Take it to the Bank

Debt Pt. 1

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Cordell Thomas

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Series Code: TITTB

Program Code: TITTB000042


00:01 On Take It to the Bank,
00:02 you'll find ways to get out of debt...
00:09 solve your credit card problems,
00:14 how to make and stick with the budget,
00:19 simple ways to save,
00:24 buying or selling a home
00:26 and many more financial matters on Take It to the Bank.
00:30 Hi, my name is Cordell Thomas
00:32 and welcome to Take It to the Bank.
00:34 We're gonna talk about for the next few minutes
00:36 this thing called debt.
00:38 The top major stresses in people's life,
00:42 the top one of the five that was listed is finance.
00:46 In many different studies the stresses in life
00:49 that can cause many different things
00:50 such as major kind of pains and stresses in your life,
00:56 as well as even divorce and other elements
00:59 that can be result of it is finance.
01:01 And the top cause for any type of financial problems has to do
01:04 with personal planning, poor budgeting.
01:09 And one of the things we've been trying to emphasize
01:11 is the importance of developing a budget.
01:14 Beginning the process of planning
01:16 because if you don't know where you're at,
01:19 you have no idea of where you want to go.
01:22 And many of us understand this debt crisis
01:25 from a standpoint of what it can do
01:29 in your life to create havoc.
01:35 One of the things people have asked me about is,
01:38 "Do you understand what it's like to be in debt
01:40 or do you just talk about it?"
01:42 I just talk about it? No.
01:43 I've been there. I know what it's like.
01:45 I understand about spending.
01:47 I understand the context of lack of personal planning.
01:50 I have been that advocate for no planning at all
01:54 and it had to change
01:57 because I wasn't content in life.
01:59 I was thinking more about money.
02:01 I was thinking more about making the next dollar
02:04 and I wasn't thinking about what God wanted me to do.
02:07 At one point in my life I thought
02:09 God wasn't really not a part
02:10 of what I was supposed to be about
02:12 and probably that was the most dissatisfying
02:15 and unhappy years of my life that I've ever had.
02:18 If you as an urban young person think
02:21 that happiness comes from following
02:23 what the media tell you, forget that.
02:26 If you think that you can gain happiness
02:29 by having a lot of money, forget it.
02:31 The Bible tells us that "Contentment and godliness,
02:35 there is great gain," 1 Timothy 6:6.
02:39 The Bible is also gonna tell you
02:40 as a young person that in Psalms 90
02:43 asking God to help us, number our days,
02:47 so that we may gain wisdom.
02:48 Look, you as the young person when I was there,
02:50 I though I had everything.
02:52 I had all the time in the world and now I realized
02:53 that I don't have that much time.
02:55 And it doesn't matter if I am driving here
02:58 or going there,
02:59 that life could be cut shorter by an accident happening.
03:02 So many different things in your life
03:04 that you need to do to take steps to plan
03:08 so you can avoid some of the same problems
03:10 that I may have had.
03:12 Yes, I've been in debt.
03:13 And I've had to pay off a substantial portion of that.
03:17 Yes, I have never. I didn't plan long term.
03:20 Yes, I understand what it's like
03:22 to spend every penny that you make
03:25 because I didn't have a plan
03:28 which is what the studies tell us.
03:29 The major cause for financial difficulties
03:33 is lack of a plan.
03:34 So your first step in that plan would be
03:37 to take care of the long term debt,
03:39 take a look at what you owe, where you owe it to,
03:42 and then begin the process of figuring out
03:45 how you can pay it off.
03:49 You're never going to be able to pay off
03:50 any type of long term debt without a plan.
03:52 And there are many different things
03:54 that you can begin the process of using
03:56 to help you take care of that long term debt.
03:59 There are apps that you can download
04:01 that can provide you an opportunity
04:04 to input some of that data and then of course, plan.
04:07 It will tell you exactly how long it will take you
04:11 to pay off the debt at a certain rate
04:13 in monthly basis.
04:14 There're other hints that I would also take,
04:16 that if you're having a specific concern,
04:18 contact your credit agency, tell them what's going on,
04:22 be proactive because it's in that proactiveness
04:25 that they can take the steps
04:27 to help you getting a hold of that kind of debt issue.
04:32 Now one of the things I actually had a chance to do
04:34 is meet with a financial planner
04:36 Mr. Joshua Hernandez
04:37 who helps us in variety of areas
04:39 out of Orange County
04:40 and he is provided us with this input on debt.
