One of the primary responsibilities of being the COO of a home is to balance the budget. This includes paying the bills, managing the investments, maintaining good relations with our vendors and suppliers, negotiating the best deals for purchasing products and services, planning vacations (if any), and human resource management (of the King - yes, inspired by Gwen Stefani's).

So if we get into bad debt, it is my fault.

In this day and age with the easy accessibility of credit, too many people get into bad debt (debt that does not bring you any assets - no, cars are not assets). Only when you do the sums will you realise how frightening compounding interest grows your loan amount.

I feel that anyone who has gone into bad debt should be required by law to go for credit counselling and debt management.

Often, loans roll over to exponential amounts that can cause sufficient stress to break up relationships and poison families. Those in debt sometimes turn to loan sharks or feel that suicide is their only option (consider the 40 year old guy who killed himself to feed his kids from his insurance payout, which didn't happen in the end!). Others consider filing for bankruptcy or consider bankruptcy alternatives.

Regardless of what the situation is, if you are in debt, please seek help. It's a terrible place to be and you shouldn't be alone.

For more information, please visit our sponsor CareOneCredit's excellent resource library.

Technorati: finance, debt, money management