This book is intended to be an easily read and understood guideline that is intended on giving the reader a brief overview of our economy. This covers past and present situations, occurrences, and fundamentals of our capitalistic society and is intended to reveal flaws, fixes, and methods of coping with the status quo. The book also contains a breakdown of how the current credit system became what it is today, its benefits, its shortcomings, and how to cope and begin to take advantage of strategies that can be beneficial to the middle-class citizen. It also covers the importance of having good credit and why the credit bureaus have little to no incentive to keep an accurate record of your FICO score. It also explains how we are viewed in the eyes of our creditors in terms of our risk tolerance levels and steps that can be taken to correct and monitor your credit score with no out of pocket cost to the consumer. Also included are tips on how to live above the means of one’s salary through the year by averaging one’s tax returns over a period of time prescribed in the book. This is intended to allow the reader to accurately predict a rate of tax return (assuming the conditions are as set forth in the book) and allow for a monthly additional budget utilizing a credit card. This utilization of the card will account for the interest that will be accrued and first subtracted from the tax return amount. That amount will then be divided by twelve to give the resulting sum of the monthly additional spending allowed above one’s monthly salary. An attempt has also been made to explain the interconnectivity of one’s security clearance and perceived level of risk when an individual is carrying a large amount of debt. It illustrates how one’s security clearance may be taken away due to issues with debt and provides advice on steps that may be taken to stop or delay this process through bankruptcy. The book explains what to expect after filing bankruptcy and gives a strategy or method of what to do while going through the process and emerging more financially stable. A plan of action for constructing a functional budget is explained and illustrated, and a guide for investing the newly available capital is outlined for the beginner-level investor. An attempt to close the cycle is done by explaining what to do with newfound wealth if you are successful in your endeavors in the form of wealth management and tax advice.
