PT Money » Money Books

My Favorite Personal Finance Books

Miranda Marquit — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 11:30:34 +0000

There is no doubt that the best personal finance books can make a great resource. What you read about finances can change the way you think about — and interact with — money. Everyone has their favorite personal finance books, but I’d like to share my favorite 10 with you:

The Millionaire Fastlane – This book, by MJ DeMarco offers some straight talk about getting rich. I really enjoyed how he points out that working away slowly at a traditional job is not the way to find financial freedom now. The Millionaire Fastlane offers somewhat unconventional advice about taking charge of your income to achieve financial freedom.

The 4-Hour Workweek – While I don’t agree with everything in this book, I still really like Tim Ferriss’ ability to share a vision — while encouraging you to create your own. The 4-Hour Workweek popularized the idea of “lifestyle design” and really helped me to see that I can arrange my life the way I want to, with a little help from some practical finances.

The Intelligent Investor – A classic by Benjamin Graham. Get the updated version, and you can enjoy thoughts from Jason Zweig and Warren Buffett. Learn the basics of value investing, if that’s what you’re into. I enjoy this book for its ability to shed light on building a solid investing foundation.

Generation Earn – Kimberly Palmer writes a practical book for those of us who are considered “young professionals” (although I’m rapidly moving out of the “young” category). Generation Earn is guide to boosting your earning power, and making smart decisions with your money now. Includes essential information on giving back, as well.

Money Girl’s Smart Moves to Deal with Your Debt – Laura Adams provides a helpful book all about dealing with your debt, and getting rid of the financial drag it puts on your life. I like that it’s straightforward, with practical application in daily life.

Psych Yourself Rich – Farnoosh Torabi has created a book that focuses on changing your money mindset. It’s about building financial discipline, planning and figuring out what’s important to me. I like how this book challenges the reader to decide how to set financial priorities.

Enough – Investment guru John Bogle looks at the reasons we ended up in financial trouble as individuals and an economy with the financial crash of 2008. The reason? Excess. Bogle examines what constitutes “enough”, and explores how excess in any number of areas from debt to CEO compensation to speculation contributed to the situation we find ourselves in.

Your Money: The Missing Manual – You know who J.D. Roth is. Now read his book about money. It’s a simple book, covering the basics of the money decisions you will have to make throughout your life, and helping you establish firm financial footing.

Oblivious Investing – Mike Piper has created an easy-to-read guide to investing. It’s an engaging book that focusing on investing for the long haul, providing practical insights.

Secrets of a Stingy Scoundrel – One of the most enjoyable personal finance books I’ve every read is this one by Phil Villarreal. It goes through some items that you probably wouldn’t do to save money — and some that you might actually consider. A hilarious treatise on saving money by any means.

Bonus: Making Money – My favorite book about money is actually a work of fiction. Terry Pratchett offers a strikingly accurate look at the way money moves through our economy in this financial satire of a con man turned banker.

For even more books, see this list of the best get out of debt books.

What are your favorite books about personal finance?

My Favorite Personal Finance Books is a post from: PT Money: Personal Finance by PT.
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Kevin Trudeau’s Free Money

Philip Taylor — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 14:01:06 +0000

Have you seen the late night infomercials featuring Kevin Trudeau’s new book Free Money “They” Don’t Want You to Know About?

If you think you’ve seen Kevin before, you would be right. He’s been doing the late night infomercial thing for quite some time. He’s probably most famous for his book on natural cures. A book that got him into a lot of legal trouble with the Federal Trade Commission.

Kevin Trudeau

Kevin Trudeau does not appear to have the kind of past you would hope for in someone giving you financial advice. A quick glance at his page on Wikipedia will show you all you need to know about this former criminal.

Kevin Trudeau’s Free Money Reviews

From the reviews I can find on the web, this book, Free Money, appears to be a rehash of information you can find already for free. The “free money” Kevin is talking about is mostly unclaimed money.

Jason from One Money Design put together a great list of the unclaimed money sites in his recent post on where to find missing money. The book also touches on government grants.

You can go sort through all the available government grants at grants.gov right now.

