Failing businesses all have their excuses about why they're going bankrupt. The sales guys will tell you it's because of the advertising slowdown. The retailers blame the drop in sales. The manufacturers blame the decline in manufacturing. And on and on…

Is that what's really going on?

Well, partly…but the one consistent factor with most every failing company is that they carry a massive amount of debt. There's no wiggle room; anything less than absolutely perfect market conditions can be disastrous if you're over-leveraged.

In the corporate world, a lot of the debt comes about through mergers and acquisitions. You know the drill: Big fish eats little fish, using borrowed dough in the process.

Look at Toyota -- the largest automaker in the world -- as an example. Toyota is losing big money because they took their eye off quality and put it on growth. Now they're in their first year of losses ever since starting in 1937!

Think about how this applies to your own life and finances. Anything -- a job loss, a divorce, an illness -- can put your wallet at risk if you have taken on a lot of debt. Be very careful when deciding to introduce more debt into your budget.