Customer Reviews

How to Ruin Your Financial Life

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Ben Stein's real point is that financial success in life doesn't require being a genius at handling money -- it's about avoiding the dumb, completely preventable mistakes that we all make sooner or later. If I had read this hilarious book when I was sixteen, I would be far richer today. Read it yourself, and then get copies for your kids. It's everything you wish they knew but won't listen to coming from you. If this means you don't have to bail them out of debt later on, the money you save may end up being your own!

Considering the impending doom of the American financial situation in years to come, all High School students need to read this book to understand simple economics. One of the biggest complaints about Americans economically is that they don't save. Well Stein's virtually sarcastic way of telling you excactly how to ruin your life financially is amusing and direct such as "don't worry about maxing out your credit cards, you can always get another one and no one will foreclose because people really like you". Written in a way that teenagers will get the message and the humor, direct, short and sweet. This book is within a teenagers attention span, the smart ones will get the message in a few short chapters.

Everyone makes mistakes with their money. We use it for foolish things, we spend too much, don't save enough, make dumb investments, and on and on it goes. Most of the time we try not to think about our mistakes and if we don't learn our lessons we end up making the same kinds of mistakes many times. So, sometimes it is good to get a reminder of all the kinds of mistakes we make and spend some time thinking about what we really should be doing to get our financial house in order.

Ben Stein has written "How To Ruin Your Financial Life" in a gently humorous way that lets us see most clearly the foolishness of the decisions we excuse ourselves in making. By writing the book as 55 financial principles you can follow to ensure complete and utter ruin, it is easier for us to recognize ourselves as having done far too many of these idiotic things. I call them idiotic because you will find yourself saying, "What kind of idiot would do THAT!" and then you will remember that it was you (me). So, the learning will begin and things will get better when you do the opposite of everything in the book.

For those that don't get it, the Afterword sets out the fundamental principles in a positive way.

One of the problems with reading little books is that you can dash through them quickly. Don't! Spend time thinking about each of these principles. Better you should take one a day and really ponder it than try to swallow everything Mr. Stein is offering in one sitting. Getting control of your money is too important to leave to happenstance.

Thanks, Mr. Stein!

A Wonderful book detaling many simple ways to ruin your financial life. Ben Stein does it again! This great little book is the opposite of all the `how to be succesful' books because here we learn how to not ruin our lives. In a way this book is more important because most of us are more concerned with protecting our finances then we are with making millions. This little instruction book details everything not to do, from credit cards to wasting time watching the late night financial success stories. A wonderful fun book.

Ben Stein knows how to dispense basic financial advice. Don't put it in a stuffy investment tome and don't give it as a lecture. Instead use sarcasm and satire, presenting poor financial decisions in an absurd manner which will hopefully induce people who need the advice to follow it. Let's face it-nothing Ben says is complicated-it's all common sense-and nothing should really even need to be said. But this book is for people who don't have a lot of financial sense, who don't save money and have a tendency to get bamboozled by get rich quick schemes. Stein shows, in a simple and unmistakable way, the folly of 55 poor financial decisions that are, alas, common. An example: in one short chapter Ben advises making only the minimum payments on credit cards, and in another he advocates transferring balances so you'll never have to pay them off. In doing so he points out what a poor decision this really is, and hopefully inspires people to avoid this pitfall. This book works because it is both simple and informative, without being either condescending or boring.

I love Ben Stein: his books, his knowledge and wisdom, his vast range of experience, his articles in the NYTimes.... His style of communication has the capacity to touch a chord with a broad range of people.

I've read most of his books, and enjoyed them all. This one is the second of three "tongue in cheek" volumes that I've had the pleasure to read. It's funny and quick to read, and makes some terrific points about flawed, short-sighted attitudes that I see all around me: "I'm always going to have money. Good things will always happen to me" (magical thinking). If you've ever heard or seen Ben, at times you can imagine his voice narrating a passage - and I would actually chuckle out loud at those times.

(BTW, if an audio version of this book is ever made, Ben Stein must be the narrator.)

Yes, the slim volume DRIPS with sarcasm, as was intended, but all of the points that are made in a series of very-short chapters (that flow from each other in logical fashion) are filled with solid money management information (if you would do the REVERSE, so as not to "ruin" your financial life!) - and the book should be required reading for every teenager and young adult. In fact, plenty of adults could benefit, as well, now that I think about it. It's rare that an educational volume is so funny (or that a humorous book is so educational!) The author is well-versed in the subject of finances and, in this book, manages to break the topic down into manageable and understandable elements so that the rest of us may also GET A CLUE.

I originally bought the book for my 19-year-old son but then realized that the young single mothers at my workplace were struggling with most of the issues presented in the book, and needed it more than my son, so I merely left the book in the breakroom when I had finished reading it. It was "borrowed" by someone before the day was over! I hope it keeps circulating.

Thanks, Ben, for another WINNER.

I am in the financial planning business. I manage my money well. Often it is hard to recall some of the silly things folks do with their money and how they make financial choices. Thanks to Ben's book, it is obvious why a fool and his money are soon parted.

Sure, there are plenty of books out there about how to get rich. They almost always fail because the authors are ignorant of how money works. Ben Stein is a true financial expert and only someone of his caliber can teach us how to blow it all. A hilariously written book and a tongue in-cheek way of assessing one's own financial foibles. I must admit that I am guilty of more than a few of these tips (I won't say which ones!) The essay titles say it all. Here are a few:

*Save money only when you feel like it, and if you just don't feel like saving, then don't.

*Forget to pay your taxes.

*Collect as many credit cards as you can and use them frequently.

*As soon as you've succeeded in maxing out your credit cards, get new ones!

*Don't think about retirement- it's a loooooooong way off.

*Start a business with inadequate capital- in a difficult field and in a difficult location- and expect it to prosper. (also titled, "Open A Restaurant.")

and my favorite...

Find a man or woman with really expensive tastes and reckless financial habits- and marry him or her!

Ben Stein should be a keynote speaker on high schools (or even grade schools), because what he says could form the basis of an excellent class on financial literacy. After all, our kids are supposed to learn the basics of reading, writing and mathematics but...what about the basics of how to handle money? Isn't that equally important (and for those who say they learn it at home, the level of personal debt in this country is alarming, so I'd argue that point).
In any case, the humor and writing style of this book makes it very accessable and it should reach a readership that finds other financial books too dry or ho-hum. This one is not and if you simply do everything the opposite of what you'd do to "ruin" your financial life, you will be on a more solid financial path. Get this. Read it. Share it with a teenager or high school student or anyone being lured down the road to instant gratification, expensive cars and clothes and who is NOT looking at the larger picture - or their financial future.
Funny thing,too. With a little foresight and by starting early, it is possible to indulge (some) and have enough for the future. Read this book. You'll get the point.

Most people in the US could really use this book. So many people believe things about finances that are not true or they don't think about their finances at all.
Anyway, Dr. Ben Stein will straighten the reader out with this excellent book (I hope).
Dr. Stein uses a sarcastic approach to helping the reader see what he/she is doing wrong. I nearly split my side laughing about the late night infomercials. Stein hammers away at people for not saving money or charging up credit cards, etc.
At the end of the book Dr. Stein tells the reader to save a portion of their income and buy index funds, annuities (which I wouldn't do), CD's, and good mutual funds.
Ben Stein has a Ph.D in Economics, so I think we should take him seriously.
How To Ruin Your Financial Life is a great book for students and for those who have just plain been getting kicked around by life.
An excellent buy. Don't delay this purchase.