Customer Reviews

Make Money, Not Excuses: Wake Up, Take Charge, and Overcome Your Financial Fears Forever

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Jean Chatzby has a special knack for reaching the average consumer and clarifying seemingly complex, frightening or confusing financial topics. Much of what she covers SHOULD be taught at home or in school but, if consumer spending patterns are any indication, people aren't picking up the information before adulthood...for whatever reason.
This book, as the title implies, will help those who feel overwhelmed and fearful of handling their money. I've watched her on television and read her online columns as well as other books and I really like her newest book.
The book addresses these topics and more:
1. The importance of saving regularly, no matter how little.
2. How even small changes in spending patterns can make a HUGE difference.
3. Getting on top of debt, including credit card debt.
4. Retirement planning.
5. Taking the fear out of investing and showing that one does not have to be a stock market whiz to accumulate savings through investing. Even an amateur with the right portfolio balance can achieve nice, steady gains.
6. The basics of home finance and financial literacy, broken down into a few simple steps.

The author wrote this book to be directed to women. If you enjoy shopping and hate dealing with finances, then this book is for you. Jean Chatzky will gently guide you with a little prodding to quit whining and get your finances in order.
She believes if you want to get rich, if you want to be wealthier than you are today, you really need to do only four things.
1)You need to make a decent living.
2)You need to spend less than you make.
3)You need to invest the money you don't spend so that it can work as hard for you as you are working for yourself.
4)And you need to protect yourself and this financial world you've built so that a disaster-big or small-doesn't take it all away from you.
This is outstanding advice and I completely agree with her, these have been the keys to building my personal 6 figure net worth.
She also has sprinkled through out "Map to a Million" which shows you what saving and investing a certain amount of money will grow to in 20 or 30 years. Some of the amounts are really shocking. For example start investing 10% of a $35,000 income at 30 years old and you will have $457,254 at retirement, if the employer gives a 5% match it will be $685,881 at 65 years old.(This does not even include raises, and the money gets about 8% a year in stock index funds).
If you are a beginner in personal finance reade this book, it will be a tremendous help. Also read Financial Peace by Dave Ramsey for a book from a male perspective.

If you like Jean Chatzky's approach to handling money on The Today Show, then you'll like having this book as part of an introduction to managing money. She walks the reader through the process of understanding money and how to make it work for you. She also gets to the basics of understanding math (calculating interest, percentages, decimals, etc)in general which is great for the person who suffers from math anxiety. Jean Chatzky demystifies the abstract, the fear of money, the idea that if you haven't taken courses in economics, business or finance, you won't ever figure any of this "money stuff" out. She makes women "get" what many people may not want us to "get". It is empowering.
Thank you, Jean.

To say this book is written for females from a feminine perspective is a misnomer. While that may be true, it is also undeniable -- anyone reading this book will benefit from the author's practical and realistic advice.

The entire book can be summed up in the four recommendations everyone can and should do to have financial solvency. Readers will enjoy and appreciate how the author compares things we do in our daily lives ( i.e., organize the closet) to be more efficient , as guidelines to get our financial house in order.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it for all women (and men) looking to become financially independent -- and have fun while doing it!

Reggie Johnson, Success-Tapes.Com

I really enjoyed this book. It is basic money management. It was easy reading and gave some great tips. I shared a lot of the information with my 25 year old son. It reinforced what I already knew about money management. I highly recommend it for beginners, people in debt or those that don't have a plan for the future. I believe we have to make our own retirement funds because in todays world every job is a temp job so it will be hard to earn a retirement fund.

The focus of this book seems to be on married women who like to go shopping, are totally clueless about money, their own net worth, checking accounts, investments, etc. who let their husbands make all of the financial decisions. The message seems to be that this isn't a good thing and women should watch their spending and be involved in the family financial decisions. Well, duh. The financial advice in the book is really basic, common sense stuff and seems to be directed a kind of 1950s era, June Cleaver kind of audience. I can't say that I personally know any women are so clueless about their finances that the simplistic advice in this book would really be of benefit to them. If you do need very simple financial advice, there are probably thousands, if not millions, of web sites with basic financial advice that a person could read for free on the Internet instead of buying this book.

This is a well-written, informative, resource for women. Definately a great learning tool and valuable resource for your library. I bought this book for my daughter and ended reading it first for myself. So I ended up buying another for me. I bought this book after listening to the author speak on Oprah and Friends XM radio show. She was impressive and had excellent financial advice. It was a good choice.

It's frightening that high school students aren't taught personal finance. Too many Americans get suckered into thinking that buying things brings happiness. Chatzky proposes setting some financial goals and getting away from the buy-it-now way of thinking.
Thinking about what you want in the future, helps you avoid spending money on things today that don't help you reach that future goal. Do these excuses sound familiar:
I deserve it * I don't earn enough to save * I could die tomorrow, so I'll live for today * I'm too busy to compare prices
Chatzky says we need to think about self-care and being responsible. There's paying for college, retirement and caring for our elderly parents in our future, so who's going to pay for it if we don't plan for it?

"Make Money Not Excuses" is a user-friendly motivational and practical guide for making the decision (and taking the first steps) to becoming secure in one's financial present and long-term future. I read this book cover-to-cover in just two days -- it really got me excited about making, saving, and investing my money!

Previously, I have used David Bach's "The Automatic Millionaire" and "Smart Women Finish Rich" to develop and maintain my financial plan. I preferred Bach's books for the specific to-dos in regards to saving and investing money -- I felt that he provided more concrete examples and advice for making decisions and taking the appropriate next steps. While Chatzky's book is also motivational and has the advantage of addressing many "female" concerns (e.g., wanting to invest, but lacking the confidence to do so) and habits (e.g., I have nothing to wear!), she offers fewer directions for developing a true action plan. Bach got me on track with my savings, retirement investments and debt-management -- Chatzky helped maintain my motivation and, by echoing many of the same principles as Bach, reminded me of some outstanding responsibilities that I have procrastinated (e.g., life and disability insurance).

For women who are just starting to take control of their finances, or who are looking for ways to make their money work harder for the long-run, I would recommend starting with "Smart Women Finish Rich" and then following up with "Make Money Not Excuses." As a woman in my 20s, it feels great to realize that my financial situation is under control and that I am working every day to secure a stable future. Remember, it's not how much money you make, it's how much you keep... and how you make it work for you!

* The tips provided in order to take charge of our financial is really fresh.
* The motivational words inside this book really is inspiring.
* Now I know how easy it is to become the master of our own money and take charge.
* The examples shown on real life people having difficulties to control their financial income really has help me to look forward.
* Did I mention this book is way too cheap. The content is excellent.