How to Get Enrich out of the Debt Cycle

By Hennie Reynders

How to manage money is probably something you need to learn from your parents, the same way they taught you proper manners. Unfortunately, it is often in those early days of ones upbringing that things start going wrong. Parents want to give their children nothing but the best and will go to extremes to give their children what they ask, even if they know this is a waste of money.

Having money often turns into a matter of competition. If I have more money than you, then I am in a much better position than you. In fact, I may even be a much better person. The idea that money makes you a quality person is as totally wrong as it is common; the amount of money in your purse or your bank balance definitely does not determine your integrity or character.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Jan 30, 2014
• ISBN: 9781491887844

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2013 Hennie Reynders. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 12/09/2013

ISBN: 978-1-4918-8783-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4918-8784-4 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

About Money

Chapter 2

Why Do You Want Credit?

Chapter 3

Credit—Your Friend

Chapter 4

The Negative Spiral Of Debt

Chapter 5

How To Manage

Your Spending

Chapter 6

How To Budget

Chapter 7

The Financial

Wellness Recovery Plan

Chapter 8

Definitions

CHAPTER 1

ABOUT MONEY

There are four things every person has more of than they know: sins, debt, years and foes.

—Persian proverb

How to manage money is probably something you need to learn from your parents, the same way they taught you proper manners. Unfortunately, it is often in those early days of one’s upbringing that things start going wrong. Parents want to give their children nothing but the best and will go to extremes to give their children what they ask, even if they know this is a waste of money.

Having money often turns into a matter of competition. If I have more money than you, then I am in a much better position than you. In fact, I may even be a much better person. The idea that money makes you a quality person is as totally wrong as it is common; the amount of money in your purse or your bank balance definitely does not determine your integrity or character.

We often believe that celebrities or rich people are the happiest people in the world. But just read the daily or weekly papers and magazines, and you will realise than many of them are not happy at all. Happiness is a state of mind.

There are two major principles that you need to understand, even though on the surface neither of them appears to have anything to do with money management.

The first is that there is no correlation between money and happiness in the long term. Permanent happiness can never be found in worldly things. As the coach said to the team in the film Cool Running: If you don’t have enough without the gold medal, you will not have enough with the gold medal.

1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

The second principle—and this is one of the laws of nature which will never change—is that what you sow, you will reap. If you spend/invest (sow) your money on worthless items, you will earn/inherit (reap) nothing. It is like a child buying himself a simple plastic toy which lasts for five minutes compared with a child who builds himself a toy (say a wire car) which he can play with for years and, in most cases, costs him nothing more than the time he spent building it.

Debts are like children: the smaller they are, the more noise they make.

—Spanish proverb

Before borrowing money from a friend, decide which you need most.

—American proverb

Life is all about choices, and the same applies to money. You have a choice how you are going to spend that next rand. I want to help you with those choices.

Ecclesiastes 5:10 Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless.

The question is; where do we start? Perhaps you are reading this book because you don’t have any money problems and you simply want to learn how to spend your money wisely, which will make it much easier to make wise choices in future. But I don’t think that is the case. It is more likely that you are reading this book because you do have money problems and you want to find ways to get out of a sticky financial situation. The way out is probably going to be a tough one that will take time and demand dedication, but in the end you will find that happiness again.

As you read this book, you will realise where you made mistakes. You will also discover what is needed to solve these problems.

Credit is a bit like a hangover. As Joyce Brothers put it:

Credit buying is much like being drunk. The buzz happens immediately and gives you a lift . . . . The hangover comes the day after.

This is all well and good, but you still have to live your life and be able to apply the principles of money management. Do you really know how? If the stove plate is on and hot and you put your hand on it, it will burn you. Likewise, as long as you live, you will need money to stay alive; if you spend your money on the wrongs things or do not use your money wisely, you will get burnt.

This is the message I want to bring home to you right from the start: when you spend your money, do it wisely. Now, how would a wise man spend his money? Do I spend my money in order to compete with others,