Gail's Books - Watcha Readin'?
BOOK DESCRIPTION
Gail Vaz-Oxlade’s brand of money management isn’t full of tricks. There’s no hidden agenda. There’s no mystery. As Gail says, “Money isn’t rocket science—it’s discipline.” Gail has made it her life’s mission to make money management something everyone can do. And she won’t take no for an answer. Hers is a style that’s unique, with a voice that is demanding, and an approach that is holistic.
Debt-Free Forever will help readers take responsibility for, and control of, their money. Gail’s rules are simple: you can’t spend money you don’t have, you must save something, and if you’re in debt, you must get the albatross off your back. But Gail knows following the rules can be tough. That’s why Debt-Free Forever gives you a roadmap to getting out of the red in 36 months or less. By following Vaz-Oxlade’s detailed plans and drawing on her unflagging faith in people’s ability to take control, readers will reach the right destination: a debt-free life.
Don’t buy this book if you’re a wuss. Don’t buy this book if you’re a whiner. Don’t buy this book if you hate the idea of doing whatever it takes—no matter how hard—to get out of the mess you made. This book will make you squirm. This book may make you cry. This book is the way to move from the crappy place you are now to a wonderful life where you are in control.
—From Debt-Free Forever
Where to buy Debt-Free Forever in Canada
Where to buy Debt-Free Forever in US
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INTRODUCTION
When I set out to write this book, one of my objectives was to help women put money in perspective. It seems money has become far more important than it should be. Our drive to amass wealth, the fear we feel when we think or are forced to face the horror that we may not have enough, and the sleepless nights we endure as we wonder if the cheque will clear or bounce to the stratosphere are all unhealthy.
On September 3, 1997, USA Today published a bar graph based on the research done by Dryfus and the National Center for Women and Retirement Research that described what people worry about in terms of their money. They divided the results by gender and those results were very telling. Seventy percent of women feared not having enough money when they were old. When Statistics Canada released its report, Growing Old in Canada, an alarming 40 percent of women over the age of 75 who were living on their own, had incomes below the poverty line. And since a woman 75 or older has a greater chance of being disabled than her male counterpart, this can paint a gray picture for our futures. But we can paint this dismal picture with fresher, more vibrant colours. We have the ability to do what we must to take charge of our present and our future. But we have to understand how money works to do it.
The most obvious indication of the irrationality surrounding money is the fear and despair many people feel when it comes to managing this very basic economic tool. If we can, just for a moment, forget the more complex issues - investing, retirement planning, writing a business plan - and look to the simple tasks, we can see the extremes to which people will go to not deal with this basic tool. We would rather buy overdraft protection, one of the most expensive forms of credit, than reconcile our chequebooks. We don't save. Using credit cards, we spend our yet-to-be earned income without much thought where the money will come from to pay it back. We don't have enough or the right kind of insurance. We don't have wills. We just don't want to think about it.
Despite the best efforts of a variety of personal financial experts to put money in perspective, the language of money remains extreme. We talk about "worshipping money" and about being "money crazy." We consider money to be dirty: "filthy" rich, "stinking" rich, "money laundering", "dirt cheap". We worry about being "ripped-off" or "taken to the cleaners". We loathe the idea of talking to our children about money, fearing we will imbue them with an immoral love (or is it lust) for money.
We still have a long way to go in coming to terms with money and the role it plays in our lives. Money issues seem to pull us to the two extremes: from complete denial to obsessive concern. Somewhere there is a middle road - one that will be infinitely easier to walk - where we can put money into its correct context and deal with it in a logical, rational and decent manner.
Most financial discussions fail to help people understand how they feel about money. While they may demonstrate how to budget, stress the importance of saving, and describe the various investments available, they seem incapable of motivating people to put into practice what many already know. What little that has been written on psychology of money often doesn't integrate the practical information. And despite the proliferation of books on all aspects of personal finance, the ability to convert that knowledge into practical day-to-day good money management is elusive.
This book has been designed to deal with both the psychological and the practical. It will not solve your financial problems. I know that is the implicit promise of most books on money, but that promise is unrealistic. Just as money - or more money - is not the solution to most people's needs for love, security, power, freedom, status or comfort, so too this book cannot miraculously take you from where you are now to where you want to be. Only you can do that.
What this book will do, if you are a willing participant in the process, is help you to uncover your personal feelings and attitudes toward money. It will provide you with information and proven techniques for positive money management. It will be a guide to what you must think about in order to stay on an even keel and keep money in its right place in your life. It will ask you many questions that you must answer for yourself, if you want to discover how to achieve financial health. By answering these questions, you will make some discoveries. You will find that money management is easy. You will learn new ways of dealing with money. You will achieve the results you want.