Just before he released Free Money, Kevin published Debt Cures “They” Don’t Want You to Know About. Dough Roller did an excellent review of Kevin Trudeau’s Debt Cures and his past.

Basically, DR points out that the book itself isn’t bad, it’s the sales tactics around the book that consumers find troubling. To avoid these sales tricks, just buy the book at Amazon instead. But know that you could probably dig around the Interwebs and find the same info on your own.

There are no secret cures. I won’t tack on much to what DR said, but I will share this video I found about Trudeau. It’s a piece John Stossel put together for ABC News.

Did you read Kevin Trudeau’s Free Money? What did you think?

Kevin Trudeau’s Free Money is a post from: PT Money: Personal Finance by PT.
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Should You Be Renting Your Home?

Philip Taylor — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 16:12:25 +0000

I was reading through Doug Warshauer’s new book, If I’m So Smart, Where Did All My Money Go?, and he pointed out something I have a hard time arguing with: financially speaking, we should have probably continued renting a home back in 2007, instead of purchasing one. Doug says (in the fictional narrative of the book) that the following people should rent their homes:

People Who Should Probably Rent

Someone who…

Is not married, but planning to marry
Has no children, but plans to soon (like we were in 2007)
Has children, but wants more
Plans to move soon
Has a job with relocation expectations

The common thread in all of these scenarios is change. Change in your life can sometimes mean change in the type or location of home you need. When you buy and sell real estate, you incur some fairly significant transactional costs. Therefore, if you expect things to change for you soon, don’t go from renting to buying. Wait until the dust settles, and then, if no other changes are on the horizon, make your purchase. Following that pattern will leave you feeling glad you didn’t buy a home.

Consequences of Buying Too Soon

If you do buy too soon, here are some of the negative consequences:

1. Lose Money on the Transaction – Unless you stumble upon some rare market where homes are appreciating at the speed of light, you will need to stay in your home for a few years before the improved value overtakes the cost of buying and selling. Buying a home right before a major life change will put you in a spot where you have to choose money over convenience. If you choose convenience (i.e. selling and buying something else), then you will most likely lose money. In his book, Warshauer gives a general recommendation of staying in your house 10 years before you sell. Moving too often can destroy your wealth.

2. The Accidental Landlord – If you buy too early and need to sell just a few years later, you may find that you can’t sell the home without losing a lot of money. This kind of scenario forces people into what I would call an accidental landlord situation. Instead of selling your home, you turn it into a rental unit. We are considering this move as we’ve seen our home value plummet. We can’t stomach the thought of losing money on our house no matter how much we can “make up” on the other side of the transaction. Granted, we purchased a town home and somewhat considered the idea of keeping this as a rental. But I didn’t want to be financially forced into the situation. Which is where we are now.

3. Stuck in an Uncomfortable House – If you don’t choose to sell and lose money or become a landlord, then your last option is to stay in the house. If your house is too small for your family or too far from your new job, then you might just be uncomfortable for a while. In Doug’s book, he recommends sticking it out as long as you can, throwing all your extra savings into your mortgage.

When the Heck Do You Buy Then?

After all of this, it seems like buying a home is only reserved for the most boring of people (i.e. people who rarely, if ever, experience change in their life). Unfortunately, I think that’s the case when you plug in the numbers and look at how your wealth will be affected. But you guys know that buying a house is sometimes about more than just building wealth. Buying a home involves wants and needs. And up until 2008, it didn’t involve much in the way of financial requirements.

I guess the key is to avoid mixing the message. If you buy a home when you shouldn’t financially, just be aware of that fact, and be willing to accept the financial consequences of doing so. If you decide to keep renting, then take heart in that it’s probably the best financial decision you could make.

What’s your take? Did you ever buy a home when you should have continued renting?

Thanks to Doug for a great read. I would encourage you to check out If I’m So Smart, Where Did All My Money Go?. It’s a very fun read (written like a novel) and it covers all you need to know to help maintain the proper balance in your financial life, including controlling your spending, saving for short-term goals, investing, saving for college, and saving for retirement.

