Personal Finance Books

Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny

Suze Orman

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Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Management & Leadership -> Motivational
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Personal Finance -> Money Management for Women
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Self-Help -> Success

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 258 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Money maven Suze Orman's latest book, Women & Money addresses the complicated (and often dysfunctional) relationship women have with personal finance. Orman's direct, non-condescending style is perfect for this subject matter--she begins with the premise that "Women can invest, save, and handle debt as well and skillfully as any man" and then tackles the important question--"So why don't they?" Designed to educate and inspire, Women & Money also offers a "Save Yourself Plan," a five-month program that "delivers genuine long-term financial security." Want to know more? Watch a video message from Suze below, and take a gander at the first chapter of Women & Money--you'll be "controlling your destiny" in no time. --Daphne Durham

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An Exclusive Video Message from Suze Orman

Watch the video

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Read the First Chapter of Women & Money

For Women Only

I never thought I'd write a book about money just for women. I never thought it was necessary. So then why am I doing just that in my eighth book? And why now? Let me explain. All my previous books were written with the belief that gender is not a factor on any level in mastering the nuts and bolts of smart financial management. Women can invest, save, and handle debt just as well and skillfully as any man. I still believe that--why would anyone think differently? So imagine my surprise when I learned that some of the people closest to me in my life were in the dark about their own finances. Clueless. Or, in some cases, willfully resisting doing what they knew needed to be done. I'm talking about smart, competent, accomplished women who present a face to the world that is pure confidence and capability. Do you mean to tell me that I, Suze Orman, who make my living solving the financial problems of total strangers, couldn't spot the trouble brewing so close to home? I don't think I'm blind; I just think that these women became very, very good at hiding their troubles from me.Why not? They had years of practice hiding them from themselves.

Read more from Chapter 1...

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When Markets Collide: Investment Strategies for the Age of Global Economic Change

Mohamed El-Erian

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Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Industries & Professions -> Accounting
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Investing -> Introduction
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Management & Leadership -> Management

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

"El-Erian is a doer and a thinker and someone who understands the risks of rare events. [Never before, have] I seen such a combination. Read this book."
—Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author The Black Swan

When Markets Collide is a timely alert to the fundamental changes taking place in today's global economic and financial systems--and a call to action for investors who may fall victim to misinterpreting important signals. While some have tended to view asset class mispricings as mere “noise,” this compelling book shows why they are important signals of opportunities and risks that will shape the market for years to come. One of today's most respected names in finance, Mohamed El-Erian puts recent events in their proper context, giving you the tools that can help you interpret the markets, benefit from global economic change, and navigate the risks.

The world economy is in the midst of a series of hand-offs. Global growth is now being heavily influenced by nations that previously had little or no systemic influence. Former debtor nations are building unforeseen wealth and, thus, enjoying unprecedented influence and facing unusual challenges. And new derivative products have changed the behavior of many market segments and players. Yet, despite all these changes, the system's infrastructure is yet to be upgraded to reflect the realities of today's and tomorrow's world. El-Erian investigates the underlying drivers of global change to shed light on how you should:

• Think about the new opportunities and risks
• Construct an appropriately diversified and internationalized portfolio
• Protect your portfolio against new sources of systemic risk
• Best think about the impact of central banks and financial policies around the world

Offering up predictions of future developments, El-Erian directs his focus to help you capitalize on the new financial landscape, while limiting exposure to new risk configurations.

When Markets Collide is a unique collection of books for investors and policy makers around the world. In addition to providing a thorough analysis and clear perspective of recent events, it lays down a detailed map for navigating your way through an otherwise perplexing new economic landscape.

Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money--That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!

