ABSTRACT
Backpackers who want to pack lightly have an apt saying: 'take care of the ounces, and the pounds will take care of themselves'. Credit cards can be to personal finance what cigarettes are to your health. Daisy smokes one cigarette a day at most. Many days she goes without any cigarettes at all. Like the cigarette companies, the credit card companies are simply offering you the right as an American to exercise your freedom to choose. The housing bubble bust, credit crisis, and Great Recession of 2007–2009 was a sobering reminder to stay grounded with sound financial principals regarding the financing of one's home. Consumers got seduced into homes they could not afford by unscrupulous mortgage lenders, and people with good home equity frequently took out unwise second and third mortgages. Amortization is the process of gradually reducing the debt owed on mortgage. The Direct Consolidation Loan program consolidates multiple federal education loans into a single monthly payment.
