Paige Power

  I recently spent a lovely week in Washington DC with family. After 3 years with no travel due to Covid 19 concerns, it was a well deserved break. My lifestyle has allowed me to travel extensively over the past 13 years. I consider myself fortunate that my spouse, who I met in 2010, loves to travel as much as I do and we made travel a priority in our relationship. In fact we’ve visited over twenty countries together and hundreds of cities. But we also prioritize health and since I have several auto immune challenges we decided to lay low versus taking health risks. I’m happy we decided on this path, but I’ll admit it was a long haul. Of course the second challenge we all face is the rising cost of everything. If you are seeking a debt free lifestyle, time off work and travel may seem out of reach. And frankly it may be. This is the case if you don’t have paid time off included in your compensation package. Even if you do have paid time off, it may not be a good time to squand...

  I write for people who earn a good enough living. What a good enough living is depends on many factors, including where you live, how many dependants you have, and how you manage your money. If you spend all your money every pay check, regardless if you make $50,000.00 each year or $100,000.00 you have a problem. 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. So if you fall into this category you are not alone, sadly. Currently the median household income in America is $71,000.00. Let’s say you are living with your spouse and two kids. If your combined income is $71,000.00 in and you live in San Francisco, you’re in trouble. The median household income there is $126,000.00. Conversely if you live in Mississippi your doing great. In Jackson, Mississippi the median household income is $39,000.00. Obviously there are a lot of differences in the United States. I used to live in the San Francisco bay area and my income was 20 % below the median when I lived there. It was challenging...

  Did you know that 1% of Americans have medical debt over $10,000.00? That’s 3 million people. 23 million have medical debt of at least $250.00, that’s about 7% of our population. Imagine being in such rough financial shape that you can’t afford a $250.00 medical bill. Worse imagine using a credit card to pay off your medical debt. If you don’t have $250.00 and decide to finance your medical debt at nearly 20% annual interest you have a serious problem that must be addressed. Typically a minimum payment of around $15.00 would be required by the credit card company. It would take 20 months and cost $45.00 to pay off a $250.00 medical bill. Honestly I can’t imagine a $250.00 medical bill that seems really low to me. The veterinarian we take our cat to every year costs around $500.00, so for a human to have a bill of $250.00 seems unlikely. More importantly the cost of the debt over time is 18% of the original bill. Now let’s imagine a $10,000.00 medical bill financed on a ...