Question 1: From Ch. 6: Why do some people have difficulty saving?

Student 1:

Nowadays, it is harder for people to save money and people find themselves struggle financially all the time. There are so many reasons in general and in particular why people can not save money.

The first reason has to do with culture. Americans tend to spend tomorrow’s money while people like Chinese tend to spend today’s money or even yesterday’s money. You need to live in a culture that always prepares for future unexpected happenings in order to save money voluntarily.

The second reason is the development of social benefit systems and insurance. In societies where social benefit system is developed, even if you suddenly have no money, you do not really worry about food or basic necessities, since the government will not see you starve or die because you have no money. In other societies, when you have no money, no government will take of you and you have to rely on your savings in order to live.

The third general reason is the life style. Some people just enjoy lavish living style and they keep spending money all the time. Some people prefer a simple life style and do not find a lot of opportunities to spend money. People who live a simple life style tend to save money easier.

The textbook talks about 8 motives for savings, such as the pure life cycle motive, the investment motive, the down payment motive, the precautionary motive, the improvement motive, the independence motive, the bequest motive and the hoarding motive. When people do not have a strong of such motives, it is harder for them to save money.

Another important reason is that some people just do not have a vision for the future. They tend to enjoy the present and do not care about future financially. To them, the worst thing is not having no money when they die, but rather having a lot of money left when they die.

Question 2:

From Chapter 7:  What are the advantages and disadvantages of filing Bankruptcy? Under what circumstances do you feel it is OK to file and why?

Also, address how you can improve credit and the steps to take to improve credit standing.

Student 2:

Advantages of Bankruptcy:

• Person filling bankruptcy may get the opportunity to discharge their obligation to pay back any of their dischargeable debts.
• By filling for bankruptcy the person may precipitate the automatic stay which helps in keeping credit bureau and lenders from making a move to go after their money, prevent lenders from capturing their property including a house or cars.
• It also helps the person filling from getting sued and receiving letters.

Disadvantages of Bankruptcy:

• Bankruptcy is notated on one’s credit report for almost seven to ten years.
• Lenders of credit card in one’s possession will cancel the credit cards when one file for bankruptcy.
• Moving forward the person filling bankruptcy will face difficulty getting credit cards or line of credit in the future.
• If the filler is not able to exempt entire of their personal property or real estate under the bankruptcy exemptions, some of the assets can be captured by the bankruptcy court. It is then sold to pay the debt owed to creditors.

When people who have property they want to keep possession over it is ok for them to file for bankruptcy as it allows them to pay their debts over a period of 3-5 years. By filling bankruptcy people get a chance to attain grace period if they have a consistent, predictable annual income. If there are any debts after the grace period is over it will be discharged.

Steps to raise the credit score:

• Look after the credit card balances which means that if one has more than one credit cards and carries balances on them can consolidate them by doing balance transfer or getting a person loan which can help improving their score.
• By eliminating credit card balances  which means to collect all the credit cards with small debts and pay them off. This will be a solution to improve one’s credit score.
• Not taking off the old debt on one’s report which means that if good debt that is paid on time and handled well is left on the credit history it can good impact on the credit score. The more time it stays on the history, it is better for their credit score.
• By paying one’s bills on time has the biggest impact on their credit score as simply month after month they are contributing towards their liability.