The Wealth Cure

By: Hill Harper

When you first see the image of who Hill Harper is (He’s an actor on CSI:N.Y.), you assume that this is just another book by a celebrity to boost his status and pad his wallet.  What you get when you read this book, however, is another thing entirely.  Not only is this not a book that Harper had someone write for him and then published using his name, it’s a thought provoking book that happens to be about wealth.  If you’ve read many books on money and wealth, you know that a majority of them are dry, boring books to read.  Harper manages to take what is a very important message about the role that wealth plays in our lives and melds it into a very engrossing story about life, success, and the real worth of wealth in our lives.

He starts the story with a short few paragraphs setting up the story for the rest of the book.  Recently diagnosed with cancer, he decided to take a train from Los Angeles to Chicago.  The rest of the story is about the revelations he came to while riding the train.  It’s a wonderful book that really cuts to the core of what wealth really is, and how, so often, we pervert it into something entirely different.

This is a book about life, and how the way we treat our wealth, build our wealth, and live our lives really can make a difference, not only in our life, but in the life of others.  I would highly recommend reading it, especially if you find yourself struggling with the role that money plays in your life.

Disclaimer: I was sent a copy of this book for free as a review copy.

After Andrea’s wonderful post on Go Green Method to Save Money: eBooks, and the ensuing conversation that started in the comments, I though it might be nice to share my story in regards to ebooks and ereaders.

Where it begins.

I’ve been a reader for as long as I can remember.  Some of my earliest memories of reading are of reading the Chronicles of Narnia series and the Hardy Boys series.    All through my school years, I read voraciously.  I made my way from shorter books up through goliath undertakings like just about anything by James Michener.  Sadly, when I moved to college, I drifted away from reading.  Most of my reading time was taken up by schoolwork and socialization.  Later, while taking a break from college to pursue more nefarious things, I had a job which usually entailed a whole lot of doing nothing.  To pass the time, I began reading again.  The spark was back.  Heck, I even read the 5th Harry Potter book in a day.

I eventually got a real job, finished my degree, and then got married and started having children.  And, as I was pretty busy doing those things, my reading habits slipped off again.  It wasn’t until we cancelled cable shortly after our first born came along that I got back into it.  And, even then, it was not nearly with the same pace as I had before.  Throughout all of this, I’ve carted around my books.  Each time I wanted to read something new, I bought it rather than borrow it.  Why?  Call it OCD collecting.  I’ve always fantasized about having this huge library in my house with wall-to-wall books. In short, I had an infatuation with books.

But, here’s the thing.  Of all the hundreds of books I had (have), I’ve only reread less than 10 of them.  So, I came to the realization that I was carting around all these books that I would never (probably) read again.  Moreover, they were slowly taking over every bookshelf in the house, and even some of the floor space.  When I came to this realization, I went through them all, and posed a large majority of them on PaperBackSwap.  But, all that did, really, was to swap the clutter of books I had read with a clutter of books I hadn’t read.  I’ve currently got well over 50 books on my “to read” shelf.  For reference sake, I only read about 35-40 books a year.  So, I’ve got close to a year and a half worth of books sitting, waiting to be read.

Through all of this, my desire to have less clutter in my space has led me to try to remove as much of it as possible.  I had downloaded the kindle reader app for my blackberry phone, but I found it absolutely terrible to try and read anything on the little, itty-bitty screen.  At that point, I decided that ereading just wasn’t for me.  At the time, I would rather have the physical book in my hands than try and read on a little screen.  Then, I upgraded my phone.

I traded in my blackberry for a new android based phone.  It’s got a screen that’s roughly twice the size as the old blackberry had.  A couple of books that I wanted to read were available only as ebooks.  So, I gave the cell phone reading another try.  On the larger screen, not only was it bearable, but I found that I liked it.  And, now, several ebooks later, I’m a convert.  An ereader has rocketed to the top of my wish list, although I haven’t decided whether it will be a kindle or a nook, or something else entirely.
photo credit: anieto2k

Street Smarts: Beyond the Diploma
By: Jim Randel

Often, when we’ve “grown up” and graduated college, we all move on to our new lives as adults with the expectation that our schooling has given us everything we’ll need to be prepared for the wide world ahead of us.  And, just as often, we are disappointed.  While school has the advantage of preparing us for the work part of the world; we can all read, write, and do most arithmetic; we are usually very unprepared for the subtle nuances that take place that will give us a step up on the ladder of success.

