Problems With Money: You don't really have trouble until you have money trouble. Now we're talking problem with a capital P. At some time in our lives, we realize we're in competition with others. I noticed it first in 3rd grade when Tommy had Converse All Stars tennis shoes, but my parents could only afford Keds. In third grade, you had to have that star or you weren't cool. So, now you're thirty or forty and the star has grown into a 2,500 square foot house, flashy SUV or import sedan, plasma TV, designer clothes, designer vacations and cell phones for the kids, so your seven-year-old can coordinate her social calendar. Somehow the word strapped doesn't quite say it...maybe hog-tied is a better term. I often counsel people who have money trouble, to add up all their credit card balances and then list the cost of everything they remember buying to get to that number. A precious few might remember half of the stuff that was so important they went into debt for it. Imagine paying 20 years on Christmas gifts the kids broke within weeks.