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Summary: Financial answers for the rest of us.
Review: The book provides us with a wealth of practical financial answers in a very sound, straightforward, honest, and easy-to-understand language. The core emphasis of the book is to help you create a strong, debt-free foundation to amassing assets and protecting them in periods of economic downturn; from buying a home to providing for loved ones; from investing with confidence and navigating the markets in good times and bad to securing reliable income for our later years. If you are interested or have any of these financial needs you need this valuable book. This is a book designed to help you take action-wherever you are in your life and whatever your needs. If you think all the advice you need is from your local bank then you have obviously missed the boat.FinanacialNeeds.com
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Summary: Good book - ignore 1 star bashers
Review: I bought the audio version of this book a couple of years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it; although I felt at the time that it was below 9 Steps and Courage To Be Rich. With the absense of any real great financial advice by other financial authors, I feel that Suze Ormans book The Road To Wealth is excellent. It is written in an encyclopedic way. An easy reference guide for anyone. I found the paperback so beneficial that I bought additional copies for my son and daughter-in-law to enjoy. The Road To Wealth is a great book, possibly the best financial book on the bookstands right now. I also recommend Suze's newest book, The Laws of Money. The Lessons of Life. Suze goes beyond just money management and helps people understand the mental side of handling money. While I don't agree with everything she says, Suze is the best female personal finance author out there right now. Certaintly much better than Jane Bryant Quinn.
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Summary: Very Wide, Extremely Dispersed, and Not Very Directive
Review: The Road to Wealth is the most comprehensive book I have ever seen about describing the details of terms, practices, tax laws, and legal rights for everthing from credit cards, to filing for bankruptcy, to owning annuities, to setting up housekeeping with someone you're not married to, to buying long-term care insurance, to avoiding payment of estate taxes. The book's list of sections gives you a little flavor of this tremendous scope: Managing Debt; Financial Intimacy; Home Ownership; Insurance; Paying for College; Retirement Planning; Stocks; Mutual Funds; Bond and Bond Funds; Annuities; and Wills and Trusts. Ms. Orman has organized the book by putting a brief essay (less than one to about two pages) at the beginning of each section sharing her general views on that subject, then breaks the section into smaller subjects (in Managing Debt, you get different parts of credit cards, student loans, and bankruptcy, for example), and within each smaller section are a series of questions and brief answers. Many of the questions are definitional, and will take you beyond what your dictionary will tell you. The sections vary a lot in their usefulness. The first one was on credit cards, and was quite well done. But there is almost as much information on filing for personal bankruptcy as there was on credit cards, even though the people who need the latter are only a small percentage of the people who use the former. There is a lot of material, for example, on stocks but it focuses on terms rather than giving you practical advice on how to think about stock investing. It is only two-thirds of the way through the mutual fund section that she points out that indexed funds outperform 85 percent of professional money managers. Most people don't need to know very much about bonds, bond funds, or annuities, yet there's a lot of material on those subjects. These sections could have used much more conceptual material to explain how to select objectives, and pursue them. In general, I found the material mostly accurate, and seldom in conflict. Here are the kind of problems that you will find. In two parts of the credit card section, you are told two different ways to cancel a credit card account (one says you must write or it does no good, and the other tells you just to cut the cards up and call the company to cancel). Ms. Orman says a lot of nice things about Registered Investment Advisors without pointing out that it takes no training or education or other qualification to become one. In the section on having your home inspected before buying it, she does not point out that most inspectors are in the pockets of the selling agents and will rarely tell you what the bulk of the problems are. I compared these sections to the best specialist books I had read on the same subjects, and found that only her section on credit cards was as good as a more specialized book. In all other cases, her material was less well developed, less focused, and less helpful. I also checked to see where I found new information that I had not known before, and found that less than ten percent of the material was new to me. But I do read a lot more finance books than most people, have been an investor for a long time, am an attorney, and have had experience with many of these subject materials. I thought that the best use of this book was for people who didn't know where to start, but suspected they needed help. Each section discussed the kinds of professionals and organizations that a person can call on for help, approximately what they do and what they will cost, and how to work with them. I suspect that that's how most people will be using this book 10 years from now. A good secondary use is as a source of definitions. When you buy the book, you also get a free e-newsletter through the end of 2002 to bring you updates on this information. Presumably, you will need to buy that after 2002 if you want to stay up-to-date. For eighteen year olds with little knowledge of personal economics, this will be a five star book that will make an important difference. It will also be valuable for those who have relied on others to handle their finances in the past, and now want or have to take on that task for themselves. The book will also be a good choice for those who want to learn more about at least two of the major subject areas and feel they know little now. Few will find this book to be a primary guide for making financial investments. If you find one of these subjects to be valuable after reading hte book, I suggest that you seek out a more specialized book to deepen and focus your understanding of that narrow area. After you finish examining the many financial angles displayed here, I also suggest that you think about how you can simplify your financial life so that it serves your needs without taking more time than you want to spend. Get the information you need to make good choices where it matters!
