If you are a dual-income family, you need a lot of help. From the time you wake up in the morning until the time you go to bed at night you are constantly on the go. Your kids are constantly making demands of you. It is to the point where me and my wife will look at our children and ask, are you not happy with the management?
I’ll give you a rule of thumb, and this goes against everything that I believe in because I think people live by too many rules of thumb. Although I’m sharing my advice on living below your means, I certainly recommend you seek professional help to ensure that you reach your goals.
Home prices came down, and they came down hard. A lot of people were in interest-only loans. Others had to move for work, and they were left with a dilemma. Nobody wanted to short sell, and nobody wanted to walk away because they didn’t want to ruin their credit.
We should all play our roles in relationships. If you are a man, you should definitely take on some other role besides just being a man. Step up and take care of your family, whether that is bringing in the income or taking care of the household duties or both—you deserve a little taste of happiness too.
Growing up, for the most part, I had a happy childhood. Looking back on it, I had it made. I had a roof over my head and food on the table. We never went without anything that we needed. We did go without luxuries, but it took me a while to even find out what luxuries were. All in all, I would give my parents gold stars for how they raised me.
Now, I know what some of you are thinking, Armond, you are an African-American man, raised in Arkansas, now a business owner, there is no way you believe that the American Dream is dead—you are correct. It is not dead—it’s just different. The fact is, it is getting harder for the poor to become middle class and for the middle class to become upper class.
I sincerely hate credit cards!
I use one, but still, I despise using it. Credit cards are convenient, I get it. However, if you and your spouse aren’t on the same page when it comes to a budget; say no to credit cards. Do you have running debt on that credit card? You know credit card companies aren’t running a soup kitchen, right? They aren’t giving out those free vacations and rewards for nothing.
Any time something breaks in my home, the discussion between a need vs a want tends to get confusing. Recently, my wife and I had a major break down over what seemed like all major appliances. The washing machine broke, the dishwasher stopped doing its job and my microwave……well, the microwave caught on fire. I have to admit that I saw it let off little sparks here and there for a couple of months prior, but it was heating things up just fine.
Any time something breaks in my home, the discussion between a need vs a want tends to get confusing. Recently, my wife and I had a major break down over what seemed like all major appliances. The washing machine broke, the dishwasher stopped doing its job and my microwave……well, the microwave caught on fire. I have to admit that I saw it let off little sparks here and there for a couple of months prior, but it was heating things up just fine.
Buying a home is an emotional thing which is why hearing from my clients that they’re purchasing a new home causes me pain. I have seen the purchase of a home throw a family into a financial spiral.
