Admission Essay for Counseling Psychology Program

My nation, Serbia, experienced a time of fear and wars, particularly during the NATO Bombing in 1999. This checking occasion in our history showed me more than what my proper training could. Before this calamity struck, I was a full-time understudy and the University of Pristina studying English Language and Literature. During the high of political changes, the circumstance in Kosovo was at that point tense.Minorities had steady incitements, and disdain had a firm engraving on the individuals. My life was intensely affected, just as my training. I had encountered direct being â€Å"persona non grate† in the your adolescence community.I wished everybody could comprehend what this implied for us all, paying little mind to what our identity was and where we originated from. Being indicted and not reserving the privilege to make the most of our school days was a sharp memory, yet something I live by as a wellspring of my quality. I encountered inclinations and preference, yet I st and firm.I was dealt with seriously, however my fantasies never obscured from my sight. I was genuinely influenced, however I was progressively enlivened to seek after these fantasies, and become an instructor. Opportunity in this nation was underestimated, and our school life overlooked.The war made it important for me to leave Pristina and Kosovo. Stunned and frightened, I returned to a home where flames, bombings and NATO planes attacked my day by day agenda. The shrieking alarms didn't support our circumstance. It appeared that we only trusted that the bomb will drop on our heads and oppose us from minor existence.During all the frenzy, I attempted to stifle my worry by being idealistic for my family and friends.â As a kid, I have been my family's â€Å"corrupter of words†, as I've generally considered myself to be one of Shakespeare’s fools. My mother consistently called attention to my capacity to modify words and it's implications to make an individual â€Å" philosophical† statement.I would frequently include humor when the our lives would appear to be tasteless, different occasions when we feel the frenzy slithering through our bones, and dread totally drawing our countenances. The bombings showed us this.As you watch the planes each day, you'd get the chance to understand that there are things you can do as not to be so focused. Since we were unable to forestall the numerous fiascos in our lives, we can re-outline the dread and agony to something increasingly positive. The thought was to carry on with your life as typically as could reasonably be expected, by encouraging yourself to be visually impaired of a portion of the negative occasions in our lives.It wasn't too awful during those alarming days. There were sure results also, as in parties where the remarkable cleverness and soul in my way of life gave me a decent confidence and hopefulness to make due one days from now. On the off chance that I couldn’t dispose of w orry by changing or disregarding the circumstance, the least I could do was offer social support.My significant enthusiasm for instructing English to individuals of various dialects didn’t waver because of the war. It permitted me to finish my training on schedule, and start my profession as an English instructor. In the homeroom, it is especially significant for me to comprehend the perspective of the understudy, and use silliness and genuine circumstances to get my focuses across.I built up my enthusiasm for exploring about language through my undergrad contemplates. My more prominent intrigue is on how sociocultural variables affect the mindfulness, plan, execution, and evaluation of a second language in a multicultural network, in contrast with those in socially homogeneous communities.ESL classes in Serbia were increasingly British arranged, both in phonetics and culture. As a youthful instructor, I have consistently been available to new educating strategies. I likewise attempted to include curiosities into the educational program. My choice to go through a year in the United States was bolstered by my longing to become familiar with the American culture.I accept this will widen my points of view on social assorted variety and various frameworks of instruction. Besides, this will increase my own and expert turn of events. I can say that life can be truly erratic on the grounds that my one year visit become an existence of experience and conceivable outcomes by examining psychology.You would know whether you are encountering life if the breeze pushes you every which way. My faculties were encircled with vulnerability as I included myself in an alternate culture. I knew how it felt to be a little fish in a major lake. Being a universal understudy from Eastern Europe didn't set me up for the many intriguing things another nation can offer me.The starting