Book picks similar to
How to Ruin Your Financial Life by Ben Stein
non-fiction
humor
nonfiction
finance
Ridiculous Customer Complaints (and other statements)
David Loman - 2014
In this book I have set out prove that statement is completely untrue and in fact with customers like these then maybe the opposite could be said. So sit back, grab your self a drink perhaps an alcoholic one if you feel that way inclined and enjoy some of the strangest, ridiculous and most outrageous complaints and statements from all walks of life. The second volume is out now and is much longer and in my opinion even better than the first, though i would say that.
Dollars and Sense: How We Misthink Money and How to Spend Smarter
Dan Ariely - 2017
Emotions play a powerful role in shaping our financial behavior, often making us our own worst enemies as we try to save, access value, and spend responsibly. In Dollars and Sense, bestselling author and behavioral economist Dan Ariely teams up with financial comedian and writer Jeff Kreisler to challenge many of our most basic assumptions about the precarious relationship between our brains and our money. In doing so, they undermine many of personal finance’s most sacred beliefs and explain how we can override some of our own instincts to make better financial choices.Exploring a wide range of everyday topics—from the lure of pain-free spending with credit cards to the pitfalls of household budgeting to the seductive power of holiday sales—Ariely and Kreisler demonstrate how our misplaced confidence in our spending habits frequently leads us astray, costing us more than we realize, whether it’s the real value of the time we spend driving forty-five minutes to save $10 or our inability to properly assess what the things we buy are actually worth. Together Ariely and Kreisler reveal the emotional forces working against us and how we can counteract them. Mixing case studies and anecdotes with concrete advice and lessons, they cut through the unconscious fears and desires driving our worst financial instincts and teach us how to improve our money habits.The result not only reveals the rationale behind our most head-scratching financial choices but also offers clear guidance for navigating the treacherous financial landscape of the brain. Fascinating, engaging, funny, and essential, Dollars and Sense provides the practical tools we need to understand and improve our financial choices, save and spend smarter, and ultimately live better.
The Money Goddess: The Complete Financial Makeover
Paula Hawkins - 2006
The Money Goddess is a fun but also incredibly informative personal finance guide tailored specifically to the needs of women. The book features a fictional group of girlfriends who experience all the ups and downs of financial life, interwoven with thoroughly researched, expert advice on subjects ranging from debt to investing, buying a house, pensions, going on maternity leave and much more. Whether you're just hopeless with money, or not so bad but haven't changed your building society since they gave you a Paddington Bear for opening an account, this is the perfect companion for any woman of any age. It's never too early or late to make sure you're in the know when it comes to money.
Good Old Days My Ass: 665 Funny History Facts & Terrifying Truths about Yesteryear
David A. Fryxell - 2012
From patents that should still be pending to hairdos that attract vermin, these horrors will leave you thankful you didn't have to struggle to live through them. Brace yourself as the truth hits you like an ice-cold Victorian-era shower with enough pressure to knock you unconscious. Get ready to shudder with laughter (or horror) at these funny moments in history that are not to be forgotten.
7 Secrets to Investing Like Warren Buffett
Mary Buffett - 2019
During that time, she studied Warren’s investment strategies and techniques and observed his habits. Now, in 7 Secrets to Investing Like Warren Buffett, Mary and Sean Seah provide a complete guide for beginning investors who want to understand how to invest like Warren Buffett. Mary and Sean walk readers through the process of assessing and buying stocks step-by-step. Their friendly and direct style and concrete examples make it easy to understand how to avoid common pitfalls and prosper in the stock market. The first section of the book discusses habits to adopt to begin a lifelong journey of wealth building. The second section examines specific stock-picking techniques inspired by Buffett’s teacher Benjamin Graham and that are vastly different from the common Wall Street wisdom of trying to time the market. The authors look at timeless principles as well as latest ideas on where to find great investment ideas, and they share the specific financial indicators they look for in a good investment. Finally, Mary and Sean explain how to build and track a portfolio of stocks. From learning how to read financial statements to preparing both personal and professional balance sheets, 7 Secrets to Investing Like Warren Buffett is a must-have companion for every investor. Simple questionnaires, charts, and graphs help illustrate specific strategies. The authors’ personal stories provide a clear explanation of the theory behind Value Investing, as well as advice for developing the necessary “soft skills”—habits, mindset, loving what you do, taking care of your mind and body—that have made Warren Buffett and many others so successful.
