to be different, because of two important people in my life: my God and my future wife. All of this current I owe to Him and her being a part of my life. It’s a truth I’m thankful for more and more every day. I encourage you to save what money you can save and look for income producing assets too. If you don’t build a strong foundation during the storms of life, then you won’t be prepared when the storms do hit. Here’s are three areas we’re focusing on:

  1. Bless others
  2. Invest money into passive income generating assets
  3. Pay down consumer debt

In the next posts, I’ll explain the process I’m using as I’m journeying to a debt free me. If you have any questions, or need a financial check-up, contact me.

Where there is no vision, the people perish:
but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. Proverbs 29:18 Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV)

I believe in your journey to….

A Debt Free Me