information picked up from course readings, and the spots I've made a trip to see, were put to sq uander as I ventured onto obscure region. I felt vulnerable, and needed urgently to return home. I could have been with my family, a cup of cappuccino and the paper inside my grips. Be that as it may, despite the fact that I encountered culture stun, I accept hands-on instruction is as yet the best teacher.Soon subsequent to showing up in another nation, I was gotten between my old qualities from my local culture, and the new estimations of the host culture. I was compelled to adjust so as to endure. Acclimating to another culture, new framework, and new life, was not a simple errand. Be that as it may, my capacity to adjust permitted me to confront any snag. My objectives were constantly set at whatever point I face any test. I never let my confidence falter.I love to feel tested in light of the fact that it makes me work twice as hard. I demonstrated this by acquiring my second college degree (BA in Liberal Arts/Psychology) and graduating with the most elevated honors.â I genera lly attempted to go after the stars.â But the contrary side of the coin is wistfulness. Something that is available when I am working, contemplating, eating, and in any event, when sleeping.Being a global understudy among individual outsiders in the US caused me to acknowledge how much social help and understanding was important to challenge and accomplish scholastically in different nations. By considering the issues understudies have in the US, and by creating various methodologies and arrangements, I trust I can be an incredible instructor in a multicultural world. Just by its idea made me anxious to find out additional, and increment the collection of directing styles and abilities nearby others.During my senior year of school, I led a broad writing survey on â€Å"psychosocial change issues of universal understudies and the requirement for social support†. I refined my exploration aptitudes in information examination utilizing SPSS, just as my capacity to introduce my discoveries in the way of an acknowledged proficient examination paper.I delighted in directing the writing survey the most, moving toward it as a scrounger chase and considering the amount and nature of data found as my prize. This venture, alongside my other undergrad examines, set me up for the rigors of graduate examination and the boundaries of effective exploration. Proficient encounters, examination, and college classes at Menlo College have additionally animated my enthusiasm for brain science and strengthened my conviction that I am appropriate to the field.Although these fluctuated research encounters have furnished me with principal abilities, I despite everything feel the requirement for all the more preparing. All things considered, school was one of the most invigorating periods throughout my life, and I discovered enormous assurance to accomplish my objective of helping other people through the investigation of psychology.Looking from the forthcoming of an understudy gave me more retrospection on my showing calling, which I love so much.â However, life is a charming railroad with numerous stations.â Some of those stations I got off at were acceptable encounters and some terrible. However, over all, it has been an excursion that keeps on.Helping others arrive at their objectives, having an uplifting disposition, and committing both individual and expert development were the qualities I held when I entered Menlo College.â They stay as a fundamental piece of my hard working attitude today.My worldwide understudy understanding, and many exploration ventures, have helped me accomplish a hypothetical establishment for the significant work of helping understudies prevail in school. We should have a comprehension and sympathy for differing understudy populaces. I took in this from the long stretches of instructing experience. Moreover, I am ready to exhibit my qualities and capacities to relate successfully with people from all levels and social b ackgrounds.These encounters have not just shown me important exercises understudy life, yet have likewise fortified my enthusiasm for seeking after my vocation in guiding brain science. Graduate school will empower me to create crucial exploration and guiding aptitudes, and the strong scholastic foundation that I should be an effective instructor and researcher.A ace's program in directing brain science won't just develop and refine my contribution in research, yet additionally outfit me to manage the difficulties of a MS program. The blend of MFT and my guiding degree will empower me to satisfy my vocation desires and energy for helping understudies out of luck. Moreover, I can set myself up in confronting the multifaceted nature of psychotherapy and unusualness when managing intense subject matters of people and their families.I have all the attributes should have been a decent advisor. Without a doubt, my dedication to my instruction will be the best resource of all. Having the o ption to effectively helpâ people later on will be my most prominent compensation for the exertion and speculation I will place myself into

