The Motley Fool Personal Finance Workbook: A Foolproof Guide to Organizing Your Cash and Building Wealth

I got this book a few weeks ago to get a feel for personal finance (I just turned 23 and i figured it was time) and it was oen of the best book purchases I ever made! It was laid out very simply with helpful charts and graphs so the math doesn't seem so abstract. Highly recommended!

David and Tom Gardner have once again succeeded at making something difficult seem easy. As an estate planner, I know that many people avoid financial matters out of fear . . . fear that they're not smart enough to understand them. The Personal Finance Workbook puts valuable financial planning information at your fingertips and the forms to keep track of your finances are right in the book. If you are just starting out after college, or a Baby Boomer beginning to think about retirement, or someone retired, this workbook will be immediately useful. On a more personal level, as a dad, I am glad that a personal finance book like The Workbook exists. Young people who take early action on managing their finances and developing good savings habits will be infinitely better off in the long run. James Lange, CPA/Attorney and author of Retire Secure! Pay Taxes Later: The Key to Making Your Money Last as Long as You Do

I bought this book about a year after college, when I wanted to come up with a plan to get rid of some credit card debt and begin saving money. This guide is fun and interesting, yet informative. It guides you step-by-step through good personal finance habits, and allows you to prioritize what goals you have for the future. The most insightful to me was when it asks you to name the things you spend that LEAST contribute to your happiness and MOST contribute to your happiness. I.E. - it's not wasteful if the spending improves your quality of life - versus you're just spending to spend! The workbook section asks you to guess how much you spend on things each month and then actually track your spending for 6 months to help you develop a realistic budget & see how you did. It's definitely a wake-up call to people like me, who seemed to piddle their money away without realizing exactly where it's going. This exercise helps you find the answer to that question!

This book has been a great step-by-step guide to getting financially organized. It's geared to average working-class folks, not aspiring accountants and brokers. The author's humorous approach makes the material accessible and interesting!The book begins with steps to determine where your money goes, then works through ways to eliminate debt, plan for emergencies, and invest money for various purposes: retirement, college, and other large expenses. The book also includes advice for buying insurance and completing your taxes.The book is a beginner's guide, not an exaustive reference -- so don't expect to find all the information you need if you want to invest in individual stocks or understand each line of your tax return. Rather, it gives clear advice to new investors through commonsense arguments that require almost no background information.Only two complaints: First, health insurance is not discussed. Some advice on such an important kind of insurance would have been very helpful to me. Second, the authors repeatedly advertise their website. (To their credit, the website ...is a pretty good resource. You might want to try it before you get the book or even instead of the book. It has free trial membership as of this writing.)

This book has been a great step-by-step guide to getting financially organized. It's geared to average working-class folks, not aspiring accountants and brokers. The author's humorous approach makes the material accessible and interesting!The book begins with steps to determine where your money goes, then works through ways to eliminate debt, plan for emergencies, and invest money for various purposes: retirement, college, and other large expenses. The book also includes advice for buying insurance and completing your taxes.The book is a beginner's guide, not an exaustive reference -- so don't expect to find all the information you need if you want to invest in individual stocks or understand each line of your tax return. Rather, it gives clear advice to new investors through commonsense arguments that require almost no background information.Only two minor complaints: First, health insurance is not discussed. Some advice on such an important kind of insurance would have been very helpful to me. Second, the authors repeatedly advertise their website. (To their credit, the website Fool.com is a pretty good resource. You might want to try it before you get the book or even instead of the book. It has free trial membership as of this writing.)