Has anyone claimed the $336.4 million Powerball jackpot?
The winning ticket was sold in Rhode Island earlier this month.
Goodness knows it wasn’t sold to me… otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this post.
Talk about alleviating financial stress. Even if the winner took the lump sum payout, he or she would still walk away with more money than anyone could possibly spend in a lifetime.
Well, maybe.
Living in debt and trying to survive paycheck to paycheck can be physically and emotionally draining. However, there are ways to stabilize your financial footing, even when it seems like the deck is stacked against you.
For starters, take stock of reasonable options. There are some debt solutions that cause more harm than good. For example, studies show that an increasing number of people are cashing out their 401ks or other retirement plans to pay off their debt. Money experts warn that this should only be done after very careful consideration and perhaps a discussion or two with a tax advisor, as there are stiff penalties for withdrawing money prior to the agreed upon retirement date.
Next, rather than looking for a quick fix to your debt issues, you may be better off assessing your bills (e.g. mortgages, car loans, education loans, credit cards, etc.), and then coming up with a plan that will determine the order in which you should payoff your debtors. For instance, the most common type of debt is credit card or consumer debt. Financial experts claim that this is by far the worst type of debt to get into and almost always the first debt you should pay off since it often carries the highest interest rate. After your credit card debt, an auto loan typically has the highest interest rate, so pay that off next. Since there are typically tax breaks for home and education loans, those should be the last you tackle.
Finally, once you get a payment plan in order, take some time to determine what kind of spender you are. The reason and way you spend money says a lot about how you can amend your life so that you don’t end up back in debt after you dig your way out.