Rating: 
Summary: JBQ misses the mark...again!
Review: I am amused by the 5 star reviews of this book and have to chuckle when I see reviewers refer to Quinn as a "expert". I also find it funny that the 5 star reviewer claims that the 1 star reviewers are "financial people" worried about Quinn giving this information out for free.While I can't speak for everyone, I can say that purchasing this book was a huge waste of my money, and I am not a broker, financial planner, insurance agent or salesman but a successful student looking for more education, which is lacking in this book.Nor do I have a personal vendetta with Quinn, other than my dissappointment with her book and at wasting my money.And Quinn is not giving the information for free. I paid a considerable amount for this book and last time I checked it was not free. In fact, even with the amazon.com discounts, it is still a very expensive book. And certaintly not Free, although it should be. I do agree that based on the content and worth of this book, it should be given for free though. Should at least give you a free hat or another financial book or a free consultation with a competent financial planner and legitimate authority and financial expert to make up for the mistakes in this book.As for Quinn being an "expert", funny, I didn't see any titles after her name designating Quinn as anything but a journalist. She is by no means an "expert". So let's put that to rest once and for all.My advice. Save your money and don't buy this worthless tome.
Rating:
Summary: NOTHING FANTASTIC, THERE ARE BETTER ALTERNATIVES!
Review: At well over a thousand pages, the first impression that you will get concerning this book is that its price is reasonable. But, the big BUT here is that the contents are on the contrary.
I beg to disagree with some of the suggestions Mrs Quinn offered. They sound odd. Out-of-the-blues! Money seldom heeds the one-way traffic rule that you and I would like it to. Mrs Quinn seemed to have forgotten that. Well, I would not advice anyone to invest based on what he or she learnt from this book. Its contents are shallow! There are better alternatives: "The Wall Street Journal Guide to Understanding Money & Investing" is of greater value. You may start from Eric Tyson's "Personal Finance for Dummies", if you are a beginner.
Rating: 
Summary: Not to be used without parental supervision
Review: Although there are a few pieces of worthwhile information in this book, I would not recommend this text to any inexperienced or neophyte money fool. A lot of the information is obsolete for the times so if you do shell out the bucks for this, make sure you consult with an experienced financial pro who can point out the pot holes and trap doors and other loopholes that are left wide open.The title How to Make The Most of Your Money is misleading and a misnomer. At best, this is just a basic overview and as already mentioned, much is outdated.
Rating:
Summary: 1,000+ pages of pure fluff!
Review: This book by JBQ is not a good financial book...but it is entertaining.Let's look at it piece by piece.First-Life Insurance. Along with Quinn's other advice on insurance, you will end up insurance rich but cash poor--exactly what the insurance agents love. Quinn pushes cash value life insurance, this is the worst kind of life insurance for all but a small percentage of wealthy people who need a tax writeoff. Unless you need a tax writeoff, I suggest you forget cash value i.e. whole life, universal life variable life etc. Read Norman Dacies book or talk to any good Primerica agent.Quinn is also big on paying off your home. Sounds great and logical as long as you have cash available for emergencies and you are job secure (who is these days) If you followed Quinn's advice, you may have a paid off deed without enough cash to buy groceries. On the other hand, if you followed Quinn's advice, you missed out on an incredible opportunity to refinance your home at historically low rates not seen in decades. Ooops Quinn????? Ordinary People/Extraordinary Wealth provides a strong argument against paying off your mortgage. I highly recommend you read it.Then there is Quinns investment advice. No mention is made of the capital gains that you will be hit with in normal mutual funds when they pay yearly dividends/distributions or the double loss when a fund goes down and you have high taxable income due to high turnover. Nor does Quinn explain what to do about tax liabilities when you cash out your 401 (k) and/or IRA. These are taxed as ordinary income, the highest tax rate.Oops again Quinn?Likewise no mention is made of the high expence of annuities, another insurance product pushed heavily by insurance agents. Nor does Quinn offer any strategies on how to best use a annuity if they are right for you.Quinn also goes a bit heavy on the "no-load" myth but ignores to mention that all funds, including no-loads have fees. Oops again Quinn?Quinn does talk about Index Funds, but the text is far too basic to be useful