Environment and corporate culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Condition and corporate culture - Essay Example Proactive reasoning and versatile methodology structures is center ideas which can assist associations with executing a culture inside an association to adapt up to the quick moving turns of events. Association confronting a violent situation must have a versatile culture so as to stay up with the changing states of market. It is basic for each association to follow the switching condition and return up with techniques in the event that they wish to get by in the business. There are number of items and administrations accessible in showcase, the person who thinks of imaginative and versatile methodologies can endure the opposition. These days, there are number of counseling offices, which are offering their types of assistance to association. These offices help association in creating suitable procedures and culture of themselves. Some of them incorporate Toffler Associates, Bloom Institute Inc and so on. Toffler Associates have arranged a benchmark measure for organizations with the goal that they can start Adaptive Culture in their association. This basis stress fundamentally on five significant territories. So as to make an association versatile, an association needs to make changes in the accompanying five regions: I. Individuals ii. Procedure iii. Methodology iv. Structure v. Innovation Any association can tap these five regions so as to seek after the Adaptive Culture. The status at which an organization needs to remain all together depict as an Adaptive Cultured association has been plainly referenced in the reports of Toffler Associates. So as to address the worldwide difficulties of 21st century, each organization needs to have some level of adaption. In this paper, organization will be examined which has now gotten extremely unmistakable because of its mechanical development and moment adaption. The name of this organization is â€Å"Apple Inc.† Apple Inc has outperformed practically all the major mechanical situated organization with regards t o adaption and development. A nitty gritty portrayal of the adaption of Apple Inc has been referenced in the resulting segments of this paper. Versatile Culture at Apple Inc Corporate culture characterizes the specific arrangement of standards and qualities shared by individuals and gatherings of each association. Each association characterizes the objectives that are to be accomplished just as the measures of conduct for achieving these objectives. It is the obligation of the administration to characterize and impart these objectives association wide. By taking a case of Apple Inc, it very well may be expressed that in spite of number of changes in the CEO level of the organization, Apple Inc has kept up its corporate culture, which had been presented when the organization was established in 1970s. By taking a gander at the verifiable execution of the organization, it very well may be said that the organization has figured out how to keep a blend of two of the most significant soci eties: I. Inventive Culture ii. Versatile Culture At the start, to certain degree, the way of life of the organization was Individualistic, which implies that it put accentuation on the individual strengthening and imagination of people. Worried to the difficulties and circumstances of 21st century, the top administration of the organization has reconsidered their procedures. In this manner, the underlying insubordinate, crazy and individualistic culture has been changed over into rising, creative and versatile culture. Nonetheless, the guiding principle of the organization have remained

What Is Your Debt-to-Income Ratio

What Is Your Debt-to-Income Ratio What Is Your Debt-to-Income Ratio? What Is Your Debt-to-Income Ratio?If youre applying for a mortgage loan, an auto loan, or even just a regular personal loan, lenders will be looking at your DTI to see whether or not you can afford it.When it comes to the numbers that rule your financial life, you’re probably familiar with the big ones like your credit score: Even if you don’t have good credit, you still know that you should try to keep your score as high as possible.But there’s another important number that you might not be so familiar with: your debt-to-income ratio. And while it’s luckily one of the simpler money metrics out thereâ€"unlike, say, your credit scoreâ€"it can have massively important implications for your financial future.What is the debt-to-income ratio?