INTRODUCTION Listen, I know dealing with the responsibility of money, especially a lack of money, may not necessarily be high on your list of priorities. But something motivated you and brought you to this page, so in some way you are telling yourself it’s time to start dealing with your financial life. It’s time to make some changes.
Most likely, you are young; I hope you feel you are fabulous; and chances are, you are also broke. I’ve talked to thousands of young people like you over the years, and, for what it’s worth, you’ve got plenty of company.
But you also have a great way out of your current situation. You have time. Because you are young, you have the time to right any missteps, and the time to build a solid financial life. I also know that you have the bandwidth to take the advice in this book and put it into action. You may be intent on feeling beaten up these days, but I’m not going to play along. I admire you for your grit in coping with a lousy job market, skyrocketing real estate values, and hefty student loans. But what I also hear when I talk to you is that you have what it takes to manage the hand you’ve been dealt.
Now, having said all that, I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re wondering if this book can really deliver the goods or if it’s going to be yet another personal finance book by someone who has no clue about the issues you’re dealing with. I guarantee you that this is definitely not your parents’ money book. I get
your situation.
The advice in this book is customized to fit your life today. How do I know what you’re going through? Because you told me. You were quite blunt about what you want from me, as well as what you don’t want.
You want advice that deals with your reality—a set of solutions for the problems you have. You want to be told what to tackle first, and you want clear advice on how to get the job done. And that’s what you are going to get here, delivered as concisely as possible. I only dive into details that are absolutely crucial to your success. And you don’t need an iota of prior knowledge. I know you’ve been too busy or uninspired to figure out how a Roth IRA works, what a FICO score is, and why you should even care. No worries. I have written every section of this book so you can quickly and easily comprehend exactly what actions you need to take and why.
What you don’t want is yet another personal finance book spewing the same old advice that doesn’t work for you. I completely agree. You won’t catch me telling you to cut back on the lattes and “simply” save $10 a day. As if saving $3,650 a year when you are broke could ever be simple. Nor will I tell you that credit cards are the devil in plastic (on the contrary, I think they can be good for you) or that you must have eight months of living expenses saved up as your emergency reserve fund before you are allowed past go.
Un-uh. I know that’s not realistic or reasonable for the majority of you at this point in your lives.
Besides, if you didn’t have credit card debt and you already had an eight-month emergency cash fund, why would you have picked up this book? You sure wouldn’t fit my definition of broke.
BROKE IS relying on a cash advance on your credit card to pay the rent or mortgage, and praying that you have enough left on your credit line to do so.
BROKE IS having a ton of student loans that make you nauseated when you think about how long it is going to take you to pay them off.
BROKE IS not opening your credit card bills because you’re terrified to see what you owe and have no way of paying. So instead, you get hit with the late fee and finance charges.
BROKE IS wanting to buy a home but having no clue where you can come up with the down payment. So you are stuck renting a small place.
BROKE IS counting every coin in your change jar as well as scrounging under the sofa cushions in a desperate attempt to find the dough to cover your bounced check and the $25 fee your bank is going to slap on you.
BROKE IS wanting to save for your kids’ college educations but not knowing how to swing it because you are already strapped trying to make the mortgage and car payment, and you haven’t even started saving for your retirement.
BROKE IS not having one penny saved, even though you have a good job. If your car breaks down, so will you. You don’t have the money for repairs, but you need the wheels to get to work.
This is by no means an exhaustive list. I’m sure if we all met up, we could have a great time seeing who has the best “Broke is” story. But even though your specific stories may differ, you all want the same thing. You want to fix your situation so you are no longer broke.
That is exactly what this book is about. Our starting point is that you are broke, by your or any definition. Our ending point is that you are not. And we aren’t just going to get you past broke, we are going to make sure you never revisit broke. This is such an important point; I see far too many people go from being broke to finally having some money, only to slip back to broke again because they didn’t know what to do with their money. I don’t want that to happen to you.
Here’s the bottom line: You picked up this book because you are broke. Keep reading and you will discover what you need to know—and do—so you will not be broke forever.
Copyright © 2005 by Suze Orman. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
