Another volume that I've had for a while but never got around to, I finally finished How to Get Out of Debt, Stay Out of Debt, & Live Prosperously by Jerrold Mundis yesterday. First, I'll start by saying that the copyright of my copy is 1990, so the book could use a bit of an update. For example, it talks about VCR's and long distance phone service as a luxury (which is hard to appreciate in this day of DVD/On Demand and cell phones). Also, none of the groups mentioned has a website listed in the book. While any search engine should get you there, it is just a pet peeve of mine.
As for what is right with the book, I think it has a very calm, "it's not the end of the world" approach that some would appreciate, in contrast to the "gazelle intensity" of Dave Ramsey. It definitely focuses on the one day at a time, it is only money/debt (which I have to think is a direct take from the Debtors Anonymous techniques it is based on). Since the author has walked in these shoes, it definitely has the creditibility that the system can work. It's focus on the person and their feelings, moods, etc. are great signs that the approach is more about the personal part of personal finance.
Now, I'm a self professed nerd/geeky/numbers/intensity type person. I think that's why the Dave Ramsey approach is so appealling to me. When the author of this book gives examples of people talking about how they took a trip to Europe and paid cash while they still had thousands of dollars of debt to still pay off, my skin just crawled. But as I read the book more and more, I realized that maybe I need to take some bits and pieces of this method and apply it. I personally could do the "rent a substandard place for 400/month, live off of hamburger helper, and have three channels" for a year, but I'm not single anymore, and my spouse isn't wired that way. So I have to make the effort to talk with her, and make sure the budget has some "life" in it (i.e. movie money, pedicure money-strictly for her, restaurant money, etc.) so that she has something to look forward to, and I'm comforted that it was budgeted for and we are still making dents into our debt load.
Rating: I give it a 7 out of 10 for me because again, I'm a "gazelle person", not a I still have to have my Starbucks every morning type person (which I label as a luxury where as others would not). If you don't want to fully slash your lifestyle, but still have a process/plan/method, then this would probably be a 8.5 out of 10 for you (I still think the outdated references make it a harder read than it should be).
You read an older copy of this book - which is one that I have lived by for many years. Using its concepts and techniques, I not only repaid every one of my creditors (I owed the equivalent of about $110,000 in 2010 dollars) but vastly increased the quality of my life and my experience of that life as well. A new, updated and expanded edition of the book (in trade paperback) in was published in 2003.
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