Sell and Rent back, Debts & Retirement
The famous financial guru Dave Ramsey once said "If
you live like no-one else, later you can live like no-one else"
and he actually uses it as a mantra. Just in case you are a bit confused
by the statement, what it is saying is that if in your younger years
you learn how to manage your money wisely and acquire a decent level
of financial education - like no-one else - then you will probably
end up in a comfortable financial situation in your old age - like
no-one else.
The sad thing is that our education system does not
offer exposure to financial matters in our schools. Young people have
to rely upon their parents or other role models to learn how to deal
with money. Unfortunately many of these role models are not financially
literate and even worse have been engulfed by the consumerist culture
that we have all been living in for the last few decades. What did
this consumerist culture teach us? Spend what you have and what you
do not have too! Credit cards, credit lines and bank loans offer young
people a range of different ways to become seriously in debt without
any warning that this must eventually be paid back with interest added.
With this mentality of spend, spend and spend again,
then when you get to the age of 50 you start to wonder if you are
really going to be able to retire and rest. That is when you are forced
to face the truth that you have nothing but your job income to support
you and your family. This realisation comes too late and the tough
reality is that by then you have to work until you drop dead or your
health does not allow you to work any more. Then you have to count
on the government to help you out for the rest of your days and this
help is only as reliable as the taxes the government can collect from
working people.
An exit for those who are homeowners but who are heavily
in debt would be the Sell
and Rent Back scheme which can provide an opportunity for a total
finance make-over. Cash will be made available for homebuyers to pay
off their debts through the sale of their house along with the right
to rent it back without the need to leave their home, together with
a unique chance to buy it back at a later date on pre-agreed terms.
The Sell
and Rent Back scheme works very well provided a real effort to
stay clear of debt is maintained. From this point onwards an increasing
awareness about control of finances has to be predominant. Bills and
all expenditure must be very closely controlled and any signs of going
back to the old pattern of irresponsible spending must be avoided
at all costs simply because it will represent the ticket back to debts
again.
The word "budget" is almost like a scientifically
complicated term that people avoid talking about including the associated
threat to their own future security and to that of their children.
Living within a budget was once the norm - a seemingly long time ago,
but never mind - as there were no credit cards or easy bank loans.
If families could not live within their own incomes (budgets) then
they would not be able to eat - it was as simple as that. Now cable
TV is treated as a necessity! Is it really? Ramsey, the financial
guru, is strongly advising families to cut out frequent visits to
restaurants, daily latte habits and to use cash for payments so as
to understand more about the act of spending money physically not
"plastically" It takes a financial guru to tell people what
should be common sense!
Information is the key and it is out there for everybody
to find. Now is the wake-up call from this robot-like state that most
people are in, so search for understanding about the sensible management
of your finances. There is no need to be an expert - there are too
many of those out there already - you just need to become much more
aware of your finances – money management – and organise
yourself to "live like no-one else" in your old age.