Should You Be Renting Your Home? is a post from: PT Money: Personal Finance by PT.
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5 Car Tire Care Tips

Philip Taylor — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 14:00:21 +0000

How would you take care of these bad boys?

Now that we don’t have a car payment on our Honda, which just hit 100,000 miles, our biggest annual car expense seems to be tires.

I just spent $300 on two front tires. We don’t really drive that much but it seems like we quickly wear out our tires. The reason that we wear them out so quickly is that we don’t do a very good job of maintaining them.

I recently received a car maintenance guide, How to Make Your Car Last Forever, from the folks at Motorbooks.com. In it I found (among lots of other great car care tips) 5 car tire care tips for properly maintaining your tires. I’m sharing them as a good reminder to myself and to anyone else looking to make their tires go a bit farther.

1. Check and Adjust Wheel Alignment

The direction your tires track down the road are dependent on the alignment of the two axles (or 4 wheels if you have independent suspension). So, you need to make sure that those two axles are parallel. If they aren’t, then they are working against each other and creating odd wear on the tires. It is recommended that you have this done every 12,000 miles or year.

2. Maintain Proper Air Pressure

Improper air pressure in your tires will cause wear. If you don’t have enough pressure, the tire bows in, making the outside of the tires wear. And vice versa if the tires are over-inflated. Luckily, this isn’t an expensive piece of maintenance. You can easily keep your own tires properly inflated by checking them each time you put fuel in your vehicle. I invested $100 in a small air compressor for my garage. I don’t use it nearly enough, but it could easily help me maintain my proper air pressure.

3. Rotate and Re-balance Tires

This is a simple service that most auto shops will do for free if you purchased tires from them. Tires are made of rubber and they naturally wear out. Since your tires can never be perfectly balanced, your tires may wear in a less-than-uniform pattern. Rotating your tires (moving them to a different axle) will increase the chances that your tires wear more evenly. The recommendation is to rotate and re-balance every 6,000 miles or six months. Here’s a how to video for rotating your tires yourself:

4. Check and Replace Suspension and Steering Components

This is something that your mechanic should be looking for when they are aligning the wheels. Worn parts can affect your ability to properly align the car.

5. Maintain Good Shocks and Struts

If you keep fresh shocks and struts in your car, your tires will last longer. Some recommend replacing shocks and struts every 50,000 miles. But it really depends on your vehicle and driving conditions.

If and when you have to go out and buy new tires, I recommend Discount Tire. If you are lucky enough to have one of these in your area, then I see no reason not to use them. They always fix my tires for free if I get a nail in the tread (which seems to happen once a year). And they always price match their tires. They use Google to find the cheapest price on the tires you are buying and adjust their price right there in front of you. Great company.

Are tires a big expense for you? What do you do to maintain them better? And where do you buy your tires?

Photo by Dodge Challenger1

5 Car Tire Care Tips is a post from: PT Money: Personal Finance by PT.
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Do Your Kids Understand the Dangers Involved with Credit Card Use?

Philip Taylor — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 16:53:48 +0000

My Story with College Credit Card Use

When I went off to college I didn’t have a credit card. My parents gave me a checkbook and was told I needed to call them when I was going to write or cash a check for spending money. Nice system that lasted for a while. But then I got asked to apply for a credit card in exchange for a free t-shirt. Before you knew it, I had a Discover Card waiting in my mail box.

I’m sure my parents had sat down at one point and talked with me about the dangers of credit cards, but I don’t think they expected me to end up with one without them knowing about it. Long story short, I left college with about $2,500 in excessive credit card debt on 2 separate cards, and my parents never knew much about it. Had I told them, I’m sure they would have told me to only use it in emergencies, and not to carry a balance or max out the credit card limits.

Does the CARD Act Change Your Approach?

Congress recently passed the CARD act which makes it harder for college kids to gain access to credit cards without the parents knowing about it (the kid will need a co-signer or show proof of income). Still, I doubt all the loopholes have or even should be closed with regard to granting college kids credit. In effect, we parents have failed to teach our kids how to handle a credit card or we don’t want the responsibility of doing it. Therefore, the government has taken over the situation and will tell your kids how they can access credit going forward.