04:44 Here is our conversation.
04:47 We're talking debt
04:49 and we've talked a lot of the different issues
04:51 that are relevant to each one of our families,
04:54 when we talk about debt, the debt issue.
04:56 And we're gonna bring in
04:57 our financial expert here Joshua.
05:00 Joshua, as we talk about debt,
05:02 every one seems to be worried about debt in their lives
05:04 and we typically tell people look,
05:07 the way to take care of this issue is,
05:10 is begin to understand,
05:11 you need to spend less than you bring in.
05:13 Right.
05:14 So the concept of debt,
05:16 and as we're talking of investment
05:17 and long-term planning,
05:19 what would be some of the key issues
05:20 that you think would be relevant to individuals
05:23 who are dealing with this debt crisis right now?
05:25 Great question, Cordell.
05:27 You know, some of the first thoughts
05:29 that come to mind in terms of debt has to do
05:31 with making sure you're controlling your debt
05:34 before you start thinking about a lot of other things
05:36 in your life financially.
05:39 If one thing can really anchor you
05:43 down in the wrong direction
05:44 if you're not looking at a bigger picture.
05:46 So those who are investing and saving, you know,
05:49 you definitely want to have a portion of your money
05:51 going into debt and looking at your interest rate
05:54 in terms of debt is it, interest rate that's too high,
05:58 is it something you can negotiate to make a lower.
06:00 Often I ask an investment advisor,
06:02 how much, you know, if I've got debt, you know,
06:04 should I start saving for my retirement,
06:07 should I start saving some money?
06:09 If I start saving money,
06:11 it's gonna focus my efforts on saving money
06:15 and then I'm going to go backwards in debt
06:17 and that's a great point.
06:19 And so what I often say is make sure
06:22 you've got the debt scenario taking care
06:23 of where you've got a monthly budget
06:25 and you can see that there is a reduction
06:28 in your debt that you are paying off.
06:30 Make sure you could see some kind of advancement
06:33 in your debt scenario.
06:36 And as you got that handle, you also want to,
06:39 then you can start moving into the savings aspect of it.
06:43 Now you mentioned something,
06:44 if you don't mind me interrupting you...
06:45 Yeah, yeah.
06:47 You mentioned about budget of course,
06:48 and then of course, you mentioned about
06:49 calling your credit card companies and seeing
06:51 if they can reduce the interest rate.
06:54 Did I hear that correctly? Yes.
06:55 So in fact, you can actually call your creditors
06:58 and try to negotiate a reduced rate
07:01 and that may be helpful in paying off
07:03 the debt a little quicker.
07:04 Absolutely. Am I correct?
07:05 Absolutely.
07:07 You definitely want to make that effort,
07:08 it's worth the time.
07:09 Another thing I think about is making sure
07:12 that you're paying yourself.
07:14 And I like the concept of paying yourself first.
07:18 And what, you know, we're always really worried
07:20 about paying bills
07:22 and making sure that the bills are taken care of.
07:25 And at the end of the month,
07:26 what I often find happening in families is that
07:28 you end up paying everyone else,
07:30 but yourself.
07:31 That's interesting. It's interesting.
07:33 There are a couple of sports videos
07:36 that are out there that talk about some of these
07:37 famous personalities that have gone through debt
07:40 and gone into debt.
07:42 But of course, you begin to wonder, why?
07:44 They make millions, and millions of dollars
07:46 and it seems that once you talk about
07:49 how much you make
07:51 which I think is the first thing
07:52 you shouldn't do,
07:53 is if you are a wealthy person keep it to yourself,
07:56 live within your means, you don't have to tell anyone
07:59 because you get this entourage following you,
08:02 people coming, family members coming,
08:04 asking for monies.
08:08 It's quite interesting what Joshua had to say.
08:12 And one of the things that stood out to me
08:14 is about paying yourself first.
08:16 One of the things we think from our Christian financial
08:19 management perspective is paying God first,
08:22 the tithing principle.
08:23 It seems that you can do more with nine tenths
08:25 than most people do with ten tenths.
08:27 It seems that you spend your money a lot wiser
08:30 when you're giving God a portion of what
08:31 and if you keep God in your perspective.
08:33 Remember 1 Timothy 6:6,
08:36 "Godliness with contentment is great gain."
08:38 Being comfortable where you're at
08:40 and making sure you have a budget
08:42 which is the other thing that Joshua talked about.
