Customer Reviews

Dave Barry's Money Secrets: Like: Why Is There a Giant Eyeball on the Dollar?

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I'm almost always amused by Dave Barry's books. Some of his humor is a bit juvenile but overall his books are generally worth the money. This one was no different and there were several laugh-out-loud sections, particularly when he discussed purchasing a car and his opinion of several cars, including the Aztek (the "Buttmobile"). His vision of the corporate world was also hilarious to me as I was one of the many individuals who suffered when Coca-Cola decided to change its formula; I mean, what were they thinking??? The Suze Orman shtick got a bit old but overall this book was well worth my time.

Sadly enough, Barry makes more sense than most of the economics professors, money managers, and state financial officials who I have met. Barry is indeed smarter than a monkey and funnier than Karl Marx. In the financial world, these are two wonderful qualities! His analysis of Social Security only has one major flaw, a better job than our federal friends have done, although I am sure he did not intend to be accurate. Frankly, pointy headed economics instructors should make this title required reading. Although most economic students are too boring to laugh, their boyfriends/girlfriends might get it. As difficult a task as it is to be funny throughout an entire book, Barry does a good job. Think about it. Who would you rather have telling you how to manage your money: some certified money flushing financial planner, or Dave Barry? Yipes! Watch out for the squirrels!

I admire people who don't take themselves or life in general too seriously. Dave Barry fits the bill and does so while giving us all a few chuckles. I wouldn't call "Dave Barry's Money Secrets : Like: Why Is There a Giant Eyeball on the Dollar?" comedy although it is funny. Dave has a special wit I've enjoyed for years, and what I like the best in this book is his ability to make fun of the most mundane topic and his talent in making us all laugh at ourselves. Dave Barry's humor can be compared to Bill Maher or Jerry Seinfied, but with more of a family focus. Recommended for light reading and laugh out loud fun.

If you like Dave already, you'll love this book. If you're one of those people who thinks he's too juvenile and does too many 'booger jokes', you may llike this one more, because he doesn't get as goofy as that in this one. if you're one of those oddballs - and I still run across a lot of these people - who haven't even heard of him until now, well, you need to get educated! For one thing, this book has little to do with actual financial information, and (big surprise) Dave often gets off-topic - WAY off topic. But it doesn't matter - there are many funny pieces in here, including Trump-bashing (his hair is the color of 'troll dolls or certain food groups, such as Cheetos'), the top 10 dog thoughts, interviewing tips, investing tips, the whole car-buying process, travel tips (in the helpful Spanish phrases: 'Hey! There's a freakin' WORM in this bottle!'), and many more. If you need a cheering-up, which I did, this is a tonic.

In this book, Dave Barry discusses finances. First he gives an overview of how the US economy works, then moves onto other topics, such as tips on how to get a job (attach a naked photo of Angelina Jolie to your resume), the drawbacks of HMOs (they cover leeches but not insulin if you're diabetic), how to argue with your spouse about money, starting your own business, how to manage a hedge fund, playing the stock market, cheat on your income taxes, travelling (choose a hotel with cheap toilet paper), and how to plan for your retirement fund.

Sprinkled with humorous charts, pictures and photos of Suze Orman and Donald Trump (at whom Barry takes many cheap shots but winds up dedicating the book to them), this book is a must-read for Barry fans.

How do you plan to finance your retirement?

1. Savings
2. Social Security
3. Sale of kidneys

You need to be honest in your answer. If you lie, you'll only
be lying to yourself. And, according to advice given
in DAVE BARRY'S MONEY SECRETS (from which this question
was taken), "The place to lie in on your federal tax return."

This is a very funny guide that spoofs much of the personal
financial advice that can be found in other books, TV shows
and online . . . save your money on them; buy this one
instead . . . you may not get rich if you do, but you will
certainly laugh a lot.

Barry has previously written on such other topics as politics, fitness
and parenting . . . I enjoyed those, but this latest one may well be
his very best--especially because it will make you wonder why
people behave the way they do when it comes to money.

For example, in the above quiz, he states, "That if your answers
are all threes [on all the questions], be advised that we're having
a minor technical problem calculating your score because of
Nigerian red tape. To smooth things out, we need you to send
us an 'advance fee' of $5,000, which you will get back many
times over."

The amazing thing is that many people do just that!

