Stop Getting Ripped Off: Why Consumers Get Screwed, and How You Can Always Get a Fair Deal


Bob Sullivan - 2009
    You may be losing big even when you think you're getting a steal! But with Sullivan's keen guidance and sensible advice, you can save money and regain control of your financial life. Clearly and concisely, Sullivan reveals  • why American consumers make such easy targets for corporate America (you'll be stunned, for example, at how poor our math skills are)• how Wall Street will skim off one third of your retirement money (avoid this trap with Sullivan's new "Pitfall-Proof Pyramid") • the myths behind credit-card reward programs and "the 21st-Century Bank Account"• the real numbers to focus on when buying a new car• why you should spend more time shopping for your mortgage than your home • the key questions you must ask before buying life insurance• the secrets to saving for college and paying off student loans the right way• the best deals on cell phones and pay-TV service With Sullivan's empowering message, financial savvy, and knowledge of consumers' wants and needs, you can outsmart the system, keep your hard-earned cash, and finally stop getting ripped off. And you'll become part of a growing grass-roots movement to rein in the abuses of corporate America before consumers get hurt by another boom-and-bust cycle.

Burn Your Mortgage: The Simple, Powerful Path to Financial Freedom for Canadians


Sean Cooper - 2017
    In Burn Your Mortgage, Cooper’s extreme achievement is made accessible as the acclaimed personal finance expert shares the secret to his success: simple yet effective lifestyle changes that anyone—from new buyers to experienced homeowners—can make to pay down their mortgage sooner. Burn Your Mortgage combines inspiring anecdotes with realistic and jargon-free financial tips and resources for achieving financial freedom no matter your financial situation. This easy-to-follow guide will help you pay off your mortgage at your own pace and show you how to live well while doing it. Tools include: - Simple ways to pay down your mortgage sooner; - Your very own mortgage-free action plan; - Sample budgets and savings plans; - Tools for tracking income and expenses; - Home-buying blueprints; - Worksheets for financial empowerment; - Up-to-date information on bank accounts, mortgage contracts, investing, and loans—and how to choose the best options for you; - Tips for overcoming bad money habits. Inspiring, insightful and fun, Burn Your Mortgage will transform the way you think about money and debt on your path to independent home ownership. Sean Cooper is an in-demand speaker, money coach, and personal finance journalist. His articles have been featured in publications such as the Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, Financial Post, and MoneySense. Advance praise for Burn Your Mortgage: “Sean’s personal journey to financial freedom is a brave and inspiring one, and I am delighted to see him share his learning with the world. Burn Your Mortgage offers practical, clear and useful insights to help people of all walks of life live healthier financial lives. I am convinced that Burn Your Mortgage is set to be a pivotal guidebook to achieving financial freedom.” —Peter Aceto, President and CEO, Tangerine “A home is the largest purchase most people make, yet there is little information to help them make smart choices. Most advice comes from banks, mortgage brokers, real estate agents, lawyers and home inspectors—not exactly objective. I’m glad to see Sean Cooper use his experience as home buyer, mortgage burner, landlord and freelance writer to guide others through the steps to take to come out ahead in the real estate game.” —Ellen Roseman, Toronto Star columnist, University of Toronto continuing education instructor and Canadian MoneySaver contributor “A clear and concise plan for millennials looking for a path to financial independence early in their career.” —Don R. Campbell, bestselling author of Real Estate Investing in Canada, frequent guest on the Business News Network “Chock-full of actionable tips based on real life experience, Sean Cooper’s Burn Your Mortgage is a valuable resource for anyone considering buying a home in Canada. In more than just another mortgage manual, Sean writes passionately about the pitfalls to avoid during the house-buying process and then, with equal passion, shows you how to achieve an important step toward financial freedom by paying off your mortgage as quickly as possible.” —Robert R. Brown, author of Wealthing Like Rabbits: An Original Introduction to Personal Finance, and MoneySense columnist “Burn Your Mortgage will push you just outside your comfort zone—which is exactly what you need to really make progress on your mortgage. Sean Cooper walks the talk. His obsession with frugal living provides a ton of great lessons on how to get ahead financially.