Jim Randel, if you’re unfamiliar with him, is the author of the Skinny On series.  I’ve reviewed a few of those here before, which, I would guess, is why his company sent me a copy of this book.  (That’s my disclosure, folks.  I was sent a free copy of the book.)  What he’s done with both the Skinny On series and this new book, Street Smarts, is to take some very complex issues, and simplify them enough that you can get the basics without having to knock your head against the wall trying to understand them.  Street Smarts holds 125 lessons on how to better succeed in the real world.  Each lesson is short, to the point, and valuable.  There’s very little chaff to sort through, and it’s an easy and fast read with some rereading value.

One thing you won’t find inside it’s pages is explicit detail.  There is not, for instance, 20 pages on the mathematics behind the rule of 72.  There also is not 100 pages or more on the workings of a mortgage loan.  Each is it’s own lesson, and is two pages.  You’re not going to learn everything there is to know about any of the topics by reading this book.  What you will get is the highlights that will allow you to safely navigate the topic without causing yourself too much trouble.

The book is also paired with a website where they’ve been putting up regular fresh content.  It’s already got quite the archives of good tips and information.  You can visit it at TheStreetSmartBook.com.

This book would make a great gift for a newly graduated senior, of high school or college.

I like to read.  A lot.  Not as much as some people, but I still manage to read somewhere between 30 and 40 books a year.  As you can imagine, that gets a little bit expensive if you’re paying full price for all of them.  Swapping and borrowing books only gets you so far if you limit it to the people you know directly.  But, that’s where a fun site called PaperBackSwap comes into play.

Here’s how it works.  You post the books that you want to trade away.  Other users request those books and you ship them off.  You can either print the postage directly through the site, or buy it anyway you like.  Personally, I use paypal shipping because it’s slightly cheaper, and, I already have the account at paypal to do that.  Once you’ve shipped the book, or books, off, you merely wait for them to be received.  Once received, the person you sent them to marks them as received and you get a credit.

With your credits, you can then request books from other members.  (note: the first person from your household to sign up for PaperBackSwap gets two free credits when they list 10 books) Then, it’s just the same process, but with you being the receiver rather than the sender.

I’ve been a member since 2009.  I’ve sent 71 books out, and I’ve received 59 books.  I’ve only had one of the books that I sent disappear in postage, and one other that was damaged in postage.  Every other book I’ve sent has safely gotten where it was going and was accepted by the receiver.  The same is true of receiving books.  I’ve never had one get lost, and only had one that was damaged.  It’s a great community of readers, and a great source of books.

The selection of books is usually pretty good.  As you would expect, most of the newer books are a bit hard to get, but you can throw them on your wish list and the system will email you when one becomes available.  If one on your wish list becomes available, you’ve got two options.  The default is that PBS will put it on a 48 hour hold while it waits for you to either request it or decline it, or you can put it on auto-request which will automatically request it from the other member as soon as they list it.

If you’re an avid reader (or, really, even a more casual reader) you really should check out PaperBackSwap.  It’s  great, frugal, way to get books to read, and a great way to share great books with others too!

Psych Yourself Rich, a book that I reviewed here not that long ago (my review, if you’re curious) is going to be free at amazon for the Kindle for a limited time.

You can get the Kindle version right here: Psych Yourself Rich: Get the Mindset and Discipline You Need to Build Your Financial Life

If you have a Kindle, this is a great deal (obviously), but Amazon also has a downloadable Kindle App for just about any device you could want whether it be for your computer, phone, ipad, or whatever.  And the app is free too!

The Skinny On: Time Management

By: Jim Randel

I recently did a review of The Skinny On: Credit Cards, by Jim Randel.  This book came along with that one and several others.  Disclosure: The publisher sent them to me for review.

As any of the other Skinny On books, this one is short and to the point.  Randel wastes none of your time filling you with fluff.  Instead, he breaks down several much more complex time management systems, adds a few things of his own in, and then presents it in a stick-figure laden slide show of a book.  Having read most of the books that he talks about previously, most of the information was merely a review.  The few things that Randel added in of his own were minor.  What I really liked about this book is that it can act as a quick and easy refresher of the principles that I’ve learned elsewhere.  If it were my first book on time management, I might feel a bit differently, and it might have been much more educational.

I did like it, though.  And it’s probably one that I’ll keep around to reread every once in a while for that reminder factor.  And since it’s nice and short, I don’t have to worry about taking a whole lot of time out of my schedule to reread any of the longer time management books that I have read, just a quick read through this one.

Early Retirement Extreme

By: Jacob Lund Fisker

When many of us think of retirement, we think of some far off time in our future when we’ve saved enough money and reached an age where the government will allow us to withdraw our money without significant penalties.  When Jacob Lund Fisker thinks about retirement, he’s thinking about the here and now.  You see, Jacob retired when he was 33.  How?  By following  the principles that he outlines in the book.

