Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/920837
AACREDITUNION.ORG | 19 4. Set up the future: Create a spending account. American Airlines Credit Union counselors have follow-up lessons with members to keep them on track and help them along the journey to become debt-free, says Longley. They also help members build nest eggs designed with the future in mind. The reason: About two-thirds of Americans don't have $1,000 set aside for emergencies, says Michael Parks, Vice President Member Services at the Credit Union. "People need emergency savings as well as a discretionary account." You can build these accounts quickly as you start paying off debts, says Scott Alan Turner, a personal fi nance radio host and author. Once you pay off a bill, take the money that was originally earmarked for that debt and split it between your savings accounts and the next debt target on your list. "You're already used to making those payments, so keep making them," he says. 3. Work at it: Dedicate your attention and resolve to pay down debt. Once you're ready to start paying down debt, choose an easy goal. Your lowest card balance is a good place to start. Once you've succeeded in paying it off , tackle debts in order of interest rate and balance since the more you owe and the higher the rate, the more that debt will cost over time, says Cary Siegel, the author of Why Didn't They Teach Me This in School? 99 Personal Money Management Principles to Live By. "If you get rid of a small balance, you'll feel successful, but once you do that you want to wipe out the cards that are accruing the most compound interest each month."