How to get yourself out of debt

I just got back from Fox News, where I talked to my long-distance BFF, Kerri-Lee Halkett, who has slightly better hair than I do, about five steps you can take to get out of personal debt.

The basic truth is that getting out of debt is a lot like staying fit: You have to balance intake with output. If you spend more than you earn, you’ll go into debt. If you eat more than you burn, you’ll get fat. Here are five tips that, as Fox 29 Philly succinctly put it in its Twitter feed, “you don’t have to be a CPA to understand.”

(Oh, no… sometimes when I get off camera, I have the same feelings I get when I sober up after a raucous party. Sitting here typing, I just realized I winked at the camera after my first point was made. Is that the talking head equivalent of drunk texting? But when Kerri-Lee gives me an opening like she did, the nerd in me can’t resist seizing upon it. It’s what makes it fun to talk to her!)

I’d like to suggest one more magnificent tool for avoiding debt: My friend Zac Bissonnette’s new book, Debt-Free U, which was published yesterday. What I love about the book is that it’s essentially a radical manifesto that has the power to reshape the way you look at the role of borrowing in American culture. Anything that has the power to intelligently rock my world view is something I love.

The book’s already a sales hit (it’s #1 in several college categories), but the kid’s risking getting a real hit put out on him if he’s not careful, because he’s going on shows like Today to inform everyone, quite rightly, that they can chuck the vast American system of usury and pay for a high-quality university education by simply cash-flowing it, no debt required.

He should know: He’s a senior in college.  He’s also slightly gonzo, so he probably would welcome the challenge of the financial industry trying to run him off the road, Silkwood-style. Sic ’em, Zac. (Wink, wink.)