The Truth About Money 4th Edition [Paperback]

Ric Edelman (Author)

Book Description

Release date: December 21, 2010

“A single source for what you need to know to put your financial house in order, an impressive piece of work, and very useful.”
—Bob Clark, Editor-in-Chief, Dow Jones Investment Advisor

 

Ric Edelman, America’s most successful financial advisor, has revised and updated his classic personal finance bestseller to reflect the new global economic outlook. In his 4^th edition of The Truth About Money, Edelman tells you everything you need to know about money—an essential, yet delightfully breezy and accessible, must-read manual for anyone who may have previously sought the financial wisdom of Suze Orman and Jean Chatzky. The Truth About Money is an indispensible guide to money matters from the man whom Barrons named the #1 independent financial advisor in the country.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The Personal Finance Classic . . . that's fun to read!

You Need the Truth About Money

Completely revised and expanded, The Truth About Money shows you everything you need to know about personal finance—and explains it all in plain English. Investments, insurance, taxes, mortgages, leasing cars, getting out of debt, wealth planning for multimillion-dollar estates—it's all here for you.

Whether you're saving for college or retirement, buying a home or selling one, concerned about long-term care for yourself or your parents, worried about an impending job loss, or facing any financial decision, knowing what's in The Truth About Money will help you make great financial decisions.

New to This Edition

Planning Your Retirement Lifestyle
Learn how to retire in comfort and financial security (and what to do when you get there) (pg. 485).

The Best Investment Choice
Learn how ETFs can help you create wealth while saving you big money (pg. 176).

Target-Date Funds
It's what you don't know that can hurt you (pg. 269).

Behavioral Finance and Neuroeconomics
Learn why you make bad financial decisions—and how to break the cycle (pg. 224).

Picking the Best Funds
Find out the truth about Morningstar ratings (pg. 250).

Are Your Parents Aging?
See how best to provide help—without harming yourself financially (pg. 374).

The Most Important Financial Decision You'll Make
Find out how to make this decision successfully (pg. 631).

Plus more than 100 Pages of New Content!

About the Author

Ric Edelman is Barron's #1 independent financial advisor, the bestselling author of seven books on personal finance, and host of The Ric Edelman Show, heard on radio stations nationwide. Ric's firm, Edelman Financial Services, manages $5 billion in assets and has been helping people achieve financial success for twenty-five years.

Product Details

• Paperback: 736 pages
• Publisher: HarperBusiness; 4 Rev Exp edition (December 21, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062006487
• ISBN-13: 978-0062006486
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,150 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #20 in Books > Business & Investing > Personal Finance > Budgeting & Money Management

More About the Author

Ric Edelman is one of the nation's most acclaimed financial advisors. Ric's firm, Edelman Financial Services, manages more than $5 billion in assets and has been helping people achieve financial success for 25 years. He and his firm have won more than 75 financial, business, community and philanthropic awards, and his commitment to teaching consumers about personal finance has established him as one of the most popular financial professionals in America.

In 2010, Barron's named Ric the No. 1 independent financial advisor in the country(1) for the second year in a row. In 2004, Ric was inducted into the Financial Advisor Hall of Fame, ranked the No. 1 advisor in the nation by Research Magazine(2) for his focus on the individual client and ranked No. 42 on Registered Rep(3) magazine's list of "America's Top 50 Advisors."

In prior years, he won the Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Washington, D.C. by Ernst and Young (2001), the Blue Chip Enterprise Award from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (2000) and Inc. magazine(4) three times named the firm the fastest growing privately-held financial planning firm in the country.

Ric is a #1 New York Times best-selling author. His seven books on personal finance include Ordinary People, Extraordinary Wealth; The New Rules of Money; Discover the Wealth Within You; What You Need to Do Now; The Lies About Money; Rescue Your Money; and the personal finance classic, The Truth About Money, now in its fourth edition. Collectively, Ric's books have sold more than 1 million copies, have been translated into several languages, and have educated countless people worldwide.

The Truth About Money with Ric Edelman can be heard on radio stations throughout the country. The live call-in advice program has been on the air for nearly 20 years and earned Ric the A.I.R. Award for Best Talk Show Host in Washington, D.C. (1993). He also publishes a monthly newsletter, has built one of the most comprehensive and free online educational resources about personal finance at www.RicEdelman.com, and is the author of a variety of video and audio educational systems that help people achieve their financial goals.


(1) Barron's ranking "Top 100 Independent Financial Advisors" (Aug. 28, 2010 / Aug. 31, 2009) based on the quality of the advisors' practices, including client retention and compliance record, contribution to the firm's profitability, and the volume of assets overseen by the advisors and their teams.

(2) Registered Rep magazine cover story "Clean Machines - Top 50 Brokers," September 2004.

(3) Research magazine cover story "Advisor Hall of Fame," December 2004 (based on serving a minimum of 15 years in the industry, having acquired substantial assets under management, demonstrating superior client service and having earned recognition from peers and the broader community for how they reflect on their profession).

