Jean Chatzky Quotes

I'm not broke. Like everybody else, I owe money.

If you are worried about job security and do not have an adequate emergency fund (ideally eight months' worth of living expenses stashed away in a federally insured bank or credit union), you need to focus more on saving money than paying down the balance on your credit cards.

I have always advocated doing everything possible to pay off credit card balances; it's good financial management and the ticket to a strong FICO credit score.

We tend to focus on assets and forget about debts. Financial security requires facing up to the big picture: assets minus debts.

Your goal should be to pay off your credit card bills in full at the end of each month and set aside money toward your emergency savings.

Students graduating with high debt encounter difficulties in qualifying for home and automobile loans.

You don't want to have so much money going toward your mortgage every month that you can't enjoy life or take care of your other financial responsibilities.

If you put a purchase on a charge card, you're paying it off forever. You have to know how to pay it off before you go deeply in debt.

If the only way you can build an emergency fund is to pay the minimum due on your credit card, that is what you need to do.

I learned early on what debt means, how vulnerable it makes people, what the security of owning a home means.

Homeowners refinance their loans when interest rates go down. Businesses refinance their loans.

The federal government requires that its loans be paid back within 10 years of graduation, and Harvard has pegged its loans to the same 10-year timetable. Yet despite Harvard's low default rate, the idea of years of loan debt is daunting for some students even before it's time to pay back.

Going on loan really benefits you.

Financial Aid Office (FAO) administrators are scrambling to educate students on repaying loans, but a disparity in knowledge persists.

Don't take risk, and don't get into debt.

Everyone has a salary. Everyone has hopes and dreams for where they can invest their money. Everyone wants to do the best they can with it, and they don't want to be subjected to any sort of predatory lending.

Whether we are working to pay off student loans, credit card debt, paying for elder or childcare, or even trying to save for retirement, the idea of the American dream still remains just that - a dream.

I've had to take out a couple of loans; I'm not gonna lie. I want to pay off my debts. I want to start stacking some cash and set myself up for the future.

I need to be able to save some money, so I can buy a house.

Those carrying a credit card balance should scale back to making the minimum payment each month so they have more money to put into savings.

If you have debt, you have to worry about it. I would challenge each of you to try to be debt-free.

I don't like being in debt, and I wouldn't borrow money for anything.

You want 21 percent risk free? Pay off your credit cards.

If you're going to live in the house make it your goal to just pay off your mortgage.

Especially if you're over 40, shortening the term of your loan to pay it off sooner could make you mortgage-free in retirement.