A good book for people who don't know much about money management, investing, buying a house and all the other issues as one accumulates assets and liabilities. Less useful to the experienced but worth a fast read.

MY GRADE: C plus to B minus (higher for first-timers)

I enjoyed this book. In depth on things like taxes and limits, plans to save, and how to start from nothing if you’re intimidated. A lot of it I’ve seen before, but there was details in some basic segments that were explained in a different way and I really appreciated that.

Thanks Lia :)

Great advice that substantiates a lot of what I've learned to trust over the years. I really like the specificity that the author uses, making what is sometimes a headache incredibly simple to implement.

As someone with parents who have always struggled with personal finances, I was not informed about many of the good practices that are covered in this book. It was an easy read, very informative and captivating the whole way through. It has the feel of a conversation more so than an informative how-to. I recommend this to anyone who has questions on personal finance, it covers topics on a spectrum of broadly to very specifically on how to set yourself up for success and supplies many resources to help you in your journey.

Overall a great reference book and I'd highly recommend for a young adult who's recently graduated high school. I'm in my mid-twenties and some info was valuable for this part of my life, while other portions I've moved well past needing. It achieves its goal of helping young adults starting with the very basics of personal finance.

It’s a very practical read but super helpful!! Made financial stuff not nearly as dry as it can be!

Honestly one of the best financial books I've read in the last few years. I've been reading this on and off for the last six weeks, part of a chapter here, a chapter there and it's been so helpful. It gives a nice overview of different financial advice that I think can be for all ages, not just 20's and 30's. There are chapters on debt, banking, investing, insurance, renting, home ownership, taxes, military benefits, etc. So I just skipped around and read the chapters relevant/interesting to me and I found it too be super helpful. The writing is easy to understand and I appreciate that each chapter is broken into smaller sections so it can easily be picked up and digested. Also the newest edition was released in 2017 so it's fairly current as of this review.

I'll probably buy a copy for my personal collection, I can see myself picking this up for advice in the future when I get to other financial stages of my life (owning my own home, hahahhahaha).

I read the prior edition to this book so the information I was presented with isn't entirely relevant to today's economic climate. That being said, there was some information that I can apply that I didn't think much about before, such as the different types of insurances and investing accounts.

However, the book seems to be written with the assumption that the reader is going to have even a small amount of cash to put away. I'm in my mid twenties with a low paying job and because of this I have a hard time even thinking about investing or purchasing a home. I thought about my life critically and I noticed that most of what I could take away from the book was covered in the first two chapters. The rest of the material was informative but I don't feel as if I took away anything profound.

This book is probably best for people who are completely new to the idea of personal financing. I had to take a class in high school that covered most of the book's contents and since then, I've used the Internet to find ways to improve my finances.

Once again, this review applies to the older edition. The new edition probably will cover certain areas such as health insurance differently, or maybe cater towards the "new" twenty and thirty" year old demographic.

Probably my favorite although my edition was 2009 so insurance and tax sections were outdated. Not at all boring and really motivated me. Written in no nonsense but not too dumbed down time. The summaries at the end of each chapter were particularly helpful. I thought it was weird that the book just ends after military benefits which I didn’t really read and there was no inspiring go grab the bull by the horns conclusion but I did follow a lot of advice in this book and feel smarter for it
Edit: goddamnit it was updated in 2017 so I honestly I think I will either pick that one up and buy it or just reread portions of it because our new economic landscape is real y’all

Breezy read packed with tons of great info. Skimmed or passed over some sections less relevant to me. Looking forward to putting some of these steps into action!

Good book for beginners of personal finance!

This book provides a sound overview of financial matters. It’s a little dull, but the author makes it as fun to read as possible.

I found this book after buying The Financial Diet and feeling like I didn’t really learn anything from it. This book isn’t as “fun” as The Financial Diet, but it’s much more sound. It’s less “look at how much of a hot mess I was in my twenties, lolll” and more “here’s the down and dirty of how a mortgage works and what options are best for someone in their twenties.”

I really appreciate this book’s existence, and would highly recommend it to anyone learning about the personal finance world.