“Your debt-to-income ratio (known as DTI) is an important financial metric that you really do need to understand, explained CFP Patricia Russell, founder personal finance blog,  FinanceMarvel. And while some financial termsâ€"like “amortiz ation” for instanceâ€"can be slightly opaque, your debt-to-income ration is not one of them.“In simple terms, your DTI ratio is all of your monthly debt payments divided by your gross monthly income (expressed as a percentage), said Russell. This metric or ratio is heavily scrutinized by lenders to assess your ability to service your monthly repayments on the money you have borrowed.”It’s important to emphasize that your DTI doesn’t measure your total debt load to your total yearly income. Instead, as Russell laid out, it measures the amount of money you’re obligated to pay towards that debt every month against your monthly income.“It’s a ratio that affects your ability to access a loan,” said millennial money expert Robert Farrington, founder of TheCollegeInvestor.com (@CollegeInvestin). The basic idea is if you have too much debt relative to your income, lenders might hesitate or refuse to give you the credit you need for a large purchase.”“Your debt-to-incom e ratio (DTI) most often comes up when buying a house,” he continued, “but it is also considered by potential landlords or lessors of cars. By pulling your credit report, someone can calculate your DTI and decide whether to loan, rent, or lease to you.”What kind of debts and income count?According to Farrington, the debt obligations factored into your DTI are those that fall under the category of recurring debt, or debts that you can’t simply cancel at any time.“This includes mortgage, rent, car loans, personal loans, monthly minimum credit card payments, alimony, child support, and, of course, student loans. These are debts that are not going to go away until you’ve fully repaid them,” he said.And which debts do not count towards your DTI?“Despite the fact that you may have contracts with your internet, cable, or phone provider, you can technically pull the plug on these services any time, so they do not count. Nor do other kinds of utilities like electricity and wa ter,” said Farrington.He also went to explain which sources of income count towards the other half of the ratio. In short, it doesn’t just have to money that you earn from a job. “Your income can include not just wages, salary, and tips, but also alimony and child support, Social Security benefits, and pension,” he said. “Pretty much any money you take in on a monthly basis on the books can be considered income.”How can you calculate your DTI?Knowing what a DTI is won’t do you a ton of good if you can’t figure out how to calculate it. Luckily, figuring out your DTI is pretty simple and doesn’t require a financial advisor.“To calculate, one simply takes all debt payments and divides by gross monthly income,” said Robert R. Johnson, Professor of Finance in the  Heider College of Business, Creighton University  (@CreightonBiz). “This includes all debt paymentsâ€"mortgages, student loans, auto loans, credit cards, etc.”To give you an idea of what this process l ooks like, Farrington helpfully provided the following example:  â€œIf you have $1,000 per month in debt obligations and $3,200 per month in income, divide 1,000 by 3,200 and your answer is .3125. Round that to .31, multiply by 100, and you have a 31 percent DTI ratioâ€"Meaning that 31 percent of your income is taken by debt obligations per month.”What is a good debt-to-income ratio?When lenders are looking at your DTI, it’s to help them determine whether or not you can pay back the loan you’re applying forâ€"the same goes for landlords. As such, you want to try and keep your DTI fairly low. But the thresholds for what is an acceptable ratio can change depending on what kind of loan (or lease) you are applying for.When it comes to applying for a mortgage loan, Farrington cites Fannie Mae guidelines that say 50 percent is the acceptable DTI ceiling for prospective homebuyers. But just because 50 percent is the ceiling, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t aim lower. And the data back s that up.“According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the highest ratio a borrower can have and still be eligible for a Qualified Mortgage is 43 percent,” said Johnson. And, a Qualified Mortgage is a category of loans that have certain, more stable features that help make it more likely that the borrower will be able to afford the loan.“According to the CFPB, evidence from studies of mortgage loans suggests that borrowers with a higher debt-to-income ratio are more likely to run into trouble making monthly payments,” he added.”If you’re looking to take out an auto loan, Farrington says that a DTI of 36 percent or below is ideal to get a reasonable deal. Meanwhile, if you’re applying to rent a house or an apartment, he cautioned that DTI will vary, largely by location and property owner.