Jordan E. Goodman’s post-crisis field guide argues that you cannot escape debt effectively if you don’t understand the system you’re borrowing from.
Most debt books tell you to cut up your cards and live on rice and beans. This one takes a different approach.
Jordan Goodman’s Master Your Debt: Slash Your Monthly Payments and Become Debt Free was written by the former Wall Street correspondent for Money magazine and published by Wiley in 2010. It arrived just after the financial crisis, when the rules of borrowing had changed almost overnight. Goodman’s message is that you cannot escape debt effectively if you don’t understand the system you’re borrowing from.
- Author: Jordan E. Goodman, with Bill Westrom.
- Published: Wiley, 2010.
- Format: A practical field guide to loans, mortgages, credit, negotiation, and protection, with an extensive resource appendix.
- Core idea: You gain power over debt when you understand the rules better than your lenders expect you to.
- Source rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars.
The premise: a guide to the new landscape
Goodman argues that borrowing and debt management had changed so much that many people no longer knew how to protect their financial future. The book presents itself as a guide to the new landscape, including new laws and the government programs and policies introduced under the Obama administration after the crisis. Instead of offering one motivational formula, it tries to give readers the knowledge and negotiating power to change their terms.
Navigating the financial world as it works
As one reader noted, the book does not focus mainly on budgeting and cutting expenses. It focuses on helping readers navigate the financial world as it currently works. Goodman explains how the economy reached its crisis and how that changed the handling of loans, mortgages, credit cards, and student loans.
It still starts with the basics: financial progress begins with complete honesty about where you stand. From there, the book covers mortgages (avoiding foreclosure, refinancing, and modifying a mortgage even when you owe more than the home is worth), credit (cleaning up your report and raising your score), negotiation (better terms on medical bills, student loans, and credit cards), and protection (the new credit card rules, rate and fee traps, and identity theft, a topic the book covers in unusual depth). It also addresses car deals and bankruptcy.
The HELOC strategy
The most ambitious chapter describes a strategy, associated with co-author Bill Westrom, that claims readers can pay off a mortgage in five to seven years, change the way they pay bills, and save hundreds of thousands of dollars. It centers on using a home equity line of credit to pay down the mortgage faster. The book closes with an extensive appendix of websites, phone numbers, government agencies, and vetted services.
“Almost every debt term is worth asking about.”
THE FIELD GUIDE’S CORE REMINDER
How it shaped our thinking
By treating credit scores, lender rules, and government relief programs as tools, Goodman encouraged readers to act like informed consumers rather than helpless borrowers. His emphasis on identity theft and credit reports as essential parts of debt management was ahead of many popular finance books of its time.
Where it falls short
The book’s strength is also its weakness. Because it is tied so closely to the laws and programs of 2010, much of its specific advice has aged. The HELOC mortgage-acceleration strategy is its most debated idea: variable interest rates and the discipline required mean it can go wrong, and readers should examine it carefully before trying it. Its recommendations of specific companies and services also need to be checked against today’s market. Readers looking for motivation or help with spending habits will find less here than in Ramsey or Bach.
The verdict
Master Your Debt is less an inspirational book than a practical field guide. Read it for its central lesson: you gain power over debt when you understand the rules better than your lenders expect you to. Verify its specific programs and numbers against current information, and approach the HELOC strategy with caution.
Recommended for
- Borrowers who want to negotiate better terms rather than simply cut spending.
- Homeowners dealing with refinancing or mortgage modification questions.
- Anyone working to clean up a credit report and raise a credit score.
- Readers who want a reference guide more than a motivational book.
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