The Mature Debtor’s Guide to Reducing Your Expenses

Some people tell you that your 50s are the most stressful time of your life.  You are a source of support and protection for your parents, when they used to fulfill this role for you; your happy memories of better days with your parents become bittersweet, and your painful memories become even more painful.  Meanwhile, you children are no longer little and cute, and they no longer adore you.  They blame you for all their problems, even as they ask you for ever greater amounts of money.  Others, while acknowledging the family stresses that middle-aged people experience more acutely than other age groups, your 50s are the best time in your life, because you feel a weight lifted off of you as you are finally able to stop caring about things that don’t matter.  If you can approach your finances with this clarity, you can approach retirement with realistic expectations and maybe even pay down your debts in the process.  If you are feeling overwhelmed by your debts and your family responsibilities as retirement age comes into view, contact a Miami debt lawyer.

Are You More Financially Literate Than a Second Grader?

Financial advice for adults often focuses on speculative prospects such as passive income and return on investment, or else it involves layering coupons and engaging in financial sleight of hand to get discounts on consumer products that account for only a fraction of your expenditures.  When second graders learn about finances, things are more concrete and more straightforward.  In social studies classes in Florida in the 1980s, teachers would ask students to make a list of needs and one of wants, sometimes even asking them to draw pictures or cut them out of magazines to illustrate the items in the lists.

You can reduce your expenses if you take this approach, but when you have been participating in consumerism for decades, this is harder than it looks.  Yes, food is a need, not a want, but you can stay fed if you share your neighbor’s Sam’s Club haul for a price that enables your neighbor to break even or if you go to restaurants at the close of business and buy the food they were about to throw away at a deep discount.  You need shelter, but you can move your children into your house instead of sending them money for rent.

If these sound like sacrifices, identify needs and wants as if they were for someone else, not for you.  Then try living as close as you can to the consumerism-free lifestyle for as long as you can stand it.  Remember, you have no one to impress at your age.  A lot of people’s nonessential spending is based on a desire to keep up with the Joneses, but at your age, there are no Joneses left to keep up with, and you are the last one standing.

Work With a Debt Lawyer About Taking the Emotions Out of Budgeting

A South Florida debt lawyer can help you if you are too old to spend on nonessential things, but debts from your younger years are still following you around.  Contact Nowack & Olson, PLLC in Miami, Florida to discuss your case.

Sources:

msn.com/en-us/money/other/suze-orman-s-no-1-tip-for-tackling-credit-card-debt-if-you-re-in-or-nearing-retirement/ar-AA1xTQaH?ocid=msedgntp&pc=ACTS&cvid=ff8dca1966104a3fadac40d8499fc8d5&ei=22

msn.com/en-us/money/other/suze-orman-says-a-budget-is-a-dumb-idea-to-try-and-save-money-and-to-do-this-first-instead/ar-AA1uFndL?ocid=msedgntp&pc=ACTS&cvid=f5c9a641fd1b4dbc85587bdb97c6c777&ei=37