When we spend money we don't have, we court financial disaster. How, you may wonder, is it possible to spend money we don't have?

Answer:  Credit cards, pay advances, payday loans - they're all designed to siphon your money. When you engage in those activities you are helping someone else live their dream. When you handle money responsibly, you are living your dream.

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If you have been managing your own money for any length of time, you may unwittingly have made some regrettable choices - likely, through no fault of your own. The economy is engineered to separate you from your money. With savings, compound interest, over time, produces wealth. With credit, the opposite is true. Insolvency, poverty, destroys self-esteem; can even adversely affect physical well-being.

Typically, with debt, by the time we realize we are in trouble, we are in deep. Absent a benefactor, or a stroke of fortune, it takes far longer to climb out of the hole than it took to dig it.

If there's one thing I've learned, from years of handling money, it's:

Don't Spend Money You Don't Have

When you spend money you don't have you are putting time and distance between yourself and prosperity. Easy credit, though tempting, is no solution. The exchange rate is too dear. If you have any hope of securing your right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, you best cuddle up to Rule #1:

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In a culture that rewards those who claw their way to the top, everyone at the top has claws