Blogging Away Debt Blogging Away Debt follows real people on their journey to debt freedom — with tips on the debt snowball, budgeting, cutting expenses, and staying motivated.

by Tricia

A few months ago, I was contacted by Mary Winget, and she asked me if I was interested in reading and reviewing, “You’re Broke Because You Want to Be” (aff. link). If the last name sounds a little familiar, that is because she’s the wife of Larry Winget. I’ve mentioned him on here before when I briefly talked about his show on A&E called Big Spender. I watched a few clips of his TV show, and I was pretty impressed with what I saw. To be able to read his book was an offer I couldn’t refuse.

First things first, Larry is called “The Pitbull of Personal Development” for a reason. He is a pitbull because he doesn’t hold back. He tells things like he sees it and if he makes you cry he thinks that is a good thing. That initially turned me off a bit. While I don’t mind constructive criticism, if someone just starts bashing your actions for the sake of bashing them…well, I don’t care for that much. Larry is different, though.

In this book, he does break you down a bit. He wants you to feel down, so he can build you back up with the main goal being that you will be able to better your financial situation. Some people may not be receptive to this tactic, and I am usually one of them. But Larry’s words didn’t bother me because even though he dishes out some tough love, you can tell that he is passionate about what he does and he genuinely wants to help others with his book. To me, an author like that is one worth reading.

I also like to read authors who write from experience. Larry has been broke in his life more than once. He’s been broke, became rich, went bankrupt, and then became a millionaire. He’s been around the financial block so he’s coming from the angle of being there. He shares bits and pieces about his past and I enjoyed that. He covers many different angles as to why you are broke (not making enough money, spending too much money, attitude) and then at the end of the book offers success stories of those who were once broke and overcame it.

Overall, if you have been reading about personal finance for a while and have already started improving your situation, you may find some parts of this book “old news.” Larry has included basic worksheets to complete to get you thinking about your situation. There’s one about your income and expenses and there’s even a little section where you can write down all of your excuses why you are broke. While this book is about your finances, and Larry includes some good tools to get you started, I think what Larry has to say about why you are broke can be a real eye-opener.

On the other hand, if you are in financial trouble and don’t know where to turn, you might want to visit the library and give “You’re Broke Because You Want to Be” (aff. link) a read. It is also a book that I would recommend to a friend if they told me they were having financial troubles. I feel it is a great starting place to 1.) Get motivated to change your situation and 2.) Learn techniques to improve your situation.

Overall, this book would have been a great one for my first year of college. I was broke back then, and in hindsight, I didn’t have to be. I’ll never know for sure if reading this book would have made a difference but I have a feeling that it might have. Larry is definitely a motivator.

So far, there are a few other bloggers who have read and reviewed the book as well:

Cash Money Life (he’s giving away his copy!)
Blueprint for Financial Prosperity

As for my copy? Stay tuned 🙂