Customer Reviews

Debt Free For Life: The Finish Rich Plan for Financial Freedom

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I like David Bach and have purchased several of his other books but this one is not any different from what he has offered in the pages of all of the others. This was a total waste of money to me because I already have read this same advice in his other books repeatedly. This book seems to have been written primarily for the chapter on Debt Wise which is his partnership with Equifax. I wouldn't advise you purchase this book if you have any of his others, there is nothing new.

I had never read anything by this author before and not sure I'd even heard of him. But I read this book and found it quite good. It's a valuable resource and has numerous helpful ideas. Unfortunately, the author spends a lot of precious space promoting some of his money-making ventures that, while no doubt helpful and useful, can be a bit expensive to already strapped readers. I have no major issue with this. Certainly we can't nor should we expect anyone to provide valuable information for free. Yet when we pay for a book, we sort of expect that to pay for the information. Having said that, the author has made this and at least one other of his books available free online. So I guess he uses it to promote himself and his businesses.

I found that a lot of the information and tools are available free online. His website is a bit of a pain to navigate, with popups and other annoying things.

He didn't answer the question that Suze Orman left in many people's minds about getting an emergency fund prior to paying off debt. But he certainly does help a person gather all he needs to plan a real attack against debt and if nothing else is garnered from the book, this is worth the price.

It is a helpful book and some areas will concern the reader perhaps more than others. But if you're looking for help in getting out of debt, this is a great place to start.

Highly recommended.

-- Susanna K. Hutcheson

Very similar from all of his previous books. This book felt like a sales pitch for his previous books and debtwise throughout. Not much new information to offer. I really enjoyed his book, Smart Women Finish Rich. This book didn't add anything new to my basic personal finance knowledge. Definitely not worth your time if you have read any of his previous work.

"Debt Free For Life" doesn't have the timely political commentary that other personal finance books like Surviving Socialist America do, but Bach is great at making personal finance accessible and doable for the masses. With his latest effort, Bach goes in depth to show you how to pay off your debt and keep it off. You do it with sound personal finance techniques that will help lower your interest rates on your cards, improving your credit score by 50 points within months, and get yourself into position to retire by age 43.

Bach does recommend something that I would advise my clients against right now and that's paying down your mortgage. At a time like now when interest rates on homes are nearly nothing, mortgage interest is not where you should be doubling down. I would say hold on to that debt as long as possible (as long as you have a long-term, standard fixed loan). I'd even go as far as to say take a second mortgage out to pay off your loans if you can do it because the mortgage rates are so great.

Al and all, this is a fine product full of great techniques designed to get you out of debt. Now if we can only get the federal government want the same thing...

There were some worthwhile chapters, such as a good explanation of credit scores and basic information about debt counseling and bankruptcy, however, I was put off by the strong "motivational" language and claims that America is in debt becuase we have been "misled" by credit card companies and "programmed" by advertisers to buy stuff we don't need. The entire first two or three chapters are basically just telling people to get mad about the fact that they are in debt.

There wasn't really any explanation of budgeting or how to cut back on expenses, which is primarily what I was looking for. There were lots of references to go to the author's website, where you are pushed to buy more products. At least one entire chapter of the book was a very strong sales pitch for Equifax and Debt-Wise ($14.95 a month). There were a couple of chapters that would probably only apply to a small percentage of readers - unclaimed property websites and time barred debt.

Overall, the author's approach appears very generalistic. There is no distinction made between high income or low income readers, or high or low interest rate debt. Buzzwords were emphasized over substance.

I typically love David Bach books, but I was disappointed in this one.

I've read all of David Bach's book and WHAT HAPPENED? I didn't find the book to be as informative and found the push for the online service a focus. I would recommend the earlier books to this one.

I believe David Bach is the best at delivering very honest, specific, and detailed information on how to change your financial future and become DEBT FREE. I know there are a lot of books out there on debt, but "Debt Free For Life" by David Bach is the one I would recommend if you're trying to get out of debt and stay out of debt. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to change their financial future and become Debt Free For Life!

David Bach has written a dozen books on financing, and I reviewed "Start Late, Finish Rich" several years ago. I called that book "easy-to-read" and "filled with simple ideas about spending less, saving more, making more and living rich" even if you got a late start. It short, it was chock-full of common sense ideas about finances.

I'm happy to report that "Debt Free For Life" is more of the same. It's not hard to see why more than 7 million books by this author are in print.

It used to be that financial planners advised people that there was "good debt" (debt used to buy your home or invest in a college education) and bad debt. Due in part to the current recession and the massive debt owed by many individuals, Bach now argues that there is no such thing as good debt.

