One of the challenges debtors face after their bankruptcy discharge is the persistent and high unemployment that has gripped our nation in the past few years. Some analysts are saying that the high rate of unemployment could remain with us into the foreseeable future and that it could take decades before we see their type of boom that we enjoyed before the recession. So how does a debtor survive unemployment and underemployment after their bankruptcy discharge?
Let’s take a look at a few tips:
Post-bankruptcy debtors need to experience a paradigm shift. The way we see the world must change to fit the present reality. The days of easy credit are in our past and we cannot afford to rest our prosperity on the idea that we will have access to easy credit. We also need to understand that those who insist on keeping high amounts of debt could be dooming themselves to financial failure.
If post-bankruptcy debtors have debt that has survived discharge they need to find out how much they must earn to pay those debts, their living expenses and save for emergencies and retirement. Saving for emergencies and retirement is imperative because failure to do so will seriously reduce the debtor’s quality of life and increase their chances of needing bankruptcy protection in the future. One of the reasons that so many Americans have accumulated so much debt is that they have depended on easy credit to rescue them in times of crisis.
Since many post-bankruptcy debtors (and those who never filed bankruptcy) are finding it difficult to secure employment that pays wages comparable to those they received during the boom, post-bankruptcy debtors may need to adjust their lifestyle. This could mean living in a smaller home, or renting, forgoing the use of credit cards, owning a used car or sending their kids to a public high school or college instead of private institutions. The bottom-line is that if debtors want to survive after bankruptcy, they need to seriously reduce their expenses and live within their means.