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Summary: Personal Finance from Annuities to Zero-Coupon Bonds
Review: Mr. Edelman divides financial planning topics into 85 easy to read subjects. His book is basically a personal finance course delivered in a book format. Instead of starting at page one and reading straight through to page 623, I selected topics that were of most interest to me. Did I read 100% of the book? No, but I did read almost all of it. After I finished topics that concerned me, I found the writer's style so engaging I read about subjects that I thought I had mastered (only to find out that I often learned something new). This book is not just for the beginner, but for anyone who hasn't found answers to all of his or her questions.
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Summary: Excellent!
Review: Finally - a finance book that's easy to read! This book covers everything from A-Z. The Getting Out of Debt section was so helpful with practical steps to follow. Love this book!
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Summary: what are his credentials again??
Review: This book is full of slick, gimmicky tips: carry a large mortgage, blow off index funds, etc. What??? Stupid advice. Then again, a quick read of Mr. Edelman's resume point out he has: NO MBA, no CFP, nor a CFA. Just a jumble of letters after his name meant to confuse the consumer. Just hack designations that mean nothing. Kinda like the Brokerage houses having all their dingbat salesmen carry Certified Financial Advisor titles-a totally meaningless designation.I would save your money on this one. Buy "Financial Planning for Dummies," written by a Stanford MBA, "The last Investment Guide you'll ever need," written by Tobias, a Harvard MBA and the best book of all: "The Wealthy Barber." This guy is a salesman and thin on good quality advice. I thought the book while an easy read was kind of irresponsible and shallow.
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Summary: Could get you into trouble if you follow his advice
Review: There is some good, basic generic advice here, as far as getting out of debt, but I've come to discover that the biggest mistake I could make would be to follow Ric's advice on so many issues. Ric's a salesman. His bait is that anyone can be rich if they follow his advice. I found his advice to be bad. For example, he recommends minimizing the equity in your house and carry a large mortage. That can be dangerous. Things happen! It is better to carry a small mortgage, pay off your house, and put other money in the bank. I don't carry a large mortage, we are refinancing now for only the amount we owe, will NEVER take out as Ric calls it "free money" to spend on a car, college, etc. (This last from his radio show, not necessarily in the book.) I receive his newsletter and sometimes I'm amazed at the irresponsible advice. Ric advises long term care insurance but I couldn't trust any company for that long a period of time. Better use for my money is to save it, use it IF I need it, not enrich a long term care insurance company that can change it's policy. Everyone thinks IRAs are great, they are sacrosanct, but I don't agree. The govt. tells me when I can withdraw my money for a piddly little deduction each year? Fortunately, I did not follow any of Ric's advice (and I was a client of his until last year) and my husband and I are in our 40's and look forward to financial freedom in the next ten years by NOT following what Edelman advocates. We have a house worth about $600,000; a mortage of about $180,000. Edelman advises cashing out, investing the money, using the big mortage for a tax break. Oh, please. Right now our payments are so low, if my husband lost his job, we could get jobs at Starbucks and make it. We refinanced for 15 years recently, not 30 as Ric recommends, and in 15 years we will be able to rent the house for $3,500-$4,500 a month, a much better return on $600,000 than any mutual fund Ric recommended to us, and we can't lose the property. With an income of $36,000 and no mortgage (we own a vacation home that we will have paid off in 15 years, too) how much money will we need? We both will work at what we enjoy. RIc's way, we'll still be paying that 30 year note! If we refinanced and took out cash, we'd have a hard time with a $3,000 + month payment. If you want to spend lots of time managing your money, you may like Ric's approach. If you have other things to do and want to live without money worries, I recommend "Master Your Budget" by Finnegan. THIS book won't stroke you, and it makes you face some hard facts, but it's philosophy can lead to a better way of life. I paid Edelman my last yearly fee, never again.
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Summary: Should be required reading for every citizen
Review: I think everyone should read this book. The information is valuable and the examples in the book do a great job of demonstrating the author's ideas. A must read for EVERYONE!
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Summary: The best personal finance book
Review: I have read dozens of personal finance books during the past 20 years and Ric Edelman's books are the best of the bunch. He writes in a easy to understand, enjoyable, and direct style. I have read all his books atleast twice and have recommended this book to others and given it as a gift. Save yourself alot of time and just read this one for 95% of everything you need to know about personal finance.
