Author Archives: Jay Butchko
Is The Snowball Method An Appropriate Debt Repayment Strategy For You?
Another year, another set of good intentions about paying off your debts. You have been doing this for as long as you have been old enough to make New Year’s Resolutions more ambitious than to quit biting your fingernails or to confess your feelings to your crush before graduation. Will 2022 be any different? … Read More »
Do You Really Need A Lawyer When Filing For Bankruptcy?
The court system is meant to be accessible to anyone, and so you have the option to represent yourself, as opposed to hiring a professional attorney, in many kinds of legal cases. In practice, self-representation (the Latin legal term for this is pro se) is more common in the kinds of legal matters that… Read More »
Rethinking Your Relationship With Credit Cards After Bankruptcy
One of the most persistent myths about bankruptcy filings is that, after you file for bankruptcy, you will never be able to use a credit card again. Not only are there hundreds of thousands of current credit card users who have previously filed for bankruptcy, but you might find that new credit card offers… Read More »
Predatory Lending Red Flags
As every wannabe social media influencer knows, people go out of their way to give you free stuff when you are already rich. For the rest of us, there is a mailbox full of loan offers. Not every loan shark is a sharply dressed motormouth like you see in the movies. Some of them… Read More »
Why Seniors Choose Chapter 13 Bankruptcy
Florida deserves its reputation as the best place to retire; looking up to see the seagulls fly by, as the sun reflects off of your reading glasses is one of life’s great pleasures. While it is certainly possible to live within one’s means in South Florida, the cost of living has gone up everywhere. … Read More »
Budgets Are Better At Diagnosing Financial Problems Than At Solving Them
Everyone, up to and including the hosts of the No Stupid Questions podcast, which is part of the Freakonomics network, seems to be bandying around the phrase “toxic positivity” these days, but the problem isn’t the people who always seem to remain optimistic in the face of their own problems. The people who respond… Read More »
Is Credit Card Churning Ever A Good Idea?
Almost everyone uses credit cards these days. Those smug folks who claim that they have stayed out of financial trouble ever since they cut up their credit cards years ago are also missing out on Netflix subscriptions, airline tickets, Uber Eats, and all kinds of other fun stuff that it is virtually impossible to… Read More »
Is It Your Problem If Your Ex-Spouse Goes Into Debt Supporting Your Adult Children?
When you get married, people will warn you about common sources of conflict between spouses, such as division of household chores, how soon to return to the workforce after the birth of a child, and the rules regarding teenagers and driving. They don’t usually tell you, however, about the disagreements you might have with… Read More »
When It Comes To Federal Student Loans, Florida Is A Low-Debt State
professional job and the financial security that comes with it. The promises of college as the path to a middle-class lifestyle ring increasingly empty. Many first-generation college students are in a worse financial position than their parents, due to the skyrocketing cost of tuition and the labyrinthine student loan repayment system. Many former students… Read More »
Medical Debt In Florida Is As Bad As You Think It Is
No matter how cautious you are with money, one accidental injury or serious but temporary illness can throw your finances into disarray. Unpaid medical bills represent a substantial portion of Americans’ debt burdens, especially in the income brackets where qualifying for a home mortgage or even most car loans is beyond most people’s reach. … Read More »