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Summary: Excellent Money Management Guide
Review: Ric's writing is fun to read, making a subject such as finance and money management an enjoyable experience. Ric is also spot on. His ideas challenge conventional "wisdom" on handling investing and financing. A reviewer was critical of Ric's suggestion to forego the tax exempt investments. However, a check with many associates and my own personal methods confirm Ric's assertion. You're better off in the higher returning taxable fund. By nature, you just won't invest the "savings" back into the tax exempt fund when April 15 rolls around. And you will pay your taxes from regular sources rather than liquidate a fund to pay them. Wham! Wake up call. This is one of the four best financial books of our time and a must read before making another major financial decision. The other three are: "The Millionaire Next Door" by Ph.D.'s Stanley and Danko, "Buffettology" by Mary Buffett, and "More Wealth Without Risk" by Charles Givens. Edelman gives Givens a run for the money. While the two books have many similar ideas, there are enough differences between them to offer the reader a choice on which method of handling an event may be more applicable to their particular situation.
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Summary: Read it and buy one for everyone you know!
Review: We heard Edelman on an NPR interview on the Derek McGinty Show. He was hilarious and his advice seemed sound -- and we weren't disappointed in reading the book. The book is chatty and filled with useful information. It's well organized with short easy-to-read sections if you want to use it as a reference book. It covers the gamut from 401(k) plans to life insurance to buying a house. It's good for 20-somethings through those preparing for retirement and planning their estates. We will buy Christmas copies for our parents and siblings and friends this year, in hopes that they will be enlightened into financial and investment security
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Summary: One of the all-time best financial books
Review: The Truth About Money is one of the best if not the best financial book written post 1995 (after More Wealth Without Risk)Edelman is a personal financial planner, a successful investor and heads one of the largest investment firms and successfully manages investors acccounts.What a pleasure it is to read a book written by an accomplished expert.Edelman covers all pertinent areas of personal finance. I bought this book several years ago, gave it out never got it back so recently bought Ric's newest book The Truth About Money 3rd edition which is even better than the second.Edelman is knowledgeable, perhaps the best in the business and is funny and witty too. Reading his books are a pleasure. He makes learning about personal finance a real joy as well as very profitable for those who acually follow his advice.This book is excellent, but I highly recommend his newest version The Truth About Money 3r edition for the best in personal finance.
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Summary: 3rd edition is the best edition - Thanks Ric
Review: I purchased the first edition of this book back in the 90's along with Ordinary People/Extraordinary Wealth. Nobody jamms more information in a book than Ric Edelman does.In this updated version, you will find a lot of old but much new information as well. Ric has a section on how to implement and take advantage of the new tax laws passed by President Bush. Edelman explains once and for why self directed annuities are a great investment. He shows you the right way to invest in funds. Edelman also shares some interesting strategies on how to save money on your mortgage. If you are serious about creating wealth and want to make the most of your money, read Ric Edelman's newest book, The Truth About Money 3rd edition.
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Summary: Good book by Edelman
Review: The Truth About Money created a major turbulence in the financial education world when it first came out back in the 90's. We went through 1, 2 and now we are on to the 3rd edition. You may not agree with with Edelman says. He is not main stream and that is why he is so controversial. Does his advice work? You bet it does and then some. Edelman will have you in the right investments. He doesn't recommend paying off your mortgage. Instead, Edelman suggests that you take this extra mortgage money and invest it (NOTE: Not spend it on depreciables. I know this is the direct opposite of what so many other so called "financial experts" tell us to do. Question: How are you doing following their "expert" advice??? As the title indicates, The Truth About Money will in fact tell you the truth about money and help you break away from the con artists out there who use your ignorance for their bliss. This book will help you achieve real wealth and financial freedom and escape financial bondage. Great book Ric. Probably your best one yet!
