Avoid Debt

If you’re just starting your financial education, then a good starting point would be to understand the different types of debt and why they matter.

I categorize debt as either good debt or bad debt.

Understanding the difference between the two is essential if you don’t want to remain poor all your life.

Do you carry some debt, dear reader? If you do, you’re not alone.

Now you may think that debt is just part of life, and you may even believe that debt can’t be avoided.

Debt is certainly very hard to avoid; that much is true.

However, don’t forget that personal debt is a burden on us because it has to be serviced and eventually repaid.

Yes, it may be a burden you can’t avoid, but it’s no less stressful potentially for that technicality.

For emphasis, let me repeat, in my opinion, there’s good debt and then there’s bad debt.

The obvious question is: when is a debt considered bad debt? To put it another way, when is debt a bad idea?

Let’s consider some examples of debt.

1. Secured Debt:

Buying a house is an example of secured debt.

When buying a house, most people need a mortgage, which is of course debt.

However, as long as you don’t overstretch yourself, mortgage debt is usually manageable for most people. And a lender will rarely allow you to overextend yourself these days.

With a mortgage, the debt is secured against your property, so the risk for the lender is small.

If you fail to repay the mortgage loan, a lender simply repossesses the property and sells it to recover their money.

So because the associated risk to the lender is low, interest rates on secured debt are low too.

Coupled with long repayment periods, typically around 25 years, the monthly repayments on a mortgage are not significantly different from what you might pay if you rent a property.

So, borrowing to purchase a property is good debt because eventually you’ll repay the debt and own the property, assuming you repay in full.

It’s good debt because it results in the long-term acquisition of a valuable asset.

You need a roof over your head, of course, so buying with a mortgage makes good financial sense because at least you’ll own the property in the future.

And with luck, you’ll enjoy some capital appreciation on the value of the property too. That’s not guaranteed, of course, but historically, that’s been the trend for those holding property assets for an extended period, certainly in the United Kingdom.

In summary, secured debt bears the lowest interest rates and leads to the acquisition of a valuable asset. So in my opinion, that makes it a good form of debt.

2. Unsecured debt:

When is debt a bad idea? The simple answer is that when it’s an unsecured debt.

And what’s unsecured debt?

It’s a debt against which nothing valuable has been put up as security.

If the borrower fails to repay, the lender has nothing it can repossess to sell on to recover the balance outstanding. So for the lender, that represents increased risk.

And because unsecured debt has no form of security to compensate, the interest rate charged by the lender will be high, and sometimes very high.

The interest rate charged reflects the risk to the lender. The higher the risk, the higher the interest rate applied.

Lenders recognize that there’s a risk that a proportion of their clients will fail to repay unsecured loans, so those who do make the repayment in full have also paid a premium to protect the lender from any losses they might have incurred due to non-payment by others.

There will be occasions when unsecured debt is unavoidable.

For instance, young people just starting out might need some basic items of furniture for their homes. A bed would be a good example. You must have one, and if you can’t afford it, then you might need to use a hire purchase arrangement. Handled with care, then this shouldn’t be a huge problem. But care is essential.

3. When is debt a bad idea?

So when is unsecured debt a bad idea?

Put simply, when you start buying with unsecured credit that which you could live without. That gadget you couldn’t resist or those shoes that looked nice in the store. Non-essentials you could have lived without until you had saved the money to pay for them.

You know the experience, I’m sure. You see something you can’t resist, out pops your flexible friend, and an impulse purchase is made before you’ve thought about whether it was a good idea or not.

The reckless use of credit cards, store cards, and payday loans can be a disaster because this type of debt is not secured against anything, so naturally, the associated interest rates applied are very high.

Credit card or store card debt can bear interest rates of around 30% or more.

In the UK, payday lenders have been known to charge interest rates equivalent to 3000%, 4000%, or even 5000%.

I find it hard to believe people fall for these loans, but they do. I guess if people are desperate sometimes, perhaps they feel they have little choice.

4. The magic of compounding:

Why does this matter? The simple answer is the magic of compound interest.

The compounding effect of high rates of interest will quickly turn small sums borrowed into enormous sums owed.

For instance, if you borrow $1,000 at 3% interest, after five years you’ll owe $1,159, assuming nothing was repaid.

However, if you borrow $1,000 at 35% interest, then after five years you’ll owe $4,484, again that’s assuming nothing was repaid.

The difference is a massive $3,325. And more importantly, the value of your debt has also quadrupled.

So when interest rates are high, even if you make minimum payments, your debt can grow rapidly if you’re not careful.

And that’s when you can become enslaved by your debts.

And that’s why it matters. Ultimately, this burden can become very stressful.

