To many people, to declare yourself bankrupt would seem to be the end of the world as you know it. In these trying times, bankruptcy can be brought about by a number of external factors, totally out of many peoples personal control.

Unfortunately, such is the stigma of bankruptcy to many people that they will struggle on way past the time that they should have made the choice to go bankrupt, and this can sometimes have a devastating effect on their mental health. Not only that, bankruptcy can be likened to a divorce – until it happens, you can not move on with your life.

When making choices in your life, there has to be at least two options at every stage in your decision process. Once you can accept that, making the decision to actually go bankrupt if needed, can be a painless choice. If you try and avoid the inevitable the mental strain that you will put yourself under will be tremendous, I know, I have been there, been close to bankruptcy, and only time will tell if I will have to take the decision.

Once I realised that bankruptcy may be an option, I did everything in my power to find out all of the aspects of it. I visited two bankruptcy councillors, and also discussed the pros and cons of this choice with my lawyer, as I was fighting a major legal battle at the time, so as well as knowing whether I would be able to keep my house, my computer my car, and whether I could continue fighting my case, were all highly relevant to me and my peace of mind.

I checked on the availability of bank accounts during bankruptcy, found that you could get pre-paid debit cards, so you can still use the internet, and lead a normal ‘plastic’ existence when booking hotels, car hire, airline tickets… you just have to pop the cash on your card account first.

And as for a mobile phone – well, just get a ‘pay as you go’ unit, and guess what? Nobody will be able to trace you!

For too many people, bankruptcy means shame and an admission that they were no longer in control. Well, yes, for many people, debts were too great to bear, but why try and exist under a great cloud of impossible debts?

When you are in this perilous state, you may have been worried sick about bailiffs knocking on your door at any time, and countless letters and intruding phone calls all day long making your whole life a misery.

At least with bankruptcy, you are protected from all of this, and especially all of those annoying phone calls.

Now, bankruptcy is not pleasant, and you will have a lot of your ‘dirty washing’ on public display, but as long as you have not been totally reckless with your spending, you will be out of bankruptcy after 12 months in the UK, and able to start to pick up your creditworthiness again – if you want it.

I must admit, since living under its threat, I have found bankruptcy, or the threat of it, makes you realise how good it is to have cash in your wallet, rather than a load of high interest, far too easy to use plastic cards.

And don’t forget – you are not alone. More and more people are being pushed into bankruptcy, many through no fault of their own, even high fliers like Donald Trump as been there too…

They call it a “recession”. On any given day you can hear the media and societal buzz of concern. The economists and stockbrokers give us the scoop with confidence and authoritative certainty. And the message is clear: The whole country is going bankrupt and you should be scared.
The information we are fed constantly is that there is a drop in the stock market; long-term interest rates are falling below the level of short-term. There is a decline in housing activity. And it’s neither a buyer’s nor a seller’s market; there are high unemployment rates and the list of woes go on and on. We feel that we are in the throws of financial devastation because we are letting everyone including Greenspan, C-span, and Spic-n-span tell us that we should be depressed about money. Interesting enough, the biggest disaster is not that the nation is headed for another 1929 “Great Depression.”
The real problem is that people believe they are. And whatever is believed becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
What you believe will inevitably be manifested in your life whether it serves you or not. This isn’t a principle that is exclusive to only the thoughts of the economy. There are many elements of conventional wisdom that reek of defeat and cause us to transfer our personal power into the hands of the experts who tell us we are broke, busted and doomed.
People are bound by many oppressive concepts such as believing that: having no college degree locks them out of success; being a single parent holds them back, being “too old” being “too young,” starting with nothing, having no connections, they are the wrong gender, color, nationality, etc. The list also goes on and on. But the strength of your economic foundation has to be inspired from within.
When we are confident and strong in our personal constitution, we don’t subscribe to being overthrown by others. Instead, we know we must establish our steps and choices by our own individual truth. And you anchor inside of that truth no matter what happens externally — with the economy or with anything else.
Financial analysts may argue: “Hey Asha! Wait a minute. My numbers are real. I’m not making this stuff up. It is what it is! Banks are cracked under pressure with write-downs, households are upside-down on their mortgages, and there is general chaos on Wall Street! Isn’t that proof that we are all about to be in breadlines?”
I submit that statistics have their place, but adopting ANY belief about anything that does not support and confirm hope is dangerous. It will destroy you regardless of where the information comes from.
Of course, calculations are factual. But there are a couple of major concerns with “facts.” First; economists base their data on averages. That approach makes predictive quality low because there are no allowances for personal effectiveness, persistence, individual skill-sets, creativity, determination, etc. Once a person has really decided, they will most certainly find ways to make life work regardless of barriers. And second, facts are not what determine success or failure. It is how one perceives a fact that assigns its impact on their unique life.
For example, it is a fact that I was born the only child to a terminally ill single mother who lost her mind and tried to kill me. It is a fact that I was homeless at 17. It is a fact that I was voted “least likely to succeed” in high school. But I perceived those facts to be moments of happenstance — not finalizations of my destiny. So I made choices from a place of possibility in my future instead of from a place of hopelessness from my past. And when you believe in possibility the world is yours no matter what.
Remember that people have gotten rich all along the line of the economic spectrum. Just like there are some people who stay financially challenged no matter how progressive the economy gets. The reason for such vast differences in result is the “personal resolve” factor. Yours is to personally resolve to serve consistently, solve relentlessly and contribute value intentionally and you my friend will become recession proof!

