Poor Me!

Domini Stuart (Published 2011)
Written By Piers Elliott with Domini Stuart
Australia

Review 3 stars— Good Read

How the blurb describes the book:
I really wished I hadn't got into debt. And I'm not the only one...
- I'm 20 and I'm going to be broke for the next seven years while I pay off everything I owe.
- Joanna is repaying $27,000 in debts and still owes $15,000 on her car.
- Laura became insolvent at 23 owing $30,000.
- One year, Luke gambled away most of the $120,000 he worked hard to earn.
We all stuffed up. And we'd all like you to learn from our mistakes instead of making your own.

So here are our stories. Here are all the things we really wish we'd known before things got out of control. And, in case you've already made mistakes, here's some help with getting back on track.

Mr Home Budget's Review:
As Piers puts it, "Borrowing money is dangerously easy". However as he is finding out, getting out of debt is painfully slow. It's great to read a book about someone who is barely out of their teens who is interested in home budgeting and getting out of debt. Too many people wait a further 10 odd years before the concept of drafting up a budget even enters their mind.

From Piers 18th birthday to his 21st birthday he went from $0 in debt to $25,000 in debt and had nearly seven years of payments in front of him to get back to zero. Not to mention the extra $25,000 in interest payments on top of the original $25,000. Ouch!

So where did the $25,000 go? Of course, a large chunk was on a hotted up car ($15,000). A holiday was on the wish list ($4500). Moving into a new flat was not cheap ($5000) and dental work is never cheap ($500). So from a big pile of borrowed money, in just three years Piers had nothing to show for his spending.

But the book is not just about Piers' spending ways. It also chronicles three other young people who have made big mistakes with money. Laura had (General Budget Problems) Joanna (Problems with credit cards) and Luke (Gambling Issues) and Piers talks about the 10 biggest myths around debt.

One of the paragraphs which stood out for me in the book was on page 17. Laura says, "I never looked at my debt as the sum of many. I looked at them as individual debts. I didn't owe a whopping $30,000; I just owed $3,000 plus $4,000 plus $9,000 plus $3000 etc. etc. As each bill for the minimum repayment came separately, I was never really aware of the enormity of the situation, and I only ever made the minimum repayment."

Also on page 30 a paragraph caught my attention. "The more you spend on trying to convince people you're richer than you are, the less likely you are to get the things you need to be comfortable and feel secure. If you're borrowing that money, it's even less likely. What makes it worse is the fact that advertisers know all about this and do everything they can to exploit it. If they can make you feel that you'll be less popular or less successful without whatever it is they're trying to sell they're doing their job well."

The book's insight to the 10 debt myths is fascinating and extremely well written by a person as young as Piers. It takes down all the possible arguments you might have to try and get into debt, and replaces them with well thought out counter arguments. Myth number 8 "Being in debt isn't a problem", really stood out for me as a great myth busted.

To sum up, this book is perfect for anyone 18 to 30. If you have been in debt, planning to go into debt or you need to get out of debt, you can 100% learn a few concepts and tricks which will hold you in really good stead throughout your life. This book can do nothing but help your bank balance. However, as a lot of people 18 to 30 are not interested in budgeting, it might be up to Mum and Dad to purchase the book for them. Well done Piers!

Pros:
Having not only Piers' bad luck debt story, but also three other young people's stories really adds something to the book.
Very well written and funny at times.
Piers now has a really good understanding of how the world works, including how advertising tries to get you to purchase things you really don't want or need.

Cons:
It's perhaps a little short.
While the information is really great, Piers has only just started paying back his debts and this book at times can feel like it's written a tad prematurely.