Getting that Debt Monkey Off Of Your Back

The following post is part of a series thought of by the blogger at First Gen American.com, and the basic idea is to tie personal finance with primates.

Do you have a Debt Monkey on your back?  I think it’s time to get it off, don’t you?

I had a debt monkey on my back, and although it was an expensive one, I also consider it a friendly, helpful one.  I consider the monkey on my back friendly because it helped to kept me warm and away from the elements.  It also put stability in my kid’s lives and make them happy.  It’s name was “Home Mortgage“, and after 10 years it went away quietly and peacefully.  In some ways I kind of miss it and the predictability of its existence.  I’d say my monkey was equivalent to a Curious George type of monkey…  Friendly and helpful, but also expensive in ways.

While my encounter with debt was pleasant, I have one friend (Mr Penny), that has a debt monkey the size of “King Kong”.  The amount of debt wasn’t much different that mine (over $100,000), the problems is that his “King Kong” debt monkey isn’t friendly at all and doesn’t help improve my friend’s finances.  His monkey’s name is “Credit Card” debt!  Credit Card debt is often times a one hit spending wonder!  It give you pleasure the moment you borrow the money to purchase something, but then after the initial purchase, you have diminishing returns.  The only way to keep this monkey happy is then to buy some other new expensive toy.  And the process continues until some owners of this type of monkey has caused 6 figure debt accumulation (not a good place to be)!

A better approach is to control your debt but live a balanced life!  Don’t let your monkey become a monster that runs crazy in the city buying whatever may get in its way!

Well, I’ve monkied around enough with this post…

What kind of monkey do you have on your back, or grabbing for your wallet?

-MR