Lootcamp: 4 Weeks to Reducing Debt and Increasing Your Financial Fitness

By Laura J. McDonald and Susan L. Misner

Four Weeks to Financial Fitness!

Welcome to the Golden Girl Finance Lootcamp, a month-long program designed to break up the daunting task of getting yourself financially fit into small, daily steps…that will have you well on your way to a more financially secure life in no time flat!

• Week One will get you organized with an accurate picture of your finances—what you have, what you owe, and what your debt is really costing you. 
• Week Two will help you tally up your spending—how much, on what and how, for both fixed and variable expenses.
• Week Three is dedicated to dealing with your debt.
• Week Four is all about planning for the future and developing good financial habits.

It’s about getting your true bottom line in shape and primed for a fabulously fit financial future!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wiley
• Release date: Apr 17, 2013
• ISBN: 9781118586648

Book preview

Introduction

Are you feeling financially stressed and weighed down? Is too much debt making you feel bloated and lethargic? Do you dream of having freer, more abundant cash flow and an energized savings plan?

Golden Girl Finance is here to help you whittle away that debt and get your finances back on track. Whether you're a slight overspender or living totally beyond your means, this 20-day Lootcamp will help you to reduce debt, free up cash flow, and boost your savings.

Household debt has become one of the most pervasive problems of the twenty-first century. (And you thought government debt was bad!) In 2008, just before the financial crash, the average American's debt-to-income ratio reached 160%—more than twice the level it reached in the 1980s. That means for every dollar they earned, American families owed $1.60 in consumer and mortgage debt.

Likewise, in the UK, the average household debt reached 160% of income before the financial crash. Yet in Canada, the average debt-to-income ratio only just recently hit 165%—in December 2012.

Canadians have been repeatedly warned about their household debt by the central bank and the country's finance minister, and the government has tightened mortgage rules to keep people from overreaching in their desire to load up on real estate. Yet people keep on spending. (Must be all that cross-border shopping, hmmm?)

And who can blame consumers for spending up a storm these days? Interest rates are historically low—virtually zero. The banks are willing to loan out oodles of money for practically free! You can load up your credit card, then shift the balance over to your home equity line of credit, and voila, you're donning Ray-Bans in your leased Land Rover, with the tail of your cashmere scarf jauntily flying out the window. How is a self-respecting citizen supposed to resist such debt-inducing temptation?

The buck, literally, stops with you. Right now. Right here. Signing up for this Lootcamp is a major step in the right direction.

You have recognized that your finances could be in much better shape and you have committed to doing something about it. You are stepping forward toward a major transformation.

Frankly, your decision to take part in this Lootcamp could not have come at a better time. At some point, interest rates will rise. We don't know when. We don't know by how much. But just as we know that what goes up must come down, we know that interest rates must surely rise. That mortgage you now hold will suddenly get a whole lot more expensive, your line of credit and your car leases will all get frighteningly more costly, and if you don't have any wiggle room now, you will be bursting out of those debt pants when there is even an inch of a rise in interest rates.

So congratulate yourself for taking action now. You are doing something strong and wise, not just for yourself, not just for your family, but for your economy. We salute you!

In just 20 days (we're giving you weekends off!), this Lootcamp program will help you to gently pull back the curtain of denial and see what is lurking behind it and causing so much trouble. More importantly, we will equip you with the tools you need to whittle down that debt, find more room for savings, and, ultimately, make your life a whole lot richer. This Lootcamp is about expanding your life by taking control of the biggest thing that is holding you back: your debt.

We will give you a kick-start to a better way of handling your money in just 20 minutes a day, with super easy, pain-free, step-by-step instructions.

Are you sitting comfortably? Good. Then let's begin.

Week 1

Know Your Stuff

Lootcamp: Week 1, Day 1

Know Your Stuff: Open 'Em Up!

Congratulations on choosing to take back your financial power! Despite how hectic your life is, taking the time to sort out your finances is a brilliant move. We would expect nothing less of a clever gal or guy like you.

Here's what you need to have on hand to get