Are You In a Financial Hole?

Have you found yourself in a financial hole lately? What are you doing about it?

Are you actively trying to find a way to climb out, or are you waiting for someone (or something) to rescue you out of your financial hole?

Today I have for you another of my famed “dumb criminal” stories.

Somehow, I’ll once again figure out a way to relate the stupidity of this criminal to a common financial situation.

Hang on, here we go:

Panic at the Hardware Store

Seems there was a guy attempting to rob a hardware store after closing time one dark evening. He stealthily scaled the back wall, gained access to the roof, and cut a large hole in it.

He dropped down into the store, gathered his coveted loot together, then discovered a major problem. He couldn’t get back up to the hole he had cut into the roof.

After much harried pacing and fretting, trying to figure out a solution to his unforeseen problem, he came to the realization that he was trapped.

He panicked.

He called 9-1-1.

When the police arrived, they just couldn’t understand why the burglar didn’t use one of the many ladders for sale in the store to climb out the way he came in.

Obviously the few neurons this guy had in his cranium weren’t firing on all cylinders (thus the moniker “dumb criminal”).

Digging a Financial Hole

This story reminded me of how it’s so easy for you to dig yourself into a financial hole. When you finally realize that there is a serious problem and you’re in over your head financially, you get stupid. You panic, you don’t know what to do, so you take the easy way out.

You’re in desperation mode so you take out payday loans, extremely high interest loans, borrow money from friends and family, or even declare bankruptcy.

But all this just digs the hole deeper and causes more problems.

You Know How to Fill the Financial Hole

When you’re having financial problems, it’s so easy to lose your brain and make bad decisions, when all along you knew what you needed to do.

• You know that spending more than you make and using credit to finance your life is killing you financially.
• Instead of resorting to desperation and digging a deeper hole, you know deep down that you need to change your habits.
• You know that you need to keep track of your spending so that you have more month than money.
• You know that there may be some sacrifice involved to change, and that taking the easy way out usually ends up compounding your problems.
• You know deep down that making a solid plan to pay off your debt and sticking to it is what will solve the problem permanently.

You know what to do.

I can help you with that…

Fill the Financial Hole With These Resources

You can click over to my bookstore and check out all the books I’ve used to get out of debt and change my financial life.

You can check out my short, easy to read book on how to make a budget (it’s only .99 cents).

You can even sign up for my Celebrating Financial Freedom get out of debt course that will be available soon in a new online format.

Whether you use my resources or someone else’s, don’t resort to panic and desperation. Use the amazing brain and common sense that God provided you with and do what, deep down, you know will work.

You know what to do…

Have you ever “lost your brain” and done something unwise out of desperation? Tell me about it in the comments.

Article originally published on Celebrating Financial Freedom. Used with permission.

Dr. Jason Cabler is a Christian personal finance blogger, author, and speaker. He teaches how to get out of debt and live a debt free lifestyle through his Celebrating Financial Freedom blog and self study course. His book How to Budget: The Quick and Easy Guide to Making a Budget That Works is now available (more info here). He can be reached for interviews or speaking engagements by email, and can be found on Twitter, Facebook, and Google +.

Publication date: October 4, 2013