“Many landlords will require that the rent will amount to no more than 33 percent of your income. Some may be more lenient and go up to 45 percent or 50 percent,” he said.If youre looking for a good overall ratio to set as your goal, aim for something just south of 30 percent. “An ideal ratio is generally around 28 percent although as mentioned above lenders will accept a higher ratio depending on other factors including your credit score, your savings levels, other assets you own,” advised Russell.But she also warned that folks shouldn’t necessarily count on a good credit score saving you from a high DTI: “Whilst credit bureaus dont look at your DTI ratio, often a borrower who has a DTI ratio also has a high credit utilization ratio which does count for around 30 percent of your credit score..Johnson agreed with 28 percent figure, while also reiterating that the lower your ratio was, the better off you’ll be.How can you improve your DTI?If you’re looking to take out a big loan and you have a high debt-to-income ratio, it’s probably best to wait. In the meantime, Russell shared three ways that people can tackle their debt and im prove their DTI.“Create a budget to track your spending:  By keeping track of exactly where your money is going, you will often find unnecessary and extravagant daily expenses. This could be something as simple as a daily $5 coffee, which over a year is $1,825 that could go towards paying down your debts.”“Prepared a strategy to pay off your debt:  My two favorite methods are the snowball and avalanche methods. How the snowball method works is that you start by paying off your smallest debt first whilst making the minimum payments on your other loans. Once you have paid off the smallest you then work your way onto the next one etc. With the Avalanche method, you focus on paying off the loan with the highest interest rate first. Whichever method you choose its important to stick with it.”“Dont take on more debt:  In order to get your debts under control, you need to avoid the temptation of taking on more debts. Dont rack up unnecessary credit card debts and avoid major purc hases like a new car on finance. New loans will really hurt your DTI ratio and wont help your credit rating either.”Paying down your debt is important for your financial health. But it might not be wise to throw yourself into debt repayment if it means foregoing other important financial priorities.“Achieving financial security is not a linear process,” said Johnson. By that, I mean that you often have to work on several competing goals at once. For instance, some people are so intent on extinguishing their credit card debtâ€"certainly a worthy goalâ€"that they choose not to participate in a workplace 401k plan.“A 401k plan affords the participant many advantages,” he continued. First, the contributions made reduce your income tax bill by reducing taxable income.  Second, if the employer matches contributionsâ€"essentially you receive an immediate 100 percent return on investment. When one doesn’t participate in an employee matching plan, one is essentially turning down free money.”Your DTI is important, but so is saving for retirement, building an emergency fund, and a whole host of other financial priorities. Take things slow and steady, and you should come out a winner on the other end. And to learn more about how you can build a brighter financial future, check out these other posts and articles from OppLoans:Building Your Financial Life: Budgeting for BeginnersSave More Money with These 40 Expert TipsThe Debt Snowball Method Can Help You Get out of DebtHow to Raise Your Credit Score by 100 PointsDo you have a   personal finance question youd like us to answer? Let us know! You can find us  on  Facebook  and  Twitter.  |  InstagramContributors???????Robert Farrington is a Millennial Money Expert and Founder of TheCollegeInvestor.com (@CollegeInvestin). He focuses on helping people get out of student loan debt to start investing and building wealth early.Robert R. Johnson, PhD, CFA, CAIA is a Professor of Finance in the  Heider College of Bus iness, Creighton University  (@CreightonBiz). He is also Chairman and CEO of Economic Index Associates, home to a new paradigm in Index investing. Dr. Johnson is the co-author of the books Invest With the Fed, Strategic Value Investing, Investment Banking for Dummies, and The Tools and Techniques of Investment Planning.Patricia Russell is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) and the founder of the personal finance blog,  FinanceMarvel, which provides free financial advice on managing credit, debit and savings. Patricia has more than 10 years experience in helping families and individuals take control of their personal finances and achieve financial independence.

