If you can barely afford a house that is valued at $500, 000 should you buy the one for $600, 000 because you can? No you shouldn't. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not telling you to totally eliminate credit, loans and mortgages. I'm telling you to not abuse your credit and loan privileges. If you abuse credit, it will come back to haunt you, especially when you are relying on a job that can be lost at any second.

Loans can be your friend or they can be your worst enemy. I used credit in my earlier days and it ruined my life. Never co-sign for anyone but your mother!! I don't care if its for a cell phone plan or a car loan, you will regret it! People WILL take you for granted if you are doing credit favors. What do they have to lose if they don't pay? Friendship. That's it. If your friend is going to whine about something so small you may as well ditch them while you're ahead because its better to lose a friend than lose a friend and your credit.

This home looks remarkably nice hey? Well guess what, it was foreclosed after the owner could no longer make his payments courtesy of his job pay cut.

This is a prime example of living beyond your means. Just because you can get approved doesn't mean you should get it.

This is an interesting article that I believe everyone should read before they attempt their journey to success. It shows you exactly how a sudden spike of money can ruin your life. Intelligent people deserve their millions, not people who work a low paying job everyday with all the wrong ethics. Many people get overconfident with how much money they have and lose sight of how much they are really worth. Its easy to spend money while harder to make. The second an irresponsible average or poor person sees a large amount of money, they immediately think of what they can buy and how they can spend it; while a person who's earned their money the hard way will think of ways to invest it THEN then use the money made to buy the things they want after. Its all a matter of patience and not living the fast life. Heck, even if you won the lottery many of them pay you a certain amount monthly not allowing you to purchase a huge house forcing you to take out a mortgage to purchase it... but what about the property taxes every year? Many will overlook little things like these.

What is to be learned by all this? Manage your money wisely and earn it the right way! I'm not saying make a million over a long period of time, I'm just saying it won't be easy and that is a good thing! If it all came in a year but you worked your butt off, I'm sure you'll appreciate it more plus, you'll have a good business model to work with.

More on this later...