With the new reform, does it mean we parents shouldn’t take responsibility for helping our kids understand the dangers of credit cards? Things like how interest charges work, all the fees that can be imposed, and the impact to a credit score. Is the best policy to completely abstain from using cards until they graduate? Wouldn’t this set them back a few years with regard to building their credit.

Resources

Grant Baldwin, author of Reality Check, The Students Guide to the Real World recently put together a teaching curriculum for his book. He’s provided a free download of one of the lessons to the PT Money readers. Download “Credit Crunch”, the curriculum guide for teaching your kids the dangers of credit cards. Used in combination with the book, the curriculum would be a great resource for you, your youth group leader, day camp counselor, or other kids group leader to use to help kids graduate to the real world.

Other great resources for teaching your kids about money include (mainly for younger kids): Planet Orange, US Mint for Kids, My Savings Quest, and Kid’s Bank.

Do Your Kids Understand the Dangers Involved with Credit Card Use? is a post from: PT Money: Personal Finance by PT.
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Question of the Week: What Are the Most Important Takeaways of Personal Finance?

Philip Taylor — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 14:07:44 +0000

J.D. from Get Rich Slowly recently released his book, Your Money: The Missing Manual. I’m pretty excited to read it and aim to do a review of the book soon. Anyway, let’s say you were writing your own personal finance book to pass along to your friends and family as a guide which would cover the most critical aspects of personal finance. What would you include in the book? What are the major takeaways from the personal finance world?

Next week I’ll be presenting my own answer to this question. I’ll share what I believe are some of the core tenants of personal finance. I’ll call this series of posts, The Key Takeaways of Personal Finance.

But before I get rolling with this series, I want to hear from you in the comments. What are your most important takeaways of personal finance? Feel free to just list one or spell out everything that you think is important.

Question of the Week: What Are the Most Important Takeaways of Personal Finance? is a post from: PT Money: Personal Finance by PT.
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WalletPop Giving Away Copies of Start Over, Finish Rich

Philip Taylor — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 10:00:06 +0000

Free Book Download Monday, January 4th Only!

To get everyone on track for the New Year, AOL’s Personal Finance Site WalletPop.com is hosting a free 24-Hour download on Monday, January 4 of new book — Start Over, Finish Rich — by Bestselling Financial Coach David Bach.

Here are the exact details:

“Starting at 12:01 a.m. EST on Monday, January 4, 2010 visitors to WalletPop will be able to download a pdf file of Bach’s book by simply clicking on a button. The book giveaway will last until midnight on the 4th.
Said David Bach, “My goal with Start Over, Finish Rich is to help millions of Americans to bounce back from the recession and regain belief in themselves and their future, both personally and financially. I’m excited to be partnering with WalletPop to bring consumers the encouragement, tools, and information they need to get back on the road to wealth in 2010.”
Designed to be read in a couple of hours, Start Over, Finish Rich offers readers a powerful, take-action plan that spells out the ten most crucial steps that Americans can take to put a secure financial future squarely back in reach, including getting out of debt, fixing credit, rebuilding retirement savings, automating finances, and rebuilding with real estate.
David Bach is donating $1 for each copy of Start Over, Finish Rich sold in 2010 (up to $20,000) to charity: water, a non-profit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. His donation will go towards sponsoring a freshwater well and latrines at a school and will serve 1,000 students.”

I love David’s books and philosphy towards money management. I reviewed his book, Automatic Millionaire, one of my favorite personal finance guides. I also reviewed the Finish Rich Dictionary. This is a great opportunity to get another excellent book by David. Make sure you get your free download.

WalletPop Giving Away Copies of Start Over, Finish Rich is a post from: PT Money: Personal Finance by PT.
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Book Giveaway: The 1-2-3 Money Plan

Philip Taylor — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 05:43:04 +0000

This is my review of The 1-2-3 Money Plan: The Three Most Important Steps to Saving and Spending Smart. Scroll to the bottom to find out how you can win a free copy of the book.