What Is Your Debt-to-Income Ratio

What Is Your Debt-to-Income Ratio What Is Your Debt-to-Income Ratio? What Is Your Debt-to-Income Ratio?If youre applying for a mortgage loan, an auto loan, or even just a regular personal loan, lenders will be looking at your DTI to see whether or not you can afford it.When it comes to the numbers that rule your financial life, you’re probably familiar with the big ones like your credit score: Even if you don’t have good credit, you still know that you should try to keep your score as high as possible.But there’s another important number that you might not be so familiar with: your debt-to-income ratio. And while it’s luckily one of the simpler money metrics out thereâ€"unlike, say, your credit scoreâ€"it can have massively important implications for your financial future.What is the debt-to-income ratio?“Your debt-to-income ratio (known as DTI) is an important financial metric that you really do need to understand, explained CFP Patricia Russell, founder personal finance blog,  FinanceMarvel. And while some financial termsâ€"like “amortiz ation” for instanceâ€"can be slightly opaque, your debt-to-income ration is not one of them.“In simple terms, your DTI ratio is all of your monthly debt payments divided by your gross monthly income (expressed as a percentage), said Russell. This metric or ratio is heavily scrutinized by lenders to assess your ability to service your monthly repayments on the money you have borrowed.”It’s important to emphasize that your DTI doesn’t measure your total debt load to your total yearly income. Instead, as Russell laid out, it measures the amount of money you’re obligated to pay towards that debt every month against your monthly income.“It’s a ratio that affects your ability to access a loan,” said millennial money expert Robert Farrington, founder of TheCollegeInvestor.com (@CollegeInvestin). The basic idea is if you have too much debt relative to your income, lenders might hesitate or refuse to give you the credit you need for a large purchase.”“Your debt-to-incom e ratio (DTI) most often comes up when buying a house,” he continued, “but it is also considered by potential landlords or lessors of cars. By pulling your credit report, someone can calculate your DTI and decide whether to loan, rent, or lease to you.”What kind of debts and income count?According to Farrington, the debt obligations factored into your DTI are those that fall under the category of recurring debt, or debts that you can’t simply cancel at any time.“This includes mortgage, rent, car loans, personal loans, monthly minimum credit card payments, alimony, child support, and, of course, student loans. These are debts that are not going to go away until you’ve fully repaid them,” he said.And which debts do not count towards your DTI?“Despite the fact that you may have contracts with your internet, cable, or phone provider, you can technically pull the plug on these services any time, so they do not count. Nor do other kinds of utilities like electricity and wa ter,” said Farrington.He also went to explain which sources of income count towards the other half of the ratio. In short, it doesn’t just have to money that you earn from a job. “Your income can include not just wages, salary, and tips, but also alimony and child support, Social Security benefits, and pension,” he said. “Pretty much any money you take in on a monthly basis on the books can be considered income.”How can you calculate your DTI?Knowing what a DTI is won’t do you a ton of good if you can’t figure out how to calculate it. Luckily, figuring out your DTI is pretty simple and doesn’t require a financial advisor.“To calculate, one simply takes all debt payments and divides by gross monthly income,” said Robert R. Johnson, Professor of Finance in the  Heider College of Business, Creighton University  (@CreightonBiz). “This includes all debt paymentsâ€"mortgages, student loans, auto loans, credit cards, etc.”To give you an idea of what this process l ooks like, Farrington helpfully provided the following example:  â€œIf you have $1,000 per month in debt obligations and $3,200 per month in income, divide 1,000 by 3,200 and your answer is .3125. Round that to .31, multiply by 100, and you have a 31 percent DTI ratioâ€"Meaning that 31 percent of your income is taken by debt obligations per month.”What is a good debt-to-income ratio?When lenders are looking at your DTI, it’s to help them determine whether or not you can pay back the loan you’re applying forâ€"the same goes for landlords. As such, you want to try and keep your DTI fairly low. But the thresholds for what is an acceptable ratio can change depending on what kind of loan (or lease) you are applying for.When it comes to applying for a mortgage loan, Farrington cites Fannie Mae guidelines that say 50 percent is the acceptable DTI ceiling for prospective homebuyers. But just because 50 percent is the ceiling, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t aim lower. And the data back s that up.“According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the highest ratio a borrower can have and still be eligible for a Qualified Mortgage is 43 percent,” said Johnson. And, a Qualified Mortgage is a category of loans that have certain, more stable features that help make it more likely that the borrower will be able to afford the loan.