166. How to Stay Steady When Everyone’s Panicking

Credit card delinquencies are the highest they’ve been in over a decade, repossessions are climbing, and the word 2008 is making the rounds again. But before the fear takes over, let’s slow things down. In this episode, Laura breaks down what’s really happening in the economy, why this isn’t another financial apocalypse, and the calm, practical steps you can take to protect your peace—and your wallet—right now.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• What “delinquent” actually means (and how it differs from collections)
• Why credit card and auto loan defaults are rising nationwide
• How fear and avoidance can worsen financial stress—and what to do instead
• Three calm, proactive actions to regain control of your money
• Why awareness is more powerful than anxiety when facing financial pressure

If this episode hit close to home and you’re ready to replace anxiety with a plan that actually works, book a free clarity call with Laura today. Let’s get you from delinquent to in control—one smart step at a time.
 👉 Visit AccelerateYourLegacy.com
 to schedule your call.

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Transcript

Audio Only - All Participants-12: 0:00

Delinquencies are rising, repossessions are up, and the word 2008 is floating around again. But before the fear takes over, I want to slow things down and talk about what's really happening and what you can do right now to stay steady.

Laura: 0:16

hello and welcome to money and career mastery from overwhelmed to ownership. I'm Laura Sexton, your abundance and legacy coach here to help you navigate the world of money, debt payoff, and career growth with confidence and clarity. In this podcast, we'll tackle the financial and career challenges, holding you back, optimize your income and build the freedom that comes with true ownership. If you're ready to break free from overwhelm, create a budget that aligns with your values and design a legacy that empowers future generations. You're in the right place.

