Customer Reviews

WALL STREET JOURNAL GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING PERSONAL FINANCE: Revised and Updated

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The world of personal finance and investing has exploded, as witnessed by the growth of books on the subject. But for many people, the understanding of the difference between an IRA and the IRS is a bit hazy. That's what this book is for. It is not a deep analysis of how to invest. It is however a quick primer to bring you up to speed for the more detailed books. Issues are covered on a high level, but are meant to introduce the reader to what Personal Finance encompasses - banking, investing, buying a home, paying taxes. It is a springboard for starting to learn more, or to just grab when you're unsure what a convertable bond is compared to a zero coupon bond. Today it is taken too much for granted that people know what they need to in order to even start making financial decisions. This book is a good cheat sheet for those who just want to get a basic understanding.

An excellent first step to understanding your financial activities. It really does start at the beginning: your local bank and its services, checks, ATMs, savings, monthly statements etc. In the other five chapters (Credit, Home finance, Financial planning, Investing, Taxes) most of the other money matters that you'll encounter are explained.

Finance seems to be a mystery to a lot of folk so the writer's and designer's of this book have done their best to make it as straightforward as possible and rather than have page after page of what could be very dry text each spread has lots of smart graphics, colored panels and jargon-free text that flows between these visual elements. It is all very controlled and as a publication designer I can appreciate the creative input that has gone into these pages. (I liked it so much I included it in my Listmania 'Ten of my favorite well designed books').

If you think you know all about your money this is not the book for you but if you don't then get this book and find out about your finances in these very user friendly pages. The same editorial folk have done another excellent book, 'Guide to Understanding Money and Investing', using the same straightforward language and graphic techniques and although the subject is a lot more complex it is still easy to understand.

this book is a great introduction to personal finance, including banking, loans, investing, taxes, and retirement planning. it covers all of the basics, provides a nice, clear description of the processes and the structures of documents, and a glossary of important terms.

however, it's just an introduction. the book doesn't spend more than a few pages on any subtopic (ie the structure of a paycheck, the basics of a tax form). for details you'll have to go elsewhere, so keep that in mind.

as such, i'd reccomend this book to someone who is just learning the basics of money and the world of personal finance. it's a big world, you don't need to start with all of the details, so this is a good place to start. but very quickly you'll find you need more information, and you'll outgrow this book.

A book that calls itself a guide should be full of information that the reader can take and use on his/her own. This book has a good overview of finances, but it does a poor job of relating one branch of finance to another. There is no building of knowledge for the reader, so it is as if you are reading a different book on each page. For a book issued by the Wall Street Journal, I was rather disappointed.

Most of us have some gaps in our understanding of personal finances. This approachable guide lays it out briefly and understandably. Since my attention span is short for this topic, this is the kind of guide I needed.
For instance, the two-page section on DEALING WITH A LENDER, shows a loan application form with 6 boxed explanations for parts of the form.
You won't learn everything you need to know in two-page bites, but it gets you briefed on everything from mutual funds, making a will, getting insurance, understanding credit card statements, 401(k) plans, your W-2 form, etc.
Once you grasp the basics, you can find a book specifically on wills or whatever you are dealing with at the moment.
Gaining control over your finances can start with this book!

This book is filled with illustrations and is great for beginners or for those who are more visual learners. I personally didn't find this book extremely helpful because I have a background in finance but the illustrations and information is helpful for tutoring and explaining some of the concepts. It is also a good review tool or handy reference guide when you have a quick question about finance matters. In addition the range of material covered is great. You won't find this much investment information in one place so concisely organized.

I highly recommend thsi book, I live in Mexico, and altough some things are different in my country regarding to investing it works for me a lot (85%) I suppose that this is a great book to American people, it helps a lot understanding issues that you do no get, like calculating all kind of interests and yields.

I've just graduated from college and wanted to learn how to not be poor anymore. I bought this book because I knew about Wall Street Journal's reputation for expertise and in-depth analysis of the economy etc. What I didn't expect was a book equivalent to a children's primer on personal finance. It's not bad, per se, it's just not what I expected from the Wall Street Journal.

The book covers a broad range of topics from paper money to mortgages to stocks and bonds. Unfortunately, the coverage is shallow, mostly giving definitions of what things are. The book consists of teen magazine-like layouts of pictures, graphs, and diagrams. Some of the information is helpful while some of it is interesting but trivial, and all of it is in colorful, bite-sized portions. While it's entertaining and easy-to-understand, it's also quite "fluff"-y at times.

It's a good introduction to personal finance for someone who doesn't know much about how money works beyond how to buy things. It may be ok for new high school or college grads, either as a reference or a first book on personal finance but it's not at the level for anyone who actually wants to start investing and already knows the basics. Ironically, it seems to be below the level of Wall Street Journal readers. I have since given my copy away. For someone who already knows the basics but wants a introduction to investing, I enjoyed "The First Book of Investing: The Absolute Beginner's Guide to Building Wealth Safely" by Samuel Case. It's the only other book on investing I've read (I bought it on sale on a whim), but it was clear and informative, albeit a little optimistic.

The book was brand new and they said it was just good, very satisfied and also it got to me way earlier than expected highly reccomended!

I found this book, and the companion piece Wall Street Journal Guide to Understanding Money and Investing, practically worthless. I have heard raves about this book's presentation. I think the presentation is far too simplistic. This book did not hold my attention one bit and I quickly put it down. If you are looking for a mature introduction to the Market and or Personal finance I recommend you keep looking past these two books.