Margaret Ntifo's Blog

Help Dealing With Debt

I found myself helping one of my tenants today. Apparently, she was up to her neck in unmanageable debts and had resorted to paying her rent late since February this year. The first time it happened she was polite enough to call and ask if she could pay her rent two weeks late, which she did. The following month the rent simply wasn’t paid until I got in touch with her. Then she took to avoiding my calls until she finally broke down recently and confessed that she was facing some ‘money problems’, as she put it.

Given that she sounded very sincere and has been a good tenant for the past nine months, I offered to go and see her the following week to see if I could help at all.

Having mostly dealt with people who had enough disposable income to invest, I must admit I did wonder how effective I would really be with the other side of the coin.

Top Financial Lessons She Learnt

I’ve come across a number of very interesting blogs. One of them, Debt Hater is one woman’s journey out of credit card debt, and into wealth and success. On two different posts – Top 10 Finance Lessons she’s learnt this year, she includes:

• Lesson 10 - Debt is not a part of life.
• Lesson 9  - You MUST have a plan to get out of debt.
• Lesson 8  - Budgeting is not an option
• Lesson 6  - Financial jargon isn't scary.

Her second post follows on with:

• Lesson 3  - Take advantage of opportunities to learn more about finances.

Last, but not least - I love her number one lesson:

1. You'll fall down, but you must get up.

This is certainly one brave lady facing life's challenges headlong. You can bet that it's only a matter of time that she succeeds.

Here’s to your success, and wealth, Joy.

Credit Cards – Can You Handle The Responsibility

By Margaret Ntifo

What often comes to mind when you hear the phrase, “Don’t leave home without it” is the old American Express advert that many of us can still remember.

Today, many people would not leave home without a number of things: their mobile phone, business card, or credit card! Your mobile phone allows you to stay in touch with people; Your business card tells the world who you are, or rather who you think you are! Your credit card can pay for both mobile phone and business card!

So why do many think of credit cards as such bad things?