Don’t Go Back Into Debt!

An excerpt from Life After Bankruptcy by Seth Hanson

One of my clients served in the military, was deployed numerous times, and saw combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. On one occasion he told me, “Being in debt is worse than being in combat.”

Many people in our culture believe it is OK to go into debt so long as they can afford the monthly payment. However, they don’t count the long-term damage debt does to them financially, physically, and mentally.

A quote I like puts debt and interest into proper perspective:

“Interest never sleeps nor sickens nor dies; it never goes to the hospital; it works on Sundays and holidays; it never takes a vacation; it never visits nor travels; it takes no pleasure; it is never laid off work nor discharged from employment; it never works on reduced hours; it never has short crops nor droughts; it never pays taxes; it buys no food; it wears no clothes; it is unhoused and without home and so has no repairs, no replacements, no shingling, plumbing, painting, or whitewashing; it has neither wife, children, father, mother, nor kinfolk to watch over and care for; it has no expense of living; it has neither weddings nor births nor deaths; it has no love, no sympathy; it is as hard and soulless as a granite cliff. Once in debt, interest is your companion every minute of the day and night; you cannot shun it or slip away from it; you cannot dismiss it; it yields neither to entreaties, demands, or orders; and whenever you get in its way or cross its course or fail to meet its demands, it crushes you.” (J. Ruben Clark, Jr.)

With the possible exception of a mortgage, it is quite possible to avoid all future debt. Think about the freedom you have when you are debt-free. What kinds of things could you save for, a vacation, more for your retirement fund? What would you do with that money? What could you accomplish? What kind of future could you give to your loved ones?

You’re reading this book because you just discharged a lot of your debt. You have an amazing opportunity right now! Don’t squander the opportunity to build long-term financial stability by going back into debt to acquire things that you don’t really need.

For more information contact your Stockton bankruptcy attorney.