Squandering Aimlessly: My Adventures in the American Marketplace [Abridged] [Audible Audio Edition]

by David Brancaccio (Author, Narrator)

Product Details

• Audible Audio Edition
• Listening Length: 3 hours and 6 minutes
• Program Type: Audiobook
• Version: Abridged
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Audible.com Release Date: February 18, 2000
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0000547DR
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)

Editorial Reviews

What do Americans do with their money? Marketplace host David Brancaccio took a financial pilgrimage across the country to find out. From Minnesota's Mall of America to Wall Street, from entrepreneurs in California to retirees in Arizona, Brancaccio investigates the American meaning of money in Squandering Aimlessly. But are we throwing our dough out the window? Brancaccio was challenged by a cascade of practical issues: If consumption drives the economy, is there something wrong with saving? Is there such a thing as a socially responsible investment? Is charity an investment? If you can't beat a Las Vegas casino, can you beat the stock market? Find out if you agree with the advice of a drifter in the desert or a U.S. secretary of the treasury - and get some entertaining lessons about how best to spend, invest, and save your money to boot!

Brancaccio is host and senior editor of Marketplace, public radio's award-winning business program produced at the University of Southern California and distributed nationwide by Public Radio International.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wit and Wisdom, February 11, 2000

By 

Carl Carter (Mountain View, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Squandering Aimlessly : MY ADVENTURES in the AMERICAN MARKETPLACE (Hardcover)

David B. is so original and fun on Marketplace i wondered if his style would work in a book. It sure does! Talk about a road trip---first, we meet a lot of people from all walks of life. And David is a much better companion than Kerouac. David B asks a lot of good questions about money--the stuff that haunts you late at night or on the ride to work. This book is deep, human, smart and like David on air, original.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Meandering about Money, May 27, 2001

By 

Jacki Stirn (Greenwood Village, CO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Squandering Aimlessly: On the Road with the Host of Public Radio's "Marketplace" (Paperback)

In Squandering Aimlessly, David Brancaccio allows us to accompany him on his personal finance pilgrimage. While there was no surplus in question at the moment, there had been a surplus of money in the past and he didn't know what to make of it at that time. Brancaccio is the host of the public radio program, Marketplace and wanted to have more answers handy when asked about money.

"I didn't start out with a surplus, but I came back richer and no longer breaking out in hives if I found myself in the clutches of a bonus payment, a severance check, a capital gain of one sort or another, an inheritance, a lottery win, a tax refund, or simply the realization that the passbook savings account finally contains some serious money."

While some of those situations may not be your money issue, it is that time of year for many of us to have a tax refund pop into our hands. His travels take us from a nudist village in France to the Mall of America to a discussion with Vicki Robin(co-author of Your Money or Your Life) in Seattle to a music college in Texas. I savored this book. This book is to money the way Calvin Trillin's Alice, Let's Eat is to food. There are very few books that that have made me laugh out loud and this is one of them. Beware reading while eating or drinking lest liquid exit through your nostrils.

Let me state up front that I was utterly jealous of a fellow human being who managed to have this pilgrimage supported by someone else's surplus. While the book allows us to share and enjoy Brancaccio's experiences, the subtle lessons about money and life are there in all their glory. In the Mall of America, I want to shout, "Go ahead, have a Cinnabon !" Each chapter ends with a souvenir, a to-do list and calculations relating to the chapter.

Brancaccio considers socially responsible investing while attending a conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. One of his conclusions is that: "Trying too diligently to come up with a really groovy portfolio runs the danger of turning you into one of those obsessive-compulsive hand washers. You keep trying to sanitize your holdings, but you keep turning up more dirt." His wife has endeared herself to me forever with her comments before Brancaccio heads out to research charity in Hawthorne, Nevada. "On the way out the door very early this morning, my wife cast a protective spell around me. `If you run across a place called the Mustang Ranch,' she said matter-of-factly from her pillow, her eyes still closed, `keep in mind those women wear stretch pants and fuzzy slippers in their off hours.' "

This book covers the gamut of financial choices one might make with a sense of humor and wonderful storytelling. I highly recommend it.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars writes as good as he talks, March 18, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Squandering Aimlessly : MY ADVENTURES in the AMERICAN MARKETPLACE (Hardcover)

Good talkers don't necessarily produce good books--other Radio and TV interviewers ("journalists")often try to foist off as book what are little more than pastiches of transcripts. Broncaccio writes in the "show, don't tell" style that has the reader with him in every town, roadstop, meeting, casino, flophouse and in on every epiphany. He also knows how to crunch the numbers to learn the truth: how much will it take if a late 30-something like himself wants to retire in an "active" community (millions). Is buying a house really the biggest economic plus you can tally? For such a public figure, Broncaccio gives a lot of himself away in this fast, fun informative book. His premise for this one was right on, and I hope he thinks up some more.