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Summary: Informative for the Neophyte; Entertaining for the Rest
Review: Ric Edelman's book was the first book I bought after starting my first job that paid above minimum wage. After having read it twice, and referring back to it numberous times, I can wholeheartedly recommend this book...but only if you're relatively new to personal finance and investing. More than anything, I believe that Mr. Edelman drives home valuable "philosophies" of saving-for-wealth. The idea that persisted in my head after finishing his books was, "Wow, I need to start investing, and I need to start NOW!" He also gives informative and entertaining lessons on personal finance, and some basic investment principles. I believe Mr. Edelman's advice is sound, leaving the neophyte with a strong tendency towards investing for the long haul, portfolio diversification, and weathering the inevitable storms. Beyond the entertainment factor, this is probably not a book for the established and advanced investor, who may favor a more aggressive or interventional approach. For the rank beginner, it was the perfect introduction to the world of investing, and it has given me fundamental disciplines towards saving money.
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Summary: Laugh your way to Financial Independence
Review: Whoever says money can't buy you happiness doesn't know where to shop. ~Gittel Hudnick Ric Edelman is a top financial advisor who focuses on issues facing us all. This book began as a course he was teaching at Georgetown University. His work was first published in 1996. Since then, his firm, Edelman Financial Services Inc., has created and implemented financial plans for over 6,500 clients. This review is for the 3rd Edition. Are you buying your first home, just starting to invest, sending the kids to college, considering retirement or making decisions about long-term care? There is a section for every major issue and tons of great tips and advice. I also love the comic strips throughout the book. Who knew you could laugh your way through a finance book? The Truth about Money is divided into 14 main sections: The Rules of Money Have Changed. Again.
Introduction to Financial Planning
Understanding the Capital Markets
Fixed Income Investments
Equities
Packaged Products
The Best Investment Strategies
The Best Financial Strategies
The Best Strategies for Buying, Selling and Owning Homes
Taxes, Taxes, Taxes
Retirement Planning
Insurance
Estate Planning
How to Choose a Financial Adviser Ric often gets frank about life choices and I enjoyed reading his comments about how we make choices that lead us to our present lifestyle. The information on "Where American's Spend their Money" is enlightening. Housing is at 32%. In the past few years I was able to decrease our housing costs in order to increase funds in other areas and page 307 makes perfect sense to me. I've also watched friends struggle with this issue because they want to keep their lifestyle at such a high level, their income won't cover the luxury of living by themselves. Issues like Liquidating your assets, closing bank accounts, paying off high interest credit cards and borrowing money at a lower interest rate than your credit card interest makes complete sense. Cutting up all but one credit card also works wonders. While reading the information about credit cards on page 309 I was laughing out loud. Ric is a real comedian. Hey, wait, but he is actually getting my attention in the perfect way. There are also quotes from famous people all through the book and here is a good example: "If you can see yourself in possession of your goal, it's half yours." ~Tom Hopkins I loved the: "How to Use This Book" section. There is a list of "If You Are" situations and "Then Read" these page numbers. You can choose from: In Debt, Single, Married, Retired, Female, Young, Old, Parent, The Child of Aging Parents. Features within the chapters include: The 11 Reasons You Need to Plan
Building Cash Reserves
Event Risk
Three Ways to Buy Stocks
Understanding Volatility
The Computer vs. The Money Manager
How to Get Out of Debt
Should You Buy or Lease Your Next Car?
How to Protect Your Identity
The American Dream
IRA Accounts
Your Will
Ten Taboos Between You and Your Planner
Four Tips for Working Successfully with a Real Estate Agent
How to Make Money by Giving it Away If you only have time to read one book about money, "The Truth About Money" should be the book! You could really laugh your way to financial security if you take this advice seriously. This has to be the most enjoyable book about money I've ever read. Everyone in America should read this book in their 20s so they can make wise financial decisions throughout their entire life. ~TheRebeccaReview.com
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Summary: Interesting, Motivating, and Understandable
Review: Big book that I finished in less than a week. Great advice, gives you pointers on what to be wary of, and what has time proven strategy. Easy, actually more like FUN to read. And motiviating. This is the best point. If you aren't motivated to act, it wont help you anyhow. The examples and descriptions make the goal of commanding personal finances and "owning your money" realistic. It does this by making you understand the processes. Thats all I can say on this book, read the other reviews, they cover the rest. One more thing though: Why would you take advice from a canadian about a book written about the American financial institution?
