Introduction
Montley Fool Money Guide is a book that has been authored by Selena Maranjian and a foreward by David Gardner. It is an educative book that gives an insight about saving, spending and investing. The author tries to bring out the foolish things people do with their money and tries to educate about the power of investment.
Review of the book
The book starts with the foreward by Gardner who talks about the pranks pulled by Motley fool about financing on April fool’s day every year (Maranjian 2001). He is very particular with the prank they pulled in the year 1998 about an apology about the underperforming mutual funds. The joke was published on the home page and stated that Motley Fool was very sorry for misleading people about mutual funds performing poorly on market averages. His main aim for writing this foreward is to introduce the reader to the main author and give them a hint of what the author is supposed to talk about.
The introduction talks about people and their foolish ways of handling finances. The author claims to have the answers to all the questions about managing finances that people are afraid to ask such as how to invest, types of insurance and retirement plans.
Chapter one which is about saving and budgeting begins with an introductory of the main goal that the book intends to achieve which is to teach everyone the secrets of investing and building a financial and secure future. The author starts with an overview of the importance of budgeting that include factors such as permitting one to optimize on their spending habits and acting as a savior to those having trouble in making their ends meet by showing them how they spend their money. She also calls the art of keeping a budget a game and encourages people who are afraid to do so to look at it in a positive way. She further goes ahead to give tips on how to successfully live within the budget and the importance of teaching the same to the children instead of watching television. She concludes the chapter by giving additional sources that give more insights about the art of budgeting and finance organization.
Chapter two gives an insight about credit cards and debts. The author starts telling the reader the negative side of getting a credit card to the fact that it keeps draining one further into debts if not carefully used. She goes on to add that not all debts are bad and even considers it reasonable to get a car loan or a mortgage as long as the rates are not high. It is in her opinion however that she argues that credit cards can be bad as they continue to drain someone financially and though very convenient at some instances, it should be used with extra caution. She also gives tips on various way of reducing the debts such as to stop borrowing, consider very low interest rates and allocation of funds to help settle the debt.
Chapter three discusses the issue of Insurance which, in the author’s opinion does not seem to bother many people unless their car or home has been involved in some kind of accident. She argues that insurance should not be taken as a luxury but rather as a necessity. The chapter also discussed other forms of insurance that people should consider and be able to save money in the process. Some of the insurance that she suggests include life insurance, disability insurance, long-term car insurance, dental insurance and many others.
Chapter four to six discusses the normal spending habits of people such as buying a car, buying a house and paying for college. She attempts to give both the positive and negative aspects of either spending and urges the reader to first internalize and understand the book before spending their money on the car, house or education. However, it is also in her opinion that a house and education is a very important kind of investment and though it might seem expensive by looking at the figures, she however attempts to give a solution of how to overcome the fear.
Chapter seven and eight talks about the people who bank their money foolishly and the ones who live below their means. The author compares foolish banking to eating a lobster twice a week instead of on a daily basis. She attempts to give insightful tips on banking habits and learning to sacrifice themselves in order to save.
Chapter nine and ten is about taxes and retirement. The author explains the tax process and the mode of calculating the tax amount owed. The book is also very insightful and educative about retirement and how to save towards it in order to live a good comfortable life after retirement. The last two chapters discuss giving to charity by creating massive wealth and giving some of the money to the less fortunate and how to prepare for death without being a burden to relatives on the issue on money to cover the expenses.
Conclusion
Despite the book being very educative in an entertaining way on financing, it fails to give specific details on how to do it (Kurtz 2005). The author is very broad and this is an excellent book for beginners who wish to start investing and creating wealth. It is a must read and recommendable.
References
Kurtz, D.L. (2005). Collaborative Lear Book. NY: Cengage South-Western Maranjian, S. (2001). The Motley Fool Money Guide. Virginia: Motley Fool, Inc.