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Dave Barry's Money Secrets: Like: Why Is There a Giant Eyeball on the Dollar? Hardcover – January 17, 2006

4.3 out of 5 stars 85 customer reviews

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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 230 pages
  • Publisher: Crown Publishers (January 17, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1400047587
  • ISBN-13: 978-1400047581
  • Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 0.9 x 8.6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (85 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,099,475 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

By Deborah Wiley VINE VOICE on January 19, 2006
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
I'm almost always amused by Dave Barry's books. Some of his humor is a bit juvenile but overall his books are generally worth the money. This one was no different and there were several laugh-out-loud sections, particularly when he discussed purchasing a car and his opinion of several cars, including the Aztek (the "Buttmobile"). His vision of the corporate world was also hilarious to me as I was one of the many individuals who suffered when Coca-Cola decided to change its formula; I mean, what were they thinking??? The Suze Orman shtick got a bit old but overall this book was well worth my time.
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Format: Hardcover
Sadly enough, Barry makes more sense than most of the economics professors, money managers, and state financial officials who I have met. Barry is indeed smarter than a monkey and funnier than Karl Marx. In the financial world, these are two wonderful qualities! His analysis of Social Security only has one major flaw, a better job than our federal friends have done, although I am sure he did not intend to be accurate. Frankly, pointy headed economics instructors should make this title required reading. Although most economic students are too boring to laugh, their boyfriends/girlfriends might get it. As difficult a task as it is to be funny throughout an entire book, Barry does a good job. Think about it. Who would you rather have telling you how to manage your money: some certified money flushing financial planner, or Dave Barry? Yipes! Watch out for the squirrels!
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Format: Hardcover
How do you plan to finance your retirement?

1. Savings

2. Social Security

3. Sale of kidneys

You need to be honest in your answer. If you lie, you'll only

be lying to yourself. And, according to advice given

in DAVE BARRY'S MONEY SECRETS (from which this question

was taken), "The place to lie in on your federal tax return."

This is a very funny guide that spoofs much of the personal

financial advice that can be found in other books, TV shows

and online . . . save your money on them; buy this one

instead . . . you may not get rich if you do, but you will

certainly laugh a lot.

Barry has previously written on such other topics as politics, fitness

and parenting . . . I enjoyed those, but this latest one may well be

his very best--especially because it will make you wonder why

people behave the way they do when it comes to money.

For example, in the above quiz, he states, "That if your answers

are all threes [on all the questions], be advised that we're having

a minor technical problem calculating your score because of

Nigerian red tape. To smooth things out, we need you to send

us an 'advance fee' of $5,000, which you will get back many

times over."

The amazing thing is that many people do just that!

There were many other hilarious tidbits; among them:

* Many children learn about money by starting their own businesses,

the classic example being the sidewalk lemonade stand. This is an

opportunity to teach your child fundamental economic principles.
Read more ›
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Format: Hardcover
If you like Dave already, you'll love this book. If you're one of those people who thinks he's too juvenile and does too many 'booger jokes', you may llike this one more, because he doesn't get as goofy as that in this one. if you're one of those oddballs - and I still run across a lot of these people - who haven't even heard of him until now, well, you need to get educated! For one thing, this book has little to do with actual financial information, and (big surprise) Dave often gets off-topic - WAY off topic. But it doesn't matter - there are many funny pieces in here, including Trump-bashing (his hair is the color of 'troll dolls or certain food groups, such as Cheetos'), the top 10 dog thoughts, interviewing tips, investing tips, the whole car-buying process, travel tips (in the helpful Spanish phrases: 'Hey! There's a freakin' WORM in this bottle!'), and many more. If you need a cheering-up, which I did, this is a tonic.
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Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
In this book, Dave Barry discusses finances. First he gives an overview of how the US economy works, then moves onto other topics, such as tips on how to get a job (attach a naked photo of Angelina Jolie to your resume), the drawbacks of HMOs (they cover leeches but not insulin if you're diabetic), how to argue with your spouse about money, starting your own business, how to manage a hedge fund, playing the stock market, cheat on your income taxes, travelling (choose a hotel with cheap toilet paper), and how to plan for your retirement fund.

Sprinkled with humorous charts, pictures and photos of Suze Orman and Donald Trump (at whom Barry takes many cheap shots but winds up dedicating the book to them), this book is a must-read for Barry fans.
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Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
I can't believe some reviewers seem to have taken this book as a serious investment guide. (Look at most of the 1 star reviews here.) After all, this is Dave Barry, truly the funniest man alive in America. Dave makes it abundantly clear, with loads of laugh out humor on every page, as with all of his books (except one, to my knowledge: Tricky business) and newspaper columns, that he is taking nothing seriously, including himself, you and me.

Of course, as with all great humor, there is a good deal of truth behind much of it.
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