25 Myths You've Got to Avoid If You Want to Manage Your Money Right : The New Rules for Financial Success [Hardcover]

Jonathan Clements (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 6, 1998

With wit and style, the award-winning writer of "The Wall Street Journal" column "Getting Going" debunks cherished old saws--such as the belief that bonds are the best bet for income and that home improvements are a good investment--to help readers understand the flaws that imperil today's most popular money strategies.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Worried about debt? Are you thinking about investing in a remodel on your house? Looking to invest your retirement in mutual funds? Or are you about to set up a custodial account for your kids? If you are, Jonathan Clements's book, 25 Myths You've Got to Avoid If You Want to Manage Your Money Right, couldn't be a timelier read. Clements, a columnist for the Wall Street Journal, picks apart long-standing myths of how you should manage your money and offers a set of sensible financial tips designed to help you sleep better at night.

Review

Marshall Loeb Jonathan Clements's excellent book will make you rethink your financial strategy. This funny, feisty personal-finance guide should be at the top of your reading list. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (February 6, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684839822
• ISBN-13: 978-0684839820
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,501,113 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The one best book on achieving financial success, February 8, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: 25 Myths You've Got to Avoid If You Want to Manage Your Money Right : The New Rules for Financial Success (Hardcover)

The best book I have read on financial planning strategies and tactics. If I had my own financial planning business, 25 Myths is the one book I would give to to clients to explain the basic rules to follow in implementing a successful financial plan. I enjoy reading Jonathan Clements's Getting Going columns in the Wall Street Journal. Don't worry his book is not a rehash of his articles, although many of his ideas and recommendations are familiar from reading his column. He takes 25 familar financial myths and explains how each myth arose, where we go wrong in following those myths and what the new rules are. Myth: Stocks are risky. Reality: Stocks are not risky compared to the risk you suffer from inflation if you concentrate your money in safe investments like bonds. Myth: You can beat the market. Reality: You can't beat the market but you can cut the costs by using discount brokers, no load mutual funds, low cost funds, and income tax efficient funds. Clements recommends keeping 80% of a person's investments in stocks (which shifts to 60% as you approach retirement). To ensure that upon retirement a person has a cash balance Clements offered the tactic of using zero coupon bonds to fund the cash balance for retirement. So long as one focuses on the maturity value in retirement, the possible fluctuations in value of zeros doesn't matter. I also liked his analysis of inflation indexed bonds as way to hedge against inflation and interest rate fluctuations. I will list the myths here because the book review does not list the table of contents: 1. You can have it all. 2. Get a good job and you'll be set for life. 3. Stocks are risky. 4. You can't go wrong with IBM. 5. You can beat the market. 6. Your investments will make 10 percent a year. 7. You can't go wrong with mutual funds. 8. You can find the next Magellan. 9. Index funds are guaranteed mediocrity. 10. Nothing's safer than money in the bank. 11. If you need income, buy bonds. 12. Hedge your bets with hard assets. 13. You should own a balanced portfolio. 14. You need a broker. 15. Keep six months of emergency money. 16. Debt is dangerous. 17. Buy the biggest house possible. 18. You can't beat the mortgage tax deduction. 19. Invest in your house. 20. Trade up as soon as you can. 21. Protect against every disaster. 22. Life insurance is a good investment. 23. Invest in your kid's name. 24. Max out your IRA every year. 25. One day, kids, all of this will be yours.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, Logical Recommendations -- Quick Read, June 20, 2002

By 

Matthew B. Montgomery (Lexington, KY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 25 MYTHS YOU'VE GOT TO AVOID--IF YOU WANT TO MANAGE YOUR MONEY RIGHT: The New Rules for Financial Success (Paperback)

This book covers the 25 myths about managing money. What makes this book better than others is that it gives you the background logic behind the decisions. For example, the author discusses the myth of buying the biggest house possible and why this mindset was successful in the 70s & 80s (and could be again) but isn't a good idea in today's economy. The author further shares the "forumula" behind the logic -- inflation rates, present/future value of money, and lost opportunity.

The 25 Myths are nothing surprising, but you will find that the logic is refreshingly simple and easy to apply to your financial situation.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars debunks the common beliefs, February 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: 25 MYTHS YOU'VE GOT TO AVOID--IF YOU WANT TO MANAGE YOUR MONEY RIGHT: The New Rules for Financial Success (Paperback)

Just read it today. Then I read a couple of other personal finance books. What a difference! Clements's book debunks some of the most commonly assumed beliefs. For example: owning a house is a must, or, home-improving by installing a new kitchen is a godd investment. Well, not really, and all the math shows it.