FICO may not be the holy grail you have made it out to be. Wealthy people care about income and assets – not about credit and debt. Your credit score may actually be worthless to you.

So why are we (the average consumer) brainwashed into taking on debt and maintaining credit cards to keep our FICO scores high?

Shopaholics have been schooled to buy first, and pay later. Or maybe even hide the credit card statements. Out of sight, free to shop.

5 reasons why your FICO score is a false idol:

1. Your FICO Does Not Cover the Nut.

If you have income to cover your bills, what do you need credit for. If you don’t have enough money to buy gas, to pay for groceries, or to handle life’s expenses, you have much bigger problems than a fluctuating number determined by a computer algorithm.

2. No Control.

No matter how many credit repair books you read, it is hard to raise your score except by paying your bills on time. And even then, which bills you pay can have more to do with your score than how much you pay.

Not all bills are created equal. The credit score might improve if you pay certain bills on time, such as a POTS line phone (Plain Old Telephone Service – it’s a real term), mortgage, gas, electric, and other utilities. But let your debt-to-credit ratio get too high on your credit cards and you can get slammed no matter how current your payments are.

3. Inaccurate.

Credit scores are dry mathematical formulas. No real human contact. Mistakes can live forever. Most human activities can only lower your score.

Your income does not raise or lower your score. How can that be? Remember, your credit score only cares about your payment history and debt-to-credit ratio. Nothing more.

4. Too Much Debt.

A high FICO paves the way to take on and use more debt. No one who pays their bills each month with a couple of dollars left over has any need for credit. A high credit score is meaningless for the wealthy and the modest.

Use credit so-called wisely (pay at least the minimum on time each month) and you will raise your FICO score and be flooded by bank offers to take more credit cards.

Easy and credit should never come together in a sentence. How many products have you bought that you did not need just because financing was available.

5. Can’t Take Credit Score With You.

When your eulogy is read at your funeral, trust me, your FICO score will not be mentioned.

Living a prosperous and wealthy life is a desire of most humans. I don’t mean just spiritual wealth, but real dollars. No man or woman can live to the fullest without money. Having a debt master will surely burden your life.

Eat well. Get a full night’s sleep. Make love to your wife.

Live happily within your means.

Don’t lose sleep or thousands of dollars protecting your credit.

Our site – Burn Down the Freaking Mission – offers additional information on destroying debt, recovering your privacy, and living debt free.