and if you bought index fundsin '99 and held onto them you lost your [butt] (ets).ETFs are far more cost effective than Index Funds or Annuities and more manageable. Zero coupon bonds are mentioned but no real strategies are included.A big problem with Quinn's advice is that on the surface it appears logical. For example, she is big on suggesting diversifyig into stocks, bonds and cash. Sounds logical huh? Big problem is that this logic only appeals to the neophyte investor. Stocks and bonds move in opposite directions. If you were diversified into bonds during the last bull run, your equity gains would have been offset by losses on your bonds. Conversely, if you bought into Quinn's "buy and hold" (or is that buy and pray) you would have lost an easy 50% on your equities during the tech selloff with only paltry earnings on bonds or cash. A perfect example of something that sounds great on paper but doesn't really work in real life.Quinn's explanation on what to do with your social security would be comical if it wasn't so serious.Quinn also ignores mentioning anything about sector funds, a very powerful strategy if you know how to use them. Obviously Quinn doesn't. Interesting too is that Quinn does not talk about taxes, the single biggest expence we face. Perhaps Quinn conceded here. Oh well.The college advice is too outdated to be useful. Remember, this book was released in 1997 so most likely was written in 1996. Who wants to use advice that is nearly 7 years old? Not me, that's for sure!And as for stock splits, studies have shown that stocks that split outperform the market as a whole. Enough said.Mutual funds split their shares for another reason, obviously Quinn is clueless on that as well.Making the Most of Your Money is too old and too lacking in content to be useful to anyone with any real money smarts. I suspect that the 5 star reviews all come from the same person who is incredibly naive to personal finance/investing or a close friend to the author. Obviously this individual is much better at finding spelling mistakes than good financial authors.Keep in mind that Quinns syndicated newspaper column was cancelled last January due to a lack of reader interest. that should tell you how many real supporters Ms. Quinn really has!I believe that Quinn lost her steam when her bashings of "get rich guru's" got a little stale and the emergence of Suze Orman. Plus I think that people are finally realizing that Quinn disseminates some pretty bad advice. This book is a must miss. In it's place I would recommend any book by Suze Orman or Ric Edelman.
Rating:
Summary: A lousy book with too many pumpers
Review: I bought this book based on Quinn's presumed reputation as a "financial expert" and on the strength of the 5 star reviews on this board pumping this book. What a dissappointment! Not only is the investment advice bad, so is the personal finance advice. For example Quinn recommends cash value life insurance--this is the worst kind of life insurance for the masses. Pension and other insurance advice was equally ineffective if not downright misleading. Quinn even suggests asking your insurance agent to raise your premiums. Gee, why don't I ask my grocer to raise the price of milk and eggs and meats too! I agree with Quinn on credit and credit cards, but that is too basic to be considered worth the price of this book. Looking back, I really have an issue with who really posted all of those 5 star reviews and what their realintentions were! If Quinn is anexpert, then I suppose there reallyis a Santa Claus and a Easter Bunny too!
Rating:
Summary: Has no business passing out investment advice
Review: We followed Quinn's "conservative" investment advice for our eldest sons college fund. This account is deep, deep, really deep in the red. How are we going to explain to Andy that we lost his college funds listening to a "financial expert"????To make matters even worse, we recommended this book to relatives who were on track for retirement, but now will be working through their retirement.This lady has no business passing out financial/investing advice.
Rating:
Summary: Another potboiler written by a publicity hound
Review: P>There are many good books out there. Some folks think that any book written about personal finance is a worthwhile read. Take my word for it, you can skip this one.Quinn tried to catch the coat tails of Venita Van Caspel when she [Quinn] wrote her first back back in the early 80's (It bombed) and we thought we were only forced to read her rhetoric in Newsweek and that would be it. In the late 80's, personal finance books again became popular and you guessed it, Quinn made a comeback with two lame efforts; 1991 and this worthless tome that came out in 1997. Quinn is a talented writer, but IS NOT a financial expert. She needs to stick to journalism and forget trying to compete with legitimate female financial experts like Suze Orman or Terri Savage (Re: The Savage Truth about Money) You can skip this book and never miss a beat.
