If you control your debt, you control your life. Not all debt is bad, like a lot of gurus will have you believe, especially when you’re running a small business. Sometimes, you have some stuff called good debt, but you just have to be able to control it.

Good debt is debt which will produce down the road or increase your net worth such as more education and real estate acquisition. Bad debt lowers your net worth such as buying cars or purchasing “stuff” on credit cards and paying finance charges.

According to a 2018 report from the Federal Reserve System Board of Governors, 40% of adults in the United States don’t have enough savings to cover a $400 emergency bill. I was the guy who got myself into trouble. I always thought, “I’ve got credit cards. I can run up my credit card if I have to.” That’s not a good savings plan. You should still have one, but that’s going to run you into a huge hole in the long run. Putting money into savings is pretty important. Emergencies come up. It’s important to have an emergency account. I had a huge emergency account. It saved me a couple times and allowed me to take the job at the University of California, Davis, because it is expensive to move…