Rating: 
Summary: Very good book for beginners but not great
Review: This book is one of the first finance books I bought and pretty darn near one of the last. It does a great job of making you differentiate what you need vs. what you want. For example, do I really NEED to buy another financial book or could I just borrow one from a friend or a library. I have even spent a couple hours in bookstores skimming certain chapters of finance books. It has provided me sound financial advice that is the core of my investment philosophy. I feel very confident in what I'm doing and why. That is one the positives. He will explain to you the principles behind his approach and let you carry it out on your own. He does not tell you to do A, B, and C. He simply provides you a nice foundation for investing based on a mix of his investment advice and historical performances. Every review I've read on this book has been positive so I would like to bring up some negatives. His book does not do a good job of explaining terminology. If you want to know what x-bond is exactly...good luck. Many terms don't receive the explanations a novice would need. Instead, you look in the index for a term, find it, then have to read a paragraph in which the term is used and you still don't know exactly what is means. Another negative is his ability to back track. He WILL present material as if it is black and white. Then 30 chapters later he will say something that contradicts it. There are obviously specifics that need to be discussed but aren't. Also, he is great at self promotion. This is a typical statement "If you don't understand what I just said, you need to by my book called so and so, if you still don't understand, by the book I wrote before that, etc." I have this book, 88 Rules, and Millionaire Next Door. 88 Rules is a hyped up condensed version of this book. Actually, I think some sections are literally copied word for word. In other words, IF YOU ARE GOING TO BY ONE OF HIS BOOKS, BUY THIS ONE AND DON'T WASTE MONEY ON THE OTHER ONES. All and all, I'm very glad I have this book BUT it could've been better. I have't read many financial books secondary my satisfaction with this one so I can't recommend a better book per se but this book does have negatives. Good Luck.
Rating: 
Summary: Overall, an excellent guide to personal finance
Review: Ric's advice is easy to understand and he provides the insights you need to succeed financially. My only criticism would be that some of his suggestions (i.e., "don't buy gas, buy stock in Exxon") go too far and ignore practical realities. There are times that we do have to spend money, as few people are realistically going to walk to work or disconnect their telephone. I'm all for frugality, but sometimes Ric takes it a little too far. Nonetheless, this is an excellent addition to any library in terms of its financial advice; he covers just about every area of finance, and doesn't shy away from telling you exactly what strategy will work best. If you're looking for specific advice and not someone simply explaining the options, this book is among the best out there - and it's an entertaining read as well.
Rating:
Summary: Everyone should have this information
Review: I agree with another reviewer who said this is one of the best pieces of non-fiction I've read in years. An excellent text that covers all the basics and then some. Fun to read, easy to understand. Great starting place for conversations with family members, financial planners, etc. Should be required reading for every high school student!
Rating:
Summary: Managing what is left.
Review: It was good for Sen. Chistopher J. Dodd (D) to recommend this book. We need all the help we can get to managing what little is left after government extracts their huge percentage. Read the book and tell Dodd to buy votes with his own money.
Rating:
Summary: Very information packed guide
Review: I was hesitant to buy another personal finance book with the wide assortment already available, they all seem to be pretty much the same. However, I was happy to see that the layout of this book was unlike any other book of it's kind I have ever read. You can skip around to the topics you are interested in without having to muddle through loads of information that may not pertain to you.Besides the layout, the information inside the book was very good. He is not afraid to go against convention to come up with answers that make the most financial sense. I highly recommend this book for a reference guide to any personal finance topic: from buying a house to planning your estate.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding owner's manual for money
Review: I didn't always agree with Ric's opinions, but his well organized, easy to read book always gave me enough information to do my own research and draw my own conclusions on almost every money related topic. This book serves as an outstanding, eye-opening overview of personal finance. This book is the best work of non-fiction I've read in years.
Rating:
Summary: A great money management book.
Review: Isn't it strange that we get manuals for everything everytime we buy something, but nobody ever gave us a manual on how to handle our money? So where do you go for financial education? You can start with this great book. Warning: you may have to unlearn old teachings of the Mom & Dad's "aunt Martha's", "cousin Billies" etc. This is a fresh approach. Easy to read, I finished the book in couple of nights. Also suggest "The Millionaire Next Door" by Dr. Stanley and More Wealth without Risk by Charles Givens.
Rating:
Summary: Concise, and yet informative
Review: Excellent book for a novice like me. Short chapters for those who have short attention spans, and yet still very informative. To the point and easy to read. I don't agree with everything he writes, but at least I understand it better so I can make my own decisions.
Rating:
Summary: A good insightful read
Review: This book is an easy, fun, and informative read. Just about every concept he describes has a clear pertinent example, most with illustrative calculations and charts. He backs up his advice with clear reasoning and provides interesting and provoking insights as to why finances are the way they are. Although not comprehensive it did give me a good foundation on the rules of money. I wish I had read a book like this years ago.
Rating:
Summary: Extremely readable and very informative
Review: The layout of the text lends itself to easy-to-understand readability. The content is well-worth twice the cost, since so many topics are explained easily and fully for the novice as well as the well-versed personal investor.
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