Part 2: Spending Less, Saving More Chapter 7: Trimming Your Taxes
Part 3: Building Wealth through Investing
Chapter 8: Considering Important Investment Concept
Chapter 9: Understanding Your Investment Choices
Chapter 10: Investing in Funds
Chapter 11: Investing in Retirement Accounts
Chapter 12: Investing in Taxable Accounts
Chapter 14: Investing in Real Estate: Your Home and Beyond (p305 – 8)
Part 5: Where to Go for More Help Chapter 19: Using Technology to Manage Your Money (p403)
Chapter 20: On Air and in Print (p410 - 11)
Part 6: The Part of Tens Chapter 21: Survival Guide for Ten Life Changes (p427-9)

I picked up this book after reading Pound Foolish: Exposing the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry. In that book, the author exposes a lot of the conflict of interest and hypocrisy that are inherent to much of the personal finance industry (financial planners, most of whom are actually broker/dealers, as well as popular gurus), but she recommended Personal Finance for Dummies as legitimate good advice. Eric Tyson, the author, has a lot of experience as a financial counselor, helping people who've messed up (from a little to a lot) get themselves back on track. This perspective does color his prose a little -- for example, he seems to view most broker/dealers as barely better than swindlers, and has nothing good to say about most annuities and life insurance products -- but it makes for authentic advice. It can also make you feel bad if you've fallen for one of the bad ideas; but at least he probably would blame the dealer and not you. The other thing I noticed reading it cover to cover is that it can get repetitive (there is lots of hammering on the evils of consumer debt, for example) -- but that is partly by design so that you don't have to read it all the way through. The book is organized such that you can flip to any chapter dealing with whatever question you have, and he'll cross-reference with other parts of the book as needed. Happily, the table of contents is highly detailed as well, so that you can easily see which chapters might benefit you.

The best praise I can give this book is, "Boy, I wish I'd read this when I was in college!" I am grateful that my parents instilled in me such good money habits (for example, I've never [intentionally] carried a credit card balance), so I avoided most of the serious mistakes he rails against, but I would've felt so much more prepared and in control of my finances if I had read this before starting my career, and I would've improved some of my mediocre financial choices.

Key points that stood out to me:

- Our economy may run on consumption, but from a *personal* finance standpoint (which is, after all, the topic of the book), consumer debt (i.e., "bad debt," which was used to acquire something that won't appreciate in value) is always bad news. This includes carrying a credit card balance and taking out a loan for a car. [I am guilty of the latter because of attractive interest rates, but it's still non-appreciating property.] It is impossible to read this book and escape this point.

- All mutual funds and almost all insurance and annuity products can be found in no-load (commission-free) varieties. Commissions on mutual funds can be as high as 5% of your share purchase price; commissions on annuities may be as high as 100% of the first annual premium! You pay these commissions, either directly or in the form of lower performance or higher fees, as compared to the no-load varieties.

- The best way to hire a money manager, for all but the very richest among us (i.e., the 1%, and if you're in the 1% you're probably not reading this book), is to buy low-cost actively managed funds. The best money managers only work with enormously large balances, which you probably don't have. Both this book and Pound Foolish sing the praises of the Vanguard Group (www.vanguard.com) in providing low-cost, no-load funds, both indexed and actively managed.

- There's no such thing as free advice. Any free advice is always trying to sell you something. That may be selling you on their funds, or on the idea that day trading is a good idea because they make commissions on your trades, or directly selling you products for which they earn a commission even if other products might have better returns or be better for your strategy.

Incidentally, I find it curious that some reviewers gave the book a lower rating because "most of the book didn't apply to me." The best time to read advice, or at least know that such advice exists, is before you need it! Then you'll remember the advice (or at least remember to look it up) when the situation comes upon you. But I have also been told that unlike me, most 20-somethings aren't highly focused on long-term goals and planning for retirement. ;)

If you want this advice in shorter form, written to target a younger and hipper generation, look for Financially Fearless: The LearnVest Program for Taking Control of Your Money. Yes, she is also trying to sell you something (namely the LearnVest money management program), but I personally didn't feel like her company got in the way of her advice (which is not free, because somebody paid for the book :) ). Now that I've read both books, I don't see any conflict of interest in Financially Fearless; but I am older and stodgier than she is, so I needed more advice about things like child care expenses and saving for college.

