Economic Wisdom to Apply in Your Twenties

Chapter 35

Chapter 4 Section 7 Don't Get "Stuck"
"Next month, there will be another 3000 yuan in credit card debts, alas..." With a monthly salary of 5000 yuan, Xinyue is not excited at all.How to allocate the limited 5000 yuan and how to avoid the financial crisis next month are always difficult problems for Xinyue.

25-year-old Xinyue works in the media, is single, and is a shrewd and petty bourgeoisie.In order to ensure her quality of life and taste, Xinyue is grateful for the invention of the credit card from the bottom of her heart.Because of the credit card, although her income is average, she also has a lot of brand-name clothes, high-end cosmetics, digital cameras, laptop computers, and high-end furniture, and she lives a very happy life.

Xinyue's wallet is full of all kinds of bank cards, and there are 8 credit cards alone, which is considered a "big user" of credit cards.These credit cards have different purposes: some are used for daily consumption, some are used for overseas shopping, some are used to buy "big items" such as laptops, and some are used to pay for furniture in installments.
When using a credit card at first, Xinyue felt the pleasure of swiping the card and the satisfaction of consumption, and felt complacent about having a shrewd mind.Through credit card consumption, Xinyue got a lot of items beyond her own consumption ability.However, the debt must be repaid eventually.Now Xinyue feels that the repayment pressure brought by the credit card has made her breathless.The monthly income is only about 5000 yuan, but she has to deal with the repayment amount of no less than 3000 yuan. In addition, she also has to pay for rent, water and electricity bills, transportation expenses, and social activity expenses...

Looking at the colorful cards in the wallet, Xinyue began to reconsider the use of credit cards.She feels that credit cards are necessary, but more is not always better, as "card slaves" cannot enjoy life.After she decided to repay the last payment, she went to the bank to cancel 5 credit cards, leaving only 3 as spares.But now, Xinyue really envies those "debt-free and light-weight" people.

"A white-collar worker in Beijing shows more than a dozen cards he carries with him"

While credit card overdraft brings convenience to our consumption, it has also become an important incentive for young people to become "card slaves".With a credit card, even if you have no money, you can go out to eat delicious food, buy new clothes, and travel.Have fun, forget about the high interest and debts, and enjoy the superiority of advanced consumption, but at the same time, you are unknowingly burdened with huge repayment pressure.What's more, credit card consumption makes you not "knowledgeable" like cash. You don't even know how much you owe and whether you can pay it back.

Although credit cards make consumption more convenient for you and me, every young friend in their twenties should think about: Is it really suitable for you to use this plastic currency?
Credit cards can indeed provide you with convenience to some extent, but there are also many troubles. For example, holding bank cards between different banks is easy to cause the dispersion of personal funds.Secondly, when it is necessary to reconcile accounts, change cards and report losses, it is necessary to travel between different banks, wasting a lot of time and energy for no reason.Thirdly, if you hold too many cards, the annual fee will be deducted in vain, and it will also increase your risk of excessive consumption and loss.

Credit card overdraft consumption will also encourage us to follow the fashion blindly, talk about ostentation, and show off ostentatiously.People in the banking industry pointed out: "Young people love to pursue trends and novelties, and have strong vanity, and credit card overdraft consumption will become a catalyst for young people to spend extravagantly. In fact, no matter what form of consumption, we When you don’t have the corresponding economic strength, don’t blindly consume in advance.”

Banks are not Santa Claus, and credit cards are not Santa Claus' gifts.If you already have multiple credit cards, don't think you have the privilege of spending too much.Or change your spending habits as soon as possible!Not only is falling behind on your credit card balance stressful, it can also reduce your credit limit.Once you are classified as a group with low credit, you will be subject to many restrictions in your future economic activities, and gradually you will not be able to gain a firm foothold in social and economic activities. While enjoying the convenience of credit cards, the "Kaka family" should remind themselves that owning a credit card not only has rights, but also a responsibility.

Wisdom Pieces: Keep Four Dates in Mind When Using Credit Cards
1. Transaction date - refers to the date of your actual card consumption, cash withdrawal or transfer.

2. Accounting date - refers to the date when the bank records your transaction on the account.It should be noted that the transaction date in the bill refers to the day when the card is swiped, and the bookkeeping date is different. It takes time for the store’s card swiping information to be transmitted to the bank, and overseas consumption generally has a few days of time difference.

3. Statement date - the date when the card-issuing bank summarizes your monthly transactions and expenses, calculates the interest, and calculates the cardholder's current repayment.

4. Repayment due date - you must repay the loan before this date. If you exceed this time limit, you will have to pay interest and other related fees for the money owed to the bank in the current period.

(End of this chapter)