Doug Stephens, MBA

Doug Stephens, MBA, is a financial coach that helps eliminate credit card debt.  His clients look at the government bailouts and ask him,” Who is going to bail me out?”

You can probably guess my answer to this question. That answer is that you will have to bail yourself out. The large banks and industrial companies that are being helped have a lot of political clout in Washington. How much pull do you or I have with politicians? Probably not very much. We may never see any serious attempt by the government to help people that are drowning in credit card debt (unsecured debt).

Let’s look at the bright side, however. Who wants to sit around and wait?  We need to take charge of our lives and improve our own finances. There is plenty that we can do by ourselves. The first thing that everyone must do is to live on less than they are earning. It does not matter whether you are comfortably wealthy or facing imminent bankruptcy. Everyone must control their spending and not go into debt.

For people in financial trouble, borrowing is not an option. For them, living within their means becomes a survival strategy. For the wealthy, spending less than their income is the only reliable strategy to remain wealthy. So it seems, people at all levels of wealth and income have something in common. We must all spend less than we make.

Wealthy is easy. What if a person is buried under debt? Well, the next phase of this self bailout is to attack debt. It is essential to develop a plan to pay off or eliminate debt. This plan must be realistic and fast acting. It is not reasonable to plan on scrimping for 10 years or more to beat debt. Your plan must be to make progress more rapidly. It is the only way that you will stay motivated and be successful.

For some people a simple debt snowball is the answer. By living within their means and paying down their credit cards, they will improve their situation. For others, having a counselor negotiate with creditors or property foreclosure may part of their plan. Sometimes even bankruptcy is a useful option depending upon how dire an individual’s circumstances are.

It is important that any game plan be tailored to your unique situation. It must be bold and improve things quickly. Once a plan is in place, it is important that you begin right way. Remember, no one is going to bail you out. You must take actions to help yourself. If you do, you’ll be surprised at how quickly you will change your life for the better.

Doug Stephens excels at finding realistic solutions to vexing personal or small business financial problems.  He has successfully negotiated credit card balances for clients and helped them eliminate debt. He also advises clients facing foreclosure. Doug assists many clients with the development of their Retirement Lifestyle Plan.