Book Review: Pay it Down by Jean Chatzky

Pay it Down
by Jean Chatzky

This book has the premise of getting out of credit-card debt by putting an extra $10/day toward your bills. If it sounds like a simple solution, that's because it is. The book is very much a beginner's guide to paying down debt. While it does have some good suggestions, I would have enjoyed it more if I picked it up a year ago.

Putting $10/day aside for debt sounds like a bit of a sacrifice to make until you consider how much it adds up to be. About $300/month. Which equals (according to Jean's math) a payoff of $8000 of debt in three years (assuming 18% interest). Personally, I choose to be much more aggressive in my debt payoff. If I only put $10/day toward my more-than-$8000 debt, I would be paying it off forever.

However, there were a few tips I plan to use to help me reach my goals faster:

1. Consolidating student loans & student loan rate discount possibilities loanconsolidation.ed.gov
   
2. Shop around for car insurance

All in all, if you're starting out, pick up this book. If you've already tightened the belt on your budget, there's not much for you here.