The publication of last week?s inaugural column caused quite a stir. Can you really make me rich?? seemed to be the general response, with an under-current of ?Ooh, you big fat liar.?

In case you missed it, I wrote last week that this column would explain how it is possible to ?get rich slowly?, whereas accumulating wealth at any other speed is almost always impossible.

If you?re interested in getting rich slowly, start here: No one ever got rich by being in debt. Banks only lend large amounts of money to people who can afford to pay them back, i.e. rich people. Banks will, however, lend small amounts of money to people who may only probably be able to pay them back. If you?re reading this, the chances are that you?re not rich, so here is a primary rule of being alive and dealing with money: debt is not good for you.

With one exception ? a mortgage against your home ? debt is a device for keeping you poor. It stands to reason. If you need to borrow money, you?re already in a hole. Borrowing money and paying it back with interest means digging a deeper hole. Digging a deeper hole will not get you out of being in the hole in the first place. It?s sort of obvious.

That said, there are different kinds of debt. Some are worse for your financial health than others. You can tell which is which is by the interest rate. The more interest you have to pay, the worse off you will be after borrowing. We need to take this slowly, because it is the very first important stage of getting rich slowly. Paying off your debts will put you well on the road to being rich, because you don?t need a huge pile of dough to be rich ? you just need in the first instance not to owe anybody anything. Only poor people owe money.

That?s nonsense, you?re probably thinking. ACE Ltd. owes millions, and they?re not poor. Well, yes, ACE has borrowings, but if you look at its assets and subtract its borrowings, it has about $10 billion in net worth. Anyway, you?re not ACE, and this column isn?t being written for ACE, it?s being written for you. If you owe any money other than a home mortgage, you?re poor and you?re going to stay poor until you pay it off.

It will take some resolve. I can only tell you how to do it. You actually have to do it yourself. You?ll need a little willpower, but do what I suggest and, by Golly, before too long, you?ll be better off. That is an absolute promise. You can take it to the bank.

Start with your credit cards. I have no idea what the interest rate is on credit cards because I hardly ever run a credit balance, but my guess is that it?s somewhere near 20 percent a year. That?s one-fifth. If you ?put $100 on your card?, or ?run up $100 on your card? or whatever else you like to call it, you have borrowed $100 and if you don?t pay it back, a year later, you will owe something like $120.

So, that pair of shoes that ?only? cost $100 ends up costing you $120 within a year, $144 within two years. If you don?t care, turn the page. You?ll never be economically comfortable and we don?t want you around here. The other readers are trying to get rich.

Buy everything you need and only some of what you want. Buy only what you can afford with your own money. If you need the bank?s money, you can?t afford to buy it just yet (a home excepted). Wait a little until you can. That?s where the willpower comes in.

If you?ve got one pair of shoes, or six, or 50, and you see another pair of shoes for $100 that you ?absolutely must have?, you absolutely should think about it for a day or two. Ask yourself a few questions. Do you really have to have them? Do you have the money to buy them? If you can honestly answer yes to both questions, buy them, and wear them in good health. If your inner voice tells you that maybe you don?t really need them, no matter how much you would like to have them, put off buying them for a day or two. The desire might pass. Use the $100 to pay down your credit card balance.

A credit card is a fabulous financial tool for buying all the things you need and some of the things you want. If you run it up to the limit and pay the minimum each month, it is a tool for keeping you poor. Now hear this: the person keeping you poor is not the bank, nor the shoe salesman. It?s you.

If you do nothing else for your finances this year, work on paying down your credit card balances. The next time you receive a statement from your credit card company, or companies, write down on a piece of paper the amount you owe, and the date. Then stick the piece of paper on the fridge. Vow to pay off more than you spend each month, even if only by a dollar or two (or, better by a hundred or two, but start where you can).

The following month, write down the new balance and the new date beneath the first ones. Do this every month. Some months, like December or January, your balance may go up, but don?t be disheartened. Try to keep whittling the balance down. Zero is the target, but take your time. Do what you can without hurting your lifestyle. A nip here and a tuck there, but keep reducing the balance.

You won?t notice it, but you?ll actually be saving money ? less interest to pay ? and you will have started on the road to getting rich slowly.

If at first you don?t succeed, you know what to do: try again. If, however, after a few months, you haven?t succeeded even once, then take the piece of paper off the fridge, and go stand in front of a mirror. Look at the piece of paper and then look at your reflection, and say out loud: ?I don?t want to be rich. I like being in debt. I don?t want to take command of my affairs. I want to be miserable and whine about it all the time.?

Everyone else, keep reading the column. A journey of a thousand dollars starts with a single dollar. If you can start to make a dent in the credit card, you can get rich in due course. You can still go out to dinner. You can still buy shoes. But you have to start somewhere, and one less dinner or one fewer pair of shoes could be the start you need towards the day when you will be able to look in the mirror and see a rich person.

And that, my friends, will be one of the great days of your life.

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