Dec 23 2008
Generation Debt Take Control of Your Money A How to Guide
Generation Debt Take Control of Your Money A How to Guide
There is a growing financial epidemicyoung adults are taking on more student loan and consumer debt than ever before, but finding it harder to pay it off. With tuition and living expenses rising every year, and the average college student graduating with over $18,000 in debt, many are trapped and cant find a way out. Now, this definitive book offers the financial advice necessary to help readers navigate their way toward a debt-free future. Informative, timely, and entertaining, GENERATION DEBT teaches readers how to: Get a grip, set goals, and make financial plans by identifying needs vs. wants Employ the B word (Budget) to lower bills Master loans with payback options and consolidation strategies Learn good debt vs. bad debt and be smarter with credit cards Understand interest rates and fees, and shop for the best rates and services Take advantage of employee savings plans, stocks, bonds, and mutual funds And much more.
User Ratings and Reviews
1 Star I feel cheated!
This book is similar in some ways to Strapped . . ., by T. Draut, another book I have reviewed recently; however, this one is supposed to be more of a self-help guide. Reading through it today, I see the author has a few good tips, but honestly, I cannot imagine that this is actually going to help anyone get out of debt. The best advice she gives is to give up the lattes at Starbucks, but how can giving up something that probably costs about $60.00 a month actually save you a lot of money? For people who have so little anyway, maybe the latte is the only motivation for actually going to a depressing job that pays so little! Also, most of us already in credit card debt are unable to magically get rid of that debt so easily as she claims. Is there a magic wand? Hello! The only answer is consolidation when it’s gotten this out of control; remember, because of our current president (who drove his own companies into bankruptcy) now we have to pay back everything to creditors, so now filing for bankruptcy is out of the question. This is just one of several ploys by government (in collaboration with big companies) to make sure they get richer while the middle class and the poor are worse off. Those who should be reading this book should be the very people in politics and big business (actually, they’re not really human but Evil Incarnate if you ask me) I just mentioned. In the end, I am sorry, but for all her good intentions, this book isn’t going to help the average college graduate get out of debt. I feel cheated.
2 Stars Alright, but definitely not a must-read
I bought this book after reading some good reviews, and I wish I paid more attention to the mediocre ones. Admittedly, the book is an easy read, has a good dose of humor and the author relates well to those in their early to mid-20′s (mainly because she’s a member of this generation). While the book would be useful to high school students and the occasional completely clueless college student, it offers little to no new information to anyone else. (to give perspective, I’m 23 years old, am a recent college grad and am employed full time) Ulrich simply re-stated well known facts – young adults today are broke, they have too many student loans and too much college debt, etc., etc. – and offered cliche advice. There was nothing in this book that I did not already know, i.e. don’t default on student loans, pay of high interest credit cards ASAP, and so on and so on. Overall, not a completely useless read, but you’re better off borrowing one from the library.
3 Stars This book is a roadmap to remaining middle class.
Carmen Wong Ulrich must work for the credit card companies,
The advice in this book isn’t more than just taking a second job and struggling with high interest payments until you’re fired or debilitated by illness.
The basic advice of determining your expenses and figuring out your budget is worthwhile but isn’t profound or worth paying for. Just like Suze Orman and the other wealthy financial authors advice Carmen assumes your job will never disappear or you’ll never have to buy a bigger house or have more children which changes your financial picture.
The advice is flawed since Carmen has you create a time table of paying off your debts without incurring new ones such as a car loan or mortgage and assumes inflation just disappears and prices of real items doesn’t increase like we’ve witnessed in the last 24 months of near doubling and tripling of prices of staples excluding gasoline.
It is hard to figure out which world Carmen lives in when especially when she writes a book intended for the newest generation of working professionals and college grads.
Instead, consider Rich Dad / Poor DadRich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money–That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! and other books from Robert T. Kiyosaki.
Here is a real debt secret that Carmen, Suze and the others don’t want to share:
You can settle your credit cards even if they’re current, the creditor may report it as an R9 Charge Off but you can wait 3 months after it is finally paid then dispute the debt with the Credit Bureaus (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) and they have only 30 days to reply. Since the debt is paid they’ve archived the record and by the time they get around to answering the dispute the 30 period has lapsed and it is off your record. ..erased, and paid for less. Often the key amount creditors will accept is the principal and forgive the accrued interest upon interest.
If you already have bad debts that have charged off and bill collectors after you, send them a letter Certified Return Receipt so you have the delivery record advising them to stop contacting you by telephone, by mail only or no longer at your employer.
Another great tip, most credit card companies will “cure” a bad debt, in other words if you make three minimum payments in a row no matter how past due you are, they’ll count the card as current. This works even if the debt is 180 days past due. Most of them will only do this once per year but if you let a card go 179 days past due, then make regular payments for 90 days and stop paying for another 179 days you’re ready to cure it again since the cycle is now 15 months and you can only cure once a year. This situation actually increases your eligibility for a settlement since on paper you look like someone barely hanging on and always taking it down to the wire and treading water for three payments before sinking. This also works best if the account HASN’T charged off yet since the minimum monthly payments are more significant for non P/L debt. If the account is already charged off then don’t be as concerned about minimum monthly payments since the creditor is often demanding the entire amount but you can still negotiate regular payments on charged off debt since the creditor just wants some repayment.
If your account is already charged off then you can negotiate a better settlement since they’ve already written off your debt as an asset and wait 3 months after it is paid to dispute it with the Credit Bureaus and it will likely be erased.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
