The Motley Fool Personal Finance Workbook : A Foolproof Guide to Organizing Your Cash and Building Wealth [Paperback]

David Gardner (Author), Tom Gardner (Author), Inc Motley Fool (Author), Dayana Yochim (Author), Robert Brokamp (Author)

Book Description

Series: Motley Fool Books | Publication Date: December 24, 2002

Pencil your way to financial security!

What would it be like to know that you were making the very best decision for every dollar you spent or saved? Can you imagine balancing your budget by the beginning of next month? Wouldn't it be great to know whether a pro's advice is right for your situation? How valuable would it be to have a customized financial plan that would serve you for life?

What you hold in your hands is the first step to achieving all of the above. Whatever your income, lifestyle, or financial concerns may be, The Motley Fool Personal Finance Workbook will help you put more power into every dollar. Like a financial global positioning system, The Motley Fool Personal Finance Workbook will show you exactly where you stand right now and the most direct path to where you want to be.

With easy-to-follow, quick-witted exercises, you'll discover all the ways that money touches your life -- from saving and spending to insurance to retirement. The Motley Fool's legendary smarts and math-made-easy will show you:

• How to create a workable budget that gives you money and a life

• The smartest (and fastest) way out of debt

• How to set priorities to guide your financial decisions

• The savviest ways to finance big purchases like a home or an education

• Tactics for eliminating stress when saving for retirement

And much more...

Hip, funny, and immediately useful, The Motley Fool Personal Finance Workbook is an indispensable hands-on guide for anyone looking to make the most of his or her money.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The latest volume by investment gurus and Motley Fool founders David and Tom Gardner veers away from stocks and speculation into the much more pedestrian subject of money management. Well known for their humor as well as for their financial savvy, the Gardner brothers keep the rough ground of money basics lively. (We know it's boring, the authors say; "that's why we've hidden crisp five-dollar bills throughout the pages.") The dreariest of money matters-budgets, debt, insurance and taxes-are addressed in reassuring prose, illustrated with charts and further detailed with checklists and goal graphs. Even reluctant readers will be coaxed to face financial realities through the Gardners' encouragement and the helpful worksheets. Readers won't find dazzling new insights on how to hire a financial planner or buy big-ticket items, but they will find very friendly advisors who crack jokes as they dispense wisdom. The substance here is well-tread ground, as it should be, but the style is straight from the Fool's funny bone.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Tom and David Gardner cofounded The Motley Fool, a multi-media financial education company, in 1993. Since then they have co-authored four New York Times bestsellers, including The Motley Fool Investment Guide and The Motley Fool's Rule Breakers, Rule Makers.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone; Original edition (December 24, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743229975
• ISBN-13: 978-0743229975
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #71,487 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

74 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun!, June 27, 2003

By 

Cory C. P. Butzon (Fayetteville, GA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Motley Fool Personal Finance Workbook : A Foolproof Guide to Organizing Your Cash and Building Wealth (Paperback)

This book has been a great step-by-step guide to getting financially organized. It's geared to average working-class folks, not aspiring accountants and brokers. The author's humorous approach makes the material accessible and interesting!

The book begins with steps to determine where your money goes, then works through ways to eliminate debt, plan for emergencies, and invest money for various purposes: retirement, college, and other large expenses. The book also includes advice for buying insurance and completing your taxes.

The book is a beginner's guide, not an exaustive reference -- so don't expect to find all the information you need if you want to invest in individual stocks or understand each line of your tax return. Rather, it gives clear advice to new investors through commonsense arguments that require almost no background information.

Only two minor complaints: First, health insurance is not discussed. Some advice on such an important kind of insurance would have been very helpful to me. Second, the authors repeatedly advertise their website.

(To their credit, the website Fool.com is a pretty good resource. You might want to try it before you get the book or even instead of the book. It has free trial membership as of this writing.)

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book..., November 29, 2005

By 

Gadget Girl (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Motley Fool Personal Finance Workbook : A Foolproof Guide to Organizing Your Cash and Building Wealth (Paperback)

I bought this book about a year after college, when I wanted to come up with a plan to get rid of some credit card debt and begin saving money. This guide is fun and interesting, yet informative. It guides you step-by-step through good personal finance habits, and allows you to prioritize what goals you have for the future. The most insightful to me was when it asks you to name the things you spend that LEAST contribute to your happiness and MOST contribute to your happiness. I.E. - it's not wasteful if the spending improves your quality of life - versus you're just spending to spend! The workbook section asks you to guess how much you spend on things each month and then actually track your spending for 6 months to help you develop a realistic budget & see how you did. It's definitely a wake-up call to people like me, who seemed to piddle their money away without realizing exactly where it's going. This exercise helps you find the answer to that question!

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun!, June 27, 2003

By 

Cory C. P. Butzon (Fayetteville, GA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Motley Fool Personal Finance Workbook : A Foolproof Guide to Organizing Your Cash and Building Wealth (Paperback)

This book has been a great step-by-step guide to getting financially organized. It's geared to average working-class folks, not aspiring accountants and brokers. The author's humorous approach makes the material accessible and interesting!

The book begins with steps to determine where your money goes, then works through ways to eliminate debt, plan for emergencies, and invest money for various purposes: retirement, college, and other large expenses. The book also includes advice for buying insurance and completing your taxes.

The book is a beginner's guide, not an exaustive reference -- so don't expect to find all the information you need if you want to invest in individual stocks or understand each line of your tax return. Rather, it gives clear advice to new investors through commonsense arguments that require almost no background information.

Only two complaints: First, health insurance is not discussed. Some advice on such an important kind of insurance would have been very helpful to me. Second, the authors repeatedly advertise their website. (To their credit, the website ...is a pretty good resource. You might want to try it before you get the book or even instead of the book. It has free trial membership as of this writing.)