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While Hunt's previous books have echoed some consistent themes--debt bad, saving good--they've addressed a hodgepodge of different areas: building financial confidence in women and kids, doing Christmas without a stack of credit cards, tips for gourmet cooking at low cost. In Mary Hunt's Debt-Proof Living, Hunt finally puts together a financial primer for all--whether retirees trying to decide when to start drawing Social Security or teenagers ready to sign for their first college loans. Security, according to Hunt, is built with simple tools: tithing, saving, paying off debt, creating a contingency fund for emergencies, driving used cars, owning a home, having insurance.
Although Hunt's "been there, spent that" zeal and warmth have turned her into the Ann Landers of personal finance, she's not just an agony aunt for spendthrifts--business experts will find her a savvy marketer who's using her name and story to build, somewhat ironically, a very effective brand. That doesn't negate her sincerity, however, or the fact that her advice is sound, her formulas work, and her Rapid Debt Repayment Plan has kept increasing numbers of families out of bankruptcy. And finally, Mary Hunt's Debt-Proof Living is just a joy to read--its clarity and lack of condescension make it a perfect gift for anyone just starting to understand the basics of money. --Barrie Trinkle --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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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.
The Bad:
As with any book that tries to get you to change your life, you need to pick and choose the ideas that best suit you and fit your lifestyle. Hunt tells us we should give 10% of our money away, in a sense back to God. Among other reasons, this is to feel more connected with the world. She states a few times how people write in saying that they'd rather give their time and how Hunt feels this runs counter to the principles of giving away money. I for one, feel much more connected to the world when I am volunteering - writing checks and putting them in the mail is what you do to those evil credit card people you're trying to get rid of.
Another GLARING frustration I had with the book was all the shameless plugs to her website. Not because I am against shameless plugs, but because in order to ACCESS the features she mentions, you have to buy a subscription! Key to the whole book is her Rapid Debt Repayment Plan (RDRP) which, as she puts it on her website, can be a very complicated thing to figure out on your own. If you have rudimentary knowledge of a spreadsheet program, such as excel (and no, you don't HAVE to be a financial whiz to figure it out), know how to use formulas and even hide columns, you can crete a RDRP for yourself and save yourself the $20 yearly subscription.
I found this caveat frustrating because it was not stated in the book that this was a subscription source (perhaps it wasn't when the book was published). So if you buy this book and can't figure out excel for yourself, you could easily spend almost $40 in no time that isn't going towards your credit payments. This issue made me question the line Hunt walks between her capitalistic enterprise (which she admits she loves) and her desire to truly help those of us out there with debt. What about giving 10% back to her readers?
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