Hi Kevin,
It's good to hear from you! I'm glad you are taking this seriously and appreciate your interest in debt. From the article you found, you can see that millions of people in the U.S. are in debt.
But let me say this and get it out of the way: all debt is not bad. There. It's out there. It would be hard for most people to buy a house without the use of debt and it is hard for some to attend college without taking student loans. However, the bad debt is that which does not help you earn income or provide shelter over your head, i.e credit cards or other types of soft loans.
When you take out a loan for a house, one of the benefits (besides having a place to live) is that the government helps you by giving you a tax deduction for the interest. This can be beneficial and if you look at specific numbers for yourself, you might find that you actually come out ahead.
Going to college is important, because the average income of a college graduate over a high school graduate is significantly higher. Try $1,100 a week compared to $620 a week; almost double! Going into some debt to obtain this higher degree and thus higher future earnings makes sense.
Credit cards, cars, and other "toys" that people don't really need are where most of the problems lie. The thing that helped me the most was creating a monthly budget. Literally sit down at the beginning of the month and estimate how much each of the categories like food, utilities, rent/mortgage, clothing, gas, etc. will cost you. Use your past experience to guide you. Then create "soft" categories like gift money, entertainment, "having fun", etc. These are the categories that can be pared back if money is tight. Finally, figure out how much you have left over and either invest the difference at a reasonable interest rate or pay off high interest debt.
I used to only use debit cards, because I didn't want the temptation of credit to lure me into using it. Every day I would get offers with "0% interest for 12 months!" and so on. It is easy with these cards to buy things you don't really need. Only the discipline of a monthly budget helped reign in my spending. After about a year, I started using credit cards again, within the constraints of a budget. I made this change because with a lot of credit cards, you can get points that apply to bonuses. Mine in particular is points toward Amazon.com gift cards. Anyway, because I have a budget, I only spend within it and pay off the card at the end of every month.
I can't begin to describe how much freedom this gives you. Most people in my family laugh at my wife and I, because they think we are so restricted, but knowing where every dollar is going before the month even begins is quite liberating and helps you gain a better understanding on ways you can cut corners and save more.
But something tells me you already know most of this, Kevin. You want to take the next step and tell others in an organized fashion and in a way that really helps them make a change in their lives.
Searching the internet for the words "Debt management," "Financial Planning Organizations," "Finance Clubs," etc. does not yield much relevant to your question. It seems to me that there are probably two options at this point. The first, is that you create your own organization with the goals to manage money wisely. You become accountable to each other and read articles on ways to save money and pay off debt. I would be more than willing to lend you a hand by doing research or forwarding articles to you. If you wanted, you would also be welcome to use Ca$htalk, which would also help others who aren't geographically near Calvin College.
The second option stems from the first and specifically relates to the question, "Why do you want to get out of debt?"
People will have different answers to the question. Some don't want the monthly payments, others will want to start investing, others want to buy that boat they've had their eye on and will begin to save for it. Your personal answer to that question will create a goal for yourself. For me, it might be to be able to invest more. So, in order to learn more about that goal and get closer to achieving it, I would look for a club at Calvin where investment is the goal. Bringing up topics like, "How do I invest when I'm xx amount in debt?" would be a good start.
Of course, investment isn't everyone's goal and while Calvin does have an investment club, I'm not sure they have a boating club, especially one that focuses on getting the boat, rather than becoming a better boater. In this case, creating your own club is probably the better option. Please let me know if that is the direction you are heading and I will support you wholeheartedly.
In a way, Ca$htalk was created with the goal of learning more about money and business in order to not fall into traps such as high consumer debt. Posting questions here and even articles that you find interesting that relate specifically to financial management are another way to stay accountable, help others do the same and learn more about the complex world of finance, personal money management, and economics. I try my best to scour the internet and read books on the topics and present those for your information here. I'd also like to try and recruit more experts who have far more experience and knowledge than me to post articles on their own specialties. If you know of anyone who might be interested, let me know and I'll drop them a line.
I hope this long answer helps and thank you again for reading.
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