On a brisk day last fall in Prineville, Ore., Raymond and Deanna faced the unthinkable: They were losing their home to foreclosure and had days to move out.

For more than two decades, the couple had lived in their three-level house, where the elms outside blazed with yellow shades of fall and their four golden retrievers slept in the yard. The town had always been home, with a lazy river and rolling hills dotted by gnarled juniper trees.

Yet just before lunch on Oct. 23, Raymond and Deanna closed all their home’s doors except the one to the garage and left their 1981 Cadillac Eldorado running. Toxic fumes filled the home. When sheriff’s deputies arrived at about 1 p.m., they found the body of Raymond, on the second floor along with three dead dogs. The body of Deanna was in an upstairs bedroom, close to another dead retriever.

“It is believed that the Raymond and Deanna committed suicide after attempts to save their home following a foreclosure notice left them believing they had few options,” the Crook County Sheriff’s Office said in a report.

When I first heard this story I was overcome with emotion, realizing that I could have been a tragic story like Raymond and Deanna. My intentions are not to talk about me but to give creditability to what I am about to communicate.  I have walked a few miles in their shoes so I have an understanding of what they went through, that is why I am passionate about this story.  If you would like to read my story, Google, Starting Over At 49.

I left out one important fact of this tragic story of Raymond and Deanna. They were in the golden years of life. He was seventy one and she was sixty nine, they could have been my mother and father. At a time when they should have been depositing their wisdom and life experiences in others, or enjoying a fall day walking next to the lazy river that was near there home.  This was not the case; instead they were living under the relentless pressure of debt and all the mental baggage that came with it.

Could any individual have prevented what took place in Raymond and Deanna home that afternoon, only God knows. Are there others, who are contemplating this tragic solution to debt by closing the door on their life, I pray not. When I hear something that stirs me like this I have come to understand this is where my passion in life lies, helping people.  We as a whole often look out the window for someone else to do something but we must begin to look in the mirror to discover an answer not only to our problems, but to help others. Let me state clearly is their anything that I could have done to prevent this tragedy, I am not that arrogant to make that claim.  But what I know and understand is personal finance, and possibly it is there where I could have made an impact on their tragic decision. I was in a similar situation where I lost every material thing I worked and dreamed for and it left me bankrupt and also in debt with over a half of million dollars to pay back. I made a choice to find a solution to my dilemma. During that period the record player in my head often would say Johnmark you only have a problem when there is no solution. At that point my quest was to find an answer.  

 The question I ask myself now is how can I prevent this from happening to the 519 Americans that are receiving foreclosure notices every month and the thousand of children who are now homeless. What I have discovered is a product called United First Financial. Did it perform a miracle, no but is gave me a avenue and direction where I can pay my 420,000.00 Mortgage off in 14 years without refinancing and only adding $25.00 a month to my current payment. Please understand I don’t claim to know everything and if there is a better way please contact me. But I have studied the so called experts like Dave Ramsey, and this system will out perform his hands down and it is guaranteed. Will Dave Ramsey give you your money back? No he will yell at you and make you feel stupid and tell you it’s your fault. Look folks if I can help you email me at jmridings@paidinfull.org or www.paidinfull.org and you’ll find a video overview of the program. Just a side noted after I saw the power of this program I became an U1st Financial agent. Remember Mortgage cancellation and debt cancellation can be achieved.

Thank you Ray Tamayo for your support.

