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Summary: Up-To-Date Edition Of The Popular Personal Finance Work
Review: This updated version of Beth Kobliner's work (5/2000) can help the folks in their 20's and 30's get a handle on their finances. Even with a college education, most students fail to come away with sufficient knowledge on how to manage their dough. This book is an easy read, not filled with useless info. There is special emphasis on paying off college loans, getting credit cards, buying a car, and financing a first house or apartment. Things that you really need to know. The main chapters include: Figuring out Where You Are and Where You Want to Go, Finding the Best Loans and Getting Yourself Out of Hock, How to Get the Most from Your Bank for the Least Amount of Money, All You Really Need to Know About Investing, Living the Good Life in 2030 !!, Getting an Apartment or House of Your Own, What Insurance You Need and Don't, Finding the Right Policies and Forgoing Coverage You Don't Need, Making Your Life Less Taxing. There is info on using the Web to help you save, spend and invest wisely, how to refinance your high-rate debt and avoid hidden fees and traps, taking advantage of the latest tax breaks- including deductions for student loans, and planning your long range savings program. In addition, there are details on car leases, credit reports, mutual funds, and more. A wealth of information available for less than 12 bucks. Highly recommended. A great gift.
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Summary: Good starter book for financially inexperienced 20somethings
Review: First, I would like to disagree with the two extremely negative commentators that found this book patronizing. Although this book is obviously intended for beginners, I don't think Kobliner intended for anyone to take the beginner level content personally. For example, Kobliner did not insinuate that Gen. X-ers can't use credit cards responsibly. For those who can't, however, or for those who feel overwhelmed with the amount of debt they have taken on, Kobliner provides the financial framework for knowing why you should pay your credit cards as soon as possible. I think that the summary of the book & the cutesy cover should have given these two readers a clue that the book was intended for those with a limited financial background. Lynch would be terribly heavy reading for people unfamiliar with the business world.That said, I found this book very informative. Obviously, personal finance is a vast subject and so this book serves as a brief overview of such topics as different types of bank accounts, paying your student loans back, saving for retirement, what to look for when renting an apartment, and how to buy a house. I bought this book a couple of months before my dad cut the purse strings and I graduated from college. Although I majored in accounting, I learned mostly theory in school. I found the investing content particularly informative and I opened my IRA ASAP. It is now been a little more than a year and I do think that I have "outgrown" most of the subject matter, but I still use this book for reference. When I buy a house, I will now know about the different types of mortgages and how much I should set aside. Of course, if schools taught personal finance, I wouldn't need this at all. I do agree, however, that this book needs to be updated, if not for the creation of the Roth IRA alone. That is the only reason I'm not giving it five stars. Internet resources would be helpful, too. I would recommend this book to people who are starting out in life (early twenties) or to those in their mid to late twenties who have no clue when it comes to personal finance. I plan on giving a copy to my younger sister for Christmas. I would not recommend this book to anyone in their thirties, though, despite what the cover says. I think the only topic that a thirty-something might find useful would be the house-buying chapter. Here in San Francisco, though, that is how long it takes to save for a down payment on a house, so you might not even need it in your neck of the woods.
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Summary: words for the unwise
Review: i have been taking beth's advice for the past three years and am finally finacially stable. i worked for the publisher and otherwise probably would not have heard her speak or gotten a copy of the book. she adressed all of my financial concerns and gave me the feeling that it was possible to dig myself out from under my debt. get this book and follow her advice. all will be well.
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Summary: An easy-to-use reference guide
Review: I bought the original edition of this book after seeing Ms. Kobliner on a morning news program. I was rather uninformed about my finances at that point. I had several thousands of dollars of credit card debt, was about to finish grad school and get married, and didn't have a job waiting. Worried about merging my bad financial life with my future husband's relatively well-organized one, I bought this book. Together, my husband and I read it and developed a road map for what we thought we needed to accomplish. It gave us the basics to get our financial life on track, including paying off all the credit card debt (we carry none at all), getting a mortgage, buying a new car, and starting retirement plans. Now that we arethinking about insurance, starting a family, planning for college funds, etc., this was the first place I thought to turn for well-seasoned advice. This book covers a lot of topics in an accessible format, but I acknowledge that for someone who is already aware of their finances and has some knowledge, it may be repetitive. But I always find myself wanting to go back to it when I have questions--so today I'm buying the updated edition, and letting a financially challeneged friend keep the other one.