5. Manage your money:

Far too many people borrow money in the form of unsecured debt to purchase discretionary items. That’s items they could live without if push came to shove.

Wasting money in this way is a bad move. Not just bad; it’s seriously stupid.

I recommend that you follow this simple rule:

If you can live without it, never use debt to buy it.

Yes, of course, it’s nice to have the latest smartphone or the latest television or whatever but is it worth the pressure of unnecessary debt?

When high rates of interest start pushing up the sum outstanding significantly, you have to ask yourself, will the burden of this unnecessary debt still seem worth it? I doubt it.

Wouldn’t it be better to wait until you’ve saved up the money to make the purchase instead?

Wouldn’t it also be cheaper in the long term to save up and buy the product when you have the money? You’ll appreciate the item so much more too.

The message is simple:

Manage your money or your money will manage you:

6. Debt is a form of slavery:

Being indebted is just a form of slavery. It’s as simple as that. And, once again, that’s why it matters.

For as long as you owe money, you can never be truly free.

If you’re debt-free, then you’re stress-free too. Wouldn’t you prefer to be debt-free and stress-free?

Good debt will help you, but bad debt will make your life a misery.

7. Conclusion:

Put simply, there are two types of debt, good and bad.

Debt is either secured or unsecured.

Interest rates on the former will be relatively low, whereas interest rates on the latter can be very high.

Interest rates matter because of the compounding effect.

Unsecured debt can be the road to the poor house, particularly if you use it to buy the stuff you could live without with credit that bears interest rates that are very high.

The type of debt that’s bad will enslave you, and it’ll become increasingly stressful.

If you only take one message away from this article, it is to avoid bad debt.

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Steps to Financial Freedom:

People often say, “If only I could increase my income, I could pay off my debts.”

Those same people, if they did increase their income, would probably just spend more. And financial freedom would remain a distant dream.

If financial freedom is your aim, then you must take control of your finances. The steps to financial freedom are as follows:-

1. Spend less than you earn:

It all starts with spending less than you earn. If you spend less than you earn, you can work on becoming debt-free and then start to build capital.

2. Pay yourself first:

You must always pay yourself first. What does that mean? It means that as soon as you get paid each month, you take a minimum of 10% of what you earn and put it away somewhere safe immediately.

Never, ever wait until the end of the month to see what you’ve got left.

If you do that, you’ll never save anything.

If you take 10% upfront, it will just be another debit on your income like taxes and pension contributions. You’ll quickly get used to having only the remaining 90% to live on.

And what do you do with the 10% or whatever you’ve put away?

3. Eliminate credit card debt:

Initially, if you have a credit card debt burden, then it makes sense to use that money to deal with paying off your debt first because the interest you’ll pay on the debt is always greater than any interest you’ll get on savings.

To pay off your credit card debt, you must find a way to eliminate the interest element each month so that any payments you then make go against the outstanding balance.

And how is that done?

Well, when you take out a new credit card account, it often comes with a period of zero interest, usually six months. These accounts also usually allow you to transfer in outstanding debt from another credit card account.

So by moving from one card provider to another and transferring the debt across to the new account, you then have a period of six months to make payments against the outstanding balance without accumulating interest on the old debt.

Never, ever use this card to increase your debt. Use it only to reduce your debt.

At the end of the period of zero interest on your new card, repeat the process if necessary. Once again, you move to another card account offering you a zero-interest period. By focusing only on the outstanding balance, it will be paid off sooner.

Eliminating the burden of debt is the first step on the road to financial freedom.

Freedom from debt will give you peace of mind. And that peace of mind is a good reason for spending less than you earn.

Once the debt is cleared, what next with the money you’ve paid yourself first?

4. Build capital:

Initially, put your money into a savings account. Then, as that builds into a larger sum, you can start thinking about other forms of investment like stocks, bonds, and property.

Once you develop the habit of putting some of your money away each month, it’s amazing how quickly it accumulates into a decent capital sum, and you’ll be on the road to achieving financial freedom.

Conclusion:

Learn to live within your means.

If you live modestly and spend your money wisely, you can ensure that you have enough money when you need it.

You can also build that nest egg for your retirement and give a little back to those less fortunate than yourself. And you’ll feel so much better about yourself too.

Conversely, gathering too much clutter through excessive spending on things you don’t need can become stressful, as well as wasteful. The choice is yours.

Financial freedom is achievable, and it will give you peace of mind.

You will sleep better knowing you’re debt-free.

The steps to financial freedom are quite simple. Spend less than you earn; pay yourself first; eliminate expensive credit card debt; and start building capital.

Do this, and one day your older self will be grateful you made the effort, I can assure you.

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Types of debt and why they matter