Audio Only - All Participants-12: 0:51

Hey, accelerators, I may sound a little different today because I'm recording this on my phone in my kids' room while my baby is asleep in my room and it's coming to you a little bit late. That's because yesterday when I sat down to go through everything and listen to the podcast back. I was so disappointed in it. It didn't have the heart that I wanted it to have. It didn't have the message I wanted it to have, and I wasn't about to send out a podcast that was just wrong. So today I wanted to redo this for you, so it's coming on a daylight, but it's not a dollar short. There's a lot of debt anxiety happening right now. There are a lot of delinquencies happening right now, and so I wanted to talk about that. If you got my newsletter this week, I talked about it a little bit and I just needed to go a little bit deeper. So credit card delinquencies are the highest that they have been in over 10 years, and maybe I should pause for a second and talk about when I say delinquent. What I mean is they haven't yet gone to collections, but they are 30 to 90 days past due. Now I'm seeing this more and more every day with clients coming to me and their margins are just squeezed. Truth of the matter is when you have a bunch of things coming at you, your income isn't going up, but the price of eggs are, and our grocery bill is, and the price of gas is, and housing costs they're not coming down the way that we are hoping they were, and interest rates aren't coming down the way that we hope they were. It can just feel a little heavy. So delinquencies, when I say that, what I'm saying is things that are 30 to 90 days past due, they're delinquent accounts, but they aren't quite off into collections. So credit card delinquencies are the highest they've been in 10 years. Our credit card debt as a nation is over$1.5 trillion, which is just insane. And when people come to me and they're like, yo, well I pay my credit cards off every month. I'm like, yeah, good for you. There are a lot of people that don't, there are a lot of people that can't. And to say that you are winning the game, I beg to differ. I think you're getting 2% back on a card. That's all well and good, but studies show that you're spending 15 to 18% more because you're playing with OPM other people's money and that means you're getting 2% back, but you're spending. 12 to 15% more than you would have. So are you really winning? That's the question. Auto repossessions are up nearly 30% year over year, which is just astounding. They're having to wear bulletproof vest because it's incredibly dangerous to go and take somebody's car out of their driveway is not a safe thing to do. But when you don't pay for your car, the dealership is going to come get it back. Foreclosures unfortunately are beginning to rise again. That's why we're hearing the term 2008 talked about over and over and over again. There are a lot of people that had a mortgage and they were able to cover things or they just bought too much house for what they have the ability to pay for, and it's hard, but we have to go ahead and have a normalization of what is actually happening. There needs to be some clarity because cost of living pressures. They're not going away. And high interest rates, guess what? Those aren't going away either. This is not a financial apocalypse, so that's not what I'm predicting. I'm not predicting at any point in time that we're gonna have a crash like we had in 2008, but I am predicting that there are a lot of people that are hurting right now. There are a lot of people that have too many debts and not enough money at the end of the month. There are too many people that are worried about what they are and are not going to be able to feed their children if they're going to be able to live life the way that they wanna live it. Now, this doesn't mean we're doomed, but it does mean that we need an awareness, but it also means that we need action. We have to make a change. When I give these statistics about delinquencies and repossessions and foreclosures. There is a family behind every single one of those statistics, and it may even be you. Now, I don't want you to feel negatively about this. I just wanna get clear so that we can move forward confidently. But a lot of people when they come to me and they have these delinquencies or they have the foreclosure of the repossession, there's a lot of shame and there's a lot of panic, and there's a whole lot of avoidance. And the problem with the avoidance. Is that it just causes more problems. Fear is a signal. It's not a sentence. It doesn't mean that you have to give into it. So let's say, yeah, okay, there's some fear here, but I'm not going to live in it. I'm not going to allow that to cause shame or to cause panic. I have a couple clients that I've been working with and they were facing foreclosure. They were three months behind. On their house. And they were like, what do we do? And what we ended up doing was figuring out with the bank, the bank doesn't wanna foreclose, the bank does not wanna take your house back because then they have to go through all of the paperwork and the processes and they have to resell it and they're gonna get less for it than you would get if you just short sold the thing. Or quick sold the thing. And so the bank is sitting here going, I don't wanna, I don't wanna repossess this house. What can we do? And they're willing to work with you. Now, car dealerships, they are happy to repossess their car.'cause not only do they get your asset, but then they're able to come after you for the difference. It's no good for you. Do not voluntarily repossess your car. That's the worst thing you can do. Okay, so again, we're not doomed and I don't want you to fear anything. If you are feeling very uneasy though, feel free to reach out to me. Let's have a conversation because I can help you if you are upside down on your car and you're like, I don't know what I can do.'cause they're gonna come take it if I don't make a payment. We have to get proactive and there are things that we can do to get you into a better position, but first. And the most I can do on this podcast right now is talk with you, right? Until we're having a one-on-one conversation. I can go back and forth. I can give you as many resources as possible, but first what I wanna do is have you do some reflection. Is there an area of your finances that you have been avoiding because it's been too heavy? I used to be the ostrich. I used to bury my head in the sand. I was so afraid to look at my money. It was so overwhelming and I just didn't wanna do it. So I've been there. I know exactly what it means to just not to pay attention, but it doesn't help anything. In fact, it definitely hurts the situation in most cases. So go ahead and reflect on that. Where's one area of your finances that you've been avoiding? Because it feels too heavy. Now I wanna reframe your fear as information. When your body starts signaling you in anxiety or stress, you're not able to sleep. That's your body doing its job. Its job is to keep you awake. And if it knows there's a 900 pound gorilla, AKA, the IRS, or your mortgage company breathing down your neck. Your body's going to keep you awake. Your body's gonna be sounding all the alarm bells, and it's doing its job. It's telling you, Hey, something has to change here. So that's a good thing. When you start having those feelings, your body's telling you something's wrong. I. Once we see that something's wrong, we need to then name the problem. When we name it, we can regain power over it. It's like when you're in an AA meeting, you have to call yourself an alcoholic because until then the alcohol has control of you. But when you name it, you can control the situation. So here are three calm actions. Check where you stand. Really look at your balances, look at your bills, look at your due dates. Do you have the ability to cover everything? Choose one thing to change. Maybe you're adding in a budget review or you're canceling a subscription, or you're gonna shop your car insurance around.'cause you might be able to save a couple hundred dollars just by doing that, just by shopping your insurances. And I want you to plan a money date, be it with yourself, an accountability partner, your spouse. Take time to sit and go over what your finances actually look like. By doing this, we're giving an awareness to it. This isn't supposed to be scary, it's supposed to be empowering. And if you go through all of these things and you get all of the numbers laid out and you're like, I cannot continue, give me a call. Let's book a clarity call. Let's get clear and confident with your next right steps. I have one client right now who has 36 things in collections. We are working diligently to get her out of there. If you are in delinquent status, we can get you out, but I need you to know things. Just going, oh, well I'll just let it go to collections, so I'll let it ruin my credit score. I've never thought that I'd ever be able to buy a house. Anyway, it is a big deal'cause you see no score. That's great. A high score. That's fine. But a low score is terrible. It's terrible for you'cause it's gonna increase your insurance and it's, people treat you badly if you have a bad score. Here's the reality. Not only is it bad on things like insurance and job security, job issues, but if you owe money on things like federal student loans or your taxes, it's not just affecting your credit score. They can come in and garnish your wages. They can come in and take possession of your house. We can't, we can't do this. That's a 900 pound gorilla that you can't get away from, so do not let things lapse thinking that it's not gonna hurt you later if it's already happened. If it's already happened, it's happened. We're not gonna be able to go back and change the past. But if it hasn't already happened, let's keep it from happening. Let's get a handle on this. Let's take control. Let's start from a place of, I'm going to take control of my situation because 94% of America's millionaires believe that they control their own destiny. Let's be one of that 94%. Let's take control of what you can take control of. If anything that I've said today feels familiar, you don't have to white Knuck, let alone go ahead and schedule that clarity call with me. We'll replace your anxiety with a plan that actually works. I promise you it works. I've helped hundreds of people get from a place of delinquency into a place of full on control and financially thriving what we're gonna talk about is going to be really fun. We're gonna talk about what really frightens people about their money and how to face it without fear, so you don't want to miss that. If you have any financial fears, you wanna show up next week when we have our little Halloween episode and tackle those frightening finances. All right, accelerators, that's it for this week. Thank you for letting me come a day late because I just really wanted to make sure that this was so good for you and it wasn't good enough. It wasn't good enough before, but I think this one hit the mark. So let me know. Shoot me an email, Laura, at accelerate your legacy.com. Thanks guys so much. Have a great day. And remember, go out and make a difference.

Laura: 12:15

thank you for spending time with us today on Money and Career Mastery from Overwhelm to Ownership. Remember, your legacy isn't just about financial freedom. It's about living with purpose, taking action, and building a foundation that lasts for generations. Don't just listen, implement what you've learned and share it with someone who could use a financial or career breakthrough. If you found value in today's episode, help us grow by rating, reviewing, and sharing the podcast. I'll be back next week with more strategies to help you master your money and career. Until then take ownership of your future and build your legacy with intention.