I have a friend who just confided she is having trouble paying her credit cards. She was incredibly overwhelmed and feeling badly about how she's handled things. I shared my experience with credit card debt and my Foolish conversion. It's amazing how so many people are in debt but afraid to admit it, or even talk about it. She sounded a little relieved to know she was not alone.

I think she really needs a basic education on credit card debt management and budgeting. I guess a guide on Foolishness. I have recommended this site but she doesn't have regular access to the internet. Can you anyone recommend a basic book I could send her to help her get started?

Thanks for your help.

Jo

The Complete Idiot's guide to Finance in your 20s and 30s

The Budget Kit by judith something, great hands on guide to budgeting.

Nine Steps to Financial Freedom by Suze Orman.

You Have More Than You Think by our lovely Motley Fools

Ishtar

The one that opened my eyes and turned me around was "Debt Proof Living" by Mary Hunt.

The nine steps to financial freedom by Suze Orman

"Get A Financial Life" was the one that got me started.

Lori

The book you mentioned is The Budget Kit by Judy Lawrence. I concur with your recommendations, and also join in recommending Mary Hunt's Debt-Proof Living.

The book you mentioned is The Budget Kit by Judy Lawrence

YES! Practical, down to earth. Pages you can rip out, put in a three ring binder and start using RIGHT NOW.

Ishtar

Your Money or Your Life

She can go to the library and search for financial planning/debt reduction books. They will all be shelved together, so once she finds the right area she can read her way thru them. I've actually done that-it's interesting comparing the different approaches various authors have.

The book I just recommended to my sister (and really really hope she reads) is George Clason's book, The Richest Man in Babylon. It is very thin and quick to read, and only costs about six bucks. It is not specifically about credit card debt. It's just a basic primer on the very most simple basic building blocks of personal finance. It is written in parable form, and is accessible to people who are just starting out and are afraid of technical books on finance. When I read it, I felt my perspective on money shift on almost a subconscious, level, effortlessly.

The other books people have recommended will be great for the more practical, technical side of debt management; this one helps with personal discipline and attitude.

best of luck to your friend!!
-Repo

Your Money or Your Life

Am I the only person that hated this book?

Making Change by Neale S. Godfrey: Offers practical advice and worksheets to help women customize their retirement plans, overcome financial hardships, and take control of their finances in all stages of life.

The Financially Confident Woman by Mary Hunt (I assume her Debt Proof Living book would be just as good but I have not read it).

Any book by Ron (or Judy) Blue

The Wealthy Barber by David Chilton

I hated Your Money or Your Life
I also hated The Richest Man in Babylon (was more a long drawn out pretend story than it was practical how-to tips).

Louise

I have a friend who just confided she is having trouble paying her credit cards. She was incredibly overwhelmed and feeling badly about how she's handled things. I shared my experience with credit card debt and my Foolish conversion. It's amazing how so many people are in debt but afraid to admit it, or even talk about it. She sounded a little relieved to know she was not alone.

I think she really needs a basic education on credit card debt management and budgeting. I guess a guide on Foolishness. I have recommended this site but she doesn't have regular access to the internet. Can you anyone recommend a basic book I could send her to help her get started?

I found Financial Peace by Dave Ramsey to be an excellent teaching tool for credit cards. He does inject a lot Biblical discussion into the book, but the methods are solid.

Smart Women Finish Rich by David Bach

Good advice all around, but has specific recommendations for women (hence the title :) because of our statistical likelihood of outliving husbands and shorter tenure in (and out) of the workforce (childrearing looms large here).

Found Your Money or Your Life tough to apply to my life, but absolutely loved the chapter on what Dominguez and Robin call your "real" salary. Big eye opener and worth the read.

-neglectarino
"Lord, protect this rocket house and all who dwell within the rocket house."

Meant to add, neenieca created an excellent and extensive list of other board members' recommendations (see post #69450).

-neglectarino
"This better not be about your cat."

Your Money or Your Life

LuluB >> Am I the only person that hated this book?

I despised the 70s era "We are a cancer on this earth" attitude in the begining but the practical exercises later were very helpful. I have a great wallchart up that shows our gross income, net (after taxes) income, gross expenses, net (w/o taxes) expenses, dividend income and investments net worth. Ok, I got a little carried away there. I'd probably add more lines but I ran out of colors. :-) It really feels good to see how our expenses and income run. Skip the psychobabble and try the practical stuff out.

Debora

Louise,

I just finished The Wealthy Barber and thought that it was pretty well written although I skipped some of the Canadian-specific things. Since it was the 57th printing of the book, you would have thought that they might have caught on about the number of folks "south of the Border" (in the US!) were reading the book and had a glossary of Canadian investment terms and an appendix comparing RRSPs and IRAs. From a business and marketing standpoint, it would have made a good deal of sense for the publisher to do so!

The thing that really struck me as odd was Chilton's fear and loathing of stock brokers and investing in stocks yourself versus his love and trust of money managers and mutual funds. As a good Fool knows, few mutual funds outperform the market consistently (if ever) so he would have done better to advise index funds OR direct investment in for companies with DSPs or DRiPs.

I just didn't understand why he saw brokers as ignorant and/or greedy (and stocks too hard to pick out yourself!) while he saw money managers as helpful and benevolent (and mutual funds some how much more magically easy for an average Joe--like me--to evaluate and understand.

Just curious as to what you thought of his very pro-mutual fund stance. It really did not detract all that much from the over-all book, Just made a mental note to substitute "DRiP" whenever I read teh word "mutual fund"!<G>

-Joseph
- a 24 year old investment bookworm