08:45 Making sure you've budgeted
08:46 and make sure you're planning to
08:49 what you spend on an ongoing basis.
08:52 What the big thing is, most people think of is
08:54 I need to make a lot of money.
08:56 No, you don't.
08:57 All you need is to spend less than you make
09:00 and you're in a lot better situations
09:03 than most people are in the middle class
09:05 American realm.
09:06 So you as a demographic should think first of all about
09:09 the budgeting and planning perspective.
09:11 Plan, planning cannot, cannot be emphasized anymore
09:15 because that's a top reason
09:18 why people fall into financial crisis,
09:20 they lack the lack of planning.
09:23 The secondary thing of paying yourself first
09:25 or paying God first and tithing also lends
09:28 to a certain sense of planning
09:30 and spending a lot more in a more,
09:34 keeping the spending process as our priority
09:37 because you're not just going to spend on anything
09:39 and it not get caught up in this consumer perspective
09:43 that the world would like us to think of.
09:45 The third thing he talked about is making sure
09:47 you're seeing some type of formal inroads
09:53 into the debt that you have.
09:54 So if you have a credit card and you're using an app
09:56 that tells you is going to take two years to pay off,
09:59 continue to pay on it and try to pay
10:01 on the smallest amount of credit first
10:03 and then work yourself up to the largest credit debt
10:06 that you have.
10:08 And as you see yourself getting things done,
10:11 you feel better about yourself
10:13 and you're more likely to continue the process.
10:16 One of the things we do in Southern California
10:19 is we work with certain agencies
10:20 that provide some type of free money match programs,
10:23 why do they do that?
10:25 As they ask the questions, try to research
10:27 why these type of programs have become so prevalent
10:30 around the United States?
10:32 Is because we're trying to develop in people a habit,
10:35 the habit of putting money aside,
10:37 the habit of saving and the reinforcement of that
10:42 is when you reach a specific goal
10:45 and you get that match, it reinforces that behavior
10:49 and causes you to do more of the same thing.
10:53 So as we talk about that, we see that the primary issue,
10:57 issues involved in this debt issue is looking
11:01 to attack the debt, ensuring that you plan
11:04 and have a budget and ensuring
11:06 that you take a fiscal responsibility
11:08 in paying God first, paying self first,
11:10 and ensuring that you have that nine tenths there
11:14 to manage in a more crucial way
11:15 than most people do with ten tenths.
11:18 Remember again, godliness with contentment is great gain
11:22 and then you become a happier individual
11:24 when you're able to help someone else
11:29 and get involved in family and get involved in something
11:32 that's bigger and greater than you.
11:34 Because we find that happy people are those
11:36 that give away, give to others,
11:39 pay for somebody else as opposed to paying to themselves
11:42 which brings up a secondary issue
11:44 about this whole thing called debt.
11:48 Giving money away is just that.
11:52 When you give money away, you've given it away.
11:55 And if you give it to family members,
11:56 it's not necessarily a loan because you shouldn't expect
12:00 that money to come back, there's no promissory note,
12:03 there are no contracts involved,
12:04 you pretty much give that money to the individuals.
12:06 And all you have to do is talk to some of those individuals
12:09 who have made a lot of money
12:11 and people have come to borrow that money
12:13 and they've never seen that money
12:14 put back in their pockets.
12:16 So remember, that this thing
12:18 called loaning to family members
12:20 is a critical item that
12:22 we must take into consideration and that's another conversation
12:25 I had with Joshua Hernandez.
12:28 Here is what was said.
12:30 How do you approach the issue of a family member
12:33 asking for a loan or something like that?
12:35 Many different people have those questions,
12:38 we should help them or should we not,
12:39 but how does that,
12:41 how does that impact our long-term capacity?
12:44 Yeah, touchy subject, you know,
12:45 you love your family and you care about your family,
12:47 you want to help them and sometimes
12:51 which when you think you're helping someone is
12:53 actually making things a lot worse.
12:55 So one of the first thoughts, if I ever want to,
12:57 if I'm asked to loan someone some money,
13:01 the amount of money that that I'm going to loan out,
13:03 my first question is,
13:05 "Can I just give that money out away"
13:07 'Cause often I find the money
13:08 that you loan often never comes back.
13:11 So... Interesting.
13:13 Yeah, can you just give it to them
13:14 and not worry about it?
13:16 And so that's my first idea is just give it to them.
13:20 If you cannot loan money out,
13:22 if you are, if you don't have the room to be able to do that,
13:26 then don't do it.