Profit First: Transform Your Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine


Mike Michalowicz - 2014
    The problem is, businesses are run by humans, and humans aren't always logical. Serial entrepreneur Mike Michalowicz has developed a behavioral approach to accounting to flip the formula: Sales - Profit = Expenses. Just as the most effective weight loss strategy is to limit portions by using smaller plates, Michalowicz shows that by taking profit first and apportioning only what remains for expenses, entrepreneurs will transform their businesses from cash-eating monsters to profitable cash cows. Using Michalowicz's Profit First system, readers will learn that:- Following 4 simple principles can simplify accounting and make it easier to manage a profitable business by looking at bank account balances.- A small, profitable business can be worth much more than a large business surviving on its top line.- Businesses that attain early and sustained profitability have a better shot at achieving long-term growth.With dozens of case studies, practical, step-by-step advice, and his signature sense of humor, Michalowicz has the game-changing roadmap for any entrepreneur to make money they always dreamed of.

100 Questions Every First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask


Ilyce R. Glink - 1994
    Glink has established herself as America’s most trusted real estate expert. In this new, fully revised and updated edition of the book that made her a household name, Glink offers more than 100 pages of new material addressing all of the current trends home buyers need to stay on top of, including:• The new construction housing boom and how home buyers can make the most of it• Mortgage lending innovations, such as interest-only financing and the ability to finance 103 percent of the purchase price• The changing habits of first-time home buyers (purchasing without a broker, using discount Internet-based services, and buying first homes as investments)• The latest information on asbestos, mold, radon, and other bio-environmental hazards and new, inexpensive testing methods any home buyer can useIn this third edition of 100 Questions Every First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask, Glink presents new stories of real people who have gone through the home-buying process for the first time and once again offers her trademark friendly advice on how to avoid common home-buyer mistakes.Also available as an eBook

Why Didn't They Teach Me This in School?


Cary Siegel - 2013
    As it developed, the author realized that personal money management skills were rarely taught in high schools, colleges and even in MBA programs. Unfortunately, books on the subject tend to be complicated, lengthy reads. The book includes eight important lessons focusing on 99 principles that will quickly and memorably enhance any individual's money management acumen. Unlike many of the personal money management books out there, this book is a quick, easily digested read that focuses more on the qualitative side than the quantitative side of personal money management. The principles are not from a text book. Rather, they are practical principles learned by the author as he navigated through his financial life. Many are unorthodox in order to be memorable and provoke deeper thought by the reader. Not only an excellent graduation gift for high school and college students but also a great read for any adult!

RESET: How to Restart Your Life and Get F.U. Money: The Unconventional Early Retirement Plan for Midlife Careerists Who Want to Be Happy


David Sawyer - 2018
    In a world that's forever racing past us on a screen, it's a reminder of the potentially life-changing power of a book.” – MONEVATORWhat if that way doesn’t involve jacking in your job, leaving your partner, having a midlife crisis, uprooting your existence? What if that way just involves small actions, taken every day? With no more effort than you now spend tending your social media flock, superglued to a screen.Best of all, what if that way costs you little? In fact, what if that way saves you a tonne of money and lets you retire a few years earlier?“Sawyer’s RESET shows us how to achieve material wealth. It emphasizes discipline, sacrifice, and hard work…” – WILLIAM D. DANKO, PhD, co-author of The Millionaire Next DoorWhat if someone said that by following this way you will get:An idea of what were put on this earth to do. Increased happiness, purpose and meaning. A practical plan to future-proof your career. A way to declutter your life, so you’re able to see and think clearly again. A fully costed route to financial independence (you can call it early retirement if you like). A system to manage your finances. An investing plan that will knock your socks off and explain how you can get your F.U. Money.DAVID SAWYER is not a guru. He's just a middle-aged, married-with-two-children, Glasgow public relations guy who woke up one day and decided to change things. Six years later, the result is RESET – the unconventional guide for midlife professionalsthat will wipe the windscreen of life so you can see clearly again.It's a page-turner (part story, part practical guide), which draws on the experiences and research of hundreds of academics, philosophers, Nobel prize-winners, actors, Olympic athletes, self-help authors, investors and personal finance experts. “A comprehensive introduction to things you didn't learn in school but should have. RESET is a complete program with enough motivation and details to make it easy to begin without being too complicated. You'll feel like doing one or two things right now.” – JACOB LUND FISKER, PhD, author, Early Retirement Extreme“I don't say this lightly: this is one of my top, if not my very top, financial independence books that I've ever read. I absolutely loved it. I feel like it's the book if I had the guts to write my own book, that I would have written this.” – BRAD BARRETT, co-host, ChooseFI“RESET is an incredibly detailed and comprehensive guide to planning and achieving the life you desire. But that’s only true if what you desire is to work on your own terms, to achieve goals that are meaningful to you, and to move rapidly towards your financial independence.” – JOHN KINGHAM, managing editor, UK Value Investor and author of The Defensive Value InvestorIf you read RESET and carry out its recommendations, within a year, you will have transformed your future. It's never too late. Carpe diem. You are the master of your fate: you (and no one else) are the captain of your soul.​

