Customer Reviews

Navigating the Financial Blogosphere: How to Benefit from Free Information on the Internet

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

 

 

This was a nice little book written by a young professional who works as a wealth manager. It's a personal finance or young person's financial planning book. I liked the way the book presented the material in clear and digestible snippets. I read a book not too long ago that was similar in format. See Blogging and Podcasting (ISBN: 1419584359). In both books the authors promote themselves through blogging. And instead of writing their books as a separate and distinct activity as compared to their blogs, they lift a lot of their content from their blogs and spruce it up a little before calling it a book.

This book has 27 chapters divided up into the following four sections:

1. First perspectives on money (chapters 1-5)
2. Building wealth requires planing (chapters 6-13)
3. Living in a financial world (chapters 14-21)
4. Think long-term about money management (chapters 22-27)

The chapters are short which is why I equate them to spruced-up blog entries. And the number of chapters is large, another reason this book has the feel of a blog rather than something that was put together originally as a book.

The book is well-written and easy to read and follow. It cites much of its content to Web sites and links that can be found online. If you want to learn about some of the things the Internet has to offer regarding personal finance and financial planning, then I highly recommend this book. If you are just wanting to familiarize yourself with personal finance and financial planning, then this would be a nice book to read, too. However, it's not a treatise on the subject. 5 stars!

This book answered many of the financial questions that I was too ashamed to ask. Even though I went to business school, much of the financial world and the language that accompanies it was foreign to me. Rather than having to venture into this overwhelming territory unassisted, I read this book and was able to start making smart decisions about my finances and my life. I would strongly recommend this book for anyone looking to learn about money or improve their financial standing. Most importantly, the book was interesting and inspiring.

This book is an increadible resource for someone who is looking to increase their financial "common sense". After reading this book, I immediately contacted my financial advisor and consulted with him about some of Russell Bailyn's interesting perspectives (and I'm already seeing results!). Navigating the Financial Blogosphere is easy to read and easy to follow. It provides some great, practical tips which will help you increase your networth starting today! I highly, highly recommend it!

Russell Bailyn's views on today's financial market are inventive and refreshing. He's wealth of knowledge really shows and eventhough it may be his first book i'm sure it won't be his last. His ideas give me a new outlook on my personal finances and how I make decisions. This book is a must have!

Russell Bailyn is a Wealth manager who wrote a basic book on finances, but gave it a twist to emphasize what resources were available on the web, and at financial blogs specifically. He covers a wide number of areas in a basic way, sometimes giving answers where "one size fits all," or almost all, and sometimes explaining to readers what the right questions are when answers are situation-dependent.

Some of the areas he covers are:

* Banking, budgeting and credit.
* Financial planning and tax-deferred savings/investment
* Investment types
* Life insurance and annuities
* Retirement and portfolio management

The book isn't long at 220 pages, so as you might imagine, this book is wide, but not deep. I would recommend this book for people who are getting started in managing their finances, and want to take a more active hand there. Alternatively, it could benefit those who want to hire a financial planner, because they would better learn how to choose a planner, and better evaluate the advice that their planner gives them.

Because I am aware of most of the areas in the book, this is a book that I skimmed. That said, as I looked at critical ideas in the book, I found that I largely agreed with his ideas. As a trivia note, Alephblog and I get featured on page 177, in the chapter on portfolio management. If I had to featured in any chapter, I'm glad it was that one, because managing risk through proper portfolio management is near and dear to my heart.