(4) Inc. magazine cover story, "Inc. magazine's list of 500 fastest-growing private companies in the nation--Ranked #142 overall", October 1997 (Companies have to be independent and privately held through 1996, and must demonstrate a sales increase from fiscal year 1995 to 1996. Holding companies and regulated banks and utilities are not eligible, and sales in 1992 must be at least $200 thousand. Inc. magazine verified all information using tax forms and financial statements from certified public accountants, and by conducting interviews with company officials).

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 69 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars An investor "must have" reference December 23, 2010

By D. Wells

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is the fourth edition to a very popular book Ric Edelman wrote years ago that won a lot of awards. He has updated it and added a few hundred pages with this re-release on Dec. 21, 2010. It is almost 700 pages of teaching from a very smart Financial Advisor and the amazon price is about 40% off the retail price of $19.95 you'd pay at a book store. I've listened to several financial people on radio and television over the last 25 years and it is my opinion this man is a very smart advisor and has investing down right. He is an excellent educator (I've paid money to hear him speak at a seminar) and listened to him for several years on the radio. He formulates a good argument for hiring a fee based advisor (his firm manages over 5 billion dollars) rather than taking advise from a person trying to sell you an investment product they make commission on. Ric's no nonsense approach to investing works and I would consider him to be as smart on money management as anyone i've ever heard. For just over 11 dollars you get a wonderful reference and education on financial matters you would not otherwise think of. I highly recommend the companion book "The Lies about money" which is outstanding and explains his investment philosophy into ETF's (exchange traded funds) and the benefits of them. To get this kind of advise this cheap, consider this book to be a bargain reference read that you cannot help but learn a lot from.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Book is great - Kindle edition is "so so" February 20, 2011

By Doug Cooper

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

As for the content of the book, I can't say enough positive things about it. After reading through this, I have a clearer and deeper understand of the fundamental investment strategies and products available than I had ever had before. I finally feel like I can converse intelligently with my financial adviser - and participate meaningfully in developing my own strategy for long term investments and expenses. I highly recommend the book itself.

I've taken one star off the review of the Kindle edition, because the resolution of the included diagrams and images is so poor. The more detailed diagrams, such as the IRA flow chart are practically unreadable on the Kindle edition, even if you Zoom in. (Reading on an iPad).

Just for kicks, I downloaded a sample of the iBooks edition on my iPad, and found the illustrations only marginally better (not worth buying the book again). I tried the Kindle reader app on my Mac Desktop, and had the same issues. The IRA diagram specifically is a multi-page fold-out in the paper edition of the book, and it's broken into three separate images that you can't even zoom into in the Kindle edition.

I'm left loving the contents of the book, enjoying reading it electronically, but wishing I had a paper copy just to be able to see the diagrams and tables clearly.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Financial Bible January 29, 2011

By $Bill4051

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book will enable anyone to obtain financial security. Ric Edelman has a gift for taking complicated financial concepts, and presenting them in very easy to understand terms. If you have ever said to yourself "This year I am going to do something about my financial future", then you must own this book. 401k's, Exchange traded funds, why not to own annuities, it's all in this one book.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Good read, funny at times March 9, 2011

By J. Marshall

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Back when I went to college I took a lot of finance classes, so (at the time) I considered myself fairly knowledgeable. Over the ensuing years my life took a different direction then business or finance and as the economy faltered these past couple of years I found myself not fully understanding what people were talking about etc... One day I heard Ric's radio show and it seemed congenial and funny when giving advice, he hawked his book and I decided to buy it to try and at least be some what familiar with the game so I could understand what my financial planner was saying (well fully anyways).
Ric's style of writing is very easy to read & follow. In fact I am not much of a reader (usually read for 30-45 minutes at most) but I read the whole first section in one sitting (maybe 2 hours?!). He explains things in an easy to understand way so I think someone with know background in this area can follow it as well as someone like myself who has the general idea of what is going on. He throws in some pretty good humor (IMO) too, I will paraphrase but my favorite so far has been were he says something like "How to make a million dollars" or something like that and then goes on to say "I don't know and if I did why would I tell you? I don't know you....". I found that very funny.

Anyway, so far I am maybe 1/2 way through the book and have found it well written and an easy read. I would recommend it if you are trying to figure out how to save for retirement or your kids college tuition.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Ric Edelman's 4th edition- Excellent book March 2, 2011

By Roger

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Great book for the lay person..He really gives you great advise, that I have paid thousands for via a financial planner, and saw a lot of the same stuff in this book..Simple language to understand..

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Basic Instincts March 4, 2011

By fabulousmrd

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is such good basic info. I think everyone should buy this book as a learning experience. Make this book no. 1 on your list of Money Sense! Cheap price for a life long way to save, protect and make money. Really well done. Fourth Edition is great and a 5 star review is mandatory. I think he is the best out there and I am not even a client of his....yet.