Just a quick update in the middle of the night. After hours of budgeting and writing checks, and a quick trip to the post office; we have now paid off over $70,000 since December 27th. More to come very soon!

KYTV in Springfield ran a story today about bankruptcy filings being down. Go here and take a look.

Under the heading “Financially strapped families may not be getting the help they need,” KY3 delivered a message that bankruptcy is a help. Excuse me, how does bankruptcy help? Watching the story, it appears that some attorneys who aren’t getting their money felt the need to help generate this story due to bankruptcy filings being down.

The story goes on to talk about the new law that went into effect last October. How horrible that someone who makes over $47,000 per year would have to pay back “some” of the money they owe, that they couldn’t just stick it to everyone. Not mentioned in the story, but the only other significant change in the bankruptcy law was the requirement of before and after financial counseling.

I’m not a genius, but it doesn’t take one to figure out why filings are down. Last year was a record year because everyone heard of the coming changes in the law, and did not understand these changes; they just knew it would be harder to file. So everyone who thought they might some day file bankruptcy went and filed before the law change last October. That means this year, the ones that would have been filing have already filed last year. In about another two years, it will all cycle out and go back to normal.

As for bankruptcy being a help as alluded to in the story; that is just plain garbage. Bankruptcy is profitable for the attorney and it allows you to not have to deal with the mess you created. It does not help you, and in most cases it certainly is not morally right. If I can get out of my mess without bankruptcy, I can’t think of many people that need it.

Today after leaving the Army Reserve Center in Ada, Oklahoma just after 4:30 (1630 hours for all you military types), I went to my motel, changed clothes, and drove to Chili’s. I have been telling people for a couple of weeks that?I was going to be working evenings as a server at Chili’s, so no pressure here at all.

Shortly after 4:45 this afternoon I walked into Chili’s and asked for the manager. By 4:48 I was sitting with the service manager completing a large pile of paperwork, and determining what my training schedule would be.

A couple of weeks ago on my first trip to Ada, I had thoroughly looked at all the second job opportunities here that I could work in the evening or overnight up until the middle of November when I ship out. I had narrowed my options to five; Solo Cup, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Applebee’s and Chili’s. The first three were likely to pay in the $8 an hour range, and Applebee’s seemed a little un-organized.

Chili’s appeared to be well managed, have pricing that would generate a high per cap average (dollars spent per customer), high customer volume well into the evening, and no tip share. That is a formula that should translate into making a little over $100 per shift, five nights a week on average. That would translate to over $25,000 per year if I were working it for a year straight; not bad for a non-career oriented second job. (This is what I made at Texas Roadhouse when I was at Ft. Jackson).

Many people in a career crisis will go weeks or even months without a job. If you are in debt and you find yourself in a career crisis, I don’t think there is any excuse for going a week without employment. There are so many jobs that can be obtained quickly to at least get some income, and simultaneously continue the search for a career oriented job. As Dave says, you can always deliver papers and/or throw pizzas. I guess three minutes isn’t bad to land?a job paying $25,000 per year.

Mapgirl had a post earlier today that linked to a New York Times story concerning “Ghetto Tax.” The story certainly validates what Dave talks about often. “If you do what poor people do, you will be poor.” The opposite of this is also quite true, “If you do what rich people do for long enough, you will be rich.”

The story talked about the two biggest rip offs that the poor fall prey to; payday loans and rent to own. In the past, I have fallen for each of these, thankfully not as often as many people I know. Of course as you leave any military post, these businesses line the roads just outside the gates.

Without saying, these payday loan and rent to own places are absolute scum! Their usury of the poor can not be morally justified. Despite this, the poor do not recognize this, and continue to sacrifice long term financial stability for short term wants. This cycle forces the poor only deeper into their broken state.

This not only occurs with the poor, but also with the middle class. It may not be payday loans and rent to own, but it most likely is the car dealer or furniture store. Always having a car payment on a new car, buying furniture with 90 days same as cash robs the middle class of the money it needs to climb out and become wealthy. Those are things that poor people do, and if you continue to do it over and over, you will be poor.

Rich people buy used cars (and everything else)?with cash, spend less than they make, and save money. If you will do this over and over again, for a period of years you will begin to build wealth. It does not matter if you have an upper middle class income, or a “ghetto income,” the formula still works. It all comes down to the decisions we all make!

Today I spent twelve hours in my Jimmy on the hottest day of the year. My air conditioning recently went out, so the drive from Wisconsin was not so enjoyable; however, about St. Louis I remembered that Rex Bumgarner fixes air conditioners. The last time he fixed mine it cost less than $50. If only I could have remembered this prior to departure.

In preparing for my return, apparently Jeremiah and Sarah were shredding credit card offers (under proper supervision). While going through the mail Jeremiah came across a real credit card. Target Visa had sent us another card. Nothing could excite Jeremiah more than getting an opportunity to shred a real credit card! It is so awesome to have a five year old and three year old that understand the evils of debt!