For an audio version of this post, please click on the speaker icon (top left).

 

Dr. Cory Fawcett is no stranger to long time readers of this website.

Dr. Fawcett was previously kind enough to risk his health and place himself under the beam of my dilapidated back alley X-ray machine and answer some probing questions.

He is the creator/author of an incredibly successful “The Doctors Guide To” series of books, which I am currently in the process of completing in chronological order.

There are currently four books in this series:

• The Doctors Guide to Starting Your Practice Right
• The Doctors Guide to Eliminating Debt
• The Doctors Guide to Smart Career Alternatives and Retirement
• The Doctors Guide to Real Estate Investing for Busy Professionals

[Disclaimer:

Dr. Fawcett was kind enough to send me signed copies of the entire series of books complimentary (I chose to view it as in lieu of payment for my Radiology Fee I would have charged for the X-ray beam he was under).

There was no request for reviewing these books or any other strings attached and I did this on my own volition and without bias.

If you do purchase any of these books through the Amazon links provided, I do receive a small financial compensation from Amazon but at no extra cost to you.]

I have already reviewed the first book in the series, The Doctors Guide To Starting Your Practice Right, which brings me to book two, The Doctors Guide To Eliminating Debt.

As was the case with the first book, the content of Eliminating Debt did not apply to my current situation as I have been debt free since 2015.

I therefore approached reading the book as if I was embarking on my medical career and faced with seemingly insurmountable debt.

 

Title:

The Doctors Guide to Eliminating Debt.

Date of Publish:

2016.

Length:

170 pages.

Readability:

Dr. Fawcett continues the same writing style as his first book, a style that has won him numerous accolades including the non-fiction book of the year in 2016.

The concepts addressing how to eliminate debt are broken down into easily digestible chapters.

Rather than just spouting out cold-facts about debt elimination principles, Dr. Fawcett engages the reader by making it far more personal by including his own real-life struggles and how he overcame them.

Target Audience:

This book is geared towards physicians/high-income earners that are saddled with 6 figure (or more) debt.

However the concepts discussed can be applied to a more generalized audience (although the journey will obviously be much longer for individuals with lower incomes).

Content:

The book is broken down into 9 chapters:

1. My Debt Free Journey.
2. Balance.
3. Symptoms and Causes of Debt Accumulation.
4. How To Recognize Bad Advice.
5. New Perspectives on Debt and Housing.
6. From Decision To Debt-Free in Four Easy Steps.
7. Staying Out of Debt.
8. Begin Investing.
9. The Finish Line.

 

I love how Dr. Fawcett starts off the book by highlighting his own mistakes/struggles with money (I similarly started off this blog by first highlighting my own mistakes).

I feel that this makes Cory more relatable to the reader as “he is one of us” rather than some ivory tower, silver-spooned author who is merely regurgitating factoids about debt reduction.

The chapter on Balance cannot be emphasized enough.

Too often we find ourselves in one extreme or another with money.

Either we become spendthrifts and develop a live for the moment financial attitude by mortgaging our future or, at the other end of the spectrum, we become misers, hoarding money for a future life that may not be promised.

Cory drives home the fact that a proper balance, enjoying your current stage of life as well as insuring a happy life later, is the key to a life well lived.

Those in the medical field will especially love the tie-ins Cory implements between a sick patient and a person in debt.

“Debt is like poorly fitting shoes on numb feet.

Your financial future is rotting away and you’re not even aware it’s happening.”

“Medications do not work until they are swallowed.”

Another chapter of import is the Staying Out Of Debt one.

An easy analogy would be to compare it to someone on a Yo-Yo diet.

Losing the weight is often the easy part (and trust me it really is not that easy).

It is the maintenance of that reduced weight that can become a life-long struggle.

Similarly, reaching the goal of being debt-free should not be a ending point, but rather a starting point to bigger and better financial things.

Summary:

Eliminating debt is not rocket science.

In fact I can just distill it down for you to this:

Spend less than you earn.

Use the difference to pay off all your debt and invest the rest.

There you go.

Somehow I don’t think publishing this as a pamphlet would earn me a lot of money though.

Much like weight loss, where instead you substitute eat for spend and burn for earn, applying this concept to everyday life is “the secret sauce.”

You need motivation to put words into actions.

That is why a lot of us pay serious money to have personal trainers whip us into shape as we don’t have the motivation to do so if we are left to our own devices.

Think of Dr. Fawcett as a personal financial trainer to get you motivated to take the next step in whipping your finances into shape.

Even better is that you only pay the price of the book once and you can revisit it as many times as you want for no additional cost (try negotiating that kind of deal with a personal trainer).

 

 

 

Please check out the other Continuing Financial Education materials I have recommended here.

 

 

Note:

If you are in search of financial help, please consider enlisting the service of any of the sponsors of this blog who I feel are part of the “good guys and gals of finance.”

Even a steadfast DIY’er can sometimes gain benefit from the occasional professional input.