Book Review: Personal Finance for Dummies
April 9th, 2007 by jay
Just finished reading my latest book, Personal Finance for Dummies, by Eric Tyson. Yes it’s been awhile between books as I don’t get much reading done during UCF football & basketball seasons, I call it my reading off-season. Anyways I purchased this book as the wife and I are trying to become more educated about how we should invest our money.
I was pleasantly surprised, the author Eric Tyson does a great job of providing insight into how you can create a well rounded financial outlook from top to bottom. The beginning of the book was a little slow for me as it revolved mostly around budgeting and debt, which luckily for us are two topics we didn’t have to worry much about. However it starts to pickup when it gets into investment concepts and vehicles, of which there are multiple chapters. It touches on everything from selecting the best mutual funds to how to setup your retirement account to how to best diversify your investments. In addition there are chapters on taxes, insurance tips, and real estate. One of the final chapters hits on what to look for in a financial planner and this was actually the main reason I had for reading this book. I have heard some bad stories about financial planners so gaining knowledge on what to expect and what to look for was very valuable as we are looking to find a good one.
Overall I think this is a great book for someone looking to get some overall guidance into the world of personal finance. While I wouldn’t call myself a dummy on the subject of finance, I’m also not an expert on it either. I suspect this book is made for those of us that fall right in the middle, and if you are one of those and wanted to get a kick in the butt to better plan your finances then this book may be for you. I also think this is a great book for couples that are on the verge of marriage or really anyone ready to make a major financial decision such as buying a first home. Now its time to get back to my Rick Steve’s Best of Europe book to plan our vacation…