Market Shock: 9 Economic and Social Upheavals That Will Shake Your Financial Future--And What to Do About Them

Rating:
Summary: Insightful and prophetic told with humor and intelligence
Review: A rare book on the economy that is actually interesting and fun to read. Buchholz has taken a very clever approach to making his point (with mini-novellas) that are both insightful and well researched. And humourous. Raises some serious concerns about the not too distant future that we should all be looking at as we contemplate our next investment.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining Light Reading
Review: The terms "Upheavals" and "Market Shock" should not be used to describe the subject matter in this book since it consists entirely of slow, gradual changes in demographics. These changes are only discussed in the most general of terms. There is not one chart or graph in this book. The lack of a timeline makes it impossible to do any serious financial planning. Most of these changes will not have a major effect on the U.S. economy until after most of us are dead and buried.

Unfortunately, the financial advice in this book is very limited, consisting mainly of common sense items, such as, "Learn to broil a trout." The useful information in each chapter can be summed up in one sentence: Chapter 1: Americans are aging. They will need health care and retirement homes. Chapter 2: Science is cool, but make sure that a lot of people will pay for it before investing. Chapter 3: Mutual fund fees are too high. (Also contains the crazy theory that all funds will collapse when people figure out they are not FDIC insured.) Chapter 4: One day, white people will be the minority in America. Chapter 5: The Japanese are getting older, too. Chapter 6: Europe needs Euro-denominated junk bonds. Chapter 7:China has a tough row to hoe. Chapter 8: The crime rate will rise. Chapter 9: There's that global warming thing.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical trivia. On the one hand, I read every page in this book. On the other hand, I don't expect to ever make a dime off of anything that I learned.

Rating:
Summary: Can you believe, an economics page turner!
Review: We all see the changes that are taking place around us (such as the graying of America). This book takes those changes and puts them into perspective with actionable information. I kept slapping my forehead and saying, "I know this, why didn't I see where it leads?" Buchholz makes sense out of our everyday observations and puts them into economic context.