MarketWatch: “MarketWatch: “6 valuable lessons about credit cards that these financial planners wish they’d known when they were younger”
MarketWatch, Nov. 26, 2021 — Marguerita Cheng, CFP® Pro, is featured in today’s MarketWatch article by Kimberly Palmer, who tells the stories of financial planners who grew up hearing horror stories about credit card debt and so they steered clear as young adults.
Marguerita says she was initially afraid of credit since her father warned her early on about the risks of interest and fees.
She explains: “I studied abroad in Japan in my early 20s, and host family’s smoking and cats aggravated my asthma. I had to find new housing and buy a futon quickly. That $300 purchase was made possible by my credit card. It would have been hard for me to get out of that home without a credit card. It taught me that having credit was important for emergencies. My dad, who came to the U.S. in the 1960s with $17, taught me that credit was powerful and risky. He would always say, ‘Don’t spend money in the dark,’ meaning fees and fines — that’s just wasting money. My dad did teach me well. I didn’t abuse credit. I use it wisely. My father was so proud of me (and concerned about my health) that he paid my credit card bill.”