Robert T. Kiyosaki, Sharon L. Lechter

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Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Investing -> Introduction
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2145 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Personal-finance author and lecturer Robert Kiyosaki developed his unique economic perspective through exposure to a pair of disparate influences: his own highly educated but fiscally unstable father, and the multimillionaire eighth-grade dropout father of his closest friend. The lifelong monetary problems experienced by his "poor dad" (whose weekly paychecks, while respectable, were never quite sufficient to meet family needs) pounded home the counterpoint communicated by his "rich dad" (that "the poor and the middle class work for money," but "the rich have money work for them"). Taking that message to heart, Kiyosaki was able to retire at 47. Rich Dad, Poor Dad, written with consultant and CPA Sharon L. Lechter, lays out his the philosophy behind his relationship with money. Although Kiyosaki can take a frustratingly long time to make his points, his book nonetheless compellingly advocates for the type of "financial literacy" that's never taught in schools. Based on the principle that income-generating assets always provide healthier bottom-line results than even the best of traditional jobs, it explains how those assets might be acquired so that the jobs can eventually be shed. --Howard Rothman

Short-Sale Pre-Foreclosure Investing: How to Buy "No-Equity" Properties Directly from the Bank -- at Huge Discounts

Dwan Bent-Twyford, Sharon Restrepo

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Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Real Estate -> Investments
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Popular Economics

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Due to the wave of refinancing and subprime lending in recent years, and the subsequent fall in home values, millions of properties are worth less than their mortgages. The only way for these properties to sell is through a "short sale," in which the bank holding the mortgage agrees to sell the property at a loss -- to a savvy investor. Banks will do this because they need to get "upside down" loans off their books and they do not want to be holding property that is in default.

Short sales are the hottest topic in today's real estate investing market, yet most real estate agents and investors don't know how they work or how to make money on them. This book will teach investors how to negotiate with banks to buy properties at big discounts, creating windfall profits for the investor. Readers will learn:

• what 900f real estate agents and investors don't know about: the short sale.
• how to make huge profits from the banks' misfortune.
• how to help homeowners in foreclosure and get a killer deal yourself, at the same time.
• how to buy properties for fifty cents on the dollar with no real estate license, using no money or credit.
• how to "buy low" and "sell low" during the crashing foreclosure market.
• how to stay on the cutting edge of the down market and how to get rich...now.

Stop the 401(k) Rip-off!: Eliminate Costly Hidden Fees to Improve Your Life

David B. Loeper

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Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Personal Finance -> Retirement Planning

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Every American should read 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

My name is Matthew Hutcheson. I'm an independent pension fiduciary, and have studied retirement plan economics for over fifteen years. Every American worker with a 401(k) (or a 403(b)/457 for that matter) should put this book on the top of their reading list. The information contained in this book could be worth many thousands of extra retirement dollars to you down the road. Mr. Loeper should be congratulated on one of the most important and practical retirement books of the decade.

Editorial Review:

-- How would you spend an extra $4,000 a year for the next twenty-five years?

-- How much more secure would your retirement be with an extra $100,000 or more?

-- How much more time could you spend at your family dinner table if you could work an hour less each day?

-- What would you do in retirement if you could retire three years earlier?

Your 401(k) plan is probably one of your most important future sources of financial security. This book makes it easy for you to take the five steps needed to add more than $100,000 to your retirement nest egg without taking more risk or saving more money. This can allow you to improve your lifestyle, increase your benefits, identify the hidden costs and also improve your standing within your company by proactively helping your employer to take needed action.

The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness

Dave Ramsey

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Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Personal Finance -> Budgeting & Money Management
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Personal Finance -> Credit Ratings & Repair

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 346 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Right on the money! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Whether trying to get out of debt or simply not get into debt, this book is the number one answer! Dave Ramsey's advice is borne of experience in blowing a fortune, recovering it and learning his lesson. Now he passes his plan on to others in an easy-to-follow (and understand!) method that really works. Hundreds of callers have told their stories on his radio and TV shows (now on Fox Business Network) and proudly screamed "We're debt free" after applying his principles of money management to their situations, some seemingly hopeless. You CAN climb out of overwhelming debt, and this book tells you how. Not a pie-in-the-sky kind of book, but practical steps to follow that will save your marriage and your sanity as you pay back what you owe and establish a nest egg for the future.

Editorial Review:

The success stories speak for themselves in this book from money maestro Dave Ramsey. Instead of promising the normal dose of quick fixes, Ramsey offers a bold, no-nonsense approach to money matters, providing not only the how-to but also a grounded and uplifting hope for getting out of debt and achieving total financial health.

