Beating Broke

Personal Finance from the Broke Perspective

Debt Heroes

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Debt Heroes Cover Art
Debt Heroes

By: Jeff Rose & Ben Edwards

Ben and Jeff approached me a couple of weeks ago and asked if I’d like to read a copy of their book, Debt Heroes.  They released the book as a companion to the Debt Movement that Jeff started back in February.  They even offered it for free on Amazon for a couple of days.  I was hoping to release this review during those days, but I just couldn’t get it finished in time.  Unfortunately, it’s back up to it’s regular price of $2.99 (free for Amazon Prime members).  That’s probably good for me, as I’ll be using my Amazon affiliate links to link to the book here, but I’m a bit disappointed that you won’t be able to take advantage of the free deal.

Ben and Jeff set out to write a book about debt heroes.  Everyday people that you and I, the readers, can look up to as heroes in the fight against debt.  Inside the book, you’ll find profiles of 21 debt heroes that have conquered debt, and some tips from each on how they did it.  What I found even more interesting in each profile is that each debt hero points out what their weakness was.  Not surprisingly, it isn’t the same for each one.  Also not surprisingly, that weakness played a huge part in each of their debt story.

The book is a pretty quick read (about 177 pages if it were printed), and it’s full of inspirational stories about getting out of debt.  It’s not another “get out of debt with these steps” book, but a book to give you inspiration in your own debt battle.  Of course, the hope is that you read it and it gives you the push that you need to become your own debt hero.

I think I would have liked to have seen a little bit more of each debt hero’s story.  Each of the stories is accompanied by a link to where you can read the full story, so it’s accessible; I just haven’t progressed in my kindle reading to be clicking on links and such.

If you’re looking for a little inspirational reading to help you keep on track (or get on track) with your debt elimination, I think you’ll find what you need inside the (electronic) pages of this book.  Also, remember that you don’t need a Kindle to read the book.  Amazon has Kindle apps for Android and iOS phones, as well as for PC and Apple computers, and most tablets.

Pick up Debt Heroes today.

You’ll read about it at the end of the book, but Jeff and Ben have also created a “Debt Heroes Club” that you can join to get more tips and inspiration at DebtHeroes.com.

Investing Made Simple

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Investing Made Simple: Index Fund Investing and ETF Investing Explained in 100 Pages or Less

By: Mike Piper (ObliviousInvestor.com)

I had the opportunity to meet Mike at the first FINCON in Chicago last year.  He’s a thoroughly nice guy.  I knew him from his blog and website, but for some reason I hadn’t known the extent of his authorship.  I found out at FINCON that he’s written several books (9 of them if I count right) on personal finance.  They mostly lean towards the topics of investing, but even encompass Social Security and business structure.  After meeting Mike, and learning about his books, I made it a point to pick one of them up to read and review.  Well, over a year later, I finally made it to the reading and reviewing part.

Since I’m not much of an investor, I thought that it would be a double good idea to pick up the Investing Made Simple title he wrote.  I can review something he’s written, while probably learning a few things along the way.  Investing made Simple is an excellent book.  It’s short, which makes it an easy read, and the writing style is light, without all the technical investing jargon that’s typical to investing books.

It’s not an in depth book on investing, but it wasn’t intended to be.  What it is intended to be is a short (100 pages or less) book that will give anyone the basics of investing while setting them on the right track to a successful investing portfolio.  I think he accomplished that.

I think one of the things that many beginning investors, including myself, get bogged down in is that the world of investing is a pretty big world.  There’s all these different ways to invest in something.  There’s shorts, longs, calls, margin, options, commodities, ETF, bonds, and the list goes on.  And on.  But, when the beginning investor, who knows little to nothing about investing goes looking for information to get them started, it’s a whole lot of overwhelming.  Piper lays it out simple and easy.  He gives you the meat of what you need to successfully invest for the long term, while quietly informing you that you’ll likely be better off ignoring most of the  stuff that’s confusing you.

What you end up with is a book with all the basics of investing in a small package.  But, you also end up with something that, for most people, is also a complete investing manual.  Keep it simple, and invest wisely is the order that I took away from reading Investing Made Simple.  I think it should be recommended reading for all beginning investors.

 

Your Money or Your Life

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Your Money or Your Life

By: Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin

When this book first came onto my radar as a book I might like to read, it was with reviews from my fellow personal finance bloggers that described it as one that will change your life, and that will make your finances follow you rather than the other way around.  Both of those descriptions are pretty accurate.

For someone like myself, who’s been writing on personal finance for over 5 years (Beating Broke turns 4 next month!), I’ve seen just about every bit of advice and every bit of financial knowledge that there is out there.  Or, at least I think I have.  Then something like this book comes along and puts it all together in a different way, or expresses it in a slightly different way, and I learn something new.

So, here’s the short review.  If you find yourself struggling with your money, and with how your money and your life can meet, this is most certainly a book for you.  It’s not your typical personal finance book that’s going to tell you how to balance your checkbook, what to spend on (and what not to), or anything of the sort.  What it is going to do is give you the tools to tracking what you’re spending your money on and then coming to terms with whether those spending habits are habits that are putting you on a track towards a much more fulfilled life.  They go a bit further than that, and get into how you can take your reformed spending habits, track them, and then turn your life into something that you want it to be, that uses money as a tool to further your life-long goals rather than postpone them.

It’s not just a book for those that are struggling with money, either.  I found several small things that I’ll be working on implementing over the next few months that I hope will bring my finances into further alignment with goals and ambitions that have little to do with work, or money.

Have you read it?  What was your reaction?  Did you follow it’s steps, and how did they help (or not) you?