Are you in Debt?

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Are you in debt or do you deny it?

Here's an article I saw that will tell you.

9 signs you're in debt denial

You may think you've learned your lesson from the Great Recession, but if you're guilty of any of these unwise money choices, you may be fooling yourself.

By Richard Barrington, MoneyRates.com

Facing the financial facts

Are you kidding yourself about money? If not, chances are you know someone who is. Personal savings rates in the United States remain in the low single digits, and overall consumer debt is at an all-time high.

The Great Recession was supposed to have shown the dangers of overspending, but poor financial judgment continues to be a problem for some Americans. Reining in a budget can be unpleasant, but bargaining, justifying and even going into denial are no way to tackle money problems.

The following are nine signs you may be kidding yourself about money.

Your debt has increased sharply over the past year

Excluding your mortgage, do you owe more money now than you did a year ago? Low interest rates may have made debt seem more affordable, but if your only consideration is what payments you can afford to make, you are kidding yourself about ever being able to afford to retire. As long as you are paying interest rather than earning it, you are falling behind rather than getting ahead.

You bought a new car to save on gas, but . . .

With high gas prices, fuel efficiency is a popular reason to buy a new car. However, if you have extended the terms of your debt or your payments have increased in the process, those savings at the gas pump may be a false economy.

You bought a house expecting your income to rise later

For a young person signing on for a 30-year mortgage, it's natural to assume the payments will become more affordable as your income grows. However, if you look at the economy of the past dozen years or so, it's clearly no longer safe to assume that the natural career path is onward and upward. Don't buy a house that you risk getting squeezed out of.

You borrow money to take a vacation

As a rule of thumb, the time it takes to pay off a debt should not last longer than the life of what you purchased. You'll have a hard time building wealth if you take on long-term debt for short-term purchases.

You justify what you buy based on your peers

It's natural to take cues from friends. But it's also financially risky, because each household has very different financial circumstances. Moreover, considering the scope of the U.S. debt problem, you may want to rethink whether your peers are good role models at all.

You aren't saving for retirement yet

If you think retirement income is a worry only for older people, you have resigned yourself to a world of worry down the road. The sooner you start saving, the longer your money will have a chance to grow by compounding. The best time to start saving is early in your career.

You quit your job without having a replacement lined up

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average duration of unemployment these days is about 40 weeks. Think long and hard about whether burning through savings for 40 weeks is worth the satisfaction of saying, "I quit."

Debt repayment trumps saving -- and never ends

This is a bit like people who are always on a diet but never seem to lose any weight. If you don't see results in your debt-reduction goals, you need a new plan.

You think your spouse's terrible money habits are 'cute'

Maybe you aren't the source of the problem. Maybe you're just an enabler. Either way, household finances are a shared responsibility, and financial habits that could hurt the whole family need to be addressed.

Stopping the pattern

Do you recognize yourself in any of these examples? Don't feel too bad -- you're definitely not alone. However, the time to stop kidding yourself is now. The sooner you begin seeing your finances clearly, the sooner you can begin to correct them.

http://money.msn.com/personal-financ...in-debt-denial