Sincerely,

Johnmark Ridings

Bankruptcy or economic failure is an officially declared term defining the failure or impairment of organizations or individuals to pay off their debts. The legal formalities approve creditors to file a bankruptcy petition against debtors in an effort to recover the debt.
In several cases, debtors start bankruptcy formalities called voluntary bankruptcy filed by the bankrupt organizations or bankrupt individuals.
In the Older Testament of Hebrew Scriptures and the Bible, Moses Laws advised that one Jubilee Year or Holy Year need to take place every half century, after the elimination of all debts among Jews and after the release of all debt-slaves.
Bankruptcy in the United States:
In the United States, bankruptcy is a subject placed under the Federal Jurisdiction by the United States Constitution (Article 1, Section 8, Clause 4), which permits the legislative body to ordain standardized laws on the topic of bankruptcies across the United States.
Its execution is however, seen in ruling law. The appropriate legislative acts are integrated within the Bankruptcy Code, sited at Title 11 of the United States Code. The state law overdraws these acts in several places, where federal law either fails to act or specifically remits the state law.
Usually, lawyers file economic failure cases in the United States Bankruptcy Court, which is an association of the U.S. District Courts. Numerous insolvency cases, specifically in terms of validity of exemptions and claims mainly depend on State law. Therefore, State law plays a vital role in various insolvency cases. In addition, it is many times impossible to simplify insolvency law across various states of America.
Chapters:
There are six types of insolvencies under the Bankruptcy Code in the Unite States:
Chapter 7: This is a type of basic liquidation for businesses and individuals
Chapter 9: Civil economic failure
Chapter 11: Reorganization or rehabilitation, used mainly by corporate debtors, but is sometimes also used by individuals with huge assets and debts
Chapter 12: Rehabilitation chapter for fishermen and family farmers
Chapter 13: It is a rehabilitation chapter with a payment plan for people having normal income source
Chapter 15: It is an economic failure chapter for subsidiary and other global cases.
The most regular types of personal economic failure filings in the U.S. are Chapter 13 and Chapter 7. A national report revealed that around 65% of all U.S. consumer filings appear under Chapter 7. Organizations and other business classes file under Chapter 11 or Chapter 7.
Common Insolvency Chapters in the United States:
Chapter 7
Chapter 7 claims for deals with consumer economic failure. Here, people lack adequate funds to pay off their creditors. It then gives such debtors certain time to solve this problem and to help them pacify their creditors. Here, the entire property of a debtor goes into the custody of bankruptcy trustee. The trustee ensues to transform the property into cash and after liquidating the entire property into cash, the trustee then distributes funds to creditors to clear all debts.
Chapter 13
In various insolvency cases, creditors try to push debtors to pay them. This type of recovery may include harassment through phone calls or through personal visits. Chapter 13 insolvency code is the best way for debtors to avoid such harassment. This chapter allows a court to keep an eye on the progress of debt payment by a debtor and on recovering activities of creditors.
Chapter 11
Here, debtors regain control and ownership of their assets and are called ‘debtor in possession’ (DIP). Creditors and debtors work with the Bankruptcy Court to negotiate on the debt amount. If a negotiated plan is confirmed, then debtor continues to operate and pay the debts under conditions agreed in that confirmed plan.

