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8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
`You build wealth by living beneath your means. You lose money by living above your means.' Sep 17, 2009
By J. Cameron-Smith
"Expect the Unexpected"
This is an informative and entertaining book about personal finance. While some of the detailed information is specific to the USA, all of the principles are universal.
This book follows the adventures of four diverse students (the Counterculture Club) led by an interesting financially savvy teacher. The teacher, Mrs Kramer, agrees to mentor the students as they learn about earning money and controlling expenses. The strength of this book, in my view, is that it focuses on each of the students as individuals and recognises that each has different strengths, desires and aspirations.
This book is primarily directed to those aged between 16 and 32, but there is information there useful to those of us outside that age range. Consider these four issues: getting out of debt and accumulating wealth; finding your strengths and passions and how to make a living from them; how to get ahead when the work you love does not produce a lot of money; and living a more fulfilled life. Consideration of these issues is framed in a way which should particularly appeal to Generation Y - but it isn't too late for the rest of us.
The book is divided into four parts:
Investing Money
Saving Money
Making Money
Enjoying Money
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and especially enjoyed the way in which all of the participants learned from each other. This book would be a great asset to any household.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
Amazingly Informative and Fun to Read Mar 15, 2009
By Christopher J. Stanley
"Chris"
This book provided me with an amazing insight into many different areas of personal finance. The author covers every topic from saving and investing money to making and enjoying money; and better yet, the book is written in an exciting and fun to read format that won't bore you or become a chore to read. I've read...eh tried to read...many other personal finance books, and I'm sure a lot of them had very good information in them; however, they were not engaging enough to get through, and so I wasn't able to gleam most of that good information. This book was different though. With each page I found myself more and more engaged, and before I knew it I had read the whole book, taking a wealth of financial knowledge with me. I would highly recommend this book to anyone, regardless of how much you may or may not know about personal finance. Everyone could take something away from this book. I especially recommend this book to anyone in high school or college, because when it comes to learning about finances, the sooner the better. I personally read the book as a college student, and while other personal finance books for me can sometimes make the concepts of personal finance complicated to understand, the author of this book made the world of personal finance very easy to understand on my level. This is why I think this book would be especially great for any teen or young adult out there trying to get a head start on their financial future.
5 of 5 found the following review helpful:
GOOD SENSE ABOUT MONEY - TOLD THROUGH CONVERSATIONS Aug 15, 2009
By Theresa Welsh
"The Seeker"
I don't usually read books about money, since I find the subject boring and the advice usually doesn't work or fit my philosophy of life. I was attracted to this book by its exceptionally good reviews (and because the author sent me a free copy). I can honestly say it is the best information and advice I have ever seen in a book about money. It was written exactly for people like me, who don't make money the purpose of living but who don't want to die poor either.
Miller clearly had young people in mind when he wrote this book but, even though I am in my 60s, I still found it helpful. I also found that I had been practicing many of the principles he advocates... like living below your means, never paying full price, shopping for bargains, and not spending money on things you can do without. When your income goes up, you don't have to ramp up your expenses to match it. You can keep on living on a smaller budget and save the extra income. Some critics will say that's no fun and it takes away what for many is the incentive to increase their income. But when you see how your savings can add up, and the additional benefit of not having credit card bills to pay, you will also see that this plan DOES let you eventually get many of the things that really matter to you (while not wasting money on things that don't matter). Miller is saying that you should arrange your life and finances so you can actually afford those things when you buy them. That's good advice!
The book covers a wide range of topics, from buying clothes, cars and houses to investing the savings you will have if you follow these guidelines. The book teaches these principles through conversations of a group of young people, meeting with a teacher, for discussions over breakfast. This method means each lesson is told through the stories of the participants as they talk about themselves and their situation. This is not a bunch of well-heeled high earners, but rather ordinary young folks with tiny incomes wondering how they'll ever get ahead in life. It is rare that anyone writes a book for people such as them. Just like it's rare to be told to stop spending so much money on fast food lunches and buy a used car.
Interstingly, I have followed this advice myself. On my last job, for lunch I usually brought a salad I made the night before, but, if I went out (and I always ordered off the value menu), I filled my own bottle of water instead of paying for a soda pop (just expensive sugar water). I retired this summer, with a tdiy sum in my IRA from living below my means and putting away the maximum. My all-time favorite car was a '87 Pontiac staion wagon that my husband and I bought when it was 10 years old for $2000. We drove it for almost another 10 years and took numerous trips in it and our daughter learned to drive in it. It was a wonderful car and I felt sad when it developed a bad fuel leak and we finally had to consign it to the junk heap.
