Customer Reviews

Debt No More: How to Get Totally Out of Debt Including Your Mortgage

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Contrary to the preceding opinion from Alabama, this book is a good buy. It tells how to get rid of all your debt in the shortest possible timeframe, saving thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. It even gives a few examples of ways to decrease expenses so that you can use the difference to accelerate repayment of your debts. Following the advice in the book, I expect to be completely out of debt (over $140k, including the mortgage) within 5 years and expect to retire (comfortably) at least seven years earlier than I had anticipated. (P.S. -- I don't make six figures and have a young child.)

The only thing I would change is that the author tells you where to go to find the "best" credit cards. Is there really such a thing? Getting another credit card will, over time, put far too many people back to square one. If you keep in mind that if you can't buy something for cash, that means you can't afford it -- this book can take you the rest of the way.

If you think this book is useless you're probably looking for an easy way out of debt (expecting an inheritance?).

This is a good book to read if you are basically clueless about your finances. I recommend that you read "Your money or your Life" to get in charge of your personal finances. This book (your money or your life) covers a more in depth discussion about finances than Debt no More does. In fact, I can summarize you Debt no More in a few words: Pay off your debts first, make this your number one priority. There, you owe me 12 bucks.

I have read many books about getting out of debt. Most of them have approx the same theories. I gathered two valuable pieces of information from this book. The first one was about how to go about paying off the mortgage and the second was how to prioritize your credit card bills to pay off. Inspiring!

I had read several of the "get out of debt" books before, but this one has good advice I didn't see in others. This is the only book I've seen that advises car buyers to avoid loans that use the "Rule of 78s" method of calculating interest (good luck finding a straightforward explanation of it, especially from your car dealer). After following Ms. White's advice on prepaying mortgage principal, I have saved over $5,000 in mortgage interest (and 5 months of payments) in 3 months. I have also refinanced my car loan, which will save me about $1,400 in interest. If you buy this book and follow its advice diligently, you will save thousands of dollars and build your wealth rather than your creditors' wealth.

I recently attended a seminar on money matters. It included discussions on the Y2K problem, the economy, credit/debit, and electronic purchasing.

However the main topic ended up being "if your smart you'll get out of debit, and you'll do it quickly". I am usually reluctant to buy into allot of fear tactics. I expect most are intended to just sell books and tapes after the seminar, which I expect they could have since all of their arguments were valid. This book "Debt no more" was discussed. The author was not there. But the person talking about it was as excited about it as you would expect an author to be. Needless to say it was VERY HIGHLY recommended. Though strangely, it was not offered for sale after the seminar.

I purchased the book, and I finally have a practical plan for resolving my financial dilemma.

It is refreshing and encouraging to find an author who genuinely seems to care about helping people, and who has the expertise to do it, rather than those who are more interested in selling books.

If you need a plan, a real that will work, this is definitely the book to get.

This book is an essential money management tool for all those readers interested in examing their current financial situation, learning how to get completely out of debt, and putting money back into their pockets.

Like many, I wanted to get completely out of debt, but I didn't want to pay a financial advisor a fortune to help me figure out how to do it. DEBT NO MORE helped me take charge of my finances.

The book is filled with worksheets, exercises complete with instructions, real life examples, and an appendix of Consumer Credit Counseling Services.

DEBT NO MORE provides techniques that will teach readers how to save money on credit cards while paying them off, how to get the best deals on automobile purchases, how to reduce insurance costs, how to pay off mortgages within 5-10 years, and how to create a surplus of money for retirement, education, and entertainment.

Thanks to reading DEBT NO MORE, I was able to analyze my debt situation and figure the fastest way out of it. I am well on my way to paying off all my creditors!

I have read all, well most of these books. They all seem to say pretty much the same thing just from a different perspective. A friend told me about "Debt No More" and swore "this one is different". Since I was about to file bankruptcy I figured I had nothing more to loose. This book saved me and possibly my marriage. I just got in over my head and though in the long run it would all work out. It just got worse and I sunk deeper and deeper. We are now on our way toward getting completely out of debt and are rebuilding our credit. I really recommend this book. It is very easy to understand and makes allot of sense. Thank you Carolyn White where ever you are.