“According to the CFPB, evidence from studies of mortgage loans suggests that borrowers with a higher debt-to-income ratio are more likely to run into trouble making monthly payments,” he added.”If you’re looking to take out an auto loan, Farrington says that a DTI of 36 percent or below is ideal to get a reasonable deal. Meanwhile, if you’re applying to rent a house or an apartment, he cautioned that DTI will vary, largely by location and property owner.“Many landlords will require that the rent will amount to no more than 33 percent of your income. Some may be more lenient and go up to 45 percent or 50 percent,” he said.If youre looking for a good overall ratio to set as your goal, aim for something just south of 30 percent. “An ideal ratio is generally around 28 percent although as mentioned above lenders will accept a higher ratio depending on other factors including your credit score, your savings levels, other assets you own,” advised Russell.But she also warned that folks shouldn’t necessarily count on a good credit score saving you from a high DTI: “Whilst credit bureaus dont look at your DTI ratio, often a borrower who has a DTI ratio also has a high credit utilization ratio which does count for around 30 percent of your credit score..Johnson agreed with 28 percent figure, while also reiterating that the lower your ratio was, the better off you’ll be.How can you improve your DTI?If you’re looking to take out a big loan and you have a high debt-to-income ratio, it’s probably best to wait. In the meantime, Russell shared three ways that people can tackle their debt and im prove their DTI.“Create a budget to track your spending:  By keeping track of exactly where your money is going, you will often find unnecessary and extravagant daily expenses. This could be something as simple as a daily $5 coffee, which over a year is $1,825 that could go towards paying down your debts.”“Prepared a strategy to pay off your debt:  My two favorite methods are the snowball and avalanche methods. How the snowball method works is that you start by paying off your smallest debt first whilst making the minimum payments on your other loans. Once you have paid off the smallest you then work your way onto the next one etc. With the Avalanche method, you focus on paying off the loan with the highest interest rate first. Whichever method you choose its important to stick with it.”“Dont take on more debt:  In order to get your debts under control, you need to avoid the temptation of taking on more debts. Dont rack up unnecessary credit card debts and avoid major purc hases like a new car on finance. New loans will really hurt your DTI ratio and wont help your credit rating either.”Paying down your debt is important for your financial health. But it might not be wise to throw yourself into debt repayment if it means foregoing other important financial priorities.“Achieving financial security is not a linear process,” said Johnson. By that, I mean that you often have to work on several competing goals at once. For instance, some people are so intent on extinguishing their credit card debtâ€"certainly a worthy goalâ€"that they choose not to participate in a workplace 401k plan.“A 401k plan affords the participant many advantages,” he continued. First, the contributions made reduce your income tax bill by reducing taxable income.  Second, if the employer matches contributionsâ€"essentially you receive an immediate 100 percent return on investment. When one doesn’t participate in an employee matching plan, one is essentially turning down free money.”Your DTI is important, but so is saving for retirement, building an emergency fund, and a whole host of other financial priorities. Take things slow and steady, and you should come out a winner on the other end. And to learn more about how you can build a brighter financial future, check out these other posts and articles from OppLoans:Building Your Financial Life: Budgeting for BeginnersSave More Money with These 40 Expert TipsThe Debt Snowball Method Can Help You Get out of DebtHow to Raise Your Credit Score by 100 PointsDo you have a   personal finance question youd like us to answer? Let us know! You can find us  on  Facebook  and  Twitter.  |  InstagramContributors???????Robert Farrington is a Millennial Money Expert and Founder of TheCollegeInvestor.com (@CollegeInvestin). He focuses on helping people get out of student loan debt to start investing and building wealth early.Robert R. Johnson, PhD, CFA, CAIA is a Professor of Finance in the  Heider College of Bus iness, Creighton University  (@CreightonBiz). He is also Chairman and CEO of Economic Index Associates, home to a new paradigm in Index investing. Dr. Johnson is the co-author of the books Invest With the Fed, Strategic Value Investing, Investment Banking for Dummies, and The Tools and Techniques of Investment Planning.Patricia Russell is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) and the founder of the personal finance blog,  FinanceMarvel, which provides free financial advice on managing credit, debit and savings. Patricia has more than 10 years experience in helping families and individuals take control of their personal finances and achieve financial independence.