Hey,

It’s Mike from Fabulously Broke, how have you been lately? If you are receiving this email, it’s because you want to change your personal finance situation once and for all. Congratulations! You are already halfway through my 11 Days to Control Your Finance series! Are you seeing any differences yet?

Today’s email is about the worst money cancer of all; Credit
Cards!

I Want You to Understand That Credit Cards Can Be Your Friend

Don’t hide it in your drawer.

Don’t be afraid to use it.

Don’t hate it!

Day #6: Conquer Your Credit

But first, if you have outstanding balances on your credit cards, you must read Completely Conquer Your Credit Before You Hit 30 by Martin Dasko. This book will tell you exactly how to manage your credit without having to pay interest fees while destroying your credit bureau report.

If you learn to conquer your credit, you will achieve amazing things:

• ü  Do you know the true benefits of credit cards?
• ü  Do you know that you can save thousands of dollars with a solid credit score?
• ü  Do you know that you can get tons of rewards for free?
• ü  Do you know that you can get all kinds of insurance coverage for free?

This is what I want to talk to you about today. But first, let’s go back to the real definition of a credit card:

A credit card is a temporary and free loan for those that pay off
their monthly balance on time

This is not evil and is not going to make you spend like there is no tomorrow either. In fact, using your credit card as a responsible adult has nothing to do with magic. By using bucket accounting (explained in Day #5), you will be paying off your credit card completely every month. Instead of going “all in” with this technique, I suggest that you try a progressive approach. After all, we are talking about “conquering” your credit, not scoring a “knock-out”.

Let’s Try This Method

• ü  Get a rewards credit card that meets your needs (use this comparison tool to find it).
• ü Canadians can shop for the best credit card here or try Credit Cards.com tool.
• ü  Use it for all necessary expenses that you would buy anyways (groceries, gasoline, utility bills and transportation costs).
• ü  Setup an automatic full payment with your “bill account” from your bucket system.
• ü  Tada! You are now building a strong credit score while earning rewards and you don’t pay any fees!

If you put this method in place, you will never have an outstanding balance on your credit card and will never run into any credit problems. But even better than this, you will receive all the benefits you can get from using your credit card like a Queen/King:

• ü  Build a strong credit score (which leads to lower insurance costs and low interest loans & mortgages).
• ü  Get tons of rewards for free (gasoline, rebates, cash back, free flights, etc.).
• ü  Get additional insurance coverage for free (travel insurance, extended warranties on electronic goods, offshore medical assistance, etc.).
• ü  Save on banking fees (as transactions on credit cards are not charged, it’s already in the price of what you pay no matter how you pay for it).

What’s The Next Thing to Do: Get Your Rewards Credit Card and Your Bucket Accounting In Place Now!

Pete, if you have been waiting for a reason to create your different bank accounts under the bucket accounting method, now’s your chance! If you still feel uncomfortable with your credit and would like more information on how it works, I recommend the funniest and clearest book about credit cards: Completely Conquer Your Credit Before You Hit 30 by Martin Dasko. It’s only $7 and well worth the read!

Following up on the credit card topic, my next email will be about how to manage your debt in a simple and cheaper way!

Upcoming: Day #7: Deal with Your Debt.

Take care,

Mike

www.FabulouslyBroke.com