Why You Never Bought My Personal Finance Book

Five years ago, I wrote a book on personal finance. You haven’t seen it at the stores? You didn’t buy a copy to support me? No prob. I never bothered to send it to an agent, let alone a publisher.

Do you know why? Because, silly me, I thought that my adventures in credit card debt would not be of interest to most people, because I did not resolve them in the conventional manner (getting a second job, contracting with a credit card counseling company, etc.). What loosened the grip of the credit card companies was a deus ex machina: a big fat wad of unexpected cash that arrived through a piece of extreme good luck (which was the result of hard work and sheer talent, but that’s another tale).

I came to some striking conclusions while writing my book. Chief among them was that we should never have bought our first house. Daringly, I concluded that most people’s money problems (if not related to the obscene costs of health care) could be solved by downsizing their lifestyles. And the most effective way to do that would be to sell the house and move into a cheaper one.

Really. I wrote this five years ago, as the real estate bubble was near its zenith. Sell the big house, get a smaller house, and everything else gets cheaper, and you can breathe. Am I prescient or what? Yes, I am prescient.

Last night I was reading a money book written in the middle 1990s. Ordinarily I would not bother. There’s hardly any point in reading a book about personal finance that does not take note of the amazing crash of our economic system last year. But this book was by Andrew Tobias, a writer I’ve always liked, so I was willing to read it. How dated it already seems, like a trip back in time. What was true then is not true now. Both for him and for me. Except for his basic message about making safe investments versus taking stupid risks.

So I am a little more at peace with the thought that I missed the boat with my personal finance book manuscript. In 2004, no one would have listened; they were firmly in the grip of maxing out all possible legal and shady sources of credit. And by now, 2009, everybody knows better. They don’t need me to tell them what to do. Or do they?

I still hear of people trying to game the system and buy housing with nothing down, or maybe only a 3% down payment. If that’s all the cash you can lay hands on, you should not be buying a home. You should be renting somewhere cheap and saving up your cash. And you know it. But you aren’t listening, are you? Please, listen. Being broke for a decade in order to eventually make a handsome capital gain is a lousy way to live. You can have a much nicer life if you live within your means. Take it from one who has lived it both ways: not being in nasty debt is better. Having a few dollars to play with is a lot more pleasant than always worrying where the money for the next payment is coming from.

Right now, a lot of us are experiencing the double catastrophe of reduced income because of unemployment and the inability to downsize our lives by selling our homes. My best answers to deal with this kind of crisis are:

1. Get more income; everyone in the family who can work should. In the Depression, kids got jobs to help put food on the table. They can do so now, too. Pool all family income to buy necessities; don’t treat the income of a dependent child (even a returned college graduate) as merely their personal money. It’s okay for each member to get an allowance according to their contributions, though.

2. Consider doubling up with other family members or friends in one house, to cut overhead. We’re not used to this anymore, but it was common years ago, and it works. Yes, there can be problems, but you can draw up leases and make sure that responsibilities are shared and rent is paid.

3. Sell as many possessions as possible to generate cash. Do not fret that you bought these things for X dollars and can only sell them for Y dollars. That is a constant in life.

4. Do not buy more possessions. Most of us have far more than we need. If you have a working washing machine, you don’t need two weeks’ worth of clothes. (The only exception is if you work in an office and have to front.) Similarly with electronics. You’re going to be working for money or to keep your home going; how much time will you have for toys anyway?

5. Follow anybody’s and everybody’s economizing tips that you can bear to. Examine your feelings about the ones that stick in your craw. Can you change your mind about them? Try it and find out.

And that’s it. I wonder if five or ten years from now these suggestions will feel completely outdated? I hope not. Some ways of approaching life should never go out of style: Spend less than you earn. Don’t waste. Everybody works for the common family goal. If you are single, that family goal means your personal goal to be financially secure.

Maybe I’ll write a book about this someday.