13:27 That's the other part of it too.
13:30 As much as you'd like to help,
13:31 if it's gonna hurt you more than help them,
13:33 then don't do it.
13:38 Just say no.
13:42 If you don't have the means to do it,
13:43 then you shouldn't do it.
13:45 But family is always important part of our lives
13:47 and it's critical that we do have
13:48 an emergency savings 'cause emergencies do come up
13:51 on a variety of different levels.
13:53 And if you have the ability to do it,
13:55 it's always good to help because you feel better
13:57 when you're able to help somebody.
13:59 But you're never going to be able to help someone
14:00 unless you've put yourself
14:02 under the control of a planning proposal,
14:05 a proposal that considers a budget,
14:08 considers the different elements of
14:09 what you would like to do in your life,
14:11 what your accomplishments would like to be?
14:13 So this budget in and of itself should also incorporate short,
14:18 mid-term and long-term plans, retirement issues,
14:21 insurance issues, all of those type of things
14:24 and of course, that emergency savings that's there,
14:27 something that's aside that can be used
14:30 on a short-term and a quick basis
14:31 to give to somebody.
14:33 But you should also have that budgeted,
14:35 what is your maximum capacity in a number, a number,
14:39 how much money on a maximum basis,
14:41 on a monthly basis can you afford
14:43 to give to someone else?
14:46 And you might find that a challenging dilemma
14:51 but it also provides you the opportunity to think
14:53 through about what this whole thing is about
14:56 when you're looking at loans to which I don't consider loan
14:59 when you're giving money to family members.
15:02 All you need to do is see some of the stories
15:04 that some of these sports individuals
15:07 or wealthy individuals have had to deal with.
15:10 There were some stories on the internet
15:11 about these individuals that spend a lot of money
15:14 to win the lottery and when they won the lottery,
15:16 they found how quickly their friends,
15:19 quickly they developed a lot of friends
15:21 and how those that succeeded in maintaining
15:24 that lottery winning, and to lose friends,
15:29 and lose acquaintances
15:30 because people turned against them
15:32 when they were unwilling to just give up monies.
15:34 Many of the people that were successful,
15:37 they'll say all that
15:39 were successful in the lottery winnings
15:41 were individuals that
15:42 put themselves on a strict budget.
15:45 There are many stories about people
15:46 who won a lot of money which is, you know,
15:49 the lottery odds of winning a lottery,
15:51 we all know is pretty slim to none.
15:53 One in 176 million people will win the lottery,
15:58 only one in 176 million.
16:00 So we understand that the odds of winning
16:02 that are not likely but if you do win it,
16:05 it takes an appropriate action,
16:08 planning, developing a budget, and putting things aside
16:12 and assessing what you're going to live on a yearly basis
16:16 and then also making sure that you include
16:19 the necessity of paying your taxes.
16:22 People aren't aware that yes, we hear that these individuals
16:26 who are put all over the internet
16:29 now all their friends know that they've come up,
16:31 you know, with a lot of money,
16:33 so now those friends come in, they swoop in
16:36 and all they're doing is asking for a handout.
16:38 Those type of things happen
16:40 to everyone on an ongoing basis,
16:42 some of the things that you should think about
16:44 when you're looking at this thing called debt.
16:48 What are the most common types of debt?
16:50 College student loans,
16:53 bank loans, credit card debt,
16:58 those are the most common types.
16:59 And as debt goes up,
17:03 we find many other things happen
17:05 because of course, we tap into savings,
17:07 we try to get some of these things paid off,
17:09 but then of course, many of us haven't
17:10 taken the time to budget,
17:13 to take some personal planning
17:15 and taking assessment of where we're at
17:17 and where we want to go.
17:19 The moment we have a budget emplace,
17:20 some exciting things begin to happen.
17:22 We begin to get numbers, we begin to get patterns,
17:24 we begin to get an understanding of
17:28 where we are at currently?
17:29 What kind of debt we have?
17:31 And what kind of things
17:32 we need to really go after and pay?
17:34 I would download some type of app
17:36 on to your smartphone
17:38 that would help you assess your current level of debt.
17:41 The ones that's out there, study them.
17:43 There are some that are really good, Mint.com,
17:46 some of the other ones
17:47 that help you organize your receipts and coupons.
17:49 Some of those that are there to help you assess
17:52 how quickly you can pay off debt.
17:53 Once you start that process
17:55 and going down in that direction,
17:56 you begin the process of getting control
18:00 of this thing called debt
18:02 because you don't want it
18:03 to start spiraling out of control.
