Yes, I’m a consumer debt expert. But in personal finance, the debt might be stressful, but it is not the ultimate personal finance killer. The lack of retirement savings is. It is human nature to discount a crisis in the future to worry about a bump in the road today. Technically it is called Hyperbolic …
A couple of smarty-pants researchers at Ohio State University came out with a very interesting paper about people borrowing from their retirement accounts. When facing money troubles it seems people are too often willing to rob from their retirement accounts to deal with an immediate financial threat. This is the classic definition of hyperbolic discounting. …
As someone who has helped people with debt and money troubles since 1994 I’ve seen thousands and thousands of consumer situations when dealing with all sorts of debt. From mortgages, credit cards, car loans, bank loans, personal loans and students loans; I’ve seen it all. I’ve worked with people with gambling problems, shopping addiction, overspending, …
Dan Ariely, a world recognized behavioral economist and I had an opportunity recently to sit down and talk about a number of issues and underlying unconscious choices that lead people in debt to make good or bad decisions in dealing with debt. Dan talks about the mistakes the financial services industry makes and the best …