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7.5 AVOID DEBT - TIPS AND TRICKS: UNPLANNED EXPENSES AND PERSONAL FINANCE, THE MAIN REASON PEOPLE GO INTO DEBT

== When you get a raise, have some portion of that raise deposited automatically into a retirement account.

After all this is new money that you are not used to spending and what you don't see you won't miss. When a friend of mine got a raise, he set up his finances so that he never saw one half of the raise; it went straight into his pension plan.

== Be careful of slipping into an expensive lifestyle.

Once you have stayed at lavish hotels, it is very hard to go back to staying in cut-rate motels. Once you have tasted the best wines, it's not easy getting used to discount brands.

However, what you've never tasted you won't miss. Remember there are always more luxurious ways to live no matter how much money you earn.

== A good economy can make household finances more difficult.

This is one of the ironies of earning more money and feeling secure in your job. Many people feel they have more money, but they have not calculated exactly how much that is. Instead they only have a vague idea and tend to spend a lot more than their income can justify.

== Don't try to accumulate in 3 years what it took your parent 30 years to get.

Robert Bugai pointed out that many young people want it all right away. They see how much their parents have and want the same for themselves. They don't understand it took years of work and patience.

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