Financial Doom and Gloom

- 2 minutes read - 407 words

Today WaMu bit the big one and the Republicans, those sacred guardians of fiscal conservatism, personal responsibility, and hard-work, are pushing for Congress to accept another balance of power mutating scheme that will make the few rich and undermine the checks and balances system.

But today, my friends, something momentous has happened in my life. I now owe a big fat $0.00 of credit card debt.

Having good credit has allowed me some really sweet 0% finances for moving, buying furniture, buying a car, selling that car, buying another car, re-financing my current car, buying office machinery needed, going to Rome, taking classes in Rome, going to Vancouver, trips to CA, presents, a TV, and a great fair bit of dining out. But it all came at a price, the sick feeling of moving monetized debt from place to place.

Make no doubt, I payed good attention to the lectures in Finance and have absorbed the lesson that someone else’s credit is better than my liquidity, that a dollar tomorrow is better than a dollar today ( when giving ), and that when you can get cheap capital ( and it isn’t much cheaper than 0% ) you should use the hell out of it. Knowing these lessons allowed me to use the capital well and not get in a screwy situation that a great many consumers are in now.

But the thing is, when you manage debt, it requires a certain amount of mental effort. You’re aware it’s out there. Companies and corporations hire people to make sure that the transactions are performed at the right time, that the narrowest of windows are used to maximize the profit made on other people’s money before they want it back. Monetized debt, the way that our world is run, is something that I just don’t want to carry around anymore.

Henceforth, only mortgages ( no plans looming there ) and car notes ( only one, and the payment’s reasonable, and I’m going to start attacking it now that I’m free of the shackles of Delaware ) are going to be in my portfolio, the rest is staying in currency and investment. It’s a tool, but never again will I finance my lifestyle by means of it.

I’m going to have to put “no” back in my vocabulary, until the Bank of Steven is a bit richer, but worry is an activity I no longer want in my life.