Morris Brown College on the brink

With foreclosure looming Morris Brown College on the brink  | ajc.com

One of Atlanta's historically black colleges is holding on for dear life as foreclosure looms. The school was in the news several years ago regarding its finances and alumni came in to help with the mounting debt. It will be a sad day if the school has to shut the doors for good.

I'm just going to say that the Morris Brown College administration was poorly run and news investigations support that theory. Those people are long gone, but what they left behind was a financial mess. I remember hanging out during my college days with friends at Spelman, Morehouse, Clark Atlanta, and Morris Brown College. We had some great times and the memories will live on.

Debt ->Don't Reach the Ceiling

The U.S. has reached it's debt ceiling and will need to find ways to start paying it off soon. The debt level as of today is $14.3 trillion dollars. I am pretty sure the average person will never see themselves in trillions worth of debt, at least I hope not :-) It's a good idea to try your best not to let your borrowing and credit cards get out of hand. If you find yourself in a pinch or an unexpected expense comes up, try to use the credit card with a low interest rate and possibly not a high balance already. Plus, when the bill arrives and hopefully your cash flow is better, send in a double payment to start paying the card off quickly.

Cash Really is King

I read a story in the Atlanta Journal Constitution yesterday about a couple who climbed their way out of $83,000 worth of credit card debt. By the way, that's no typo on the dollar figure of their debt. I was amazed and thought to myself how anyone could get themselves into that much debt. I applaud their efforts in shaving down their debt and are now spending with cash. I know some people who use their credit cards and pay the balance off each month and this is smart. But, not everyone can and it doesn't take long for the balance to creep up with interest to where the minimum monthly payment is all that can be paid each month. By using cash, you're more aware of just how much money you have for purchases. Simply knowing that you can reach into your wallet and use a credit card is an easy way to begin the cycle of debt. Don't fall into that trap, use cash instead. You don't need to carry around wads of cash in your wallet, that's not safe anyway. I suggest carrying enough to pay for the purchases on your list. If you see a 'must-have' while shopping and don't have enough cash to buy it, think about it a day or two before heading back to the store to buy it. By then, you may not even bother.