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Summary: Great Financial Book for Planning Ahead
Review: I read this book when I turned 21. It was the best decision financially I had ever made. I was already in debt from educational loans, credit cards, and charges. After reading this book and 2yrs later, I'm on my way to financial freedom as well as the knowledge of things to look for when making large purchases, investing, retiring, and budgeting. I got an excellent deal on a great car by reading this book before purchasing. Its a must have for anyone between the ages of 18-40.
I even purchased a copy for my mother, who is 50 and she has made drastic financial changes based on suggestions made in this book.
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Summary: An outstanding roadmap to getting your finances in order
Review: This book served me well as an introduction to the fundamentals of personal finance. By following each step before moving on to the next, "Get a Financial Life" helped me formulate a financial plan and make it a reality. I repaired my credit, bought my first house, paid off my student loans, eliminated my credit card and automotive debt, and created a way to save/invest 28% of my gross monthly income. It required a few years of sacrifices on my part, but I credit this book with teaching me the "how, what, when and whys" of financial freedom.
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Summary: Just what the doctor ordered
Review: My father bought this book for me and it's been absolutely great to read and take notes from. It isn't deep, it isn't complicated, but it does have some very good information in it. I'm 21, about to graduate from college, and admittedly don't exactly have the best financial practices in the world. This book has already helped me get more organized and on-the-ball with my finances, though, and I think it's something I'll keep around as reference for some time. A previous reviewer complained that the book is shortsighted and only targeted at people in their 20s and 30s. Well, so what? If you want more in-depth, there are more than enough books out there to cover all the things you could possibly want to know. This isn't meant to be a guiding light for your personal finance from now until you die. it is meant for younger people and it serves them quite well, I think. It's not a limitless resource or something for people already well-versed in good personal finance management. If you're looking for a handy book with practical, real-world advice, though, then this should serve you quite well.
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Summary: Finances made easier
Review: Finally, a book that doesn't assume your money woes are allowing your heirs to intherit their trust funds with as little tax as possible, finding the best long term care insurance, or how to save money by clipping coupons and doing every house project yourself. (I even read a book on frugality once that suggested getting a goat, because you won't have to mow your lawn anymore and you can have fresh milk everyday)
How about a book for someone who knows that the best time to invest is when you are young, but is intimidated by the purposefully complicated langauge of the financial world? That would be this book. It is written very comprehensively, occasionally so much so that it feels a little "dumbed down", but that is okay.
Get a financial life starts with the basics of the basics. Setting up a checking account and an emergency savings fund, and avoiding bank fees while you do it. I couldn't help but to think, if you are in your thirties and don't have a checking account yet, you need more help than this book could provide...but anyway, this book then goes on to cover credit cards, auto insurance, health insurance, 401k plans vs. IRAs and Roth IRA's, mutual funds. It does it in a way which is not so dry to read that you feel like falling asleep, and not so demanding that you know you will never be able to accomplish your finacial goals without spending your life huddled over a calculator.
I would gladly loan this book to anyone who is going to be on their own for the first time. You HAVE TO know this stuff if you are going to make it in the real world.
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Summary: Easy Guide to a Financial Life
Review: Beth Kobliner's guide to getting a financial life is an easy to understand book. Kobliner broke the book up into different chapters such as banking, debt, insurance, etc. so that you can read the book straight through or read the various sections pertaining to you. Also, the first chapter is "Crib Notes" containing eight important steps to having a good financial life for time-pressed readers, or simply those who will never read the whole book.
Although the book is geared to those in their twenties and thirties, it has helpful information for anyone dealing with finances and how to secure your financial future. Kobliner not only advises you on what to do, but also gives you the resources, such as companies to contact for information on loans, insurance, and consolidating your debt.
The book is most helpful, because it gives you all the information that you should know, but probably don't. It covers just about everything one needs to know to establish a good financial life, and it's an easy book to get through.
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Summary: A Simple Guide to Managing your Money
Review: Beth Kobliner sets up an outline for young adults to follow in order to achieve financial stability. She takes her readers through the importance of understanding one's own budget, knowing how much one must save and how much one has to spend. After her readers have stock of their financial situation, Kobliner goes into more specific situations in order to help readers make smart fiancial decisions. Her analysis on how to get out of debt by paying off your high interest rates as fast as possible is common sense, but still solid financially. The remainder of the book follows much the same pattern as Kobliner explains the importance of inexpensive banking, how to invest, how to handle a retirement account, what to look for in insurance, how to finance your first house, and other important financial decisions. The book gives good advice for people tackling these situations for the first time. It is a must read for anyone without a parent or more experienced elder to turn to for advice or for those who would rather learn things on their own than ask for help. Kobliner gives solid advice and addresses the issues that her reading audience of young adults are most likely to encounter. I would recommend this book to anyone.
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