The Complete Idiot's Guide To Personal Finance in Your 20s and 30s (2nd Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Good foundation for learning money management skills
Review: As a member of Gen-X with absolutely no personal financial management skills, I was delighted to find this book. Despite being a reasonably intelligent person, I didn't know how to budget or balance my checkbook, much less tell the difference between an IRA and a mutual fund. Personal Finance turned out to be an invaluable resource. It explains things clearly and concisely, and has information from the most basic topics (like budgeting) to purchasing homes and building retirement funds. I'd be lost and much worse off financially without this book.

However, there is one fundamental flaw: while the book's target market are those in their 20's and 30's, oftentimes the book comes across as meant for a much younger audience, and manages to be extraordinarily condescending and trite as a result. Especially in the beginning chapters, the tone often slips from being impartially informative to a desperate and misplaced effort to be "cool." Fisher and Shelly would have done much better to leave the outdated jargon and simplistic metaphors out.

Overall, this book is a valuable resource for the financially incompetent. It takes a little to get past the juvenile references, but once you do, it proves to be a great starting point for learning how to manage your money.

Rating:
Summary: A good guide to personal finance
Review: Fisher and Shelly have written a great guide to personal finance, covering bank accounts (and how not all banks are the same), credit cards, renting a home, getting a car, savings, budgets, savings, investments, taxes, insurace, retirement, financial advisors, and buying a home. While it talks about a lot, the authors consistently try to use simple and easy-to-understand examples and lots of examples.

Some of the topics I felt didn't relate to me at this time (e.g. buying a house), so I either skimmed them or skipped them. What's great about this book is that you can just pick and choose what you want to know about. I recommend the chapters on bugeting, investments, savings, and credit cards. Some of the chapters overwhelmed me (e.g. those on investments and mortgages) but I did learn the basics. And if I forgot what some things were, I could easily look at the glossary or skim through the chapter again.

The book also includes useful websites, books, magazines, and periodicals.

The main point that Fisher and Shelly focus on is that it is never too late (or too early) to learn about personal finance and that while you should live your life, you should also worry about the future. They don't tell you what to do and try to give the pros and cons for different options (e.g. of mutual funds, stocks, and bonds).

You should definitely read this book... Let it be the start of your journey to a better financial future, but not the end.

Rating:
Summary: Great starting point
Review: Great for anyone who has to try to navigate the world of benefits and finance in this crazy world...buy it before you lose anymore money.

Rating:
Summary: not useful for a college student
Review: I am still in college (and after that will be in grad school) and was looking for a book that would cover things like "becoming financially independent from one's parents while still in school", but this book assumed that the reader was out of college and in the work force.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent for Gen-X
Review: I think this is the absolute best book out there for members of generation X. The ideas are presented in a clear and easy to understand way. I have purchased three copies of this book and keep loaning it out to friends. I have read many others including Personal Finance for Dummies, Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Rich, and Investing for Dummies, but this is the best by far. If you are looking for a personal finance book and are under age 40, try this one.

Rating:
Summary: Financial Guidance for me?the 24 year-old Idiot?
Review: Okay, I am not an idiot by most standards. I do have a Master's Degree and certificates telling me honor societies let me join them. However, despite all my specialized studies, I learned very little about finances, investments, and economics. Since I try not to discuss things I know little about, at parties I avoided these topics. However, party-talk aside, the major benefit to knowing about finance is that it can help you plan you and your family's future.

Fisher and Shelly have compiled a very easy to read and direct book. I am a beginner, and felt as if I grasped most of what I read. Some of the material was even basic for me. They discuss bank accounts (compound or simple interest?), credit (annual fee or not?), personal budgets (do you need that $.70 Coke out of the machine everyday?), investments (CD here is not compact disc!), Housing, and much more. They cover every important aspect of personal finance for younger people approaching middle age. They make use of some quizzes so you can evaluate your financial know-how. The book will even pay for itself if you follow the 40 ways to save 10 dollars a week section. I have used many of their tips already. I recently (finally) got a credit card in order to establish my credit, but was sure to shop around using the web pages they provided.

Overall, this is not an advanced book, but it does cover the basic points. Some points might seem very simple and commonsense, but many of us have not had any education in financial matters. If you are in your 20s and 30s and feel like you have no financial guidelines or knowledge (as I did), this book should get you started in the right direction.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Beginning Book for all the Basics
Review: This book covers EVERYTHING from saving money, moving out on your own vs. staying home, budgets, taxes, debt, your credit, insurance, buying vs. leasing a car, renting vs. buying a home, investing from 401k's, mutual funds, IRA's, CD's, marriage, and buying a house. As a 22 year old, out of college about 2 years and on my own just as long who knew very little about any of this, I found this book to be WONDERFUL and very useful. It really walks you through all of the important milestones that you will have in your 20's and 30's. It is actually one of the best books I have ever read and all my friends are impressed with my new Financial knowledge. After reading it I feel I really have a game plan for all the hurtles that I have not yet passed. I do have to stress that it is just for beginners and people who pay little to no attention to their finances past this month. OUTSTANDING BOOK! LOVED IT!