By J. Steve Miller

Occasionally, authors approach me to read and review their books.  I usually do so, happily.  I enjoy reading, and anytime I can get a book to read for free, it makes my wife happier.  It’s hard for her to argue about my getting more books when they are free.  So, that’s my disclaimer.  J. Steve Miller sent me a copy of this book to read.  He also sent me a copy to give away, which I will be doing in the coming weeks.  Both are autographed too!

So, on to the book.  I’ve never read a finance book that was written in the same way as this book was.  Most of them are so matter of fact that they are beyond dry.  I have to take toothpicks an prop my eyelids open to finish reading them. (I exaggerate, but you get the idea)  But, this book was actually fun to read.  I think the pivotal reason why is that it’s written in a conversational tone.  Very nearly like most of the fiction books you would read.  Instead of just spitting out the facts and information for us to chew through, Miller gives it to us with a story.

Now, I can’t say that it’s an award winning story by any means.  There’s only so much you can do with the topic, after all.  The basics of the story follow a group of high school students (the counterculture club) as they are taken under the mentoring wing of a teacher from their high school.  Over several weeks worth of breakfasts at “Hash Browns” diner, she teaches them some key tenets of personal finance like ways to save your money, smart investing principles, and also ways to enjoy your money once you have it working for you.  There’s several places where the dialogue makes it seem as if the students are the ones feeding the information to us, which breaks the story facade, but if you ignore those, the story is quite good.

Despite the few flaws in the story, I think Miller makes an excellent attempt at making personal finance easy to learn.  The book was great for me, but I think it would be even better as a tool for teaching high school aged children about finances.  I can’t say for sure if that’s what Miller intended, but I would guess it is.  I think it would make an excellent addition to the curriculum of a school.  It would hit a roadblock with some of the religious undertones, so you may have to just buy a copy and gift it to a high schooler you know.

You can pick a copy of it up at Amazon for $15.99.  (Or you can wait for the giveaway and try your chances there.)  For more information, (description, sample chapters, author interviews and reviews) see the press page here: http://jstevemiller.com/blog/?page_id=578

Enjoy Your Money! How to Make it, Save it, Invest it and Give it is a post from: Beating Broke, if you enjoy it, please visit us and subscribe to the Feed.

It’s one hundred percent FREE, so please grab a copy and take a look.  I think you might learn something.

You can download it at http://www.beatingbroke.com/BBGCS/BBGCS.pdf

Beating Broke Guide to Your Credit Score is a post from: Beating Broke, if you enjoy it, please visit us and subscribe to the Feed.

The concept is pretty simple.  Automating your finances can go to far.  It can cause you to “set it and forget it”. And that can lead to expenses getting out of control.  Which is where Baker’s Unautomate Your Finances comes in.  The eBook is 83 pages of wonderful advice for minimizing your financial footprint and living a life of controlled finances.  He’s got a pretty impressive list of bonuses that you can get when you buy the eBook too!  There’s two awesome interviews.  A video one with Leo Babauta, who writes a ton on minimalist living.  And there’s an audio interview with J.D. Roth of GetRichSlowly.com (And author of Your Money: The Missing Manual).  He’s also throwing in the templates that he’s created for the program’s minimalist budgeting system.  One in .pdf for printing and one in excel for use on a computer.  And finally, he’s giving you all the updates you can handle.

And he’s only charging you $17 for the whole shebang.  I know he’s planning on upping the price to $27 eventually (I don’t know when) so I wouldn’t wait too awful long if your interested.  This program could be a great thing for those of you who are feeling out of control of your finances and want a more simple way of getting them back under control.

You can read a bit more on the program and the eBook by visiting: Unautomate Your Finances

Disclaimer: I’m an affiliate of both Amazon and Unautomate Your Finances.  If you click through and end up buying either the books I’ve linked or the eBook from Baker, I will get a portion of that sale.  That didn’t sway my review, I really do believe all those things I said up there.  Affiliate links like those are how I pay to keep this site operating, so I appreciate when you do click through.  Thanks.

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My hope is that the report will be help people learn what the correct usage of a credit score are, and what the benefits are of having a good credit score.  Which is why I’ve made it a FREE report.  All you have to do is sign up for the Beating Broke newsletter.

What is the newsletter?  Well, it’s a bit in the fledgling state, but the idea is that you will get the occasional update about the site with an article or two as well as some articles and information that won’t appear here on the blog.  I promise to not fill up your email inbox with the newsletter.  In fact, at the moment, I only plan on sending it out once a month at most.  More likely, bi-monthly.

The report is well worth it if you ask me.  I’m a bit biased since I wrote it, but I really do think it could be a very valuable resource for someone who doesn’t know much about credit scores.

Also, I want the report to get into as many hands as possible, so if you want a copy without signing up for the newsletter, just send me a note with the contact form and I’ll send you a copy.

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I’ve been a reader of Ramit’s blog (iwillteachyoutoberich.com) for several years now, so when I heard that he was writing a book (and publishing one) I knew it would have to find a way onto my list of books to read. Which it did, and I did read it.

