How much to spend? This is a simple question, but not much thought is given to it and few people answer it. This causes indebtedness of business owners and the population to grow steadily, causing numerous problems for families and the economy. But remain calm! There is solution.

I am a financial educator in Feira de Santana - Bahia, reporting the reasons and the sad reality of people in debt, and possible solutions to their problems. Many entrepreneurs come to me in search of a miracle solution to balance their accounts and re-establish credit, because, due to their daily tasks, sometimes they don’t have time or the desire to record and analyze their spending. I understood this, when a couple, owners of a bakery, went through financial problems because they did not keep records of their expenditures, and used the company´s money for excessive domestic spending.

Because financial education is not part of Brazilian culture, as for this couple, a large number of our people do not find financial mathematics attractive, and are unable to close their accounts at the end of the month. However, this does not only involve neglect to keep accounts, other factors are just as harmful, such as the inability to calculate one’s expenses.

In this globalized and extremely capitalist world, large companies, using perverse marketing, use many strategies and psychological appeals to provide more credit and sell more, without being concerned if what they are doing is good or bad for their customers. Consumerism thus goes beyond the limits of financial sanity and ability.

And what are the consequences? There are many!!! They range from loss of credit for really important purchases, to physical, psychological and social problems, creating real obstacles in people's lives. But not all is lost; there are institutions, sites, news reports on television that bring guidance on how to solve and rearrange one’s finances, making a consumer aware of his real needs and financial capacity.

But this depends a lot on one’s own attitude about halting, thinking, keeping records and accounts and answering a simple question: HOW MUCH TO SPEND?