Bread, cash, dosh, dough, loot, lucre, moolah, readies, the wherewithal: Call it what you like, it matters. To Christians, love of it is the root of all evil. To generals, it’s the sinews of war. To revolutionaries, it’s the chains of labor. But in The Ascent of Money, Niall Ferguson shows that finance is in fact the foundation of human progress. What’s more, he reveals financial history as the essential backstory behind all history. With the clarity and verve for which he is known, Ferguson elucidates key financial institutions and concepts by showing where they came from. What is money? What do banks do? What’s the difference between a stock and a bond? Why buy insurance or real estate? And what exactly does a hedge fund do? This is history for the present. Ferguson travels to post-Katrina New Orleans to ask why the free market can’t provide adequate protection against catastrophe. He delves into the origins of the subprime mortgage crisis.

    Written with the intelligent individual investor in mind, this comprehensive guide distills the Dhandho capital allocation framework of the business savvy Patels from India and presents how they can be applied successfully to the stock market. The Dhandho method expands on the groundbreaking principles of value investing expounded by Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffett, and Charlie Munger. Readers will be introduced to important value investing concepts such as Heads, I win! Tails, I don't lose that much!, Few Bets, Big Bets, Infrequent Bets, Abhimanyu's dilemma, and a detailed treatise on using the Kelly Formula to invest in undervalued stocks. Using a light, entertaining style, Pabrai lays out the Dhandho framework in an easy-to-use format. Any investor who adopts the framework is bound to improve on results and soundly beat the markets and most professionals.

    And then there are those who get it.Want a more prosperous, less stressful financial life? Jonathan Clements, longtime personal finance columnist for The Wall Street Journal, is here to help. His goal: to provide readers with a coherent way to think about their finances, so they worry less about money, make smarter financial choices and squeeze more happiness out of the dollars that they have. How to Think About Money is built around five key ideas: 1. Money can buy happiness, but we need to spend with great care.2. Most of us will enjoy an extraordinarily long life--and that has profound financial implications.3. We are hardwired for financial failure, so sensible money management takes great mental strength.4. We need to bring order to our financial life--by focusing on our paycheck, or lack thereof.5. If we want to add to our wealth, we should strive to minimize the subtractions."Now why didn't I think of that? That's what you'll ask yourself after you read Jonathan Clements's fine new book. Its beauty lies in the commonsense and wisdom that is summed up in just five simple steps that will help you to earn your financial independence. Easy to understand, essential to follow."--John C. Bogle, founder, The Vanguard Group"Jonathan Clements brings his intelligence, insight and commonsense to How to Think About Money, which is packed with wisdom and great guidance. Read it and reap the rewards in the years and decades ahead."--Eric Tyson, author of Personal Finance for Dummies and Investing for Dummies "How to Think About Money is financial feng shui --a blueprint for harmonizing all the aspects of personal finance into a balanced way of approaching and managing money. I found myself measuring my own attitudes and beliefs against the yardsticks in Jonathan Clements's book, and was pleased to find that we're on the same page. Anyone who feels overwhelmed by the challenges of today's world can benefit from Clements's advice on how to make smart financial choices, as well as how to develop, in his words, a 'coherent way to think about their financial life'."--Janet Bodnar, editor, Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine"Concise, important and true. Jonathan Clements provides you a path not just to better finances, but to a better life."--Terry Burnham, finance professor, Chapman University, and author of Mean Markets and Lizard Brains"Jonathan Clements writes so well and thinks so clearly that even financial planning, saving, and wise decisions are almost fun to think through with him as our guide."--Charles Ellis, author of Winning the Loser's Game"In How to Think About Money, Jonathan Clements, one of the premier financial writers of our times, provides readers with a roadmap for a successful financial life. It's an easy read that can result in changing the way readers look at investing and life. Read it and reap."--Mel Lindauer, Forbes.com columnist and co-author of The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing and The Bogleheads' Guide to Retirement Planning"Jonathan Clements is one of the greatest financial consumer advocates of our time, not only because of his emphasis on a practical and commonsense approach to personal finance, but because his message is delivered in a welcoming, easy-to-understand manner. That approach moves his readers to take the most important step toward winning in the personal-finance world--taking ownership of one's financial life and following that with action."--Peter Mallouk, president of Creative Planning and author of The 5 Mistakes Every Investor Makes and How to Avoid Them

