Jun 21 2008
Getting It Right the First Time Around
I remember when I went to college; I was so excited about my new experience. I was living on my own for the first time. There was no one I had to report to for anything. “Grown” was not enough of a word to explain how I felt. Little did I know that starting college was also the start of my financial ruin.
I was a poor kid from the hood . . .not the urban jungle, but there was enough crime and episodes of families without power to make me feel like I was living an episode of “Good Times”.
My lifestyle of watching my mother make ends meet to provide for six children always meant there was more need than money at the end of day. I never understood what was meant when she said “Money don’t grow on trees. This is especially true when I went to college. Each day I walked to class, I had vendors yelling out incentives for free stuff. Imagine my surprise to learn there were things you could get free without first standing in a welfare line. All that was needed was completion of one little application for a credit card .
Like any good college student, I had no intention of using the cards that started flowing in with my name branded across the front. After all, while I did not grow up with privilege, I was not completely naïve. If you have nothing (which was the case with me) you can expect to get nothing for free.
However, as my survival needs outweighed my families ability to assist me (or maybe it was my gargantuan pride that refused to let me ask for help), I began to use the cards and found my financial output quickly surpassed my financial input. This fact is true for many young people today. According to an article found on onepaycheckatatime.com, Young Americans now have the second highest rate of bankruptcy, just after those aged 25 to 44.
I thought about this today as a drove around helping my niece, who is only 18 look for a car. She is young with no credit and I am . . . getting older with bad credit. As much as my heart wanted to help her, my circumstances would not allow me that opportunity.
In my childhood household, we were not taught the importance of credit and saving money. We were taught the necessities of survival. You spent your time reviewing the bills and making life decisions, always finding that there is never enough for all you need.
Fixing your credit is a lot harder to do once you have completely mangled it. As I am working with my niece to find her way in life, I can only hope that she is gaining wisdom from the poor choices I have made along the way.
While I believe that I am still young enough to turn my situation around . . . nothing beats getting it right the first time around!
