Rating: 
Summary: An excellent book for a diligent consumer
Review: An excellent book for a diligent consumer. If you, like me, read Consumer Reports, Kipplinger's (Finance for non-professionals) etc..., you will find a good advice and almost every issue.Published in 2002, and most of the WEB links, references, and forms are really up-to-date. Practically all major topics are covered and excellent advices rendered. Major chapters - Cars, Money, Real Estate, Insurance, Technology, Travel, The Basics, Rip-Offs, Workbook. Each chapter covers several subjects. For example, Chapter on Money covers Investment, Short-tem Investing, Buying selling stock, 401k, Taxes, Credit cards, Dealing with Debt, Credit reports, Divorce, Wills and Funerals. The language is pretty simple and the book is an easy read. Good luck,
Copyrighted by me
Rating: 
Summary: Great Advice!
Review: Clark Howard gives excellent and detailed advice on many financial topics, from saving money with daily expenses to investing long-term. It's definately accessible to the average consumer as well. My only complaint is that the book is not organized in a way that makes it easy to read through front-to-back. Rather, it's sort of a quick reference on a large number of topics with little or no transition between topics. But if that's what you're looking for, it does its job well!
Rating:
Summary: Great Advice!
Review: Clark Howard gives excellent and detailed advice on many financial topics, from saving money with daily expenses to investing long-term. It's definately accessible to the average consumer as well. My only complaint is that the book is not organized in a way that makes it easy to read through front-to-back. Rather, it's sort of a quick reference on a large number of topics with little or no transition between topics. But if that's what you're looking for, it does its job well!
Rating:
Summary: good consumer reference; NOT a get-rich guide
Review: Clark Howard provides solid advice on topics such as buying a new or used car, buying a home, buying a computer, buying insurance. There's probably not much here you haven't seen elsewhere, but it is presented in a consolidated & readable fashion. The most useful part of the book is Howard's advice on documentation -- how to write effective letters & protect your rights in dealing with creditors and service providers. The focus of the book is much more on making informed purchasing decisions and on protecting your rights as a consumer than it is on getting rich.
Rating:
Summary: good consumer reference; NOT a get-rich guide
Review: Clark Howard provides solid advice on topics such as buying a new or used car, buying a home, buying a computer, buying insurance. There's probably not much here you haven't seen elsewhere, but it is presented in a consolidated & readable fashion. The most useful part of the book is Howard's advice on documentation -- how to write effective letters & protect your rights in dealing with creditors and service providers. The focus of the book is much more on making informed purchasing decisions and on protecting your rights as a consumer than it is on getting rich.
Rating: 
Summary: Refuted nonsense
Review: Empirically, this book fails badly. Howard argues that prices and wages do not fall enough in response to reductions in demand. Yet he wrote this in the midst of a massive deflation. Other deflations came and passed without the high and persistent unemployment of the second Bush era as well. This obviously proves that his general theory is at best a special case. But it fails as that too. Howard argues that decreased demand cause persistent unemployment. He denies that monetary policy is as important as spending. Yet, shifts in the money supply correlate well with depressions. Also, at the close of Iraq war, Howardians predicted another great depression in 2003 due to massive decreases in government spending for armaments. They are clearly wrong, and this is very damaging to Howard's case. If his 'effective demand' hypothesis is correct, there should have be a depression in 2003. The empirical failings of this book should come as no surprise. Howard paid very little attention to data in this book. Instead, he focused, as the title implies, on theory. Unfortunately, his theory is utterly incoherent. His central hypothsis is his 'Principle of Effective Demand.' He lays out the main variables involved here on page 29. This principle supposedly refutes Say's law of Market. Howard claims that total spending can fail to generate full employment. This happens when total savings exceeds total investment. Howard throws out a series of supporting arguments in the remainder of this book, none of which hold water. A key supporting argument is that investors will hold cash when interest rates fall. This cash holding supposedly causes demand to fall. The truth is that investors do not hold cash, but instead hold their money in some form of asset in financial markets, even when they are speculating over future bond prices. In the absence of legal restrictions money stays in the financial system and circulates- Say's