I Will Teach You to Be Rich: No Guilt. No Excuses. No B.S. Just a 6-Week Program That Works.

by Ramit Sethi

$10,000 furniture 32 years, 2 months $13,332.06 Assumes 14% APR and 2% minimum payment If you paid only the minimum monthly balance on your $10,000 purchase, it would take you more than 32 years and cost you more than $13,000 in interest alone, more than the purchase price itself. Remember, this doesn’t even factor in your “opportunity cost”: Instead of paying off a $10,000 sofa for over 30 years, if you’d invested the same amount and earned 8 percent, it would’ve turned into about $27,000! Try calculating how much your own purchases really cost at bankrate.com/brm/calc/minpayment.asp. Getting a New Card How do you choose the right credit card? I have a few simple rules that I use when choosing my own cards: ■ Don’t accept credit card offers that come in the mail or from retail stores like Gap or Nordstrom. ■ Squeeze every reward you can out of your credit cards. ■ Pick a good one, then move on with your life.