After BK books?

[heidiheidi87]

Does anyone know of any after bankruptcy books, like budgeting, how to safely rebuild credit, etc? All of the books I've been able to find are how to keep you out of bankruptcy.

[LSUTiger32]

As far budgeting and getting on a plan, Dave Ramsey's "My Total Money Makeover" is just amazing. Of course, he is going to tell you that your credit score and getting a credit card is in his words....."STOOOOPID."

I agree with him, but not everyone does. Still, the book is top notch on getting a plan, investing, budgeting and all.

[PassingThru]

Without a doubt, Dave Ramsey is the way to go to make sure you don't fall back into spending trps. TMMO is good, even better is Financial Peace. Many churches host Financial Peace University classes, which allow you to attend your money management with others. Definitely worth a look.

Good blog at thesimpledollar.com too!

[calipeachr]

Dave Ramsey...I also am in the FPU class. The total money makeover book is great.

[Logan]

Dave Ramsey...I also am in the FPU class. The total money makeover book is great.

I have a buddy who followed Dave Ramsey's advice to pay down debt and in doing so reduced his 401K contributions to 3% (about $3500 a year) in order to pay his debt down faster. He commented that in hind sight he lost money because he would have been contributing when the market was at rock bottom and missed out on huge gains.
He did say he was happy to be debt free but realized that the missed contributions cannot be replaced and those compounding gains are gone and his 401k had just about doubled over the last 18 months after taking some financial advice and switching his funds in his 401K.

I can see both sides of the argument.

Logan

[HHM]

There are lots of books on living cheaply and staying within your means etc., you just may need to rethink your search. (try Thrifty Living, or Frugal Living). Dave Ramsey's stuff is okay, but the few books I have thumbed through are a little short on specifics; its one thing to say only spend $300 per month on groceries, but it doesn't really explain in detail how to do it and eat well and not overly burden your time. But he does have a lot of good information.

As for rebuilding credit, There probably are some books out there, but most are attached to some sort of monitoring service that he book is actually pitching.

Rebuilding credit after BK is fairly easy, and has 3 phases.

Phase 1: proper reporting of BK. After BK discharge, pull your credit report and make sure all accounts are reporting the BK properly, (the balanced owed should be zero, and the comments should say "Included in Bankruptcy" or some equivalent phrase).
Phase 2: Credit Usage. Very soon after Bk discharged (within a few months), you should be able to get a credit cards (granted, may not be a great card). Charge $50 and pay it off each month. About a 9-12 months of that, you should start getting pre approved offers from mainline banks (Citibank, Chase, Discover, etc), accept one of those offers and do the same thine, charge $50, pay it off.
Phase 3: Credit variety. Longer term, having different types of loans will improve your credit. I am NOT saying go out a car loan for the sake of improving credit (that would be really stupid), but most people need a car and most people will finance, so when the need arises for larger purchases, you may put those on credit (note, I advise that you actually have the cash to PAY CASH for the item).