18:05 So we talked about some other key issues
18:08 that are relevant to this
18:09 and we talked to Joshua about that in this interview.
18:13 Here's what was said.
18:15 As a financial advisor what would be the key issue
18:17 you think is relevant in this segment on debt
18:21 as it applies to long-term savings?
18:23 What would you think is key to approaching?
18:26 Number one is, pay yourself first.
18:30 At the end of the day, the bank,
18:34 if you ever need that money back
18:36 will never give you that money back
18:38 if you've already spent it.
18:40 So always think about you and your family, you know,
18:43 even if it's just a little bit of money,
18:44 if it's $25
18:46 and that's where you're at in life, then do it.
18:47 And then start paying your bills, pay yourself first.
18:50 And then you definitely want to focus on your debt
18:53 and then manage it.
18:56 You also, you talked about a percentage,
18:58 we were talking earlier about how much would you pay in debt
19:00 and how much you pay in investments
19:02 and the overall idea of a percentage
19:05 you should invest in your retirement
19:07 or your futures is usually they say
19:09 about 10 percent of your monthly income.
19:13 I'd say at least make that the same for your debt,
19:15 you know, 10 percent debt, 10 percent monthly income.
19:18 If you've got an interest rate of 25-30 percent
19:21 on a credit card, that's, you know,
19:23 very overwhelming, handle that.
19:25 Handle that, maybe you can put 10 percent
19:28 as your savings account,
19:29 maybe you can only put in 2 or 5,
19:31 well then do that for now
19:33 and as you handle your debt scenario,
19:34 then you can increase your savings from thereon.
19:38 A lot of the topic, a lot of the terms
19:40 that were used it can be scary, investments,
19:42 those type of things, savings, budgets,
19:45 it's not really that tough.
19:47 All I ask you to do
19:49 is to talk with a financial individual,
19:52 a person that has an expertise
19:53 and he will make it simple for you
19:55 because this is not out of your reach,
19:57 I think a lot of the tools
19:59 that Joshua is sharing with us today
20:01 can be very, very helpful in getting a hold of our future
20:06 and being able to invest in that future by saving
20:10 and putting money aside.
20:15 Pay yourself first, is not really what that is
20:19 because I want you to remember that your responsibility
20:22 is to God first and pay your tithe.
20:27 From your nine tenths you'll find that nine tenth
20:29 is going to go a lot further
20:31 than you would ever believe it could.
20:33 Remember, godliness with contentment is great gain.
20:37 The information that Joshua provided
20:39 is very informative,
20:40 but I'd ask you to take control of the conversation,
20:43 talk to these financial advisors,
20:46 an individual that understands money
20:48 and ask the questions that are necessary
20:50 because it can only start with $150 a month,
20:54 could be the start you could have.
20:56 In some of these savings programs
20:59 that they have out there,
21:00 it could be as little as $50 or $75 a month.
21:04 And if you put this money away on a constant basis,
21:07 you will begin the process
21:09 of making a habit of saving money.
21:14 And when the habit is saving and not using the credit,
21:17 then you begin to see that discovery of the,
21:22 of how wonderful it is
21:24 to be comfortable with what you have,
21:25 that you don't have to buy everything out everyone has,
21:29 that you can be content in the fact
21:31 that you are saving money
21:32 that can be used for great gain, for great gain.
21:36 And as you develop that wealth, you can now understand
21:39 that God is asking you to give,
21:41 to do, to be for other people what he's been for to you.
21:45 The key issues here about debt is this,
21:48 that we're living in a society that's focused
21:52 on getting information about us.
21:53 They're looking to get information
21:56 through warranty cards,
21:57 information through your bank records,
21:59 information through your how you use your smartphone,
22:02 and we need to be very smart
22:03 about how we handle all of these technologies
22:06 that are available to us.
22:07 We can't get caught up in the fact
22:09 that this technology is going to be
22:11 such a great resource for us without understanding
22:16 that this technology is also creating information,
22:19 the tracks what we do.
22:22 Why is it critical to understand
22:24 that this information is tracking what we do?
22:26 Because we now know that their databases
22:29 of information that's looking at your expenditures,
22:33 your spending habits.
