Changing the Way We think About Debt Across the Country
Friday, May 13th, 2011Is debt a tool to prosperity like many have said or debt just a way to develop bad spending habits and quickly loose control of your finances? How about the term, ” you need to spend money before you can make money”? It’s these type of myth’s that had people reaching fro their credit cards without even giving the idea of using a prepaid cash card a chance. You can get a lot more with a credit card and you don’t even have to have the money in order to spend money! Unfortunately, this is the concept that took our country into a recession.
We can start by looking at the brilliant marketing strategies created by corporations that convinced people they needed more stuff to be happy. This eventually evolved into the mentality that the more stuff you have, the wealthier you look, and the higher your status is in the community. Other marketing strategies just flat out convinced people that they couldn’t live without certain products, because the level of comfort or enjoyment the product brings would outweigh its cost in dollars.
Next let’s look at the how the banks spent billions of dollars each year trying to make us believe that we needed to borrow more money. The marketing strategies banks used gave us instant gratification by showing us that we could buy whatever we wanted right away, even if we didn’t have the money, and we could just pay for it “later”. This sent consumers into a spending frenzy because nothing seemed wrong with spending money they don’t have, on things they don’t need. The idea of paying for it “later” was just a whisper, pushed to the back of their minds.
Being in a constant state of debt meant people never understood the distinction between wants and needs. When “later” finally came it was time to pay up and our debt became a reality, but where was the money? It wasn’t there because we never had it in the first place! So what was the solution? For many, it was to spend our way out of debt. Unfortunately, lenders were willing to let their customers continue to fall deeply into debt. But where were the banks getting all this money from? When banks ran out of money, and everything came to a screeching halt. That’s when the country felt the crushing impact of government bailout. This sent our country into a tailspin of recession that the government is still trying to spend its way out of.
Victims of these strategic marketing plans lost their homes, cars, credit, jobs, and their faith in the system. There was a better solution all along. It’s simple, do not spend money you don’t have. a Ready debit, prepaid debit card is the perfect way for consumer to stay in control of what they are spending.
The truth is debt brings on enough risk to offset any advantage that could be gained. With all the companies trying to convince us to spend more money in order to be happy, we have forgotten that being debt free will actually bring incredible peace and tranquility in life. Getting accustomed using prepaid cards, and not spending money you don’t have is a much safer way to develop spending habits. In the end you can’t put a price on the peace of mind it will bring you to be debt free!
Want to find out more about using prepaid cash cards? then check out Ready Debit at http://www.readydebit.com to find your solution to financial stability.