What this book has done for me is to turn much of what I thought about personal finance on it’s head.  At this point, I can’t say whether I will attempt to try and join the ERE army or not, but I can guarantee you that I will be looking at things from a different point of view from here on out.

The book itself is dense.  Dense in that it’s packed full of information.  There’s no way that one read through will be enough.  You’ve either got to read it several times, or supplement that first reading with plenty of reading of Jacob’s blog.  It reads (the book, not the blog) much like a textbook does.  It’s even segmented into sections the way a textbook would be.  Luckily, it’s not all facts and figures and there’s a bit of discernible humanity in there as well.  Jacob lays out how he managed to retire at 33 by some extreme saving.  Then he goes into how he lives off of less than $10,000 a year that he draws from his investments and a few odd jobs (that he enjoys) during the year.

By no means is the Early Retirement Extreme going to be for everyone.  It’s a hard read.  But, it is well worth the read.  It’s the “thinking man”s personal finance book.  It’s not chock full of anecdotal evidence, but raw hard facts and numbers.  It will change the way you think about personal finance, and life in general.

You can buy it directly from the Printer or from Amazon(click the picture)

Psych Yourself Rich

By: Farnoosh Torabi

As a personal finance blogger, I read a lot of books on personal finance.  These books range from the simplified budgeting and saving books to more complex books (like Early Retirement Extreme, which I’m reading now).  In all honesty, Psych yourself rich lands somewhere in the middle.  Parts of the book are over-simplified.  Other parts seem to make things more complex than they should be.

One of the biggest things that I had against the book was that it wasn’t written for me.  What does that mean?  Well, the book was written for the younger folks out there.  The 20-somethings that are struggling with their careers, relationships, and money.  I’m a 30-something (just barely, though) that is pretty secure where I work, married, and have a pretty good grasp on my money despite my money being a bit unruly at times.  Many of the topics just didn’t apply directly.  I certainly could take the general lesson involved and it could apply, but at the surface, it isn’t the same.  Also, it’s more of a primer.  It doesn’t go in depth on a lot of the topics, choosing to cover more topics, but shallowly.

The one thing that I really enjoyed about this book.  Yes, enjoyed is the right word.  Even for as strange as it may seem to use that word with a non-fiction finance book.  I’m a sucker for the psychology of things.  The why we do what we do.  Torabi did an excellent job of exploring the psychology behind many of the financial moves that we make.  Speaking from experience, she wrote extensively on the psychology of the layoff.  I, personally, have never experienced a layoff.  I’ve been lucky.  I know there are plenty who have in the last few years especially.  More important than the psychological effect of the layoff, she takes on the attitude you need to take once you’ve been laid-off in order to quickly recover and gain your feet again.

The psychology aside, this is an excellent book for a beginner in personal finance.  Someone who finds themselves deeply in debt, or facing repayment issues based on a layoff.  It’s also aimed at those (like me) who like to know why they are doing something, or why they are feeling the way they are about their finances.  The book is well written, with some very nice asides that give it a personal touch.

We’re gonna mix it up a little bit this week.  Rather than try and explain why it’s only 75% of the proceeds, I’m going to just cover the cost of shipping myself.  This week, 100% of the sale goes to the American Cancer Society.  Support their research and work towards finding a cure for Cancer.

This weeks book is Popes and Bankers.  It’s a great look at the history of lending and credit and how it’s shaped our economy and eventually, what made and led to the most recent bubble.

Here’s the Link to Charity Book Auction #2!

Auction is over.

Thanks for participating!

Charity Book Auction #1!

Today’s charity book auction is the book “Enjoy Your Money!” by J. Steve Miller.  You can see my review of it by clicking on the title there.

Today’s charity is BeatingDebt.org.  They’re a Christian debt education organization that does some really good work.  And what better organization for a debt elimination blog to support with its first charity book auction, right?!?

Let’s get to it!  Here’s the link to the auction on eBay!  Charity Book Auction #1: Enjoy Your Money!

Right now, I’ve got it set up to automatically donate 75% of the final price to BeatingDebt.org.  I’ve reserved the other 25% to help defray costs associated with shipping.  If all you bidders out there are super generous, and the 25% is way more than I need to ship the book, I’ll donate any remainder to BeatingDebt.org.  I don’t want to make any money here, I just want to help a charity out.

So, what are you waiting for?!?  Go bid!

It would also be a big help if you did what you could to spread the news about this auction.  Any links in blog posts, or mentions in twitter, digg, reddit, tipd, etc… would be extremely helpful.  Let’s see if we can’t make a great donation to this great organization!