The Wisdom of Finance: Discovering Humanity in the World of Risk and Return


Mihir Desai - 2017
    . . the noblest and the most infamous in the world, the finest and most vulgar on earth.” The characterization of finance as deceitful, infamous, and vulgar still rings true today – particularly in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. But, what happened to the fairest, noblest, and finest profession that de la Vega saw?  De la Vega hit on an essential truth that has been forgotten: finance can be just as principled, life-affirming, and worthy as it can be fraught with questionable practices.  Today, finance is shrouded in mystery for outsiders, while many insiders are uneasy with the disrepute of their profession.  How can finance become more accessible and also recover its nobility? Harvard Business School professor Mihir Desai, in his “last lecture” to the graduating Harvard MBA class of 2015, took up the cause of restoring humanity to finance. With incisive wit and irony, his lecture drew upon a rich knowledge of literature, film, history, and philosophy to explain the inner workings of finance in a manner that has never been seen before. This book captures Desai’s lucid exploration of the ideas of finance as seen through the unusual prism of the humanities. Through this novel, creative approach, Desai shows that outsiders can access the underlying ideas easily and insiders can reacquaint themselves with the core humanity of their profession. The mix of finance and the humanities creates unusual pairings: Jane Austen and Anthony Trollope are guides to risk management; Jeff Koons becomes an advocate of leverage; and Mel Brooks’s The Producers teaches us about fiduciary responsibility. In Desai’s vision, the principles of finance also provide answers to critical questions in our lives. Among many surprising parallels, bankruptcy teaches us how to react to failure, the lessons of mergers apply to marriages, and the Capital Asset Pricing Model demonstrates the true value of relationships. THE WISDOM OF FINANCE is a wholly unique book, offering a refreshing new perspective on one of the world’s most complex and misunderstood professions.

Personal Finance 101: From Saving and Investing to Taxes and Loans, an Essential Primer on Personal Finance


Alfred Mill - 2020
    But it doesn’t have to be! Personal Finance 101 will provide you with all the skills you need to make good financial decisions and grow your personal wealth. Full of must-have advice and organized in an easy-to-read format, this book provides a wealth of knowledge on personal finance basics including: -Choosing your bank (and why it matters) -Building an emergency fund -Salary and benefit packages -Where your money is going (and how to keep more of it) -Refinancing or consolidating student loans -Health and property insurance -Building credit responsibly -How to get a mortgage Use this guide and make the most of the money you have, plan for future purchases like a house or a vacation, save for retirement, or simply become more financially responsible. Perfect for finance beginners or those looking to refresh their knowledge, Personal Finance 101 is the one-stop shop for all of your personal finance questions!

Living Debt-Free: The No-Shame, No-Blame Guide to Getting Rid of Your Debt


Shannon Lee Simmons - 2018
    But life happens and if you’ve got debt, life has happened to you. Whether you have a rolling balance of $2,000 on your credit card or an $80,000 line of credit you are positive you will carry to your grave, debt can be a huge cause of stress—affecting both your emotional and financial wellness.After working with thousands of financial planning clients, Shannon Lee Simmons knows that your only way out of the debt cycle is to truly understand all of your spending triggers so you can shut them down for good. In Living Debt-Free, she shows you that it is possible to have a life and pay down debt at the same time. In fact, that’s the only way your debt plan will work. You will learn to take control of your finances and pay down your debt in a realistic way that will keep you motivated long enough to see it through to the end. No shame. No blame. No scare tactics.In Living Debt-Free, Simmons focuses on creating a debt repayment plan that will motivate you for a long time, rather than an unrealistic one that’s strictly about paying the least amount of interest charges. (Collective gasp—how dare she!?) Listen, everyone knows that paying interest on debt is bad and to be avoided as much as possible, but human beings are complex. Life is complex. Debt is complex. There cannot be a one-size-fits-all plan, so Living Debt-Free will help you build your plan—the one that will help you finally put the debt behind you, start fresh and feel good about your money again.

Your Money Life: Your 20s


Peter Dunn - 2015
    Many of us begin our twenties burdened with college loan payments, and it's not unusual to end them with even more debt, often in the form of a costly home mortgage. In this debt-bracketed decade, it's crucial to develop solid money-management skills that will see you into your thirties in sound financial shape. The more you learn about saving, budgeting, and other money matters during your twenties, the more solid a foundation you can create--a foundation that will support your financial life for the next seventy years! In this lively and fun book, personal finance expert Peter Dunn offers practical tips and strategies created specifically to address the financial concerns and goals of readers in their twenties. Learn to master the challenges of this crucial decade with YOUR MONEY LIFE: YOUR 20s.

