Customer Reviews

Control Your Cash: Making Money Make Sense

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought the Kindle version of Control Your Cash and strange as it sounds, haven't been able to put it down. Really unusal for me because I often find this type of book to be full of cliches and about as colorful as an funeral. The writing is crisp, funny, and really informative. Concepts are introduced and explained, and the authors don't make any assumptions about their readers. They don't see them as dumb, or brilliant. They have targeted this book really well - toward people who want to learn and will take enough time to read a book like this. It's not easy to make this subject matter fun without belittling it, but they have somehow managed to do it. Highly recommended.

Control Your Cash is an anomaly among personal finance books: it's genuinely funny and well-written but full of solid information. I didn't agree with everything in the book (the section on homebuying made me want to debate the author), but it's all well-argued and never talks down to the reader. Another good book in the same vein is I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

Control Your Cash: Making Money Make Sense by Greg McFarlane and Betty Kincaid was an interesting read. Basically it is a personal finance book that covers all of the basic topics: cars, credit cards, houses, investing, budgeting, taxes, etc.

Cons

I'll get right to it, I liked about 90% of it and there were lots of good points. Much of it was review for me, but there are lots of things that could help people who are new to learning personal finance. Unfortunately, there are 2 things that really stood out to me that I did not agree with. The first was talking about which credit card you should get. While the information presented was fine, I think the best credit card is the one that is cut into tiny pieces and cancelled. While some people are disciplined enough to make good use out of credit cards, far too many people aren't.

The second part that I disagreed with had to do with cars. While it suggests that you shouldn't over spend on cars, i.e. get the Honda instead of the Acura, or Toyota instead of the Lexus, it turns around and suggests buying a new car for the peace of mind. Buying a new car is one of the biggest mistakes you can make in my mind. They lose such a huge amount of value that it is more than worth the risk of breaking down to buy used. New cars lose 70% of their value in the first 4 years. Go ahead and get a 2-4 year old car and let somebody else take that hit.

Pros

Now for the good, and there was plenty of it. The main idea focused throughout the book was getting rid of liabilities and gaining assets. That is a good principle to follow, and it something everyone needs to work on. Also, there are quite a few chapters that do a good job explaining some of the basics of personal finance. There is a very in depth chapter giving the basics of investing. It was probably my favorite chapter. For someone who has no idea how investing works, this would be a good primer.

There is another good chapter on budgeting, as well as an interesting chapter covering taxes. Taxes are a huge part of personal finance, and understanding how they work is key to success. It is very interesting how taxes work on similar things depending on if it is a person or a business doing it. Different types of businesses also change the tax situation considerably.

The last chapter takes a good look at entrepreneurship. I found this chapter particularly interesting as I would like to start my own business someday. I'm not sure what it will be, but right now I think helping people get to financial independence is something I want to try. I'm not sure what the exact vehicle to do that will be, but I think I'm going to keep growing the readership of this blog. Hopefully the things I write can help some people.

Overall, if you can overlook the new cars and credit cards, Control Your Cash was really a pretty good personal finance book. It was an easy read, and the main point it emphasized of selling liabilities and buying assets is a good one.

Why did I title my review "About time"? Because it's about time someone wrote a book about personal finance that's easy to understand AND written in laymen's terms.
Here's a quote from the Control Your Cash blog:
"So we wrote a book that explains every aspect of personal finance to the neophyte. We're not looking for morons to read our book. We're looking for people who aren't intimidated by words like "neophyte", and who know plenty about the world around them, but who admit that they don't know enough about money. The book assumes you don't have a handle on the jargon and the complex concepts that a regular Wall Street Journal reader understands, and also assumes that you're not a retard. We know you don't have time to plow through condescending "tips" ("buy things on sale"), but could probably use a little elucidation instead of guessing your way through your finances. Sound too good to be true?"
Yes, I quoted the author's blog to make a review. I did it because they are better writers than I am. And they're telling the truth. This is a great book; simple, lucid and to the point.

The authors cover diverse personal finance topics including taxes, credit, budgeting and entrepreneurship both clearly and humorously, making an otherwise dry topic much more palatable. Lots of good information, presented in a logical and fun way!

"Of all the financial disasters of the last few years--the subprime mortgage crisis, the monster budget deficit, the stock market losing half its value, centuries-old investment banks going out of business--every last one happened because people who could have taken responsibility for their money chose to do something else instead."

This is a passage from the preface of Control Your Cash: Making Money Make Sense by Greg McFarlane and Betty Kincaid and it sets the tone for a book that not only motivates you to actually act upon your new years resolution of better money management, but also provides you with a more than basic knowledge of where to start and how to do so.

I write blog and book reviews for The Kindle Blog Report.

It was a pleasure to review this book, Control Your Cash, and I give it two thumbs up. As well as five stars.

Knowledge is power. A cliche, but still true for all that. And it is only with knowledge that you can take control of your cash, and only with cash that you can take control of your life.

This book provides you with that knowledge - from handling credit cards and your credit score, to investing, to buying a car or house (your two main purchases in your life), to budgeting. They also cover taxes and how to prepare for them - minimalizing your payment of them as much as possible - *that's* patriotic!, and finally talk about entrepreneurship - even more than owning one's own home, I think, the American dream - having your own business.

Highly recommended. Only flaw? Well,the TOC isn't hotlinked. And I'd have liked an index...but other than that.

You may hate the thought of the chore of having to learn the stuff but you know that in order to succeed - nay, survive - you need this information. Well the good news is (I know it sounds absurd), it'll be hard to put this book down. Excellent information, brilliantly written. Now you've no excuse for being financially challenged.

I am not a fan of "get rich quick" schemes and the popular idea of "just wish for it and it will appear." Fortunately, this is NOT one of those books. From the beginning of Control Your Cash, it is clear that each individual must be responsible for their financial well-being. Wealth won't be magically bestowed upon anyone just because they dream for it to happen, nor will they get wealthy by looking for the easy way to do things. Financial freedom is born of hard work and DISCIPLINE.

Once one gets past the harsh reality that success isn't a right, Control Your Cash becomes an important overview of the mysterious world of personal finance. I wouldn't say that any of the information was particularly earth-shattering, but it did present all the basics in a succinct and easy-to-understand manner. Some of the lessons are so simple that it felt like a slap in the face; it was a good kind of slap, though, because it woke me up from the habitual stupor in which I had been living my life. I realized that it's time for action. Knowing the right things to do won't matter if I don't actually make some changes. Control Your Cash is exactly the type of book that pushes for that change.

While I wouldn't expect every reader to follow every suggestion in the book, I can't imagine that there is anyone who won't learn something of value. Control Your Cash explains bank accounts, investments, taxes, car buying, and more. It really is the perfect finance manual and I highly recommend it for anyone who isn't already 100% satisfied with their personal wealth.

In plain english, this book covers a large area of the finance world that our country is sorely uneducated on today. From buying a car to investing wisely (in more than just the Stock Market), there are words of no-nonsense wisdom in every page. I am already leveraging the advise to adjust my car insurance and health insurance and will see $1000's of dollars in savings from these to choices alone in the next 6 months. Those savings will fuel our business growth and brings us closer to the American dream of Financial Freedom. I highly recommend this book to anyone who feels lost in the world of Money!