Americans are hemorrhaging with maxed-out credit cards. This is a product of buying too much home and fancy cars or just trying to keep up with the rising cost of the daily costs of life.

But everyone (for the most part) has some debt, even if it is just student loans and the mortgage payments. How do you know when you are over your head in debt and need to cut back?

Sadly, the answer is, if you qualify as the typical American household, you do not budget appropriately and have already managed to over-extend yourself and have too much debt. According to ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­USA Today, America has $943.5 billion in outstanding revolving debt, which is only worsening as the economy continues to create a financial squeeze.

Most people will acknowledge that they want to take control of their finances and eliminate debt, but more likely the problem will just continue to get worse. That’s because debt is a lot like the attic or storage closet that you know needs to get organized.

You are well aware that there is a problem that you can solve, and you know, and you know it’s something you have to tackle or it will just continue to get worse. But it is very easy to keep putting it off for another day. It is also easy to just keep adding a few more tiny purchases to the problem because, “it’s already a mess. This one extra little purchase won’t make it any worse.”

Unfortunately, those little extra purchases make the debt problem much worse. Just like people who get rich by taking advantage of letting their small investments compound into big accounts over time, your debt also compounds. All the little bills quickly add up, and the interest payments just get bigger and bigger.

But When Do I Have Too Much Debt?

The simple answer is, when your expenses exceed your income. At this point your personal finances are spiraling out of control and you will likely find yourself in a in a situation that is difficult to resolve on your own. This is a position that you want to avoid at all costs. If you are in a serious debt situation, you may want to consider seeking professional help.

Ideally, though, your debt should not exceed 36% of your total income before taxes. This includes your mortgage payment, which should be below 20% of you pre-tax income.

By keeping your debt to a minimum, this will allow you to build an emergency fund and contribute more to your investment accounts. This will keep you safe from being “upside down.”

If you’re prudent enough to put the extra cash away in a high-yield savings or investment account, your chances of retiring a millionaire will be in your favor.

Keep all of your expenses and debts below 36% of your income, and use the remaining funds to put towards savings or your retirement account.

Most of us don’t have the luxury of becoming rich by chance or because wealth was handed to us. That’s okay. Most wealthy people weren’t either.

So how do we make sure we become wealthy? The only sure way to become rich is to do it the hard way. That is, to create our own luck by following the basic rules of making money.

I think of money and wealth as a sport. Just like professional athletes who still spend countless hours practicing free throw shots or their golf drive, money is the same way. Creating wealth is just a matter of understanding and applying the fundamentals and always striving get better at mastering the basics.

Here are the basic rules of money that will guarantee you to become rich, as I see it:

Control Your Outcome:

• Keep control on spending and expenses
• Understand how credit and debt works and keep debt to a minimum

Produce More Income:

• Get educated: people with advanced degrees earn more money
• Make yourself valuable
• Negotiate a higher salary and receive promotions
• Obtain higher paying jobs
• Produce other additional income streams by creating your own business

Save and Automate:

• Adjust to live within your means
• When you earn more income, save more
• Automate your savings so it is effortless and does not require any decision making

Invest and Diversify:

• Put your money to work for you by regularly investing your savings
• Take full advantage of tax-sheltered retirement accounts, employee matches to your 401k contribution and the tax advantages and leverage that real estate offers
• Diversify in order to maximize your long-term returns
• Understand the Power of Compound Interest

Protect Your Money:

• Limit your losses as much as possible by taking calculated risks
• Keep your portfolio balanced, and adjust as you near retirement
• Seek ways to lower your taxable income so you can keep more of your money working for you

Build Relationships: with the best professional advisers and mentors

This is the surest way to become rich. It is not complicated. Building wealth just takes patience and discipline. If you can reduce your debt, save more than you spend, and invest your savings regularly, you will become wealthy.

Teach yourself the fundamental rules of money and practice them over and over. If you can master the basics of money, you will become rich.

Possible the best way to keep your job, earn promotions and receive raises at work is to become an incredibly valuable employee. When you are an asset to your company, you become something that is a good return on investment. Here are 57 ways to make yourself indispensable work:

1. Get involved with training and development
2. Find inefficiencies and redundant tasks and eliminate them
3. Offer to help with the recruiting process
4. Help other employees to be productive
5. Uncover ways to increase revenue with existing clients
6. Acquire new customers
7. Discover new markets and channels for your company’s product/service
8. Present ideas on how to decrease costs
9. Improve workplace communication and workflow by introducing new technologies
10. Always take the opportunity to impress your boss
11. Volunteer when tasks need to be completed
12. Automate your mundane tasks
13. Learn to delegate and outsource jobs
14. Focus primarily on your strengths
15. Ask about professional development opportunities to work on your weaknesses
16. Push yourself beyond your comfort zone
17. Do more than is expected of you
18. Invite constructive criticism
19. Challenge yourself to learn more about the business and how you would run it as the owner
20. Review your company’s goals and your job description, and analyze if your work is achieving those goals
21. Create a list of no more than 3 things that must be accomplished every day, and primarily focus on those ultimate goals
22. Broaden your internal contacts and relationships by participating in committees and important decision making discussions
23. Support your boss
24. Have honest discussions with your boss about your goals and ask for their support
25. Set the bar high enough that it keeps you challenged and motivated, but realistic
26. At all times, carefully select the words you use and write clear, concise emails
27. Don’t worry about pointing fingers. Be a problem solver
28. Be prepared to drop everything to help put out fires
29. Work for the benefit of the team
30. Be aware of how your actions reflect on your boss
31. Realize you set the standard expectations for your subordinates
32. Invest in yourself and always be “presentable”
33. Try to work things out with your boss before going over their head
34. Don’t take business personally – it’s just a job
35. Realize that other people do take business personally and sometimes you have to treat it like high school
36. Think of yourself as representing the company
37. Have respect for employees, regardless of what you think of them personally
38. Reward your colleagues for good behavior, even with just a “thank you”
39. Think about how to work smart not working hard
40. Use the tools you have to leverage your work. How can you get more done with less effort and less time?
41. Turn bad situations into positive experiences. Every challenge is an opportunity
42. Make yourself indispensable. Become so vital to the company’s success that they cannot afford to lose you
43. Don’t complain, but stand up for what is fair. Pick your battles carefully
44. Stay busy and ask where you can help during slow periods
45. Be visible by becoming the person that accomplished X
46. Keep your attitude in check. Your high moral can positively effect the team
47. Remain optimistic for the future and the opportunity that it presents
48. Earn job security by having options. Companies hate losing good employees to competitors
49. Work on personally branding and what you represent as an employee
50. Don’t be afraid to use your creativity and take calculated risk
51. Be a good “corporate citizen”
52. Instill a competitive environment
53. Position yourself as the “go-to” guy
54. Make things happen
55. Maintain a positive attitude
56. Have fun

And the #1 way to keep you job… find out the dirt on senior managers