This is a guest post by Stanley Greenfield.

A few years ago there was a movie titled, “Dead-Man Walking”.  It was a story about a convict living on death row awaiting execution.   It portrayed the stress and anguish these men on death row go through.  How about you?  Do you live on “Debt- Row”?  Do you suffer the same stress and anguish that these individuals live with? The ultimate end may be different but those on debt-row suffer from a “living death”.    Maybe it is time for you to seek a “parole” from this imprisonment.  I will serve as your defense attorney and get you a full pardon.

To begin you must do a complete review of the financial prison you have sentenced yourself to.  Let’s start with the people who really deserve to be in jail; your friendly bank. I bet you that you paid more in fees than they paid you in interest on all of your money.  Be prepared to bust out of your current bank and move your accounts to another bank if necessary. 

Here is another situation that has you “locked up”.   Your credit cards. Time to check your credit card statements to see what you are paying in interest.   If it is over 12%, it is time to give them a call and tell them to lower the rate.   Don’t wait for them to call you and offer to lower your rate.  That will be a very long wait!

Ready to tackle another area?  Get all of your insurance policies and try to figure out what you need and don’t need.  Better yet, let your agent prepare a one sheet summary of all of your policies.  All of the policies have deductibles.  What deductibles do you now have?  I would suggest a deductible of at least $1,000.  If you had a small claim you probably would not submit a claim out of fear that they would raise your rates or even drop you.  If that is the case, then why pay for a low deductible? 

Got any other debt or loans?  Have you done a review of these lately?  It’s time.  You might be able to re-finance or consolidate these loans and save some money.  It is worth the effort.

What is your money doing for you or better yet, what is it doing to you?  Is it earning as much as possible in interest or is it working hard to earn as little as possible?   Still got a bunch of lazy dollars sitting in your checking account?  Why?  There are a lot of places that will pay you as much as three or four times the interest you are now earning.  Liberate those dollars now.  Keep in mind that taxes play a very important roll in this equation too.  The key here is what you “net”, not the “gross”.   Don’t “sentence” yourself to a life of below inflation rate earnings on your money.   

Well what do you think?  Are you ready to make that break?  You no longer need to feel like you are a prisoner.  Shake those shackles loose!  Give up the image of a Debt-Man Walking and set yourself free.

Mr. Greenfield has a client base that is international in scope.  He has authored thousands of articles concerning tax, financial, and practice management, and has spoken throughout the World on these subjects to both business and professional associations.  Mr. Greenfield is a regular contributor to numerous professional journals. Mr.Greenfield, President of “Greenfield’s Financial Power Program”, offers financial management to the business and professional community. You can reach Stanley Greenfield          800-585-1555   stan@stanleygreenfield.com