Elsewhere, I mentioned the book “Going Broke: Why Americans Can’t Hold on to Their Money by Stuart Vyse.
I read a chapter or two at Google Books. As I recall, Vyse, although holding a good-paying job as a college professor of psychology, went through difficult financial periods. Then he wrote a book based on interviews with 8 people, five of whom went through a personal bankruptcy.
So here I make note of a review that appeared on the “Feral Homemaking” Blog:
http://feralhomemaking.blogspot.ca/2012/03/book-review-going-broke-why-americans.html