As he says in his introduction: "The truth is that this recession has changed everything. Homes are going down in value and people with college degrees are looking for jobs.... The truth is that when you're in debt, it doesn't matter what you've borrowed the money for. The only thing that matters is whether or not you can afford to pay it back. And if you can't, all debt is bad debt."

Bach convincingly argues that the best investment you can make today isn't the stock market, gold, bonds or any other venture that typically comes to mind. Instead, he advices that the best investment you can make over the next five years is to pay off all your debts.

This book explores all the major ways for folks to become debt free. Included are chapters on how to save on credit cards, college loans, mortgages and ways for people to get out of debt once and for all. If you're really serious about reducing your debt, there is an excellent chapter on what Bach calls the DOLP (Done On Last Payment) method of getting out of debt. And for those who may be mathematically challenged, an on-line DOLP worksheet that does all the legwork is available on the author's website at [...]

Finally, Bach explains how he has partnered up with one of the nation's leading credit reporting agencies, Equifax, to introduce the Debt Wise program which shows you how to pay down your debt automatically with the help of the information in your credit report. This program grabs all the information about your debts in your credit report and runs it through a DOLP calculator so you can see which debts to pay off first. You can get a free month trial of the program by using a code contained in the book (hint: it's on page 81). It's a nifty program, but at a cost of $14.95 per month, I wonder if it's just a bit too pricey for those struggling to get out of debt.

This is a sound book with common sense ideas about getting out of debt. The DOLP method will certainly work in getting rid of debt as long as you are committed to stop increasing your debt by continuing to use credit cards and other ways to borrow money. I signed up for the free month of the Debt Wise program so I could evaluate it and it's certainly slick. In just minutes, it calculates a debt reducing plan that will put you on the road to becoming debt free. I just question the monthly cost when the free DOLP worksheet will give you the same basic information.

If you're serious about wanting to get out of debt, this book will show you how. My advice is to buy it now and read it from cover to cover. An even better idea is to head to your local library to see if you can take out the book for free. Put the $19.95 you save toward paying off one of your outstanding debts. Sweet.

If nothing else, this book is an easy read. You should be able to breeze through it in a couple hours and have your life changed forever.
Bach has "changed the lives of millions" and he can change yours also, although if I had a dime for every author who has changed the lives of millions, I would not need to read personal finance books.
However, I will agree that your best investment in the next five years is to pay off your debts. Although I might rather follow the tenets of "Five Acres and Independence" by Maurice G. Kains, et. al., after paying off the bills, expanding the five acres to 100 and adding a few ARs and barbed wire.
For the average person, who does not engage in witchcraft or immoral activities to pay off the bills incurred by his clients in such a short time or to become a millionaire in a mere eight years, beginning deep in debt, seems a bit of fiscal fantasyland.
The average person has a few simple blood tests and gets charged a thousand dollars or some hit and run jackass destroys her car, or she barely makes enough to cover the rent. She does not have an extra ten dollars a day to put on the plastic bills. Heck one financial advisor suggested a way to save $100 a month on dry cleaning. I don't spend $100 total on dry cleaning in six months! At least the author spares us the latte hogwash.
The basic technical advice to pay off bills and stop buying stuff is, however, is definitely worth consideration. Less house, lower mortgage payments... He suggests techniques to pay down faster. Check them out.
We all know about banks and credit cards, but another warning never hurts.
Thankfully, the author acknowledges the problems with student loans. Avoid private student loans! The professions you borrowed for probably will not hire you, and still the governor says the state needs more education. The double edged sword will cut you on both sides. My graduate school is still cranking out diplomas, irregardless of the fact that its graduates are being terminated in large numbers. The graduates will not get a job unless their mother is in HR and fires someone to create a vacancy.
Still, paying jobs, and the fringe accouterments, have been sent across the border. Soon, a two year degree will be required to delivery pizzas, if the current trend continues. So, college bound students need to read the chapter on student loans and keep on researching the subject before they acquire a never-ending debt and no prospect of serious employment.
Beware the debt consolidation scams and screen nonprofit debt consolidation organizations. Good advice!
But, we get examples such as the couple that had $12,000 in credit cards, and paid it off in eight months while also saving $6,000 for airfare and enough money to take a seven week vacation in Australia-all in eight months--strikes me as peculiar. Real people do not take home that much. These examples and the author's constant hyping of his products make me leery of the book.
My best advice would be to have a good paying job. Spend less than you take home. Don't allow anyone in the family to have a health problem. And, automatically invest in stuff that makes tons of money.
Obviously, I do not watch the author on the tube... Still, as long as you maintain your skepticism, this can be an informational book.

I have read a number of personal finance books in the past and have found them helpful. However this book "Debt Free for Life" was more like an infomercial to buy David Bach's other products. The book goes on to provide testimonials that back up why you should buy these addtional products. The information that was shared was quite simple-- don't have debt and if you do try to get a low interest rate.