Greetings everyone. After a bit of a sabbatical here, I am back. I thought that I write a bit about money and credit. I'd like to start off by saying that if you have no extra money at the end of the month and no significant savings, you need to evaluate why. Is it due to some extraordinary life event such as a death, divorce, or some other unforeseen happening. If so, and you previously did have extra money, then this will not apply. However, if you are like so many others, you should evaluate your source(s) of revenue and your expenses to determine where you can cut back on your expenses and also how you can increase your income so that you have even as little as $2-300/month left over.

Chances are that if you are just breaking even each month, you have gotten yourself to that point by spending money that you don't have on things that don't matter and that you don't need. You buy these things using your credit cards. Now, I am not an advocate of eliminating your credit cards, etc. On the contrary, I am very much in favor of using them for things that do matter such as starting a business, etc. rather than buying trinkets such as boats, cars, etc.

Ultimately, what you want to have on your credit cards is 50% or less of the total available credit. By doing this, it will positively help your credit scores. You also want to be sure that you don't close any of your credit accounts. This is because the greater the age of an account, the more it helps your score.

You want to take the extra money you bring in monthly and apply it to your  account with the lowest dollar amount required to get it below 50%. Once that account is below 50%, do the same to the next highest account, and so on. Once all of your accounts are below 50%, then you can start paying them off one at a time.

Once you are below 50% across the board, wait about a month or so to pull your FICO scores. You can do this at myfico.com. You also want to start setting aside money each and every month to build yourself a cushion as well as to begin building capital for investing. Please realize that this is a process, and as slow as it may seem, you need to remember how long it took you to get to this place.

During this process, you should begin searching for a real estate investment club local to you. This will help aid you in your learning process as well as put you in contact with other like minded individuals. You may also be able to find someone that you can partner with to increase the investments available to you. Just take your time, and be sure to do your homework as well as utilize professionals to assist you in moving forward. This includes attorneys, financial planners, etc.

This should be a good start for you, but for even more assistance, you should use a financial planner to help you lay out your plan of attack from the beginning. I went years without one, and now kick myself every time I think about it and the money that went out the window.

Till next time everyone,

Be happy and enjoy your life.