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Hi. This is Sherry Peel Jackson
Today we will start a series called BASIC FINANCIAL SURVIVAL. Some of the videos that I will present will contain materials from my book by the same name, and some of the videos will contain additional information that you will need to become debt free and improve your finances.
Let’s talk about delayed gratification. Some of you younger people may not be familiar with this term, but many of us older people were brought up hearing this term all of the time.
I like the prevailing Internet definition of delayed gratification.
It says that delayed gratification is the ability to resist the temptation for an immediate reward and wait for a later reward. Generally, delayed gratification is associated with resisting a smaller but more immediate reward in order to receive a larger or more enduring reward later.
One example that I can remember like it was yesterday is my father urging me not to go “boy crazy” when I got to high school. Here in Georgia in the 1970’s High School was 8th grade through 12th grade! When I started high school I was 12 years old, and there were boys there that were 18 years old! (Maybe that’s why Georgia had the highest teen pregnancy rate back then) At any rate, my dad told me that if I put my nose to the grindstone and got my school work done with excellence, my intelligence would shine brighter than the way my body fit in my jeans and I would get a REAL man and not just a male, when I was older.
He said that if I focused on my education and career I could avoid getting stuck with a whole bunch of babies and someone that didn’t have my best interest at heart. That was putting it mildly. I don’t think I should repeat his actual words on camera.
My parents taught me delayed gratification and I saved money instead of buying a lot of designer clothes, I finished school instead of dropping out and getting a low wage job and I waited to have children until I married and matured. I believe these delays made me more able to handle all of the obstacles that life has thrown at me. I learned endurance and that has been a much needed skill in my life the past decade.
One of the things that I’ve noticed is that whether young or old, people tend to reject the concept of delayed gratification these days. We’ve become a microwave society – wanting everything instantly and getting irritated when we have to wait. This impatience had caused our entire society to devolve into a consumer oriented debt ridden mess.
When it comes to finances, Americans are failing miserably at delayed gratification. The media has brainwashed us into accumulating mounds of debt. The main brainwashing concept is BUY NOW/PAY LATER. Credit card debt in the United States averages almost $16,000 per indebted household.
People are paying $120 for a pair of gym shoes that costs about $5 to produce. People are also paying thousands of dollars for designer furniture and appliances to look and feel important to their friends and associates. Even children are teasing other children that don’t wear the latest and greatest name brand clothes and shoes. This debt frenzy is why the savings rate in the United States is less than 5% annually. We spend all that we earn and then borrow when we have an emergency. We’re following the debt strapped federal government right into oblivion!
The other brainwashing concept is You DESERVE THE BEST/YOU DESERVE IT NOW. This one has lead people to go and buy the biggest cars and houses that the banks will let them sign for. These decisions have made many people slaves to homes and cars. By the way, did you know that the Latin for mortgage is debt until death? Many people never pay off their homes and are virtually renting until they die, never being able to transfer ownership to their children or grandchildren.
Enslaving the American people is all part of a grand plan to bring this country down and we have falling right into the trap!
Do you want to get out?
First stop spending money you don’t have. Put the credit cards on ice and only pay cash for what you buy. If you can’t pay cash then don’t buy it! I know people have to get cars but don’t buy a Benz when you should be buying a Buick!
Next, start paying down the debt using a well thought out strategy. Pay off the smallest bill then use that money to pay off the next one in line. For example, if you owe Sears $700 and Macys $1,200, pay the minimum on the Macys card and use all the extra, including your tax refund, to pay Sears off, then when Sears is paid off use the money you were paying Sears to pay off Macys! Is simple but if you are undisciplined you’ll stay a debt slave.
That ends our lesson for today. I hope you don’t feel fussed at, but it grieves my spirit to see so many people complaining about not having any money when they have 4 flat screen TV’s in the house and two luxury cars in the garage. Affluenza is a curable disease but we must want to be cured. If you want to be cured get my book, Basic Financial Survival.
Until next time, this is Sherry Peel Jackson. Signing out!
Great points! Thanks Sherry!
No doubt, my son will be surprised to find that his dad isn’t the only person on the planet who advocates such “nonsense.” 🙂
You are an inspiration Sherry. “The borrower is a slave to the lender”.
“God wants us to be interdependent which each other,
self-sufficient in ourselves, independent from the world, but depending on
God” – Audie Clark
Are we really the debtors? Due diligence will prove we are the creditors as per the bankruptcy agreement of 1913. Check it out.
Is your book still available? I click the link but error page pops up!
Hello Miss. Jackson. I watched some of your YouTube video’s today with great interest. My question is do you file federal income taxes? Thanks!