Victor Antonio On ‘Life or Debt,’ How To Get Out Of Debt [EXCLUSIVE VIDEO]

Fortune 500 strategist Victor Antonio hosts Spike TV’s new show Life or Debt, in which he attempts to steer families toward a debt-free life.

Victor Antonio On ‘Life Or Debt’

For the first season of Life or Debt, Antonio worked with a total of 10 families that all have unique situations and reasons for finding themselves in serious debt. Many of the families, though aware that they’re in financial trouble, are resistant to the proposals Antonio makes – but soon realize the effects of his strategy.

“They simply don’t wanna change their lifestyle. So what we try to do is go in there and get them to run their family like a business,” Antonio told uInterview in an exclusive interview. “We teach them how to cut costs, we also teach them how to increase their income and maybe streamline the operation so they can have more time to spend with each other and their kids.”

Antonio added of people who are underemployed and underpaid, “You’d be surprised how many people are not [paid enough] and that’s another dynamic we deal with. In other words, how do we get people to go look for better jobs that’ll pay more, that’ll have health insurance?”

One of the methods that Antonio is a big believer in is instituting an economic shutdown for a family that will, over the course of a year, save them thousands of dollars and helps to reset their finances.

“An economic shutdown basically means only spend on the essentials. Only needs, no wants,” Antonio explained to uInterview. “For example, if you do an economic shutdown for a couple who make let’s say $50,000 a year total, then guess what? You’re gonna save about $1,500 a month just by doing that one economic shutdown. So that’s one of the things we teach them to do — shut that down.”

Antonio believes that people’s personal financial struggles, as well as the finances of the country at large, are propelling a large segment of the electorate in the 2016 presidential election. “That’s what I think is driving this election, something’s not right,” Antonio mused about America’s debt. “The American population see whatever’s been tried is not working, and I think you’re starting to see some of those frustrations come out in how people are voting.”

Life or Debt airs Sundays on Spike TV at 10/9c.