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Summary: Follow Suze to YOUR Road to Wealth!
Review: I have to admit that I didn't like this book all that much when it first came out. So I didn't buy it when it was originially released.
Several weeks back while browsing my favorite book store, I cam across this book now in paperback, noticed it was updated and revised from the original version and found some good info that I had missed earlier. Anxiously I took the book home and placed post it notes throughout the book to areas that applied to me. I was able to make substantial savings especially in the areas of insurance and credit card debt. I also started investing in my company's 401 (k) plan and am taking advantage of Pres. Bush's generous IRA provisions contributing the maximum to both retirement plans. Thank you Pres. Bush! Overall, this is one of the best financial books that I have ever read. It is very complete and also very well organized. I also recommend Suze's newest book The Laws of Money, also now available in paperback. Thank you Suze Orman!
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Summary: The Road to Wealth
Review: The Road to Wealth by Suze Orman was extremely informational. Being 18 and very new to the world of finance I learned a lot from reading it. The way the book is set up in a question and answer format makes it easy to read on specific subjects. It would be a good idea to keep a copy in your house. That way you could read the different chapters as they apply to your life. I liked the section about paying for college best because I have to pay my own way through college, so it gave me some helpful tips. The Road to Wealth covers a wide variety of finance subjects all of which could be helpful at many different points in one's life. It covers everything from how to prepare yourself financially for when you retire to making out a will. I would recommend this book especially for people who haven't experienced much financially. It is a great way to learn about many different aspects of the financial world.
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Summary: A Wealth of Infomation
Review: My father recommended that I read this book, as he is a director of property tax and works in the business and finance world every day. I was scared at first at the size of the book, but it is actually very easy to understand and a great reference book.
It has a convenient question-and-answer type format that allows the reader to peruse over various topics, or to narrow in on one in particular.
I was greatly surprised at the immense amount of information that this book contains. Everything from the emotions of divorce and how it affects to finances to how to pay for college is covered throughout the pages.
I would highly recommend that this book be found in every household, as it is would be an excellent source to turn to with many small questions- about wills, investing, and any other sort of monetary question.
On a final note- Suze Orman also has her own tv show that is quite interesting and information as well. Just like the book, it is also not boring, but rather takes tough subjects and make them seem easy!
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Summary: Another good book by the "Love Bug" Lady
Review: Although I do not feel that this is Suze Orman's best book, it is certaintly better than most if not all of the other books out there. I like the question and answer format of the book, makes it easy to look up information that is important to a individual.
The book is large and may be intimidating to some people, perhaps that is why there are some 1 star reviews. None the less, the material is fresh and interesting. Orman is also a great writer and makes you feel like she is talking to you one on one. Check out Suze's newest book "The Laws of Money", just released in paperback and revised from the hardback version. It is a book suitable for the times and even better than The Road to Wealth. Some may want to buy both like my wife did. Great books. Great stuff from Suze, the Queen of Personal Finance!
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Summary: The Financial Bible for Personal Finance Beginner
Review: The book has been my biggest tool for understanding my personal finance. It goes over the many facets of personal finance with clear explanations for anyone to understand. As a beginner, I found this book to be an amazing tool and I suggest it to all my friends and family. I am sure that I will find it useful throughout my life. I can't wait to get into her other books.
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Summary: The Road to a little less Wealth
Review: The actual road to wealth is paved with common sense financial handling of one's life. The common sense financial knowledge is freely available to anyone who has his eyes, ears, and mind open. Buying this book would subtract about $20 from your immediate net worth. Not a very good idea to do that. $20 invested at 8% for 30 years would be worth $201. Let's say you also buy some of her other books, or audio cassettes, totaling $100. That would be worth $1006 in 30 years at 8%. Suze Orman would love that math of mine ;-) See that anonymous reviewer with 5 stars who proudly advises us to ignore 1 star reviewers, and that she bought a second book for her kids, is probably ignoring Suze Orman's own advice on watching out for where you put your money. That reviewer could have loaned her book to her kids. Actually, I think she just made the whole thing up, to increase the book's sales (she must be liking Suze), and then choose to remain anonymous. Please don't criticize other reviewers.
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Summary: I Did Not Like the Presentation - Not Her Best Book
Review: Suze Orman is great. She is entertaining. Most of the time she holds the audience. She has sound advise. No question. But I do not like the format of the book. It seems like it is a compendium of questions asked by listeners on her shows. That to me is not satisfying in a book. I like to see a thought out plan. It has the feel of something quickly thrown together. If that format appeals to you fine. Because that is what this book is about. A book that mimic the style of her shows. If you want a much better book, better organized with a logical plan and coherent message by SUZE ORMAN - see LAWS OF MONEY. My humble opinion. Jack in Toronto.
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