Title and Author: The Smartest Money Book You’ll Ever Read by Daniel R. Solin
Synopsis of Content:
Similar to his prior books in The Smartest Book You’ll Ever Read Solin provides a succinct and short chapters on how to manage your money and plan your finances.
Solin begins with a discussion of the bad things that can happen to us all that will lead to financial problems or even crisis. This section is no doubt influenced by the severe economic recession of the past four years. After that the book covers and basics for smart money management including:
- The importance of managing your money and saving;
- Understanding your financial position through focus on net worth and budgeting;
- The importance of paying off and avoiding debt;
- The pros and cons of investing in your home, or what he calls the Home Dilemma;
- The pros and cons of insurance;
- The pros and cons of the investment industry;
- Avoiding counter-productive investment strategies including day trading and creating a well balanced portfolio for the long term;
- Assessing your risk capacity in light of probably returns;
- Realistic retirement planning;
- Estate planning basics;
- A summary at the end to pull all these things together in one checklist of what to do and not do.
Solin repeats throughout this book many of the lessons he provides in his earlier books, The Smartest Investment Book You’ll Ever Read and The Smartest 401k Book You’ll Ever Read however to the extent there is some duplication it is not a bad thing. Much of the hard hitting financial wisdom Solin imparts is worth repeating for one thing and this last book serves as both a great introduction to the more specialized topics in his earlier books and as a means of tying it all together if you’ve already read them.
I recommend this book for several reasons:
If you do not know much about financial planning and managing your money this book provides excellent introductory material to bring anyone up to speed on all the critical areas you need to know.
The book is tightly written and easy to follow. It should be easily understood by nearly anyone.
For those who do have some education in this area the book serves as a great reminder of some basics we all need to remember and brings some simplification to areas that other authors often over complicate.
Solin takes on the major financial institutions including banks, financial advisors, brokerage houses, and the insurance industry – he tells you what you need to know about how these industries put their interest in taking your money first and help you avoid getting fleeced.
Solin also provides the reader with many links to Mint.com articles and other sources for further reading. In fact he highly recommends Mint.com both to manage your finances and for additional information. Not surprisingly Mint.com recommends the book. Solin insists he has no financial arrangement with Mint.com.
Usefulness:
This book is tremendously useful both as a thorough primer on financial planning and management as well as containing some excellent warnings about the pitfalls of placing blind trust in the financial industries. Even those who think they know a lot about finance and planning can benefit from this book.
Readability/Writing Quality:
This book is very readable. It is written in relatively simple English with thorough explanations of the terms used in the financial industry. The chapters are well organized and follow a logical progression. Chapters are very short, many no more than 2 or 3 pages in length and are followed by a crisp summary he calls, “What’s the point?”
Notes on Author:
Daniel Solin is vice president of Index Fund Advisors, a for fee financial advisory company. He is a law school graduate who is also a certified financial planner. He is a regular writer for Huffington Post and USNews.com.
He is author of The Smartest Money Book You’ll Ever Read: Everything You Need to Know About Growing, Spending, and Enjoying Your Money, The Smartest Portfolio You’ll Ever Own: A Do-It-Yourself Breakthrough Strategy, The Smartest 401(k) Book You’ll Ever Read, and The Smartest Investment Book You’ll Ever Read. He is also the author of Does Your Broker Owe You Money?
Three Great Ideas You Can Use:
1. Understanding the basics of financial planning and management can be within the grasp of almost anyone and everyone needs to understand these basics. Those who do not educate themselves about the basics are at the mercy of an industry which can exploit them.
2. Long proven financial management and investing principles remain sound and should be followed rather than jumping from one new idea to the next marketed by those who ignore the basics.
3. You must take control over your finances beginning with sound budgeting, planning, and keeping track. Once you’ve done that the next step is to understand what do to and what not to do to save and invest wisely.
Publication Information:
The Smartest Money Book You’ll Ever Read by Daniel R. Solin
Copyright: 2012 by Daniel R. Solin. Published by Penguin Group USA, Inc.