22:34 We're looking at the facts that there are people out there
22:37 in the media that are tracking what you do,
22:39 they buy this information up, they look at it,
22:42 they dissected and now it's created new jobs,
22:44 jobs that are just focused on developing algorithms
22:50 and programs that can figure out
22:53 how you can bring the information together
22:56 and put it in a resourceful way
22:58 that banks and other organizations
23:00 can study your behavior
23:01 and target you in a dramatic way.
23:04 All you need do is go to your social network
23:07 and go to a specific website
23:09 and you'll find that they're able to track
23:11 where you go, what you do,
23:13 and they're able to advertise specific things
23:16 that you have seen on the web.
23:19 They can target books and automotive equipment
23:22 that you've purchased
23:23 because of the tools and the mechanism
23:26 they have emplaced to get that information on you.
23:28 This whole world of technology is overwhelming
23:31 to many individuals
23:32 and it can be to you unless you study and understand
23:36 what they're trying to accomplish.
23:38 So you as an individual, do you get involved
23:41 in signing up every possible warranty card?
23:44 What I ask people to do is take that warranty card
23:47 and staple it to the receipt of any type of big ticket item
23:50 and or any item you may receive from a retailer
23:53 and put it in a file
23:54 because then you have all the information you need
23:56 to refer to that warranty
23:59 and you can get your item fixed.
24:01 People want information to know your demographics.
24:04 What type of social economic group you fit into?
24:07 Where you live? What you do? How often you spend?
24:10 Where you go on the Internet?
24:12 And that tool now is fine tuning the information
24:15 that all of these media conglomerates are getting
24:19 so that they can,
24:20 as they say manipulate your behavior
24:24 and try to get a better understanding
24:26 of how they can get you
24:28 into the retail establishment and consume.
24:37 Consumption is a big issue.
24:40 When you look at how much information is out there
24:43 and you look at the strategies that are being used
24:46 against many consumers out there,
24:49 we find that the consumers are now behaving
24:52 as they're told to behave.
24:54 You look at the regulation of advertising way back in 1984
24:58 and you begin to see that the system has won
25:01 and it's worked substantively so much so
25:04 that our personal savings rate has gone
25:06 from between 11 and 12 percent on an annual income basis
25:10 all the way down to a negative savings rate
25:12 in 2006-2007.
25:14 The only reason we've begun to save a little bit more
25:17 is because of the scares we received,
25:20 during the timeframe
25:21 when we saw foreclosure crises happen
25:24 and many people losing their homes
25:26 based on some of these subprime mortgages.
25:30 It's essential that we begin to understand
25:32 that what they want us to do is to spend.
25:36 They believe that middle class Americans are,
25:39 the middle class are the ones that can really
25:42 impact the economy in a dramatic way.
25:46 How does that happen?
25:47 Well, let's label what a middle class American is.
25:50 A middle class American is someone
25:52 that makes between $30,000, $35,000
25:54 to $40,000 a year
25:55 upwards of $80, 000 to $90,000
25:57 depending on what study you look at.
25:59 So that's a wide range, but they expect you
26:02 to spend so much so that they say
26:04 that when you get a tax break,
26:06 you get extra $2,500 during the tax return season,
26:11 they know that you are going to take that money
26:16 and you're going to spend it.
26:18 They know that many middle class Americans
26:21 are living paycheck to paycheck.
26:24 So they realize that they have us
26:27 in this little perspective of,
26:31 "Hey, we need to spur the economic growth.
26:34 So if we're going to do so,
26:36 we need to get middle class Americans
26:37 to save less and spend more."
26:40 I remember an article that came out
26:43 maybe several months ago that talked about the fact
26:47 that Americans were now saving more
26:51 and paying down their credit card debt
26:54 which is a great thing.
26:55 That is the right thing to do.
26:57 But as I was doing a lecture series
26:59 and bringing the specific information
27:01 to the attention of those attending,
27:03 I also said what you're going to find
27:05 especially in this type of economy
27:07 is a response to that type of article.
27:10 And we did see a response to that type of article.
27:13 We saw, some of the feds come out and actually say that,
27:17 "We want to spur continued economic growth."
27:22 So what we need is for you America
27:25 to go out and borrow more and spend more.
27:30 Use that money that you're going to get back
27:32 from your tax returns and go out and buy.
27:35 Buy that next tablet, buy that next smartphone,
27:39 buy that next car,
27:40 put a down payment on something
27:42 that you may not necessarily need and or want.
27:46 Debt, it's a critical issue.
27:49 It's a crisis in America, but you can handle it
27:51 by finding your contentment in God.
27:54 God bless and take it to the bank.


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Revised 2017-06-08