There were many other hilarious tidbits; among them:
* Many children learn about money by starting their own businesses,
the classic example being the sidewalk lemonade stand. This is an
opportunity to teach your child fundamental economic principles.
I'm not suggesting that you encourage your child to have a lemonade
stand; that's WAY too much work. I'm suggesting that you
explain to your child that if he buys lemonade from some other
kid's stand, and then happens to choke on a lemon seed, they you
would be in a position to sue the other kid's parents for thousands
of dollars. That is what I mean by "fundamental economic principles."

* One way to take money is in the form of traveler's checks. The way
these work is, you give a traveler's check company a bunch of money,
and the traveler's check company gives you some checks. You cash
some of these checks on your trip, and when you get home you put
the rest of them in the back of your sock drawer for safekeeping, and then
you forget all about them. Eventually you die, and the traveler's check
company gets to keep the money you paid for the uncashed checks
forever.

And this final one that--while presented in a humorous fashion--makes
much sense at least to me:

*Presidential Election Campaign Fund checkoff box: If you check this
box, $3 of your taxes will be earmarked for a special fund to pay for
presidential campaigns. Notice that the government does not permit
you to earmark money for poor people, or sick people, or national
defense. No, the government permits you to earmark money only
for the purpose of enabling politicians to produce TV commercials
designed to appeal to voters who have the IQ of a Vienna sausage.
To make matters worse, some of this federal campaign money goes
to candidates who have about as much chance of getting elected
president as SpongeBob SquarePants. In 2004, of example, more than
$800,000 of earmarked U.S. taxpayer dollars went to Lyndon LaRouche,
a convicted felon and complete space loon who has been running
for president since 1980, and who has claimed, among other things,
that Walter Mondale was a Soviet agent and Queen Elizabeth II is
a drug dealer. If you check the Presidential Election Campaign Fund box,
it won't affect the amount of tax you owe, but I will lose all respect
for you.

but I say that lovingly as his humor is simple and harmless and you have to laugh.

I laughed on literally EVERY page of the first half of this book! Then I laughed at something on about every other page . . . This book is a hilarious parody of financial advice from books, shows, and 'experts.' Somehow, Dave Barry brings Coca-Cola executives, a man getting a very sensitive part blown off by fireworks, and The Louisiana Purchase into educating his readers about finances.

Photographs of Donald Trump, Suze Orman, Prince Charles, Alan Greenspan and Punxsutawney Phil add to chapters with titles like "Providing for Medical Care; You'll Need Some Leeches," and "How to Argue With Your Spouse About Money; The Nuclear Option; Tampons."

This gift is a great gift for someone who knows nothing about finances, or knows everything but chooses to follow none of the "professional" advice, and it's perfect for those people who know and FOLLOW all of "the rules" about finances.

ENJOY!

Dave Barry discusses all sorts of random financial concerns, from why people stopped using cattle as a valuable medium of exchange (because air-backed paper makes much more sense), the reasons multimillion dollar companies are suddenly bankrupted, why those in charge of those multimillion dollar companies really can't be expected to know what's going on in them, and the financial benefits of convincing your child to be a sloth instead of, say, a Harvard student.

Quote: "Over the years, all the governments in the world, having discovered that gold is, like, rare, decided that it would be more convenient to back their money with something that is easier to come by, namely: nothing . . . for all you know, Fort Knox is filled with Cheez Whiz."

I am not a fan of Dave Barry, I really have no knowledge of Dave Barry (sorry!) so I picked up this book with no idea what it was going to be like except that 1) it was about money and 2) it was probably comedic, judging from the cover. Well, I found it to be completely hysterical- laughing out loud, rolling on the floor, and fairly relevant to real life (such as, what AM I going to do with the thousands of pennies that have been collecting in that jar since the dawn of time in the hopes that they would one day pay for a trip to Disney World). The ratio of funny to actually true was not exactly what I was expected (there was so little that was actually true that when I stumbled across something I BELIEVED to be true, it immediately forced me to reconsider whether I actually knew it to be true at all), but that's not the point. The point is, if you want to read a book actually about economics that is also vaguely entertaining, read Freakonomics. If you just want a good laugh, the occasional picture of Donald Trump, and the frequent reference to Angelina Jolie (occasionally naked), stick with Money Secrets.

There's no doubt Dave Barry can be quite funny.

I laughed so hard I cried at times reading this book.

But some chapters were a bit dull.

I suspect this book was a bit of a rush job...could have been better with more effort.

Not worth the hardcover price.