It’s an increasingly familiar story: Strapped for cash, a recent college grad puts everyone on his or her credit card. The grad can’t pay off the high-interest card, and falls deeper and deeper into debt — until they’re faced with dire financial straits.
But there are simple ways to avoid these financial pitfalls. Jean Chatzky, the TODAY Show Financial Editor and author of “Money Rules: The Simple Path to Lifelong Security,” spoke with Steve Adubato, PhD., on One-on-One with Steve Adubato, about how to stay debt-free.
“About half of all the people in this country are what we call financially fragile,” Chatzky said. “And that means they couldn’t come up with two thousand dollars if they needed it. These are folks who don’t have emergency cushions.”
Chatzky knows what she’s talking about: “I blew it coming out of college. I got myself into some credit card debt,” she said. But Chatzky paid attention to the lessons she learned as a financial reporter, and slowly put together a plan to become more financially stable.
The key mistake most people make, she said, is that “they spend more than they make.” It sounds simple, but as Chatzky explained, “We don’t know how much we have coming in or where it’s going.”
For more tips on avoiding debt — including the number one thing people can do right now to alleviate their debt — don’t miss this edition of One-on-One with Steve Adubato.
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