"You can pay off your debts and your mortgage in 5-10 years." During the next five to ten years, you will need to stop spending and make the decision to have "No more debt". Emotionally ignite yourself and believe you can be debt free. You will need to get each member of the family to believe in the vision of debt free and help encourage them to accomplish this goal by rewarding them to stop wasting money and buying at a discount. Be a contratrian moving against the trend, "the more we make, the more we spend" and transform it too "the more we make, the more we invest." 9% of the population will retire with an income of 50k. Make it a goal to own your car and home. Typically, once your income stops, you have 90 days before the bank wants to foreclose. Suppose a home cost 165k for the initial purchase and the borrower of the loan makes 17 years of payments totalling 165k then loses his job and is forced into bankruptcy and foreclosure proceedings. The bank ignores the fact that the borrower has made 165k worth of payments, eliminates most of the equity in the home by offering "auction prices", takes possession of the home, and resells it for a profit. The bank wins through the monthly interest/principal payments and the resell and financing of the home to a new borrower. The author lost her home worth $1.4 million, 14,000 sq ft, and received $5k. She became angry and decided too become debt free.

What is the bottom line? Suppose 45 years of income with a total income of $2,250,000, Less Total Taxes Paid of $1,187,685, Less Mortgage and Interest $315,929, Less Automobile costs - $615,929, leaves $416,386 of money for your family. After 45 years of work you have $416,386 left less other expenses, such as, medical & dental, insurance, food and clothing, utilities, furniture, gifts, and vacation/entertainment, school and college, investment for retirement, child car, and repair on home & auto. Most people retire with less than 100k.

Break the chain of debt: 1. Get rid of credit card debt. For each dollar paid it will cost $4 to repay and 20 years. CC debt and medical emergencies are the number one destroyer of middle class wealth and stablity. 2. Don't buy new. Offer $500 above dealer trade in value for a car. Let friends and relatives know you will be interested in buying their car when they are ready to trade up. Automobile leasing is a cash drain and only makes sense for businesses which can take a tax credit. 3. Insure for 5-7 times your income. The rule of thumb for Insurance is "raise your deductibles" according to risk. 4. Make future payments on your mortgage. Here is where I disagree. Invest your money and then payoff your mortgage with the investments in one swoop. Let the money work for you outside the banking system. 5. Eliminate unnecessary spending and invest the money. Be a predator on spending waste. 6. Increase your income: 1. get a second job 2. create a business, turn your hobby into a money making venture. 3. sell cars, have yard sells, liquidate excessive items 4. reduce eating out and costly recreation/entertainment. 5. Stop impulsive spending - Stay away from bargain sales and marketing media. 6. Put a chart on your refrigator that tracks all the spending. Implement an family open books policy that shows where all the expenses when. Let family members provide feedback and ideas to improve the financial health of the family. Let family member critique the expense ledgers. Make the decision of overcome the spending temptation. 7. Become a thrift spender: buy older cars, clip coupons, attend auctions, look for things at yard sales, buy wholesale, join discount buying organizations, shop at consignment shops, buy only at end-of-season, and buy discount travel.

Other resources: Money Harmony: Resolving Money conflicts in Your Life; Overcoming Overspending, A winning plan for spenders; The money Drunk; 1001 ways to cut your expenses; Great buys for People over 50; Penny Pinching: How to Lower your Everyday Expenses without Lower your Standard of Living; The underground shopper; The Wholesale-by-Mail Catalog; Wholesale Guide to Buying Furniture.

"If it's going to be, its up to me". "The choice is yours!"

I leased this book from my local library and read it completely through the first day. I'm going to purchase several copies for myself and others. It is just that good.

This book did not cover any new ground. Dave Ramsey
books are better written with relevant content.