C. Theodore Hicks II, CFP®, CKA®, CMT® is the Founder, CEO and Chief Investment Officer for Hicks & Associates Wealth Management.
‘Tis the season to commemorate our nation’s independence. This year we once again celebrate the creation of a “more perfect union” while living amongst many who decry our nation’s history as so far from perfection that we should not even be celebrating. The true history of America’s founding and of our consistently overcoming injustices is a heritage for which all Americans should be proud.
In personal financial planning, we see “bad” debt being created for one of two reasons. There is either a spending problem – i.e., the individual is spending more money than they make – or they experienced an emergency during a period when there were no cash reserves on hand. During our nation’s early years, when debt was created, it was solely done for emergency purposes – usually war. After the war’s conclusion, we typically paid down that debt. Somewhere along the lines, we lost that.
