Over 45 to 50 percent of first marriages in America end in divorce. The primary reason is money. 60 percent of Americans have taken anti-depressants for two years or longer, 14 for ten years or longer. Eight out of ten Americans report being stressed. The top ten reasons Americans report for being stress are job related, starting with low pay and ending with the fear of job loss.

The common thread among these issues is money.

A reader of our blog emailed us for advice. Here’s the situation:

“My spouse and I sold our house. Once we close, we’ll use the profit to pay off all our debt. That will leave us with leftover money and extra money each month. My question is how do we proceed from here to prepare for retirement?”

We want to give you an adjustment. The adjustment is with your understanding of home equity. You see, many of us have been led to believe one thing about home equity when the reality is acutely different. This misinformation, if not an outright lie, puts you and your family in a precarious situation that could lead to financial disaster. 

Being buried in debt can be extremely stressful, especially if debt collectors are blowing up your phone “like [it] is a disaster”. Often, we do not know how or why we got into this situation. 

Meditate on how you got into your predicament.  If it was not due to an unexpected emergency, look internally to find out why you consumed so much debt so you do not repeat your mistakes.

Regardless of how you acquired your debt, here are five suggestions to get rid of it. There are many ways to get out of debt and many online lists that tell you how to do so. These are five of the most efficient ways of which we are aware.