What Educators Won’t Tell You About Managing Personal Debt
Why take 15 years to pay off a personal debt amounting to $2,162 that will cost almost $4,000 in interest, calculated at 18.84 percent per month? Who would do such a foolish, thing? The answer is a simple one: neighbors, friends and relatives — millions of people — who have a lack of understanding of how to properly manage their personal debts. This long, long list of fiscal self-abusers could even include you. Welcome to the club.
Degrees don’t protect you. I have two degrees from two highly respected institutions (Johns Hopkins University and the University of Chicago), yet I can state categorically that the business courses I took did not prepare me to handle my personal finances. In short, the system does not provide the education needed to manage debt.
Also to blame are the lenders for not providing the information needed to make intelligent financial decisions. Insurance companies and bankers don’t want us to be too smart — they would lose money. The solution, of course, is to get out of debt and stay out of debt.