If you aren’t familiar with Ramit’s writing style, it’s some what irreverent. Light and joking, it’s as if he were talking to you over a beer. Which, of course, works pretty well for a book that is meant to be read by a twenty-something single person. There’s a reason it’s on the New York Times Bestseller list!

Ramit takes you through a 9 chapter, 6 week journey of personal finance.  He covers everything from credit cards, savings and checkings, investing, budgeting, and saving for goals.  For the person who finds themselves fresh out of high school or college and overwhelmed by the amount of credit offers and spending temptations, this book is a must read.  Ramit did a very good job of pointing out and explaining some of the very common pitfalls of personal finance, and he does it in a way that makes sense.

There were only a few things that I found I disagreed with.  The biggest of these was what he calls Conscious spending.  As he describes it, it is the act of consciously setting limits and goals for spending so that you don’t overspend.  Where I disagree is when he says that it isn’t a budget.  It certainly sounds like one to me.  While it may not be a budget that accounts for every penny and every category, it still is a budget.  Maybe I’m giving budgeting too broad of a description, but to me any ordered system that sets limits and goals for spending and saving is a budget.  What conscious spending is, is a very high level budget.

Anyone who has read this site for very long will know that I am not a fan of credit cards.  I’m not really a fan of debt at all, but credit cards (to me) are one of the worst offenders.  So, it was with some trepidation that I began the chapter on credit cards.  It was somewhat refreshing to have someone actually explain how they use cards, and why.  Because of my stance on credit cards, however, I couldn’t help but disagree with several points.

Overall, this is a spectacular book for it’s intended audience.  Seasoned personal finance students will surely find a few nuggets, but the rest is likely review.  If you know anyone that is just stepping out on their own personal finance journey, I suggest you get them this book.  Ramit does an excellent job of laying out a wonderful foundation for successful personal finance management.  And, yes, it may even teach you to be rich.

You can pick “I will teach you to be rich” up at Amazon, or just about any corner bookstore. As of this writing, the book is less than $11 at Amazon, which is likely better than you’ll see it anywhere else.

Review: I Will Teach You To Be Rich is a post from: Beating Broke, if you enjoy it, please visit us and subscribe to the Feed.

And really, can you put a value on your freedom?  And are you really free?

You get up at 5 a.m. every morning to hop through the shower, commute to some office somewhere, and sit at a desk for 8 hours so some company can make a few more bucks.  Oh, and they might pay you for it.  Are you really free?  Can you do what you please?  Why not?

We all accept the yoke of the “job” because we want things.  And we need things.  The things we need are relatively minor in most cases.  It’s the things that we want that really drive us to go to work each day.  Part of our goal as Personal Finance students (that’s what we all are) is to realize what wants we really care about acheiving.  An example; As usual, black friday rolled around with lots of great deals.  Several such deals revolved around various sizes of LCD and Plasma HDTV sets.  I really, really want one.  Badly want one.  As a result, I’ve struggled with the issue all week.  Should I go get one? Shouldn’t I?  In the end, I decided against it.  Firstly, it wasn’t in our budget.  I shouldn’t have to go farther than that, but I did.  Secondly, I’ve gotten much better about recognizing and separating wants from needs.  I do want a new fancy tv.  But I don’t need it.  And until I do, it’s going to the bottom of the want list.

Recently, there has been lots of talk about our economy and how bad it is getting.  Along with that has been talk about the thousands upon thousands of layoffs that have been announced.  Luckily, I’m not one of them.  Yet.  I really don’t foresee me joining them.  For that I am thankful.  Or at least I was until I read the Fire Fly Manifesto.  Ok, the thought of losing my job is enough to put my blood pressure into previously unseen heights and give me a stress ulcer.  But that manifesto makes it sound like it’s all gonna be ok.

It’s an incredibly motivating piece.  And I truly came away from it wondering if it wouldn’t be better if I did join the corps of the unemployed.  And then I broke out in sweats.  But I did think about it.  And there is a part of me that wishes I had the freedom of the unemployed to do with my time as I choose.

If you have recently lost your job (especially you) or if you feel that your job is threatened, you need to read this paper.  It’s short and sweet and free.  The author is pushing his site and his upcoming book, but only lightly and the Fire Fly Manifesto really stands on it’s own.  Even if you don’t feel threatened, you should read it.

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In any case, despite the rampant fiscal spending of the trip, I thought I might pass along a few of the personal finance books that I’ve found usefull in our married life.  That is a pretty short list, but a distinguished one.  Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover, Is top of the list. I might throw inThe Millionaire Next Door as well. But those are about the limit of the books that both my wife and I found to be useful. I’ve read a few others that were somewhat informative to me, but I’m trying to find books that are specific to couples.

A quick search of Amazon finds a few others like one by David Bach called Smart Couples Finish Rich: 9 Steps to Creating a Rich Future for You and Your Partner, and Larry Burkett’s Complete Financial Guide for Young Couples: A Lifetime Approach to Spending, Saving and Investing. I’ve never read either, so don’t know if they are worth the time or not.  That’s where you all come in.

Do you and your partner have a book that was important to your finances?  Something that made the transition to couples money management a little bit easier?  Let us all know in the comments.  I’ll try and get a list together and share it all with everyone a little later this month.

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