    By showing you how to build a simple and rational portfolio and tailor it to your specific needs, "Investing Demystified "will help you generate superior returns.With his straightforward and jargon-free advice, Lars Kroijer simplies the often complex world of finance and tells you everything you need to know and everything that you don t need to worry about in order to make the most from your investments.In "Investing Demystified "you will: Discover the mix of stocks, bonds and cash needed for a top performing portfolio Learn why the most broadly diversi_ ed and simplest portfolio makes the most sense Understand the right level of risk for you and how this affects your investments Find out why a low cost approach will yield bene_ ts whilst leaving you with a higher quality portfolio Understand the implications of tax and liquidity"

    It not only dictates whether you get credit: it can dictate how much you'll pay for it. What's more, it's being used by insurers, employers, and others who can determine your financial future. A bad score can cost you tens of thousands of dollars in higher interest costs, bigger insurance premiums, and missed employment opportunities. Now, MSNBC/L.A. Times personal finance journalist Liz Pulliam Weston rips away the mystery surrounding credit scoring and tells you exactly what you need to do to build, rebuild, and maintain your good credit in the second edition of Your Credit Score.

    Kiyosaki and celebrity rich man Donald J. Trump join forces to come to the aid of America's shrinking middle class. These thriving multimillionaires give advice designed to help average readers expand their wealth in the harsh economy. Firm steps towards financial literacy.From book cover:The world is facing many challenges and one of them is financial. The entitlement mentality is epidemic, creating people who expect their countries, employers, or families to take care of them. Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki, both successful businessmen, are natural teachers and have joined forces to address these challenges. They believe you cannot solve money problems with money. You can only solve money problems with financial education. Trump and Kiyosaki want to teach you to be rich."Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day.Teach him to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime."They each could have written a book on the subject, but they chose instead to write a book together because of their shared passion for education and their desire to bring emphasis to the importance of financial education. In addition they have designated a portion of the profits from each book to be donated to charitable and educational organizations that also support financial education.

    From inside the corner office at Lehman Brothers to secret meetings in South Korea, and the corridors of Washington, Too Big to Fail is the definitive story of the most powerful men and women in finance and politics grappling with success and failure, ego and greed, and, ultimately, the fate of the world’s economy. “We’ve got to get some foam down on the runway!” a sleepless Timothy Geithner, the then-president of the Federal Reserve of New York, would tell Henry M. Paulson, the Treasury secretary, about the catastrophic crash the world’s financial system would experience. Through unprecedented access to the players involved, Too Big to Fail re-creates all the drama and turmoil, revealing neverdisclosed details and elucidating how decisions made on Wall Street over the past decade sowed the seeds of the debacle. This true story is not just a look at banks that were “too big to fail,” it is a real-life thriller with a cast of bold-faced names who themselves thought they were too big to fail.

    Most people won't experience the same retirement that their parents did, nor do they necessarily want to. Page by page, top financial planner Mitch Anthony reveals how new opportunities will enable individuals to create tailor-made retirements. He includes new research and studies to back his insights and introduces readers to important concepts such as "wealthcare" and "return on life." Filled with engaging anecdotes and inspirational suggestions, this book will motivate readers to rethink the way they retire.

    The financial market is a complex system, but that doesn't mean it requires a complex strategy; in fact, this false premise is the driving force behind many investors' market "mistakes." Information is important, but understanding and perspective are the keys to better decision-making. This book describes the proper way to view the markets and your portfolio, and show you the simple strategies that make investing more profitable, less confusing, and less time-consuming. Without the burden of short-term performance benchmarks, individual investors have the advantage of focusing on the long view, and the freedom to construct the kind of portfolio that will serve their investment goals best. This book proves how complex strategies essentially waste these advantages, and provides an alternative game plan for those ready to simplify. Complexity is often used as a mechanism for talking investors into unnecessary purchases, when all most need is a deeper understanding of conventional options. This book explains which issues you actually should pay attention to, and which ones are simply used for an illusion of intelligence and control. Keep up with—or beat—professional money managers Exploit stock market volatility to your utmost advantage Learn where advisors and consultants fit into smart strategy Build a portfolio that makes sense for your particular situation You don't have to outsmart the market if you can simply outperform it. Cut through the confusion and noise and focus on what actually matters. A Wealth of Common Sense clears the air, and gives you the insight you need to become a smarter, more successful investor.

    This guide to estate planning is by the author of the 'Rich Dad's Advisors' books 'Own Your Own Corporation' and 'How to Buy and Sell a Business'.