Gazelles, Baby Steps & 37 Other Things: Dave Ramsey Taught Me about Debt


Jon Acuff - 2010
     * Do your former credit card companies stalk you like a deranged ex-girlfriend? Page 45. * Do you need to baby-proof your home against 27-year-old kids trying to move into your basement? Page 19. * Have you ever made the basket walk of shame? Page 173. * Was your biggest question throughout Financial Peace University “How many blue shirts does Dave actually own?” Page 13. Dave's Thoughts:Too often, our money problems grow into some kind of monster hiding in the closet, growing bigger and badder and scarier every day that we keep them hidden. But if we want to change the behaviors that get us into trouble, we’ve got to kick the monster out of the closet—and laugh at him.And I don’t know anyone better equipped to do this than Jon Acuff. Through his blog and book, Stuff Christians Like, Jon’s proven that he has a unique perspective on life that helps us get the joke and get the truth behind the joke every time. Lucky for us, Jon decided to chronicle his observations on his own journey toward Financial Peace. Think of it as an insider’s guide to the “Dave Ramsey” stuff we all laugh about.

Stock Investing for Dummies


Paul Mladjenovic - 2002
    Packed with savvy tips on today's best investment opportunities, this book provides a down-to-earth, straightforward approach to making money on the market without the fancy lingo. Soon you'll have the power to optimize your returns by:Recognizing and minimizing the risks Gathering information about potential stocks Dissecting annual reports and other company documents Analyzing the growth and demand of industries Playing with the politicians Approaching uncertain markets Using corporate stock buybacks to boost earnings Handling the IRS and other obligations With a different strategy for every investor--from recent college grad to married with children to recently retired--this valuable reference is a must-have. It also features tips and tricks on how to tell when a stock is on the verge of declining or increasing, how to protect yourself from fraud, and common challenges that every investor must go through, along with resources and financial ratios.

Work Optional: Retire Early the Non-Penny-Pinching Way


Tanja Hester - 2019
    But what if you could escape the traditional path and get on one that doesn't require working full-time until age 65? What if you could wake up every day without an alarm clock and do the things you love most? Tanja Hester and her husband Mark left their crazed careerist lifestyle to live their dream life in Lake Tahoe, retiring early from high-stress careers. Now Tanja will help you map out a customized plan for freedom and make it easy to succeed, whether you're good at math and budgeting -- or not! Work Optional is more than just a financial plan: it's a plan for your whole life -- designed by you, not by an employer or clients. Tanja walks you through envisioning your dream life, accounting for variables such as health care and children, protecting yourself from recessions and future unknowns, and achieving a purpose-filled early retirement, semi-retirement, or career intermission with completely doable, non-penny-pinching steps. You can live a happier, more meaningful life, free from the daily grind. Regardless of where you are in your career, Work Optional will get you there.

The Smartest Retirement Book You'll Ever Read


Daniel R. Solin - 2009
    Follow the advice in "The Smartest Retirement Book You'll Ever Read" and you will: Find simple strategies to maximize your retirement nest eggSteer clear of scams that rob you of your hard-earned savingsEnsure that your money lasts longer than you doAvoid the common mistakes that can leave your spouse impoverishedDiscover financial lifelines no matter how desperate the economy"If you want a handy guide that provides information in small chunks, Solin's book is it." -"Newark Star-Ledger"

The Meaningful Money Handbook: Everything You Need to Know and Everything You Need to Do to Secure Your Financial Future


Pete Matthew - 2018
    Spend less than you earn and clear debt.2. Insure against disaster.3. Build up your savings and invest wisely.You will learn:• How to get out of debt as quickly as possible.• Techniques for good financial control, so you can avoid getting into debt again.• The importance of insurance for laying down a foundation on which to build a solid financial plan, which isn’t washed away by an unexpected disaster.• How to save and invest simply and efficiently so that you can work your way towards future financial freedom.No matter your starting position, or your existing level of comfort with dealing with your money, Pete Matthew’s calm, straightforward and jargon-free approach will appeal to you and help you to set out on the right path.The Meaningful Money Handbook is a practical guide to succeeding with money by cutting out the stuff you don’t need to know, and clarifying the essential things you need to do, to make a real difference to your life.Don’t put it off any longer – pick up this book and start to take a meaningful approach to your money today.