Debt-Proof Living: The Complete Guide to Living Financially Free
Monday, October 5th, 2009 at
7:49 pm
Review
There are plenty of heavily pedigreed personal-finance experts dishing out good advice, but not many who know what it’s like to have to eat ramen all month to make a car payment. On the other hand, there’s Mary Hunt, a recovered credit card addict whose free-spending ways landed her family in the middle of $100,000 of unsecured debt in the early 1980s. Pulling herself out of that morass gave Hunt the courage to strike out on her own as a writer, motivational speaker, …
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Tagged with: debt free • DebtProof
Filed under: Debt
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What can I say? This is a darn good book. After reading “How to Get Out of Debt, Stay Out of Debt and Live Prosperously” by Jerrold Mundis, I thought I had read it all. That book changed my life. This book by Mary Hunt has taken me to a higher level.
Strangely enough, what I like most about this book is the writing style. The content is excellent, but much of it I’ve read before. You know, cut up your credit cards, cut your expenses, save 10% of your income, etc. etc. etc. The style of writing makes the subject matter so much more enjoyable to read. I felt like the author was speaking directly to me as a human being. Considering the author had at one time $100,000 in unsecured debt, I’m impressed. She practices what she preaches.
In terms of content, the writing style is a joy to read, but there are some really good points made in this book. One idea, which was definitely worth the purchase was chapter 8. I had already been implementing that idea a little bit, but now I can refine it with the author’s method and really make it work.
The point of this book is to make dealing with debt a proactive issue. Don’t just work on paying off debt. Structure your life in such a way that you avoid debt at all costs. If you plan your life properly, it’s entirely possible and quite easy I might add. Been there done that.
My favorite quote from the book came in the chapter about college students getting their first credit card. Most people I know have at least one credit card in case of an “emergency.” Here’s what the author had to say about that:
“If you accept a credit card with a big line of credit, I can guarantee you will have lots of emergencies. They’ll come in the form of pizza and airline tickets, clothes and social events.”
My advice if you’re going to buy this book is read it through and mark the areas of interest. The chapters toward the end really didn’t apply much to me, so I breezed through them rather quickly. The beginning chapters were excellent. The author has a way of understanding human nature having been there herself.
I’m giving this book 5 stars. That was easy. I found a couple of pieces of really valuable information in here. I plan to go back and read the book a couple more times to start mapping out my plan to the next level. If you have already paid off your debts, this book will help you keep it that way. If you are in debt, that’s two reasons to buy this book. Just be sure to use your debit card, not your credit card. Well, in this case, you can cheat.
I have been working on my debt for 5 years. The last 3 with the help of Mary Hunt, her books and The Cheapskate Monthly Newsletter. I can now say I have entered 2000 unsecured debt free! I did not know what I was going to do. After reading this book I have a plan and a direction. I know where to put my money for my Contigency Fund and how to better manage my Freedom Account. If you don’t know what either of these two accounts are get the book! These two accounts along with your own attitude and determination will get you out of debt and keep you that way! This book is an easy read and extremely motivational, what everyone needs if they are contemplating getting rid of DEBT! Mary gives you the tools to JUST DO IT!
Mary Hunt’s “Debt-Proof Living” is one of the books that all families should read and then put the concepts into action. We used an earlier version of this book to get our expenses in control and I used that book to teach a class about handling their money. People that were desperate about their money problems were finally able to be optimistic about how to take control. It will help you learn how to set up a “spending plan” and to maintain your money so you will have it for both necessities and for things you really want. You should read this book but also think about getting her “Debt-Proof Living” newsletter. Be an online subscriber so you can take advantage of the fantastic Toolbox and calculators. Go to http://www.cheapskatemonthly.com. I used her “Rapid Debt Repayment Calculator” to first be totally shocked at how much interest we would have to pay for the credit card debt and how long it would take to pay it off. We then used it to figure out how we could pay it off much faster and we saved over $14,000 in interest plus now enjoy the freedom of being “out of debt”! Now is the time to get control of your finances and this book will tell you how to do it!