Credit cards should help you meet all your financial goals, not prevent you from reaching them. Unfortunately, because many Americans aren’t responsible enough when using their credit cards, their plans to save and build for the future seldom leave the drawing board.
A wall between you and your financial goals
Many people rely on credit cards when making their monthly purchases, and it’s really easy to lose yourself when using such a tool. Spend some money here, some more money there and, without even knowing it, you’re already down several hundred dollars and you have nothing to show for it.
All this irresponsible spending can create big holes in your budget. And it’s this that will stop you from ever making any progress and achieving your financial goals. It doesn’t take much. Just miss a few payments and the damage is done. If your credit record takes a hit, then that will make it a lot harder for you to borrow money, which in turn will make it harder for you to live the life that you want. At this point, your money will control you, instead of you controlling it.
How to protect yourself
You need to put your budget first and try to limit your monthly credit card spending. Just because you own a credit card doesn’t mean you have to use it for everything. If you want to build a good credit history, there are ways to do it without getting buried in debt. You can even do it without using a credit card at all. Read about it here.
When you put your budget together, only use the income and funds that you currently have. Your credit card allows you to use money that you don’t actually have. Remember that the next time you go shopping.