Ramsey debunks the many myths of money (exposing the dangers of cash advance, rent-to-own, debt consolidation) and attacks the illusions and downright deceptions of the American dream, which encourages nothing but overspending and massive amounts of debt. "Don't even consider keeping up with the Joneses," Ramsey declares in his typically candid style. "They're broke!"

The Total Money Makeover isn't theory. It works every single time. It works because it is simple. It works because it gets to the heart of the money problems: you.

The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing. A Book of Practical Counsel (Revised Edition)

Benjamin Graham, Jason Zweig

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 124 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Among the library of investment books promising no-fail strategies for riches, Benjamin Graham's classic, The Intelligent Investor, offers no guarantees or gimmicks but overflows with the wisdom at the core of all good portfolio management.

The hallmark of Graham's philosophy is not profit maximization but loss minimization. In this respect, The Intelligent Investor is a book for true investors, not speculators or day traders. He provides, "in a form suitable for the laymen, guidance in adoption and execution of an investment policy" (1). This policy is inherently for the longer term and requires a commitment of effort. Where the speculator follows market trends, the investor uses discipline, research, and his analytical ability to make unpopular but sound investments in bargains relative to current asset value. Graham coaches the investor to develop a rational plan for buying stocks and bonds, and he argues that this plan must be a bulwark against emotional behavior that will always be tempting during abrupt bull and bear markets.

Since it was first published in 1949, Graham's investment guide has sold over a million copies and has been praised by such luminaries as Warren E. Buffet as "the best book on investing ever written." These accolades are well deserved. In its new form--with commentary on each chapter and extensive footnotes prepared by senior Money editor, Jason Zweig--the classic is now updated in light of changes in investment vehicles and market activities since 1972. What remains is a better book. Graham's sage advice, analytical guides, and cautionary tales are still valid for the contemporary investor, and Zweig's commentaries demonstrate the relevance of Graham's principles in light of 1990s and early twenty-first century market trends. --Patrick O'Kelley

Debt Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About

Kevin Trudeau

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Subjects -> Professional & Technical -> Accounting & Finance -> Finance

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 43 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Are you getting deeper and deeper into debt while they make bigger and bigger profits? Not after you read...Debt Cure$ "They" Don't Want You To Know About!

In this new book, Kevin Trudeau blows the lid off the banking and credit card industries, exposing the greatest rip off of our citizens in this nation's history. The credit card industry is one of the most profitable industries in this country, but they don't want you to know it. You can fight back! You can apply Kevin's solutions to your debt problems, and keep more money in your pocket today. You can learn how to use credit to build wealth! Read Debt Cure$ and cure your debt forever.

You will learn:
- How the credit lending business is rigged against you!
- How the financial industry wants to keep you in debt!
- How the banks and credit card companies are making obscene profits off of you and how you can change that!
- How to reduce or possible totally eliminate your debt!
- How you could cut your payments in half!
- How to correct your credit with two magic words!
- How to improve your credit virtually overnight!
- How to get free money that you never have to pay back!
- Find out why the financial industry wants to keep you in debt.
- Turn bad debt into good credit.
- Create wealth through financial health.

What Color Is Your Parachute? 2008: A Practical Manual for Job-hunters and Career-Changers

Richard Nelson Bolles

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Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Job Hunting & Careers -> Job Hunting
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 32 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Excellent starting place for info on job hunting or career changing 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

My husband was laid off when the company he had worked for was acquired. My husband has very little experience with job hunting. I work as a Staffing recruiter so none of the information in here was news to me, but after my husband went through a month of disheartening job hunting... I ordered him this book. Sometimes it's just better to hear what you need to do from something or someone other than your wife.

As a recruiter I love this book, it goes into the concept of job hunting, interviewing, and how to decided exactly what it is you want to do. If everyone behaved as instructed in here during their interviews, interviewing candidates would not be such a harrowing experience. Many will read the interviewing part and thing "Duh, of COURSE I shower before an interview" but you would be surprised at how many do not.

