A Dime on the Floor! If I Find Five More, I Can Get a Second Cup of Coffee
Categories: Nonfiction
The worst part of getting divorced is that you become poorer. Fortunately, the Government & Business Department has many good books with advice for debtors, and after you've taken their advice and are not coming home to turned-off electricity anymore, you can move an aisle over to the investment-tips section.
I particularly liked Deal With Your Debt, by Lee Pulliam Weston (2006). The tone was nonjudgmental, and there was plenty of retrenching advice I could use. I could ask for a temporary forbearance on my student loan. I could get my house designated a historical monument, get a low-interest loan to have it fixed up, and then move to a smaller place.
The bad part is that all of the books insist that you constantly make lists of your expenditures, which could bring facts to light that you'd just as soon not realize. Also, Weston urges you to find out your credit rating, which you might not want to know.
Here are some other helpful books about debt:
The Everything Get Out of Debt Book, by Cheryl Kimball and Fay Kathryn Doria (2002). This one has different advice about student loans, suggesting that they're definitely something you don't want put off paying. It also includes more information about about various savings and investment plans, which could be useful once you're solvent again.
Rescue Your Financial Life, by Kimberly Lankford (2004). All of these books overlap somewhat, but the chapter on paying your children's college tuition certainly provides sound advice, especially about the FAFSA. There are also chapters about what you can do if you've just now lost your job, or if you are already retired and running low on money.
Blindsided: Financial Advice for the Suddenly Unemployed, by Edie Milligan (2002). Starts out with What Color is Your Parachute-type questions to help the reader (whether fired for good reasons or laid off for no fault of her own) figure out what to do next. The best advice is to try to stay in touch with people at your previous job and use them as contacts for your next one. This case deals with some worst-case scenarios: what happens when your credit-card debts are sent to collections. Like the other books, Blindsided insists that you carefully a list of your current assets, indebtedness, and spending habits.
Divorce and Finances, by Stephanie I. Blum and Marc Robinson (2000), mostly covers what happens before the decree. But even if you're already divorced, definitely check out the brief chapter on paying for college. If you're not divorced yet, consider moving to one of the states that that takes "marital fault" into consideration when deciding on spousal support. These states are listed in Divorces and Finances.
The Financial Guide to Divorce. Covers life insurance, which is important if you have children. There's also a tactful item-by-item list of different expenses you may have, and ways to pare those down. (Buy clothes from Target, not Dillards; drop the YMCA; drop HBO; drop the coffee-of-the-month club; mow your own lawn; take a bus.)
I really don't want to make a list of my current expenses, but I have to admit it is a good idea. Yes, I've moved on to store-brand cola, and I bought my last forks at the Salvation Army. But darn it, I don't want to give up the YMCA.
