I’ve been working really hard for the past six months to reduce my debt and increase my savings. Being smart about your money is hard work. You need to be thoughtful, controlled and plan ahead. I’m trying, and I was thrilled to see today my credit score went up 5 points since last month. The hard work is paying off.

So, yeah, last year I hit some financial turbulence. I essentially lost my second job for about six months, and I didn’t have any savings to fill in the gap. While I cut back on my spending as much as I could, I still ended up using my credit card to supplement my income. This is something I haven’t done since my 20s. The thing is, my credit score was in the 800s before I hit the turbulence, before my credit card balance started to grow and grow. When I hit my lowest point last year my credit score was still in the high 700s.

Why was my low still relatively high?

I don’t make a ton of money. I don’t have much in my savings account – obviously. My score is high because I am trustworthy. The banks look at me, and they see someone who pays their bills on time. Someone who isn’t erratic about their spending. Someone they feel comfortable giving money to.

In the past 70 days America’s credit score has gone from the high 800s to the 400s and dropping by the day – hell, the minute. The current administration has been erratic and is proving to be untrustworthy. The world has given us an 800 rating for decades. It hasn’t mattered if the Democrats or Republicans were in charge. The world trusted us with their money. Incompetence is raging now. The world is figuring out they need to take their ball and go find another neighborhood to play in. Nope, that’s not right. They’re going find another neighbor’s ball to play with. China would love for the yen to replace the dollar.

It doesn’t matter where the stock market is today, in 90 days or next year. It is going to take years, if not decades, to earn back the world’s trust. They are going to take their money elsewhere, and we are going to suffer without it. I don’t think we know what that will look like, or more importantly feel like. We’ve never been here before.

My 20s were bad, like most people. I had to learn the hard way to be smart about money. I got myself into a pit of debt. I worked 2 or 3 jobs for a decade to dig myself out of it. I did it. It was hard. I missed a lot, working all the time. I don’t know how bad it will get, or what rock bottom will look like for our country. (Are we there yet?) What we can count on is it will take a lot of work to come back from this. If I can do, we can do it.

One of the tips from my post Preparing for a Recession was to keep your credit score high. If America’s credit score tanks, we can as individuals keep ours high.

stay strong and stay informed ✌️