IMAGINE THERE’S A bright young thing, fresh out of school. Let’s call her Brenda. She’s polished her shoes and worn a nice shirt to the interview and, she’s landed herself a job. Well done Brenda!

Now let’s imagine her starting salary is nothing excessive, but it should be enough to get by comfortably.

And for a while, everything is going well. Brenda is paying her rent on time, she’s putting food on the table, and there’s a little left over for a nice pair of new shoes.

But then, Brenda finds she needs a new shirt. She’s a bit short that month, so she pops it on the credit card. It’s OK, she’ll pay it off next month.

But then she would really like a telly. So she puts that on the credit card too. And she buys some new sheets on the credit card. And while she’s there, a nice set of bedside tables.

Soon, Brenda is racking up some serious debt. Brenda the Spender. But it feels so good to have nice things, and the credit card company doesn’t seem to mind that her bill only grows each month.

If you were Brenda’s parents, or bank, you might start having a word with her about her spending. Older, wiser folk know that living on a credit card is not a sustainable way of life. Many of us did it when we were younger but pretty soon found we were in financial trouble that took years to sort out…

Read more: http://www.abc.net.au/environment/articles/2014/08/04/4059150.htm