Do you ever feel like the walls are closing in together ready to crush you? Are you in debt and over your head with interest rates ever increasing to the point you must either get a much better paying job or hire an attorney so you can go bankrupt? Or maybe the cost of going back and forth to your good paying job has forced you to put your house on the market except no one seems to be interested and all the equity you have gained is dissolving right before your eyes, money that could have been used for a new house in a better location.
Do you feel trapped by your home, job and the money it takes for you to live? Still it doesn’t keep you from pulling out yet another credit card because somewhere in your subconscious a voice is reaffirming that you have the right to Live A Good Life No matter what it cost. You make a great salary and shouldn’t you be able to buy what you want and do what you desire? Yet the cost of your ability to live a good life is greater than you think when you are unexpectedly hit with an unforeseen whammy from Mother Nature. A flood, tornado, hail storm or the worse possible unforeseen problem: a sudden loss of employment.
This is called the game of life. Twist and turns that make you play whether you want to or not, because we live in an uncertain world filled to the brim with unexpected happenings. Our accumulation of things for our family such as our home, cars, and even on how we balance our bank account are intricate playing pieces that either have the ability to change us and teach us from how we react to them or they can force the players to throw everything away and start their game of life all over again.
When you live in a world that isn’t perfect you must be ready for the unexpected. You must plan for the future or just when you think you have it all together everything falls apart unless you understand the purpose of this great world and what you are expected to know in order to survive what is going to happen next.
James 1: 12, “Happy is the person who remains faithful under trials, because when he succeeds in passing such a test, he will receive as his reward the life which God has promised to those who love him.”
Everything we experience in this world has a unique purpose geared to teach us secret spiritual truths that are not plain for us to understand until the proper time. Truths that are hidden until we come to a sudden awakening that shows us that we are not in control of our lives! Revelations that bring us to our knees so we will begin to understand that the only way to play the game of life and win is with the help of a Supernatural all knowing God. A God that is always in control of everything for the good of those who follow Him.
Romans 8: 28-30, “We know that in all things God works for good with those who love him, those whom he has called according to his purpose. Those whom God had already set apart to become like his Son, so that the Son would be the first among many brothers. And so those whom God set apart, he called; and those he called, he put right with himself, and he shared his glory with them.”
It is very important that all people of the world come to the same conclusion that we must follow God in order to overcome the tragedies of the world. We cannot play the game of life alone for we would be utter failures against all of the future events that we can not foresee before they capture our lives and bring us to our knees.
We need to be careful on how we view this world. We are not meant to just sail through life without any concerns or problems. We are here to learn and if we are caught without faith in God, we are liable to lose everything and gain nothing from the experience.
James 1: 9-11, “The Christian who is poor must be glad when God lifts him up, and the rich person must be glad when God brings him down. For the rich will pass away like the flower of a wild plant. The sun rises with its blazing heat and burns the plant; its flower falls off, and its beauty is destroyed in the same way the rich man will be destroyed while he goes about his business.”
To comprehend this passage of scriptures is to understand that the financial part of life is an intricate teacher of hard truths. It takes a person losing everything for them to come to the revelation that this world is not about personal wealth. It is not about the home you own or the car you drive or your position in your place of business. This is the reason why so many people are tested with financial failures. Our inability to control the world’s marketing system puts every person’s finances in constant jeopardy. We are the flower that is burned by the blazing heat of the world’s financial markets. When we put our faith in the things of the world it will teach us just how unstable our hopes and dreams can become.
Everything about our world teaches us the repercussions of the decisions made by those who control the world markets. The United States is experiencing a recession all because of how corporate businesses who desired to make more profits moved their businesses to China. China now is experiencing the greatest economic growth ever because they have the jobs. We all know that where there are jobs, money is spent. Money for cars, homes, and better lifestyles that prosperity can afford to give.
This is why we live in a very uncertain world and why putting our faith in money and greed can only lead us down paths that will destroy the lives we build from it. Greed will always lead big businesses to make a mess out of the little persons lives. Because the motivation is for the money they make and not for the people who work for them.
God is into developing the characters of people. He takes what the world does to people and teaches them how to defend themselves in the future. This is the reason it is so important to stay focused on God’s will for your life. This is why you must understand that you are in this world to learn life lessons that will teach you by what you learn in the world and not to follow greed.
The purpose of our world is not on how successful you are, but on how much you care about other people. If we were to follow those who are wealthy, we would quickly see how their motivation is not geared to how much they can make for those who work for them. They work for what they gain from their profits.
Look at the oil companies in the United States they are reaping the benefits of the skyrocketing foreign oil prices. The cost of getting the oil here has not changed for them, yet they are making tremendous profits because of their greed. The rich oil executives don’t care that they are throwing the entire United States into a recession. They don’t care about the poor and how they have to choose between buying food or the gas they need in order to go to work. All they care about is what the money can do for them.
James 1:27, “What God the Father considers to be pure and genuine religion is this; to take care of orphans and widows in their suffering and to keep oneself from being corrupted by the world.”
God loves people! He cares about everyone’s needs and He wants to teach us how to be good stewards of the money we earn in this world. We can’t live like the world. We can not live our lives only thinking of our needs. When we are focused on ourselves then we become targets of those who are in this world for greed. We must separate ourselves from the world in order to win the game of life.
We are here to have a good life in proportion to what we learn from the tests and trials we go through. Tests that build our character and teach us how to live the right kind of life. Trials that are designed to build our faith in God and not in the world. Experiences that are geared to prepare us for the perfect world to come that will allow us to reign side by side with Jesus Christ.
We can only gain from this world when we stop thinking of what we want and start changing into people who care about others. When we are wrapped up in the world we are vulnerable to the corrupting forces of the world like the fluctuating market to the corporate greed of big businesses that only thinks about profits. When God is first in your life you’re thinking about making the world better for the children you love. You’re listening to those who tell you not to over buy when purchasing a house. You’re learning when you buy a car that is too expensive and you’re learning why you shouldn’t overload your finances with credit card debt.
Our lives will be molded by what we learn and not from what we own. Our possessions cannot be taken into the next world, but everything we have done for others will be written down in the book of life. In return we will be paid back for everything we gave up to follow God’s path. A reward in the brand new world that is geared to bless us with so much abundance that we will not remember any of our suffering.