Stay Away from my ER and other fun bits of wisdom: Wobbling between humor and heartbreak
Rada Jones - 2020
You can’t fathom the weirdness– unless you’re one of the ER aliens. If you are, buy a dozen copies to give away: to your family, your neighbors, and the PTA. They’ll learn things you never had the heart to tell them, but they should know, like how it's like to work in the ER, the deviousness of shampoo bottles and the dangers of frying bacon naked.
Motivated Money 6th Edition: Offers guidance for future decades
Peter Thornhill - 2020
The White Coat Investor's Financial Boot Camp: A 12-Step High-Yield Guide to Bring Your Finances Up to Speed
James M Dahle - 2019
The Reluctant Farmer of Whimsey Hill
Bradford M. Smith - 2016
That is what troubles animal-phobic, robotics engineer Smith who just got married. He learns that his bride’s dream is to have a farm where there are lots of animals and she can rescue ex-race horses to retrain and find them new homes. But according to a Meyers-Briggs Personality Test that they took for fun, their marriage is doomed. There is only one problem: the newlyweds took the test after the wedding. Whether Smith is chasing a cow named Pork Chop through the woods with a rope, getting locked in a tack room by the family pony, being snubbed by his wife’s dog, or unsuccessfully trying to modernize their barn using the latest technology, the odds are stacked against him. It seems like everything with four legs is out to get him. Will the animals win, forcing Smith to admit defeat, or will he fight to keep his family and the farm together? Enjoy the true, warm, and frequently hilarious stories of Smith’s journey along the bumpy road from his urban robotics lab to a new life on a rural Virginia farm.
Fly Fishing with Darth Vader: And Other Adventures with Evangelical Wrestlers, Political Hitmen, and Jewish Cowboys
Matt Labash - 2010
Considered one of American’s most brilliant writers by the journalism community, this long-awaited book debut presents Labash at his very best. A latter day Leibling, Labash’s collection will take its place alongside books by writers such as Calvin Trillin and P.J. O’Rourke..• A unique voice that’s well-connected: Labash’s well-informed insights, self-deprecating wit, and provocative candor feature regularly in The Weekly Standard and have also appeared in Washingtonian Magazine , American Spectator , and on Slate.com. Extremely well-liked and respected, his media contacts are many and varied. He has declined invitations to appear on everything from HBO Sports to Meet the Press —but is finally willing to make the rounds. As LA Weekly wrote after his Detroit piece, “it’s not new to give props to Matt Labash.”.• Remarkable collection: Full of wit, insight, and a trenchant grasp of the American scoundrel, Labash’s masterful profiles of men on the nation’s fringe—Pirate Kingfish Gov. Edwin Johnson, The Right Reverend Dr. Al Sharpton, Dirty Trickster Roger Stone—are published alongside devastating pieces on such dead or dying cities as Detroit and New Orleans; work celebrating such joyous, but overlooked pockets of American culture as Revival music and Rebirth Brass Band; and scathing, hilarious briefs on the nation’s great phonies—Michael Moore, Louis Farrakhan, Donald Trump to name a few..
How to Worry Less about Money
John Armstrong - 2012
John Armstrong turns these approaches upside down, and looks not at money itself, but at how we relate to it and the meaning we attach to it. How does it drive us and frighten us? Can it change the world for the better? And how much do we actually need? Offering surprising and helpful new insights, this book will encourage you to redefine your feelings about money, and ultimately enable you to discover what is really important to you in life.
How to be an MP: Learning the 'Commons Knowledge'
Paul Flynn - 1998
And in the process it provides the outsider with a riveting insight into life as a Member.