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Summary: Complete Financial Planning in a book.
Review: This is the best personal finance book since More Wealth without Risk by the late, great Charles Givens. Edelman pushes Givens in a lot of areas.If you want to achieve financial freedom, read this book. I also recommend Discover the Wealth Within You and Ordinary People, Extraordinary Wealth.You may not agree with Edelman, but ask yourself this; how are you doing financially? Could you be doing better?Use his information. It works.
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Summary: Generation X Money Management
Review: A comprehensive guide to the different methods and options available to the individual investor, along with some useful information regarding budgeting and purchasing. I like what Edelman has to say about stocks and bonds, but I disagree with him on a couple important topics: One is real-estate. Edelman maintains one should carry as large a mortgage as possible, for a minimum of 30 years. His reasoning is that keeping the majority of your money out of the home, gives you greater liquidity. This is true. The other reason is that "if you don't borrow it now, you can't deduct it later." In other words, your extra principle payments can't be written off against your income. Therefore, one should finance as much as possible, and carry the loan for as long as possible. this is absurd The money you save through tax deductions on real-estate amounts to a 30% off sale. Never spend money to save money. Mortgage payments become difficult when a person gets sick or laid off. The prime benefit of a home, is that it will eventually be your's free and clear. Also, homes cannot simply be sold at the drop of a hat. They are the most illiquid of all investments, with no flexability. In bad economic times, houses can stay on the market for 9 months to a year. That mortgage will quickly become more than annoying if you are trying to dump a property and move somewhere else. As Edelman himself points out, homes are "expected" to appreciate at the rate of inflation (4-5% right now). Why heavily leverage something that is going to give me a 4% return? Forbes recently calculated the maintenance on a standard 2 bedroom home to be in excess of $1200 annually. Add this to your mortgage payments, and your property tax, which is increased periodically, and suddenly carrying a big mortgage doesn't look like such a good idea. Buy what you can afford and pay it off quick. Take the money that you would be sending to the bank every month and instead stick it in the market, which gives you a hell of a lot more than 4-5% return annually. Edelman owns a mortgage company, and this is one of the reasons he gives this advice. The other reason, is that Generation X has never lived through a time when real-estate hit the skids. Just wait a few years. Edelman also thinks closed-end funds are bad investments. He points to the discount/premium issue as a drawback. This is completely wrong. The discount is WHY we get into closed-end funds. If I purchase a closed-end bond fund, I get the same yield on those bonds at a discount. If Edelman knew more about these investments, he would see the benefit of this. Edelman also speaks favorably of Annuities. Forget these insurance products. No financial planner with your interests in mind would recommend them. But despite my disagreements, this is a good book, with a lot of helpful information. And I did learn a few things. Just read it with a critical eye.
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Summary: Edelman's solid!
Review: I previewed dozens of books and web sites before selecting two or three references to develop a course for my employer on Personal Finance for a New Millennium. I hold a degree in Business Education but I was rusty. I selected Edelman's book to focus much of my pilot program on...and the pilot went extremely well. To make a long story short, I presented the training program about 70 times and requests for it are still coming in on a regular basis. My training was "mandatory" so, at times, I had hostile members in the audience. Edelman's work held up to some tuff scrutiny. If you are in the market for an excellent, to the point, book on personal finance, get your hands on "the truth about money." The tone of the book is conversational and down to earth. Edelman strikes a great balance here. The book is a very enjoyable read.
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Summary: The only financial book MOST people need to buy
Review: I have read every review here, all 30 of them. I have two major complaints. Firstly, this book IS NOT JUST FOR PROFESSIONALS. They make their living giving us advice and if we don't have this info we are at their mercey. Not all "professionals" are competent or honest. It also assumes that ALL of us are too stupid to understand this book. It is true that this book is not for everyone, if you are an (...), don't buy it, it won't help. If you are a financial expert, you don't need this book, either. All of us inbetween will benefit.
Secondly, there is nothing silly about this book.
Oh, and just as a side note, if you get offended by the way this book is written, especially all the funny footnotes, you are just too uptight.
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