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The Complete Idiot's Guide to Personal Finance in your 20s and 30s, Third Edition | 
 enlarge | Authors: Sarah Young Fisher, Susan Shelly
Publisher: Alpha
Category: Book
List Price: $18.95
Buy New: $7.89
You Save: $11.06 (58%)
New (27) Used (12) from $7.89
Avg. Customer Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 87784
Media: Paperback
Edition: 3
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9 x 7.3 x 1
ISBN: 1592573320
Dewey Decimal Number: 332.02400842
EAN: 9781592573325
ASIN: 1592573320
Publication Date: May 3, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new! May have a remainder mark.
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Product Description
Start-today strategies for a better financial tomorrow. The Complete Idiots Guide to Personal Finance in Your 20s and 30s, Third Edition, clearly explains everything members of this age group need to know to get a handle on their pocketbook and their portfolio, from planning their personal finances to enhancing their current financial plan to getting better returns on their investments. This revised and updated third edition includes completely new material on:
Internet banking
Debit and prepaid credit cards
Online car shopping
The latest in effective job hunting
Online college degrees and what they can get you
Investment strategies for the next decade
Home-based employment opportunities
New financial impact of marriage and children
Home ownership options from building your own to townhouses and condos
Online mortgage brokers
All-new websites and resources
Download Description
You're no idiot, of course. You're financially independent: You pay rent, utilities, and loans all out of your own paycheck. You realize that your parents had to cut the cord sooner or later, and you're proud of how well you've adjusted. But when it comes to saving money for the long haul, you feel like an astronaut whose oxygen cord has been cut. Don't drift into a financial black hole yet! The Complete Idiot's Guide to Personal Finance in Your 20s and 30s gives you an edge so you can get through financial hardships now, invest for the future, and even afford a luxury item once in a while.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
 Lack of respect for both readers of the authors themselves. December 7, 2007
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book truly stands to the series name "Idiot's guides" by being full of extremely basic advice. These authors inform the readers that there exits publics transportation services such as subways and buses as good options to save money. Actually, this advice is not for an idiot but for someone who's been isolated from the world forever. Besides, the advice is only applicable to big cities, and even in those cities there are limitations. USA is basically made for car owners.
Want to compare pros and cons of buying vs building a house? You'd need to get much advice on whom to approach, how to tell good house builders from bad ones, what to do in case of scams, builder's associations to approach, and several more facts. Yet, these authors will only tell you in a long whole page that building a house has the advantage of being made as you want it, while a used one was made according to the previous owner's tastes. They say that "hopefully" (in their own words) you'll get a good builder team. And so it's the rest of the book. "Hopefully" you'll find a good book on personal finance.
But as for this book, you won't learn almost anything about personal finance. All you'll get is a chit-chat talk that you can get from any neighbor, relative, friend, co-worker, etc. I well know that many people have serious communication problems and these simple talks are not so simple for them. If this is your case don't let these authors take advantage of you and seek a good book. The Dummie's series on personal finance is a good alternative. If you also want some charismatic and inspirational reading, my recommendation is Andrew Mathews' books.
There are many scammers out there, self-proclaimed financial advisers. This book's authors are some of them. I think the most famous of all is Suze Orman. They'll tell you ton of very interesting stories, but that's no way to learn about finances. You'd never finish hearing personal stories, yet you'd still need to learn much more. These writers normally focus too much in making their reading fun, actually using a rather juvenile language and these authors' style is particularly juvenile since they wanted to identify with rather young people; they did it too well. These kind of sloppy authors also spent too much time on encouraging readers to save. The topic on saving is quite simple and lets them fill their books. As important as saving is, it must only take a few pages in book. If you do have a problem with saving, you'd better get a full book on the topic.
The big problem with more effective books on finance is that you'll have to deal with more math and less entertaining readings, and judging from the many reviews giving 5 and 4 stars here, I realize that this is a big problem for many people who actually prefer to fool around (or areactually terribly ignorant).
The book has several annoying commentaries that I could put off with if it really were useful, but since it isn't the commentaries just add insult to injury. The authors say, for example, that only like 10% of people around 30 have reached the 5 qualities of adulthood: being financially independent, leaving off their parent's, being married, having children and a 5th one I don't remember. The world is full of people with severely unattended children. And the fact that you are wealthy and with a stable job doesn't imply that you are ready to have children either. I can even say that most middle class and rich parents spend most of their time shopping, watching TV and more personal fun than spending time with their children. And the same applies to being married if you don't work your relationships. Being realistic by being aware that marriage and children is not for you is more mature that making a conventional family, and being able to deal with the loneliness that come with that is definitively mature.
It's a shame that two people, supposedly certified in finance, couldn't make a barely comparable work that what the Dummie's writer did on personal finance.
Basic Guide a Good Start for the Young Adult August 8, 2007
Like all "Idiot" books I have read, this one has excellent organization. Technical jargon is kept to a minimum, and the conversational writing style moves along at a good pace. The level of user-friendliness makes the information instantly accessible and useful to young people who are concerned about their financial futures. The strategies are indeed suited to the age group in the title - 20s and 30s - because the strategies outlined are quite conservative. These will have limited use for people in their 40s or 50s who have suffered a devastating financial loss (such as foreclosure and bankruptcy)and are having to start over building for retirement. This book is just what it says. It provides a wealth of simple but crucial information, all for about the price of a movie ticket, with extra large popcorn and soda. Thumbs up!
 So-so book. Get Suze Orman's instead. August 4, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I bought this book and The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke. Skip this one and get Suze Orman's book instead. Both books are for people in their 20's or 30's, but Suze Orman's book covers much more material and many more options. The Idiot's Guide tells the same old story: budget, budget, budget, and is very light on details.
 Too juvenile July 12, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I found this to be ridiculously juvenile. I skipped the first ten or so chapters because it provided absolutely no information that any person over the age of ten should know. I did however find the chapters on stock and mutual funds, etc to be very helpful. Not for someone over the age of fourteen.
 Great Book Excellent Transaction January 21, 2007
0 out of 7 found this review helpful
This seller is fabulous and items are as promised and delivered lightning quick.
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