Customer Reviews

How to Be the Family CFO

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

 

 

First, we have to weed out the extraneous parts of the book: a pointless quote on most pages surrounded by a lot of empty white space, unnecessary stories from Kim's personal life that do not add any value, insightless chapters just so that a topic is mentioned (such as insurance and identity theft), loads of totally-pointless statistics, several fluff-ball psychology chapters, frequent reaching to mention some sophisticated academic research but then it is never translated into how specifically to put it to use, and lastly, and unethically, promotes her several thousand dollar seminar in obvious and subtle ways throughout the book. [I find it fraudulent when I am paying for content but only presented with empty or biased information to promote their more expensive products.]

Now that the useless parts are pulled away, is there anything left? Yes, if you've never been exposed to any basic financial planning material, because this is just more of the basic stuff that you'll find anywhere. Whether you have or not, there is still a big problem with Kim's book: who is your audience? There is quite a chasm on how she approached writing the book - do you offer broad strokes or loads of tiny details. Kim seems to have chosen randomly between them; as an example, she offers a several minute details for estate planning but she is not a licensed attorney so who knows how up-to-date or appropriate this information is; and she doesn't offer the overall view aside from a few questions to be sure to ask (based on what?). Like many sections of the book, you would be far better off with a book specifically written by an expert in that area or a general view of personal finance that touches on estate planning that includes where to get more detailed information.

The area of Kim's alleged expertise is investing. Here is the summary of what she says about investing in this book: money managers and funds never beat the indexes (in aggregate), so do your own investing by yourself and focus on generating income - and, by the way, my method on generating income is really good. I am acquainted with Kim's investing method only because I know two of her students. They stopped using her method when their portfolios were obliterated between the Summer of 2007 and Summer of 2008. I have no idea how representative these results were, but I know they paid her $4,000 to learn how to make Kim's huge return claims but they were left with decimated retirement accounts.

Regardless of their results with her method, Kim's book does not stand on its own and I couldn't possibly recommend it to anyone interested in personal finance. There are any number of books 10 times better than this one such as "What's Your Net Worth" by Jennifer Openshaw, or "Get Your Assets in Gear" by Jan Dahlin. If you want really simply info. get a basic book by Suze Ormand.

How to be the family CFO is one of those books you just can't put down. Kim explains in easy to understand language how every family needs a CFO. She explains how to make shopping without buying a leisure activity, by not buying things that did not move her toward her ultimate goal. This book has been immense help to our family.

This book is great! it is easy to read and understand. Lots of good, down to earth advice.
Earthmomaw

This review will be short, because my view of How to be the Family CFO, is mixed. Let me start by saying that I preferred the book Easy Money, by Liz Pulliam Weston, because it had more concrete advice than did Family CFO, by Kim Snider.

Also, I did not feel that I was being "marketed to" in Easy Money, but I did in Family CFO, particularly toward the end of the book, where the dividend-oriented Snider Investment Method (R), is discussed. What put me off was the promotional nature of the writing, and the lack of detail, particularly any information on capital gains and losses from the strategy. Definitely not Global Investment Performance Standards-compliant. Also, the strategy would be undiversified, in my opinion, by being overexposed to income factors.

Now, there is one major positive to the book, a place in which it is superior to Easy Money. It motivates the "why" of getting your financial life in order, while Easy Money is better with the "how." What I admire about the author is that after failure, she grew up, and learned to be a serious adult about planning for the future, and using money wisely.

Most of my readers I expect are good at handling their money, but perhaps you have family or friends with self-inflicted money troubles. If they lack motivation, you could get them a copy of Family CFO (with my caveats). If they have motivation but lack knowledge, you could give them Easy Money.

Both are available from Amazon:

How to Be the Family CFO

Easy Money: How to Simplify Your Finances and Get What You Want out of Life (Liz Pulliam Weston)

For once someone provides real information on investing based on sound, unbiased data which reveals the charlatan manner in which many major investment firms approach the way they treat their customers. I have hope that I will be able to change my purposes for investing and achieve the long range goals I have for me and my family.

I've met Kim and I can almost hear her voice as I read this great book. It truly comes from the heart and her advice and lessons are right on target. It is timely, thorough, easy to read and understand...If you have ever used, spent, earned, invested or saved money, you should own this book.

As a Snider Method alumnus, I was eager to read this book to see what else Kim might have to say. I was delighted to see that not only is this is a great "how-to" manual for all facets of personal financial management, but is written with the humor and style that is so typical of Kim. When you meet her or are taught by her, you become her friend for life. This is great information, and a fun read!

Kim's new book is a wonderful combination of common sense, organization and teaching from hard learned experiences. The book is like talking with Kim: easy to understand and will motivate you into action. Kim would tell you; do it yourself, you have your best interest at heart.

As a participant in the Snider Method, I can tell you this is pure Kim. It is well organized, well annotated, and outline summaries are in the back. You can use this book as a manual for organizing your financial life!

This was a wonderful book to read, I would recommend it to everyone. I learned a lot about personal finance, they should teach this stuff in school.