debt

Debt is that which is owed; usually referencing assets owed, but the term can also cover moral obligations and other interactions not requiring money. In the case of assets, debt is a means of using future purchasing power in the present before a summation has been earned. Some companies and corporations use debt as a part of their overall corporate finance strategy.

A debt is created when a creditor agrees to lend a sum of assets to a debtor. In modern society, debt is usually granted with expected repayment; in most cases, plus interest.

Payment

Before a debt can be made, both the debtor and the creditor must agree on the manner in which the debt will be repaid, known as the standard of deferred payment. This payment is usually denominated as a sum of money in units of currency, but can sometimes be denominated in terms of goods or services. Payment can be made in increments over a period of time, or all at once at the end of the loan agreement.

Debt

Debt is that which is owed; usually referencing assets owed, but the term can cover other obligations. A debt is created when a creditor agrees to loan a sum of assets to a debtor.

Sourced

• It shows nobility to be willing to increase your debt to a man to whom you already owe much.
  • Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares, II, 6, 2 (43 BC)

• A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing.
  • Alexander Hamilton, Letter (April 30, 1781)

• Be assured that it gives much more pain to the mind to be in debt, than to do without any article whatever which we may seem to want.
  • Thomas Jefferson, Letter to his daughter, Martha Jefferson (June 14, 1787)

• Live within your means, never be in debt, and by husbanding your money you can always lay it out well. But when you get in debt you become a slave. Therefore I say to you never involve yourself in debt, and become no man’s surety. If your friend is in distress, aid him if you have the means to spare. If he fails to be able to return it, it is only so much lost.
  • Andrew Jackson, Letter to his ward Andrew Jackson Hutchings (April 18, 1833)

• You must, to get through life well, practice industry with economy, never create a debt for anything that is not absolutely necessary, and if you make a promise to pay money at a day certain, be sure to comply with it. If you do not, you lay yourself liable to have your feelings injured and your reputation destroyed with the just imputation of violating your word.
  • Andrew Jackson, Letter to Andrew Jackson, Jr. (April 14, 1835)

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Mon Sep 6 09:59:21 2010