Features
- Cover Type: Paperback with 208 pages
- Published by: Financial Times
- Edition: 1st Edition November 16, 2007
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 0132383837
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-0132383837
-
Book Dimensions:
8.9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
- Weighs: 12 ounces
From Publishers Weekly
Pulliam Weston (
Your Credit Score), columnist for MSN Money and author of the nationally syndicated column Money Talk, provides a practical, easy-to-understand guide to taking control of personal finances and establishing financial security. Like most financial advice books, this collection covers the basics, such as creating a financial toolkit, investing, planning for retirement and saving for college. While Pulliam Weston provides insights into these areas—especially for those without a financial background—she also charts new territory with her sixty Percent Solution and 50/30/20 Plan, both aimed at spending control, as well as getting the most out of your credit cards and what to do if you've overspent on a car purchase. An advocate of online banking, Pulliam Weston maps out the right way to pay bills and advocates account aggregation and consolidation. She also provides a useful resource guide for finding a financial planner, a tax professional and an estate planning attorney. Checklists are included in each chapter, as well as helpful charts and tables that aid in getting and staying organized. This book will be a valuable guide on the path to financial control and security.
(Jan.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Back Cover Copy
Pulliam Weston (Your Credit Score), columnist for MSN Money and author of the nationally syndicated column "Money Talk," provides a practical, easy-to-understand guide to taking control of personal finances and establishing financial security. Like most financial advice books, this collection covers the basics, such as creating a financial toolkit, investing, planning for retirement and saving for college. While Pulliam Weston provides insights into these areas-especially for those without a financial background-she also charts new territory with her "60 Percent Solution" and "50/30/20 Plan," both aimed at spending control, as well as getting the most out of your credit cards and what to do if you've overspent on a car purchase. An advocate of online banking, Pulliam Weston maps out the right way to pay bills and advocates account aggregation and consolidation. She also provides a useful resource guide for finding a financial planner, a tax professional and an estate planning attorney. Checklists are included in each chapter, as well as helpful charts and tables that aid in getting and staying organized. This book will be a valuable guide on the path to financial control and security.
--Publishers Weekly
“If you want to simplify your life and make solid decisions—fast—this book is your answer. It’s one more reason Liz remains one of America’s most trusted financial columnists. Quick, easy, and empowering!”
—Jennifer Openshaw, Author of The Millionaire Zone and CEO, WinningAdvice.com
“As usual, Liz cuts to the chase to provide readers with practical, easy to implement tips for living a rich life. If you follow only half of her on-the-money recommendations you’ll be exponentially better off tomorrow than you are today.”
—Lois P. Frankel, Ph.D., Author of Nice Girls Don’t Get Rich and
Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office
Simplify your financial life…
now and forever!
• By the Internet’s #1 personal finance expert, MSN’s Liz Pulliam Weston
• Stop feeling overwhelmed by your finances: take control, the easy way!
• Save time, avoid mistakes, and help secure your future
Common sense. Easy solutions. Plain English. Best selling author,
Liz Pulliam Weston, takes on the problem everyone has, and nobody talks about: the sheer hassle of managing your money! Weston offers practical guidance and easy checklists for every decision: investments, credit cards, insurance, mortgages, retirement, college savings, and more! Discover how to consolidate, delegate, and automate your finances…save time and money…and live a more rewarding, secure life!
www.lizweston.com
Reader Reviews
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
This is a book to come back to, there's too much to take advantage of from a single reading. Nevertheless, I found I could write down items immediately that I could take advantage of soon. One excellent advice I hadn't seen before was to take my earnings record from my annual Social Security Statement to get my lifetime earnings (to date), add up my total (taxed Medicare) earnings and compare that to my net worth. Liz suggests aiming for my net worth to be 100% of more of my lifetime earnings by the time I am ready to retire. Whoa, trouble! I can see that I am going to have to read this book carefully as I must be in need of Liz's help. "Easy Money" is well-organized and seems thorough. Each section is succinct and practically oriented. Some of the advice I've learned over time: the value of an alphabetical filing system, the value of index funds , and whether umbrella liability insurance might be, as Liz puts is, "a good idea". Liz places emphasis on the advice of John Bogle, the founder of Vanguard Funds and explains her recommendation of index funds. She lists a book by Bogle in the "Resources and Recommendations" section of this book. She also discusses why mortgage prepayment might not be wise. She provides what seems to be excellent advice about use of financial planners and when to use a tax professional (tax software just may not handle your situation as well as a professional might). There's a good section on planning for college, something those with young children might not want to delay for too long. There are some tips I haven't considered. One is the idea of a "buy-nothing month" during which one only purchases true necessities. The intent is to get a feeling for how many and how often one buys non-essentials. Another idea is having a "pause button", i.e. keeping a list of things to buy and having a some "cooling off" period, say 3 days, before considering whether to really buy something one has placed on that list. Web sites are suggested for "savvy shoppers". For example, the benefit of the Consumer Reports web site, which is relatively inexpensive for a year's access. I've used this web site for several years and refer to it often enough and for major enough purchases that it has been a great value to me. I'd suggest keeping this book out, perhaps with your dictionary, so that you are reminded of it and can browse through it periodically to see if there is something you can put into practice. Do I really want to keep track of my spending with personal finance software? I did that once and it helped me find a great deal of needless spending, enough in one year to pay for the personal computer I'd just bought. But it does take commitment to keep track of everything ... and a personal computer that one has ready enough access to! Look at the price of this book here at Amazon, go to Search Inside and at least look at the Table of Contents to see how much Liz covers and how much would be useful to you anytime soon (it might well be a lot). It's not just the thorough coverage that I recommend this book for (there are other books on personal finances I've seen with that), it's the sharp organization, succinctness and practicality. If you know of a better book on personal finances, let me know. For now, I plan to get what value I can out of this one: Liz's "pause button" idea is something I can implement immediately.
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