Your Spending Budget
This worksheet will help determine everything you spend money on, so you can make powerful decisions over your debt and maximize the potential benefits of this guide.
Taking Control
Just because you’re in debt now doesn’t mean you have to stay that way. You can go from feeling
stuck
in a neverending debt cycle to being in command of the debt in your life.
Before we talk strategy, first we need to establish where you are financially so it
becomes
clearer what solutions apply to you.
The next few sections are a quick self-assessment. Answering these questions will help
you
determine your best plan of attack. You can also skip ahead and look at
solutions via the chapter
navigation button to the left at any time.
A balance transfer credit card may work for Susie and Greg, but that doesn’t mean it’s
your
best course of action. Your situation may call for a debt consolidation loan, or working with a
debt
relief company, or even filing for bankruptcy.
Financial Summary
Check out this handy summary based on the previous wizards. The summary will help give you a clearer picture of your overall debt situation and help you find a matching solution in the next part of the guide.
Your Debt Plan
The first thing you must do before you can pay off your debt is understand your financial
situation. If you’ve filled out the prior wizards, this summary will help you a lot.
It also helps to have handy a list of all your current balances, annual
percentage
rates (APR) and minimum payment requirements. You can use any method that will help you
stay
organized, whether that’s a spreadsheet or a handwritten list in a notebook. The key is
to
pick a format that will be easy to access and update over the months (and
possibly
years)
you spend working on your credit health.
Monthly Usable Income (income after fixed expenses)
Complete for Result%% usableIncome | currency %%
Monthly Disposable Income (income left over after all expenses)
Complete for Result%% disposableIncome | currency %%
Your Debt Burden (debt payments compared to income)
Complete for Result%% debtBurden %%%
Your Total Debt (money owed compared to annual income)
Complete for Result%% totalDebt %%%
Your Credit Score
Complete for Result%% creditLevelName[creditScoreLevel] %%
Next Chapter
Balance Transfers