     From the founder of Dividend Mantra, this is a definitive guide on why you should aim to achieve financial independence early in life and how to actually get there. It includes information on my background, the strategies I've used to grow my wealth from below zero to well into the six figures, and practical, nuts-and-bolts advice. I've written over 650 articles, and this book includes some of my most useful, inspirational, and evergreen content I've ever put out there. If you're looking for information on how to execute a a real-life journey to financial independence in real-time, this is the book for you. I describe why you should aim for financial independence and I explore the idea of true sacrifice. I also discuss the 4% safe withdrawal rate, index funds, the power of dividends and dividend growth, living below your means, and how to analyze and value stocks. I've been featured in major media, including USA Today, CNBC, Today, Yahoo, and Mr. Money Mustache. I'm hoping this book inspires you. Living below your means and investing your excess capital into high-quality companies that pay and grow dividends is not only an incredibly easy and fun way to achieve financial independence early in life, but also incredibly robust.

    In Your Money and Your Brain, Jason Zweig explains why smart people make stupid financial decisions -- and what they can do to avoid these mistakes. Zweig, a veteran financial journalist, draws on the latest research in neuroeconomics, a fascinating new discipline that combines psychology, neuroscience, and economics to better understand financial decision making. He shows why we often misunderstand risk and why we tend to be overconfident about our investment decisions. Your Money and Your Brain offers some radical new insights into investing and shows investors how to take control of the battlefield between reason and emotion. Your Money and Your Brain is as entertaining as it is enlightening. In the course of his research, Zweig visited leading neuroscience laboratories and subjected himself to numerous experiments. He blends anecdotes from these experiences with stories about investing mistakes, including confessions of stupidity from some highly successful people. Then he draws lessons and offers original practical steps that investors can take to make wiser decisions. Anyone who has ever looked back on a financial decision and said, "How could I have been so stupid?" will benefit from reading this book.

    DeYoe shows how money drives so many of our decisions. But while we worry about earning it, spending it, and saving it, few of us face it head on. The whole point of Buddhism, he says, is “to deal with what is, to look it straight in the eye.” So instead of averting our eyes, deferring to experts, or engaging in get-rich-quick magical thinking, DeYoe shows readers, no matter their income level or spiritual perspective, how to save and invest, pay off debt, and invest for retirement according to their deepest beliefs. The author does all of this while emphasizing that money is merely a tool for providing not only material peace of mind but also “the happiness dividend” we all deserve.

    Now The Complete Tightwad Gazette brings together all of her best ideas and thriftiest thinking into one volume, along with new articles never published before in book format. Dacyczyn describes this collection as "the book I wish I'd had when I began my adult life." Packed with humor, creativity, and insight, The Complete Tightwad Gazette includes hundreds of tips and topics, such as:Travel for tightwads¸ How to transform old blue jeans into potholders and quilts¸ Ten painless ways to save $100 this year¸ Picture-framing for pennies¸ A comparison of painting versus re-siding your house¸ Halloween costumes from scrounged materials¸ Thrifty window treatments¸ Ways to dry up dry-cleaning costs¸ Inexpensive gifts¸ Creative fundraisers for kids¸ Slashing your electric bill¸ Frugal fix-its¸ Cutting the cost of college¸ Moving for less¸ Saving on groceries¸ Gift-wrapping for tightwads¸ Furniture-fusion fundamentals¸ Cheap breakfast cereals¸ Avoiding credit card debt¸ Using items you were about to throw away (milk jugs, plastic meat trays, and more!)¸ Recipes galore, from penny-pinching pizza to toaster pastries¸ And much much more . . .

    Very, very angry! So-called financial experts have kept certain principles from you for years. Secrets. Important secrets that, had you known them, would have made your life much simpler and much more profitable.Becoming Your Own Banker reveals secrets kept from you all these years because of the mindset that is predominant in the entire financial world.Written originally as a textbook designed to accompany a 10-hour course, Becoming Your Own Banker is designed for the layman, not the financial professional.Learn how to put these secrets to work in everyday terms...not financial double-speak. Here is some of what is revealed to you:How To Create Your Own Banking SystemFive Methods of Financing AutomobilesHow To Design an Insurance Plan that Solves the Banking FunctionPotential Sources of CapitalPlaying The "Cash Flow" GameThe Cost of AcquisitionThe Retirement Trap...and so much more! There are 84 jam-packed pages containing financial blueprints that, if applied, can open up a whole new world for you and those you care about. Discover for yourself, these important secrets and make your life much simpler and much more profitable.