Spend Well, Live Rich: How to Get What You Want with the Money You Have
Michelle Singletary - 2003
Big Mama raised Michelle and her four brothers and sisters on a salary that never reached more than $13,000 a year. Yet at her death, Big Mama owned her own home, had paid off a car loan, and had a beautiful collection of Sunday-go-to-meeting church hats and a savings account that supplemented her Social Security check and small pension. Most important, she had taught Michelle “7 Money Mantras for a Richer Life.” Those mantras serve as the inspiration for this straight-talking book of practical personal financial advice that really works. The 7 Money Mantras are: 1. If it’ s on your ass, it’s not an asset! 2. Is this a need or is it a want? 3. Sweat the small stuff. 4. Cash is better than credit. 5. Keep it simple. 6. Priorities lead to prosperity. 7. Enough is enough. Michelle Singletary is a syndicated columnist for The Washington Post whose popular personal finance column appears in more than 120 newspapers. She’s also a mother of three children who understands what it’s like to live on a budget. In a plainspoken, sassy, no-nonsense voice, Michelle provides answers to the financial issues that confront almost every household: how to teach children the value of money; how to address money issues in a relationship or marriage; household saving tips; getting the best loans; and much more. “This book is about saving enough money to have choices,” she writes. “It’s about feeling free to be cheap if you can’t afford to buy a ton of gifts at Christmas. It’s about eliminating wasteful spend-ing so you can begin to save and invest. It’s full of uncommon commonsense lessons and guidance on the way people should use their money.” With humor and down-home financial wisdom, Michelle Singletary offers practical and realistic advice that will help you live well with the money you have. Michelle Singletary on . . . Romance and Money “It’s okay to say: ‘Honey, I love you and everything, but if you need money, ask your mama.’” Credit Cards “We are minimizing our financial potential by making minimum credit-card payments.” Car Buying “If you want to save money, keep your car until you’re on a first-name basis with the local tow-truck drivers.” Leasing a Car “You, too, can drive a car you can’t afford and then have to give it back. It’s crazy.” Gift Giving “Generosity isn’t about how much you spend. It’s about how much thought you put into the gift.” Penny Pinching “I once bought a stick-shift car because it was $1,000 cheaper than the automatic in the same model. There was just one little problem. I couldn’t drive a stick-shift. But at least I saved $1,000!”
Get Good with Money: Ten Simple Steps to Becoming Financially Whole
Tiffany Aliche - 2021
As she began to chart the path to her own financial rescue, the outline of her ten-step formula for attaining both financial security and peace of mind began to take shape. These principles have now helped more than one million women worldwide save and pay off millions in debt, and begin planning for a richer life.Revealing this practical ten-step process for the first time in its entirety, Get Good with Money introduces the powerful concept of building wealth through financial wholeness a realistic, achievable, and energizing alternative to get-rich-quick and over-complicated money management systems. With helpful checklists, worksheets, a tool kit of resources, and advanced advice from experts who Tiffany herself relies on (her "Budgetnista Boosters"), Get Good with Money gets crystal clear on the short-term actions that lead to long-term goals, including:- A simple technique to determine your baseline or "noodle budget," examine and systemize your expenses, and lay out a plan that allows you to say yes to your dreams.- An assessment tool that helps you understand whether you have a "don't make enough" problem or a "spend too much" issue--as well as ways to fix both.- Best practices for saving for a rainy day (aka job loss), a big-ticket item (a house, a trip, a car), and money that can be invested for your future.- Detailed advice and action steps for taking charge of your credit score, maximizing bill-paying automation, savings and investing, and calculating your life, disability, and property insurance needs.- Ways to protect your beneficiaries' future, and ensure that your financial wishes will stand the test of time.
The Abundance Code: How to Bust the 7 Money Myths for a Rich Life Now
Julie Ann Cairns - 2015
Julie Ann Cairns takes you through the “7 Money Myths”—an extremely common set of subconscious barriers put up between you and your attainment of abundant wealth and freedom—and helps you banish them, so that your subconscious “code” can come into alignment with your conscious goals for financial freedom. If your underlying programming does not support your goals—and it probably doesn’t—then Julie will show you how to get out of your own way and finally access the life you have always wanted.You can be successful, you can be wealthy, and you can make money without expending physical effort or sacrificing too much of your precious time. You can become financially free with the luxury of choice. It’s all possible for you, but conscious goals and knowledge are not enough to make this happen—you also need a set of supporting subconscious beliefs in order to ultimately prosper. If you have tried and tried to attain financial freedom but are still struggling, then this book will provide the breakthrough you’ve been waiting for.