Law of Markets holds the principle of effective demand fails. Depositors did withdraw money from banks- during the banking panics that began in November of 1930. These panics were an effect of a slowdown that had already existed for more than a year, not the cause of the slowdown itself. Howard had this causality backwards. He merely refers to the 'marginal efficiency of capital' and ignores the critical issue of time preference. Howard had capital theory explained to him, personally, by a great economist- Friedrich von Hayek. Yet, he was never able to grasp the simple truth that people save money today, not because of some mysterious "marginal propensity to save", but because they want to defer some consumption to the future and earn interest in the process. In his world, capital markets have no rational basis to them. 'Animal Spirits' drive investing, not expected profits. 'Marginal propensities' drive saving, not intertemporal consumer choice. Instead of addressing these issues in a cogent way, Howard concocted catchy phrases, like 'the dark forces of time and uncertainty'. Colorful writing is good enough for fiction, but serious social theory needs far more than that. His irrationalist view of markets stands in contrast to his view of government. He merely assumes that public officials will stabilize the economy via some socialization of investment. He seemed to actually believe that government officials seek simply to promote the general welfare, rather than to seek political gain by catering to special interests. His naive view of government clearly contradicts the historical record. The absurdities of this book served as an excuse for increasing government spending to stimulate the economy (rather than to provide basic public services). It also led to expansionary monetary policies that gave us the post war inflations that so many suffered from. The General Theory is second only to Das Kapital in terms of promoting economic failure. This is not because its' ideas were misapplied, it is because it contradicts the reality that it was applied to. Rather than being a general theory, it is peculiar set of incoherent arguments that apply to no time and no place. Today, so called New Howardians have assured that Howard's fame will endure a while longer. But when one examines the arguments of these New Howardians it is quite apparent that they reject the spending approach of Howard and embrace price and wage theory. The Economics profession has rejected its' nonsensicle arguments, and rightly so.
Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive, but easy to follow
Review: I didn't expect much from another book of financial advice -- but, I was pleasantly surprised. Not only do Clark Howard and Mark Meltzer cover many areas, but they write in a very clear, concise manner. There are a number of useful financial tips I have already used to save a not inconsiderable amount of money. More importantly, the book will be a great reference tool for my future purchases. Thanks Clark & Mark!
Rating: 
Summary: Less talk and more action....
Review: I have just started out on the long road to investing. After reading several Suze Orman, and Investing for Dummies etc books I was just hungry for more information. This book is filled with it, after you get through all the wording. I just wanted the facts plain and simple. I would like a book made up of all the end summary comments, that would have been of more use to me. But this would have been of more use had I read it in the beginning.
Rating:
Summary: Great on the Basics; little substance beyond that
Review: I tend to agree with many of the other reviewers. This is a well-written and useful reference guide on how to save money and spend your money wisely. If you're struggling with your finances, this book is a great starting point (if you take his advice to heart and act on it).
If, however, your finances are already in order you'll likely be disappointed in the book. For instance, if you are saving properly for retirement, have little or no credit card debt, budget or otherwise control your spending, have 3-6 months of cash reserves for emergencies, have raised your insurance deductibles and know when (and when not) to file an insurance claim, etc., then there's not much here for you other than an affirmation of what you're already doing. Much of his advice will seem like "common sense" to you.
Rating:
Summary: I'm Clark Savvy...well getting there :)
Review: I've been a loyal fan of clark's web site for a little over 7 months when I decided to be proactive in my debts. With Clark's inspiration and helpful advice, I am able to not only get out of debt within a short time, but save money and be able to become secure. This book reiterated those points and holds your hand to make smart decisions for the future. If you want a get rich quick book, this is not it. This book is for level headed people who want to live a life of comfort within reason of their income. A great and easy read, I read it one night. I couldn't put it down.
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