Investing is a topic that scares a lot of people, including me. I once tried to make some short-term investments in hopes of increasing my savings, but mainly this did not work out well and I gave it up. I just keep my money in conservative funds now and hope to leave it there and live off current income. Miller really likes Warren Buffett and uses his principles about investing, which concentrate on long-term thinking. Once you have a nest egg, there is an almost irresistible impulse to take some of the money (or, if you're really reckless, all of the money) and put it on some "sure thing" or turn it over to an investment advisor who claims he can get you a big return (Bernie Madoff, anyone?). Miller tells you not to do this, and I agree. Research shows trying to make it big with buy-and-sell investments rarely works out.
There is only one area where I disagree with Miller. In the United States, if you have a serious illness, you are probably screwed financially. No one can save enough money to pay for medical treatment for anything serious, and health insurance companies can discriminate against those who need care the most. Anyone with a condition dating from childhood will not be able to get insurance as an adult, or it will cost so much as to provide little left to live on. Miller glosses over this, probably because there is no advice (other than advocating for real health care reform in this country) that can help. If you doubt this, consider that Donna Smith (who now works with the California Nurses Association) had both good health insurance and AFLAC supplemental insurance when she and her husband developed serious health problems. They ended up in bankruptcy and lost their home. Americans have no health security and all you can really do is live a healthy lifestyle and hope you never need expensive care. Any one of us is just one injury away from financial ruin.
This is a great book with sensible advice, which you can read and pass on to other family members. Young people come out of high school knowing almost nothing about money and how to manage it. This book can be a real help.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
WOW Wise funny and wonderful Jul 30, 2009
By MotherLodeBeth
"MotherLodeBeth"
While some will see this as a book aimed at young adults I think parents with pre-teens and even younger children will benefit from the books wonderful wisdom. Have read so many financial books and to be honest this is one of the few where we read about things like 'Live WAY Beneath Your Means'. Something that over the last thirty or so years with the mass use of credit cards, people have either forgotten or ignored this common sense idea.
The other chapters of the book that are a must read are how to save on food, clothes, cars, houses and ten popular ways to lose loads of money,like do drugs and abuse alcohol, get into debt and don't take it serious, or think you know it all, and thus ignore wiser people with hard advise. Be honest, how often when you pay with a credit card that you do not pay off each month, do you stop to add in the interest rate the credit card company is charging, as well as the fact that your spending habits are noted by all the companies that score your FICA.
One thing I loved about the book is how it makes learning about money, spending, and savings, a game and not punishment. Like how the author and his participants do a give and take dialogue where the participants are given a lesson and come back to share what they had learned. Like reading labels to make sure the juice that says 100% juice is indeed 100% and not added fillers like corn sweetener.
And the 'Enjoy your money' section is another great example of teaching wise use of money and how delayed gratification often means enjoying ones hard earned money even more. When you pay with a credit card it means it is NOT yours until the item is paid in full! And often the item is old by the time its paid for. Like ads that say buy now, pay a year or more later. Stop and think about that sofa you bought today that in two years you will not only be paying for but with higher interest. Does it look as new two years later? Would you pay the same high price for the used item if in a thrift store?
Again I love the book and how it teaches the reader, no matter their age, to think outside the box. Many thrift stores where I live, get left overs from Macy's and other stores. Clothes with tags still on them. Name brand items 75-80% cheaper than new in the store.
Cannot praise this book enough. Its a keeper!!
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Enjoy Your Money Oct 21, 2010
By Linda Weaver Clarke
This book teaches you how to make, save, and invest money in an entertaining way. The author begins with four teens who are unhappy with the lifestyle in which they were brought up. They don't want to live from paycheck to paycheck like their parents. After speaking to someone who is very successful, they decide to meet every week for breakfast and discuss the subject. Through Mrs. Kramer, the author brings out true experiences about successful people and their secret of success, and then teaches the teens how to do this themselves. Mrs. Kramer dubs them "The Counterculture Club" because they want to change the direction of their lives.
Did you know that approximately one in four adults live from paycheck to paycheck? Did you know that in 2005 we spent more than we earned? I learned so much in this book in a most enjoyable way. After all, who really wants to settle down in the evening to a finance book? Steve Miller makes it fun. He teaches you how to multiply your salary by taking 10% of your paycheck and putting it into mutual funds. He says, "By starting early and investing 10 percent of a teacher's salary in an index fund to match the market rate, you will likely have a million dollars in your early 50s." Wow! What a profit! And it only takes 30 years. I would recommend this book to all ages.
Written by Linda Weaver Clarke, author of the new mystery series "The Adventures of John and Julia Evans."
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