The foundation of the education you will get in this book is basic social skills... now we all have them, but many of us have let them lapse or become less formal. I was also glad that he pointed out just how important and unimportant the resume is. I personally rifle through a couple of hundred resumes in a stack looking for something very specific - if I find it, you go in the very small, "I'll think about calling them later" pile. That is really the most important job your resume has, is to get you into the "I might call them pile."

There are also many self awareness tests that this book contains to help you find out a little bit more about yourself and what it is that you are looking for. There is an entire chapter devoted to the 50+ worker who either wants to return to the work force or make a change in their career. The starting your own business section was also nice, but I felt should have contained a little more information showing both the good and bad aspects of this idea. Probably the most helpful aspect of this book is that it provides websites for additional research on every topic. Hopefully those that read the book will be inclined to look into several of these websites.

For job hunters, career changers, and those curious about what else might be out there, this book is an excellent starting place. It should cover most of you basic questions and give you valuable information both about yourself and about the job market. Then the author is courteous enough to show you where to continue your research. I highly recommend this book, and believe it should be mandatory for exiting high school and college students.

Editorial Review:

WHAT COLOR IS YOUR PARACHUTE? is still the best-selling job-hunting book in the world. A favorite of job hunters and career changers for more than three decades, it continues to be a mainstay on best-seller lists, from Amazon.com to Business Week to the New York Times, where it has spent more than six years, and has been translated into 12 languages. The 2008 edition is an even more useful book, with its updated, inspiring, and detailed plan for changing readers' lives. With new examples, instructions, and cautionary advice, PARACHUTE is, to quote Fortune magazine, "the gold standard of career guides."

Your Complete Retirement Planning Road Map: A Comprehensive Action Plan for Securing IRAs, 401(k)s, and Other Retirement Plans for Yourself and Your Family

Ed Slott

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

This is the same diagnostic system I use with my own clients and with the financial advisors I train. So, going through it will be like having me sitting beside you, whispering in your ear, guiding you every step of the way.”

–from Your Complete Retirement Planning Road Map


Corporate pensions are disappearing. Social Security is in trouble. And the sizable postwar generation is reaching retirement age. With the futures of millions of Americans at stake, Ed Slott, the country’s foremost retirement planning advisor, now offers expert advice on weathering the perfect storm of financial instability that looms on the horizon. Your Complete Retirement Planning Road Map, Slott’s most essential and accessible book yet, provides clear step-by-step directions through the highways and byways of IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and other major accounts.

In five helpfully focused sections, Slott combines crucial facts with interactive checklists and questionnaires (those he uses with his own clients) to teach investors and beneficiaries alike the best way to save and to maximize an inheritance. Inside you’ll discover

• My Account Inventory: an overview of every retirement savings account you own, whether you’re thirty or sixty-five–from what it is and where it is to who gets it and how, plus where to put important data for easy access and where to store your essential documents (hint: not in a safe-deposit box)
• The Account Owner’s Care Solution: how to properly fill out retirement account beneficiary forms so that whatever amount of money is left in your account after you’ve fully enjoyed retirement will go to whomever you choose and not to relatives who suddenly pop up out of nowhere
• The Account Beneficiary’s Care Solution: what to do when you inherit so that you won’t lose any of the tax benefits and other opportunities your benefactor has created for you, or make a mistake that could wipe out an inherited fortune that took years to build up
• The Special Issues Care Solution: how to handle the out-of-the-box issues that could affect you or your beneficiaries (e.g., life events such as divorce or incapacity; tax issues for unmarried partners; decisions about trusts)
• The Follow-up Care Solution: how to keep your planning on track and make adjustments when circumstances change, and how to determine whether your professional retirement advisor is really up to the task of preserving and protecting your money
• Plus: the most up-to-date information on tax laws, including the Pension Protection Act of 2006, which provides major new retirement incentives that you can take advantage of

Your Complete Retirement Planning Road Map is an indispensable planning solution that is sure to become the standard how-to on a complex subject that is becoming relevant to more people every day.


From the Hardcover edition.