This Financial Expert Gives You Tips to Pay Off Your Debt

Financial expert Elle Kaplan, CEO of LexION Capital Management, offers advice on avoiding your own fiscal cliff.

AGE 22

Your Status: You're adjusting to independent adulthood just as you start having to fork over loan payments each month.

Your Action Plan: Take inventory of your loans and focus on those with the highest interest rates. Set up auto-transfers.

Your Budget: Track where your money goes. Learn the difference between needs and wants. Avoid credit cards at all costs.

AGE 28

Your Status: You've been promoted or moved on to your second job and want to take your finances to the next level.

Your Action Plan: Assess your progress and ask yourself: What changes can I make to generate extra income to put toward my debt?

Your Budget: Use the 50-20-30 plan: 50% of each paycheck goes to bills and needs, 20% to savings, and 30% to fun.

AGE 35

Your Status: You feel more financially free than a decade ago but are confronting a whole new set of goals and priorities.

Your Action Plan: Plan for the future. Ask yourself what you want in the next year, and in the next decade, and plan accordingly.

Your Budget: Cut back on lifestyle creep—are dinners that were once a treat now routine? See what you can eliminate.

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