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Summary: Edelman raises the bar on personal finance
Review: The Truth About Money is the most complete and up to date financial book on the bookstands right now. And Edelman is an authority on money. First of all, The Truth About Money is 645 pages packed with powerful financial information. It is split into 13 sections and 89 chapters. This is very complete. Everything you need to know about money is in here. From sending your kids to college, to investing, to insurance, to buying a home to retirement. Edelman spends a considerable amount of time discussing the greatest discovery of the 20th century--compound interest. Simple but I am continually surprised at the number of people who do not understand or even have heard of the rule of 72. After reading Edelman, you will understand it and pursue your investing with new vigor. Ric also has a full chapter on how to prepare for economic collapse and another chapter on social security. Edelman recommends that regarding social security, that "you take and money and run" meaning that you are better off to retire and take benefits at age 62 than wait untill later. Considering the current sad state of the social security system, I couldn't agree more. Another way to put it is take the money now because it may not be there later. At 645 pages, The Truth About Money may appear challenging but in reality is a eay and fun read. This not Jane Bryant Quinn. Ric Edelman is both a financial expert and a interesting writer. I got through the book in a few days. It was hard to put it down. Since the book was written in November 2003, The Truth About Money is also the most up to date financial book out there. Forget those books that were written by magazine writers in 1997 and were out of date even before they were released. Also, this book is obviously updated from Ric's first 2 editions. If you have either of those books, this one is bigger and better. Ric Edelman is not one of those authors who puts 2 pages of new information in a older book and calls it "new". This edition has been completely revised. It is like a new book. Highly recommended book.
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Summary: Most Up-to-Date, Practical and Understandble Money Guide
Review: I have read and reviewed most of the popular money guides in the past. I was pleasantly surprised by the 3rd edition of The Truth about Money. The book displays excellent accuracy about choices, is very up-to-date (through December 31, 2003), reads easily, and combines practical advice about human behavior with math. If you only read one money guide, I suggest this one. As an example of how well disciplined this book is, the rules about IRAs are very hard for anyone to keep straight. Mr. Edelman provides a blue pullout bind-in insert between pages 484 and 485 that asks you questions about yourself. Then based on your answers, it tells you which IRA choices you should pursue. Each part of the book (Introduction to Financial Planning; Understanding the Capital Markets; Fixed Income Investments; Equities, Packaged Products; The Best Investment Strategies; The Best Financial Strategies; The Best Strategies for Buying, Selling and Owning Homes; Taxes, Taxes, Taxes; Retirement Planning; Insurance; Estate Planning; and How to Choose a Financial Advisor) has a brief quiz at the end to test your knowledge. Mr. Edelman cleverly suggests that you check out the quiz before reading the section to help you focus on reading what you don't already know . . . and to track how well you've learned your lessons. I enjoyed that feature. The first parts about financial markets are excellent for making the material interesting. The examples are cleverly drawn to help you understand how compounding works and why you want to have a more stable portfolio so that you can a good combination of risk and reward. I was very impressed by the practical advice on human emotions. The stories are superb for showing how emotions can lead you astray. One woman did a great job of getting assets out of her estate, but neglected to be sure that her daughter wrote a will. As a result, the assets came back into the woman's estate when the daughter died before the mother with worse tax consequences than if the mother had done to estate tax planning. In other instances, he points out that most people won't have the discipline to execute superior strategies and points out choices that will take advantage of our normal sloth in financial planning. As an attorney and a financial consultant who often advices entrepreneurs on financial matters, I found the explanations of key issues to be succinct, accurate and remarkably complete. I wish I could explain half these points as well. As I finished the book, I realized that the only possible improvement I could think of would be to add a section that takes significant life events (such as taking a first job, getting married, having a baby, changing jobs, getting divorced, losing a parent, and so forth) and listing what actions each person needs to take in such a situation. That would draw together all of the elements of the book in a much more useful way. Assuming that there is a fourth edition (and I'm sure there will be), perhaps Mr. Edelman will add that feature. In the meantime, follow the parts of this advice that fit your personality . . . and get expert advice when it's called for. May all your financial decisions be well-informed ones!
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