Everyday Cheapskate

While I refuse to live with regret, I must admit there are a few things I wish I'd learned sooner. Because I don't want you to make the same mistakes, I'm going to give you my top five so you don't have to learn the hard way.

1. The lottery is a terrible tax on ignorance. In my life, I have contributed a small percentage of my income to the worthless pursuit of playing the lottery. I wish I'd learned sooner how worthless this little hobby was. Just how worthless? Take Florida, the lightning capital of the nation. In a single year, more than 120 people were struck by lightning there, but fewer than 40 people won the Florida Lottery during that same time period. So a Florida resident is more than three times as likely to be struck by lightning as he is to win the lottery.

2. Interest charged on consumer debt is hideously arrogant. As harsh as it may sound, hideous arrogance is a more-than-fair way to describe a system that offers a helping hand to cover life's little emergencies and then bludgeons its clients into financial compliance when they accept the help. I wish I'd learned sooner that while credit card companies may be filled with greed and disregard, they could not exist without gullible and naive borrowers. Just think about that.

3. Loan approval should not be confused with loan affordability. When a lender approves a credit transaction, it doesn't mean it has assessed your entire financial situation and determined that you can afford it. It only means it fed your information into a computer that determined the lender's risk to be in an acceptable range.

I wish I'd learned sooner that credit card companies, banks and mortgage lenders are not concerned about my financial future and that they do not have my best interests in mind. Their concern is whether the potential profit is worth the risk.

4. The wild accumulation of things creates an endless urge to have more. For those searching for contentment in status symbols and stuff, enough is never enough. The "have-nots" want some; the "have-enoughs" want more; even the "have-too-muches" want more still. I wish I'd learned sooner that having too many things dilutes quality of life and that having it all is highly overrated.

5. Debt consolidation puts you on the fast track to financial ruin. It always seemed like such a smart decision to find a low-interest loan to pay off all the high-interest credit cards and thereby get back on track and out of trouble. It seemed like an equally wise decision to hang on to the paid-off credit cards in case of future emergencies. I wish I'd learned sooner that available credit guarantees emergencies and that debt consolidation always spells trouble.

I'm sure you, too, have lessons you wish you'd learned sooner. Remember that it is not about regret. It's about learning from the past and red-flagging some of life's more precarious pitfalls so we don't fall into them again.

Mary Hunt is the founder of www.DebtProofLiving.com and author of 18 books, including her latest, "Can I Pay My Credit Card Bill With a Credit Card?" You can e-mail her at mary@everydaycheapskate.com, or write to Everyday Cheapskate, P.O. Box 2135, Paramount, CA 90723. To find out more about Mary Hunt and read her past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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