Your Money Ratios: 8 Simple Tools for Financial Security [Hardcover]

Charles Farrell J.D. L.L.M. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 24, 2009

A troubled economy calls for answers. Forget complicated, abstract philosophy—people need sound financial advice that's easy to follow and can be implemented immediately. For the first time, a leading financial adviser has developed a remarkable set of guidelines to give individuals the same kind of objective insight into their personal finances that successful businesses have. Your Money Ratios will help readers effectively manage debt, invest prudently, and develop a realistic and effective savings plan to ensure both financial success and security. Readers need only plug their income and age into Farrell's ratios in order to get an instant picture of their savings status and overall financial health, as well as a roadmap for the important choices they must make in the future. Here’s what you will find in this book:

IF YOU ARE IN YOUR 20s OR 30s: Your Money Ratios will tell you how to get started and what you need to do over the next 35 years to stay on track. If you are lucky enough to read this book when you are young, you will have a clear vision for where you need to go throughout your working career. By setting yourself on the right path, you won’t have to work so hard later in life to meet your goals.

IF YOU ARE IN YOUR 40s: You can benchmark your own financial circumstances against the ratios and see how you are doing with respect to your savings, debt, investments and insurance. You have plenty of time to make adjustments if necessary and plot out your path to retirement.

IF YOU ARE IN YOUR 50s: The formula will provide you with a realistic assessment of your ability to retire. It will help you make the important decisions about how to allocate your financial resources over the next 10 to 15 years, and how to put on the final push for retirement.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Investment adviser Farrell simplifies retirement savings. To make the process of preparing for the golden years less complicated—and less anxiety provoking—Farrell developed a series of simple formulas to help readers understand what they need to be saving based on age and household income, while taking as much of the irrational emotion out of the equation as possible. Swift calculations help readers understand how much they should be saving each year, how much to contribute to 401(k)s and IRAs, when to invest in real estate, how much education debt to carry, how to balance debt, how to calculate investment power and how to find a financial adviser for those situations that require a little extra help. Farrell keeps his readers on track—each decision boils down to what he calls the Unifying Question: Will [x] help move me from being a laborer to being a capitalist? By focusing on making readers' money work for them, and with the use of simple, clear numbers, Farrell does a wonderful job of taking the worry and stress out of number anxiety—no calculator necessary. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Your Money Ratios is a no-nonsense, comprehensive resource for those ready to grab the reins of personal finance once and for all."
-Bookpage

"Your Money Ratios by Charles Farrell (Avery, $26). Why not manage your family finances as you would a business? Farrell is a money manager who makes a convincing argument for that approach. He uses rations more common in the business world, such as the debt-to-equity ratio and the capital to income ratio so that readers can figure out how they are really doing. The book is direct and numbers-focused, and offers answers to questions like "How much should I be saving?" and "How much insurance do I need?"
-Reuters

"Charles Farrell, an investment adviser in Denver, has long written about financial planning. In particular, he has developed, in recent years, some of the smartest tools we''ve seen for gauging the health of your nest egg. Now, he has combined these calculators with additional guidelines in a new book, Your Money Ratios: Eight Simple Tools for Financial Security. Mr. Farrell uses easy-to-understand ratios to help individuals manage savings, debt, investments and insurance, all with the goal of achieving a secure retirement. In short, one of the best financial books to cross our desks this year."
-Wall Street Journal

"What I like about the use of ratios is that it imposes discipline on emotional spending decisions. When you do the math based on specific goals, real household income and exact time frames related to age, it becomes crystal clear that you really can''t afford to blow out the back of your home or expand the kitchen, no matter how attractive or tax-deductible the financing may be."
-Laura Rowley, Yahoo Finance

"Everyone wants to know, ''Am I on the right track?'' Thanks to Charlie Farrell and his delightfully simple Money Ratios, the answers are just a few pages away."
-Jonathan Clements, author of The Little Book of Main Street Money

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Avery (December 24, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1583333630
• ISBN-13: 978-1583333631
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #362,326 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Charles Farrell, J.D., LL.M. is a principal with Northstar Investment Advisors, LLC in Denver, Colorado. His research on personal finance and investments has been widely cited in numerous media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, Smart Money, Money Magazine, The Journal of Financial Planning, Consumer Reports Money Advisor and the Chicago Tribune.

He writes the Retirement Roadmap weekly column for CBS MoneyWatch.com and is a monthly columnist for The Investment News writing on retirement and tax strategies for investment advisors.

Prior to working as an investment advisor, he was a tax attorney working with individuals and business owners. He has a law degree from The American University Washington College of Law, in Washington, D.C., and an LL.M. in Taxation from the Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Cleveland, Ohio.

You can learn more about Charlie at www.yourmoneyratios.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great, common-sense ideas and goals for troubled times with some humor thrown in!, January 27, 2010

By 

CS62091 "CS62091" (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Your Money Ratios: 8 Simple Tools for Financial Security (Hardcover)

I found this book to be really helpful in terms of setting some reasonable goals for myself while coming out of my own "era of overspending". Well-written and often humorous, the author manages to convey the importance of saving without being a bore or being unrealistic about what's possible today. While I certainly don't find myself in ideal financial shape right now, the ratios have provided me with great goals to work toward, and helped me be conscious of where my money goes and what I'd like (and will need) it to be able to do for me later.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, financial planning that makes sense!, December 30, 2009

By 

DT (Boulder, CO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Your Money Ratios: 8 Simple Tools for Financial Security (Hardcover)

For years I have struggled to figure out what my family should be doing with our finances. I knew I wanted to be able to retire with a decent lifestyle, but had no idea how to do it. The primary reason I struggled is because of my deep distain for anything having to do with numbers. It all just seemed too difficult for me. When I read this book, it all became clear to me. Everything is laid out in clear and simple terms in a way that even a financial dim-wit like me can understand. Unfortunately for me, I read this book about 20 years too late! The good news is that I still have some time to get back on track, and I can't feel too guilty, because the book just came out. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a clear and simple formula for planning for retirement. I would also recommend that you give this book as a graduation gift to anyone you care about who is graduating from college! Having this book then would have made a big difference in my financial future.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, a finance book you can use every day, December 9, 2010

By 

WD613 - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Your Money Ratios: 8 Simple Tools for Financial Security (Hardcover)

I've read a ton of finance books and this ties for the best of all time. The 8 tools are understandable, practical and realistic. Farrell writes in clear, concise way that's helpful, unbiased, and witty at times. I bought 2 more copies for family members.