Debt is Slavery, Part 1: Do people have your best interests at heart?

I received a complimentary copy of Michael Mihalik's Debt is Slavery to review.  It's a short book — 123 pages soaking wet — but it was written that way on purpose according to the author.  Until I read it, it had the look and feel of a dollar-store coloring book.  Boy, was I fooled.

Mihalik took Joseph Joubert's words from 1808 to heart: “A work is perfectly finished only when nothing can be added and nothing taken away.”  (Perhaps he got his inspiration from Ecclesiastes 3:14.)  In any case, this short book doesn't waste time making its points, and there are many very good points.

Hence the Part 1.  There's enough meat in this book for several posts.  I really liked it!

The first post in this series deals with how to choose a teacher.  Mihalik, in a sense I suppose, is selling himself as a good candidate for teaching about debt reduction.  He asks two questions:

• Have they done what they are teaching?
• Do they have your best interests at heart?

Mihalik has done what he teaches, and he wrote the book to help others avoid the mistakes he made.  He's successfully gotten into, and out of, a lot of debt.  It's this first-hand experience that makes his words carry more weight that the words of, say, myself, who's never had any unsecured debt.  (He has a lot to say about mortgage debt, though, so I'm not off the hook. ;))

Additionally, he doesn't have anything else to sell, so there's no other obvious motive except to help others.  This is his only book so far, and there is no upselling of anything in the book.  I've read other books that have a lot of references to the authors' websites, newsletters, other books, or high-priced consulting services or seminars.  Which is all well and good, but you might wonder about how good the advice is or whether it's the best advice it can be, given the other purposes the author might have.  A similar comparison might be made between fee-only financial planners and commissioned financial planners.  The fee-only planners don't get paid on commissions, so they're free to give you advice appropriate for you rather than be tempted by hefty commissions for products that might not be appropriate.

So with this setup, he begins a handful of quick, sometimes harsh, always understandable chapters.  He's a good teacher, and Debt is Slavery is the kind of how-to manual that should be handed out like tracts at an airport.