About the Author

The 1-2-3 Money Plan was written by Gregory Karp. Gregory is a nationally syndicated columnist, who is famous for his “Smart Spending” Column, which reaches millions of readers. He’s also the accomplished author of Living Rich by Spending Smart. You can also find Gregory blogging daily at gregkarp.com/blog.

About the Book

Gregory lays out the overall money plan in his book using 3 major areas:

Smart Spending Today
Smart Spending Yesterday
Smart Spending Tomorrow

Easy enough. Within each section, Gregory tackles different subjects. Each time leaving you with 3 steps to complete or remember so that you’re armed with the key information for making decisions about your finances.

For instance, in the Smart Spending Yesterday section, Gregory focuses on debt (yesterday’s spending you’re still paying for). He teaches you the importance of understanding your credit and how to use credit cards. Withing those sub-topics you’re given 3 specific steps to complete or concepts to remember.

The Smart Spending Tomorrow section is all about saving. Gregory walks you through saving for the short-term, retirement, and for education. I particularly enjoyed the college savings section since I’m making decisions on what to do in that area. Gregory’s advice was very practical and has motivated me to just dive in and go for it.

The section called Smart Spending Today is where Gregory really shines. He’s obviously a pro at discussing the smart ways to spend your earnings.

By using this simple 1-2-3 approach, Gregory really makes managing your finances seem easy. Heck, anyone can complete just 3 little steps, right?

My Recommendation

I really enjoyed this book. It was a quick read and it left me feeling like I had a good game plan to improve my finances. It was both practical and specific. Like most personal finance books, it’s structured so that you are able to pick and choose which sections you’d need to review. For obvious reasons, my favorite sections were college savings, life insurance, and how to teach kids about money. You can pick up a copy of The 1-2-3 Money Plan at Amazon.

Book Giveaway: The 1-2-3 Money Plan is a post from: PT Money: Personal Finance by PT.
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The Munny Journey Keepsake Journal

Philip Taylor — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 04:44:23 +0000

I was recently introduced to the Munny Journey Keepsake Journal, and I have to say, I’m really impressed. Here’s my review of this really cool product that combines basic personal finance concepts with the hopes and dreams you have for your child.

About the Journal

The Munny Journey Keepsake Journal is modeled after traditional baby keepsake journals. Except it has a focus towards money, or munny. The book is both a keepsake journal, as well as an educational tool for first-time parents. It contains 95 pages, including an area for keepsakes, pictures, your writings, and a fold-out Munny Mountain growth chart.

The journal is filled with wonderful illustrations, and also comes with an audio CD that walks you through some of the concepts in the book.

Munny Keepsakes

The journal has several pages to put some really cool keepsakes. There’s a spot for:

special coins (your State quarter and coins minted in the year of birth),
a place for your baby’s first dollar,
and my favorite, an “On the Day You Were Born” page, where you can record the financial events from the day your child was born.

There are also pages to records your baby’s first savings account, stock, etc. Very cool.

Compounding Interest: Grow a Munny Mountain

From an educational standpoint, you, as a parent, will be the one initially learning the basic financial concepts. While you might not use all the information in the book, odds are your topic of interest is covered. The main theme throughout the journal seems to be the power of compounding interest, and how starting to save early can really make all the difference for your child’s future financial needs.

“It’s possible to create a millionaire by age 65 for just one dollar a day starting from birth.”

The Munny Mountain represents the total of your child’s savings, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc. The Munny Mountain can be recorded and tracked on the fold-out growth chart provided with the journal.

Who Needs a Munny Journey Keepsake Journal?

Most new parents will love this journal. And if your kids are a bit older, don’t worry, you can complete most of the pages retroactively. I would highly recommend these for new parents. And these make great baby shower gifts as well. The Munny Journey Keepsake Journal can be purchased straight from MunnyJourney.com and is currently selling for $29.95. They also have a soft cover version for $10.95.

Get 10% off your order. Just use this coupon code: PT89

The Munny Journey Keepsake Journal is a post from: PT Money: Personal Finance by PT.
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Wall Street Journal Online Article – Saving More

Who is this Dave Ramsey Guy?

