What’s in your wallet? If it’s credit cards, you are gambling with RISK! Credit is not a substitute for cash. They carry high interest and allow ease of purchase wherever you go. Unlike cash, there is no emotional attachment to swiping your card…at least until the bill arrives in the mail. Credit card users will ultimately pay 10 -20% more for an item than their cash carrying friends. Credit card carriers risk potential default if they find that they cannot afford to pay their bill. Defaulting will cause a series of events to occur that will not be pleasant for the card carrier. Many Credit cards carry various fees.

Some credit cards charge an annual fee just to have the card. If your payment is late, you will be charged a late payment fee. If you go over your spending limit, you will be charged an over-the-limit fee, even if you go over the limit because of another fee that was tacked on to your account. Some credit cards use two-cycle billing, which calculates your interest based on the prior two cycles’ average balance. This means that if you carry a balance, you cannot take advantage of the grace period for your new purchases. In addition, when you make your payments, most credit card companies direct the payment toward the least profitable portion of your debt. For example, if you have a balance transfer that is charged at 4 percent interest and other spending debt is at 19 percent interest, your payments will first pay off your balance transfer, and only after that portion is paid off will you get to pay down the amount charged at 19 percent. All this RISK can be avoided by cutting up your cards and developing a Cash Flow Plan that will allocate funds for those purchases you had previously used cards to buy. Once you are free from the credit card bondage, you will find peace in your financial journey.