Rating:
Summary: Surprised at 1 star reviews!
Review: I am surprised at the attitude and number of 1 star reviews on Making the Most of Your Money by Jane Bryant Quinn. I mean, what would you expect? Quinn is a reporter, not a financial expert. She went to school to study journalism, not p/e ratios, taxes, living trusts, mutual funds, annuities, stocks, bonds etc. Admit it 1 star reviewers; you bought into the hype. You bought into Quinn's shills posting those 5 star reviews and her articles so you presumed that she was/is a financial expert. Shame on you! I suppose if you go to a bad restaurant, you bash the restaurant
too rather than admitting that you made a bad choice. Making the Most of Your Money is a BAD choice for those seeking personal finance or investment advice. Some good choices are Millionaire Next Door, The Truth About Money, Ordinary People/Extraordinary Wealth and 9 Steps to Financial Freedom. I also surprised at the number of 1 star reviews because I had no idea that that many people bought this over hyped and mostly worthless book. As best as I can recall, it was never on the best seller lists and nobody with financial savvy that I know recommends it.
Rating:
Summary: Quinn sells the sizzle, not the steak
Review: You would think that with 1,000+ pages that this book would be loaded with useful financial information right? Wrong!Making the Most of Your Money is clearly a classic case of all sizzle and no steak.But why be surprised; remember, Quinn is a reporter, not a financial expert.What is wrong with this book? For starters, it is over 6 years old and much of the material is outdated. That is, the few pieces of information that makes sense.Quinn pushes the pay your home off early as part of her reducing debt pitch. Big problem is that a paid off mortgage may make you feel good, but does you no good. A home is more of a liability than an asset and I know of people who bought into this philosophy and now have a clear and free deed but not enough cash to meet ordinary expences, have lost their jobs and may still lose their house.Quinn also pushes cash value life insurance, credit life and other junk that is overpriced and takes away from your wealth.The investment advice is really ridiculous. Hidden fees in "no load" funds are not mentioned nor are the tax implications on capital gains and turnover rate. Quinn also pushes annuities, but forgets to mention the huge costs and fees associated with these insurance products.ETF's are far more tax efficient and investor friendly. Quinn also forgets to mention the heavy tax implications on 401 (k) and IRA accounts when you take distributions. These are taxed as ordinary income...the highest tax rate. That is assuming that you will have any money left in your account if you follow Quinn's investment advice. There is no advice on how to switch in and out of investments or how to protect yourself from the huge decline we have seen since March 2000.Quinn does mention moving into treasuries and CD's. But with treasuries at 40 year lows and interest rates on CD's so low, you will lose money.Quinn's explanation on stock splits is so obviously Quinn-ish i.e. ridiculous, but expected from a non-investor type.I could go on and on. Obviously the people giving this book 5 stars are incredibly naive to personal finance and investing and have not actually tried the advice. Instead of this book I recommend Eric Tyson's Personal Finance for Dummies and Investing for Dummies.If you follow the advice as outlined by Quinn in this huge, worthless tome, you will end up broke and frustrated.Nothing personal against Quinn, just her book.And let's put to rest that 1 star reviewers are people who support the so called "get rich quick" gurus. The 1 star reviewers are telling the facts and expressing their discontent. Besides, I think that these gurus are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves. After all, at least their books sell.Finally, remember that Quinn is a full time reporter who occasionally writes a book but IS NOT A FINANCIAL EXPERT. Last time I checked, I did not see any desigations after her name.Isn't it funny how people who can't set up financial practices write mediocre books?For expert advice, try Tyson. You'll be glad you did
Rating:
Summary: How to make the most of your money
Review: Quinn recommends reducing unneccessary expences right? I agree. Start by not wasting your money on this book. The cost savings on the book is your least expence. The real exnce s if you are foolish to follow Quinn's ridiculous advice. You will be overpaying on insurance along with other items and her investment advice will turn your 401 (k) to a 201 (k).Put this on your "must miss" list.Recommend "9 Steps to Financial Freedom" instead.
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