Philip Taylor — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 19:13:00 +0000

Although I don’t mention him much, I’m a huge fan of Dave Ramsey. I’ve been following him online and on the radio for at least six years now. He actually played a huge role in helping me get my own finances in order.

I like Dave for the tough, straight-forward message that he brings. Sometimes you just need someone to tell you how it is. Dave does that well. I also like Dave’s application of Christian principles in his message.

Who is Dave Ramsey?

I know a little about Dave’s past; mostly from what I’ve heard him tell though. Basically he was a real estate entrepreneur that made a ton of money, but also racked up a bunch of debt. He went through a bankruptcy, and came out of that experience smarter about his finances and with a passion to help others. He then started his radio show and wrote a book, Financial Peace, which really got him established in the world of personal finance.

Dave is now the ultimate “get out of debt” guru. I would guess that no other person has helped more people payoff debt. Dave is the man.

The Dave Ramsey Show

The best way I’ve connected with Dave over the years is by listening to his show. The show has a little bit of everything going on. Dave takes questions from people struggling with money issues, people who are finally debt free, and even throws in some occasional commentary on the economy and politics. If you listen, you’ll end up agreeing with what he says as a whole, but you’ll be left with the feeling that you got punched in the gut. He definitely calls you to action.

You can listen to it over the radio (check local listings), or stream it online. When I first started listening to Dave, I listened to the online podcast. I liked it because I could skip around to the parts that applied to me and skip the commercials as well. Check out his radio show page.

Financial Peace University

If you want to really get to know Dave Ramsey’s approach, sign up for his Financial Peace University (FPU). The 13 week video series takes you through all that Dave has to offer. Plus, you get to experience it with others going through the process. The accountability has to be the best part of this program. The best place to find a Financial Peace University is at your local church or community center. Unless your church is offering to pay, this will cost you around $100. Pete from Bible Money Matters recently shared his experience with Financial Peace University. It’s definitely worth checking out if you’re interested in doing the full course.

Total Money Makeover

Dave’s biggest achievement to date has to be the success of his book, The Total Money Makeover. In the book, Dave outlines his approach to helping you get out of debt and the seven baby steps that you need to use to get started. This is likely the best way to approach Dave’s methods if you’re not ready for the full FPU and don’t have him on the radio.

The 7 Baby Steps

Dave’s message can be boiled down to seven steps that you need to follow in order to have financial peace.

$1,000 to start an Emergency Fund
Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball
Three to six months of expenses in savings
Invest 15 percent of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement
College funding for children
Pay off home early
Build wealth and give! Invest in mutual funds and real estate

Where do you find yourself on the list of baby steps?

Endorsed Local Providers

A big benefit of being a Dave Ramsey fan has been learning about his Endorsed Local Providers (ELP). ELPs are essentially financial companies that Dave has hand picked to endorse. From this list, I was able able to find a real estate agent in my area I could trust. And most recently, I recently used Zander Insurance (an ELP) to help find the lowest quotes on life insurance. Dave gives these ELPs his stamp of approval and holds them accountable for their service.

Dave Ramsey is Bad at Math

Because of Dave’s Debt Snowball (paying down debts using lowest balance vs highest interest rate) he’s been accused of being bad at math, or dumbing-down his methods for the masses. While I don’t personally subscribe to all of his methods, I know they work for the people who use them. Whatever your thoughts are on his specific methods, you’ve got to admit it’s resonating with a bunch of people and truly helping them.

Why Dave Ramsey Works

I never been a strict follower of Dave’s steps and to be honest, I haven’t even read his books. But I’ve absorbed his message over the years through his radio show and been moved to make a change with the amount and type of debt I was carrying. And each day, hundreds more are experiencing Dave for the first time. What they’re getting is an honest, no-gimic approach to getting to financial peace. That’s the best you can hope for, and that’s what Dave brings.

This article is a general overview of what Dave Ramsey has to offer and is not intended to replace his course, nor is this sponsored or endorsed by Dave Ramsay or the Lampo Group.

Who is this Dave Ramsey Guy? is a post from: PT Money: Personal Finance by PT.
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