Why having a good credit score shouldn't be your goal

At a young age, I remember hearing about the importance of having a good credit score. That having a good credit score meant that I was good about handling my money. Boy, is that lie.

A credit score is nothing more than a measure of how good you are at being in DEBT. Absolutely, NO where in the calculation of your credit score does it consider your income, savings, retirement funding, or net worth. It ONLY includes your debts. To be exact:

35% - debt history

30% - debt level

15% - duration of the debt

10% - type of debt

10% - new debt

So, why is having a good credit score such a big deal? Unfortunately, in this day in age, being in debt is normal, so the credit score has become a normal method to grade your money habits.

But, who wants to be normal? I know I don't!

Don't get me wrong, I don't want you to make it a goal to go out and trash your credit score. Having a BAD credit score is not the goal. If you are in debt, honor it. Make your payments, and pay it off. Fast. But once you get out, don't look back!

Your credit score only looks at the last 7 years - or 10 if you've filed for bankruptcy. Once there have been 7 (or 10) years of inactivity on your debt record, it will simply disappear. You won't have a 0 credit score, you won't have one at all.

Does that scare you? It shouldn't.

When do people check your credit score? Most of the scenarios I can think of involve GETTING into debt. For example, when you apply for a credit card, or you want to finance a new car. But, you have no intention of doing these things anymore, right?? ;)

Even though having a good credit score should't be a goal of yours, I will want you monitoring your credit score. Why? I want you to look for activity that is inaccurate or false. In fact, more than 1 in 5 credit reports have some type of a material error on them.

You should review your score about once a year to make sure that all activity on your report is actually yours (and your identity wasn't stolen), and it's accurate. By law, the 3 credit reporting agencies (Experian, TransUnion, and Equinox) are required to provide you with a free copy of your credit report each year. If you notice an error, let them know as soon as possible! They will have 30 days to correct the issue. If they don't, they have to remove it completely.

After learning all this information, I have made a new goal for myself - I want a non-existent credit score. I don't want to be good at being in debt, I want to be debt-free. I don't want to be normal. Do you?