What have I become? I used to be cool! I majored in film and writing because I was going to be the next Orson Wells AND write the next Great American Novel! WHAT HAPPENED?! Alas, dreams give way to reality, which is much richer than you would expect. Unless you read "richer" as "having actual dollar dollar bills ya'll," in which case um, no. I have a beautiful wife and daughter, but we live with her folks out in the country. I spent the first 26 years of my life with absolutely no concept of personal finance. Worse than that, even. I took out high interest private student loans when I was 18 and went to college for 5 years because I was still hoping I'd figure out what I wanted to do. I wasted so much of that loan money on useless crap. It makes me blind with rage just thinking about myself back then. I have spent the last three years whipping myself into financial shape, and when I sat down and read Personal Finance for Dummies, I knew my transformation was complete. I entered the cocoon a passionate young man and emerged from my pupa a grizzled adult who cares only about making the most money possible with my limited skills and ruthlessly providing for my family. This is who I am now. God help us all. That said, while I found Eric Tyson to be dry and probably on the opposite political/ideological spectrum as myself, he did a good job explaining the oft maddening realms of money, mortgages, investing, interest rates, and all that crap. It provided a nice foundation for prospective homebuying, which is the whole reason I went "money mad." My wife looks at me with the same look Dr. Frankenstein gave his monster. "YOU NEED TO BE PUTTING MONEY IN YOUR 401K ESPECIALLY IF THEY HAVE A 5% MATCH ARE YOU DENSE?!" she would say to me when I was working at Half Price Books. I have become a monster.

A solid book with a lot of good information.

I went bankrupt and had to sell my newborn child to afford a McChicken sandwich at McDonalds.

Really good intro. I was very ignorant, but now I know better what to do when it comes to the best and safest financial moves. I just wish it was a bit shorter, but still worth reading.

I'm about half way through here and this has been a great read. I never thought I'd be so absorbed by a book like this but when you're in that weird transitional state between student and independent adult, a book like this can feel empowering. I can't believe this stuff isn't required education for public schools or even expensive colleges (perhaps those institutions would rather their students not fully understand loans and big money...). I went from having a very basic, very vague sense of budgeting and saving to now getting a grasp on types of retirement plans, forms of savings, and am also getting a great introduction to investing. Before this book, even the words "retirement plans" and "investing" made me sort of worried and uncomfortable. Now I feel like I can ask more intelligent questions.

This book also includes a lot of valid personal advice. Don't become obsessed with building wealth, personal relationships can be more valuable than anything. Also, don't always go with a brand name if the service or product you seek isn't their specialty. Just because it's easier doesn't mean it's wiser. Great advice!

I pick this up whenever I have a spare moment. Highly recommended for anyone who wants a gentle-but-not-condescending introduction to finance! Everyone should get this book when they turn 18.

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Finished. The above review still holds true. It's easy to skip things I don't feel like reading about yet (buying a house, health care for the retired, etc.) and just zoom in on the most pertinent things to my life. Still recommended for everyone.

Dummies books just do not disappoint. There is a good chunk of this book that is a lot of common sense, but it is really nice to have it all laid out and put together.

I took a lot of little things out of this book and am really happy I read it. It will be great tool for helping to reorganize my finances going forward. I would say this is an essential read for everyone just because people in general are very uneducated when it comes to managing their own money, and even understanding money and consumer credit, but it is kind of a slow read and can be boring at times. It's all just really important.

Highly recommended for those who have trouble with their finances, are looking for some basic principals, or would like to have a general understanding of all the crazy terms that pop up in the world of money.

3.5

Good information, definitely need to go back to it as your doing the actions it gives information on.

making money moves IN SILENCE only for the foreseeable future….y’all haven’t seen nothing yet…

Despite always hating this series for calling their own readers dummies, this book was actually incredibly helpful to learn so many things about math, life, and personal finance the semester before I graduated. Great timing and so, so helpful!