A Consumption Junkie (CJ) is someone who wants the latest model of everything. They don’t stop to think about the true cost of consumption. The CJ’s will just buy and charge. A cell company announces that their new model of phone will be released soon. The CJ will start to think that their phone is old. It’s last year’s or the year’s before model. The new model will have all these new features that their current phone doesn’t. Who cares if the current one it still works. Who cares that they still haven’t paid off their current phone. MasterCard, Visa, American Express, or Discover certainly won’t care. They’ll love all the interest they’ll collect.
CJ’s will go out and “buy” the latest model of car. They don’t care if it’s not paid off yet. The dealer will gladly roll it into the new loan. Guess what? When they do that, the amount of that’s being financed for the new car plus the remaining loan balance of the old car will exceed the value of new car. Now, to cover that deficit or gap, they have to purchase gap insurance. If they don’t and they drive off the lot, get into an accident, and total the new car, the insurance company is not going to pay the total amount of the loan. Now, they have a big loan and no car.
Don’t be a CJ. Pay off your current consumer debt. Don’t incur more debt. Keep your current car, phone, TV, etc. for as long as possible. Once they are paid off, save that money so you can pay cash for their replacement. Don’t be a consumer junkie. Be a Saving Junkie.A
