💳 Credit card debt hits an all-time high

GM. This is Work "After" Work, the newsletter that takes you on an adventure down money lane.

Just make sure if you see Swiper you say "Swiper no swiping!"

Here's how we're starting the week:

• 💳 The credit card guru

• 😂 Meme of the day

CREDIT IS BECOMING A PROBLEM

Right now people are in need. Credit card debt just hit an all-time high of 986 billion dollars. The highest since the New York Fed began tracking in 1999.

Do you know what the average interest rate is on a credit card? Try 24.1%. To put this number into perspective, the stock market on average gives you 8-10%. So you’re losing a whopping 14% if you have credit card debt and as I showed, it’s a lot of people.

Pair this with inflation of 6.4% and it’s clear the average person is in real trouble.

That’s what’s behind the big idea today - helping people save money.

You know what they say “Money saved is money earned.” And that’s true. If you lower your expenses you’re bringing in more money every month.

So how are you going to save people money?
By reviewing their credit card statements - calling out unneeded expenses, subscriptions they didn’t know they were paying, calling companies on their behalf to negotiate better deals, and alternatives they can use to save money.

Learn the basics by reviewing your own credit card bill to see where you can cut costs.

This is how you’re going to get clients
Give them my favorite price, free. Whatever they save from your services you get paid 20%. A total win for someone who doesn’t understand finances and could use someone by their side to guide them through credit card debt.

The market for this is massive… and the numbers back it up. 25% of Americans say they don’t have anyone they can ask for trusted financial guidance. That’s a cool 83 million people right there.

Plus, 23% of U.S. adults ages 18 to 29 have credit card debt that’s over 90 days overdue.

Do all the dirty things they don’t want to do
Call credit card companies on their behalf say you’re their “personal assistant” and negotiate a lower interest rate. You’ll be surprised at how much one phone call can save, per Reddit.

Or get creative and transfer their debt to another credit card that has no interest for 12-18 months.

Something not a lot of people know. Credit card companies are always competing for customers and will do “credit transfers”.

Here’s how it works. Let’s use Discover as the company you’re currently with and Credit One is the offering the transfer:

Credit One gives you the whole amount of your outstanding debt with Discover, so you pay it off. Then that amount gets transferred to Credit One’s credit card and they give you 12-18 months of 0% interest.

If that was confusing here’s an amazing Figma drawing lol:

So if your client qualifies, you’d be saving them hundreds if not thousands depending on how much debt they have.

The other thing you can help them with is subscriptions. The average person has 12 subscriptions and 42% of people don’t even know they have these monthly expenses hitting their accounts or even how much it’s costing them.

Help manage these and provide alternatives.

A great example - family plans vs individual plans. Companies offer great deals for family plans and since each member can split the bill (assuming there are no kids on the plan) it’s much cheaper for everyone.

These include phone bills, music subscriptions (Spotify & Apple Music), and entertainment subscriptions (Netflix, HBO Max, DisneyPlus, Hulu).

These may seem simple but there’s millions of people out there that don’t have the time or financial acumen to look at this.

Provide that and you’ll have a side hustle that's not only lucrative but also helps others save money. And who knows, maybe you'll even discover a hidden talent for personal finance.

So get out there and start reviewing credit card bills - your wallet (and your friends' wallets) will thank you!

MEME OF THE DAY

😂😂

Last week I talked about how Silicon Valley Bank had a bank run. It was a wild weekend but the FED is making all depositors whole. Crisis everted 🙏 We would have had people lining up at banks this morning 100%.

That's a wrap ladies & gents!

DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.