#50BookPledge Book 29 The Wealthy Barber Returns

The Wealthy Barber Returns by David Chilton From Financial Awareness Press 2011

This book was very different from the original book. Chilton's wit shines throughout the book resulting in messages that are easy to understand when it comes to managing one's finances.  I missed the story aspect of the original Wealthy Barber, but enjoyed The Wealthy Barber Returns all the same.  I like that there aren't a lot of equations and math but rather good old fashioned common sense in the book.  I tend think I'm pretty good with finances but even I learned a thing or two while reading as was definitely reminded of a few things I know I should be doing!  If your are looking for an easy, non condescending way to find out what you can do to get your finances on track this is the book for you.

Four and Frugal

My little girl is four and has been shopping with me since birth.  Apparently she's picked up some of my habits and is starting to incorporate them into her shopping.  For starters she knows not to go grocery shopping without a list and I will buy certain things if they are on sale or if I have a coupon. 

The other day my daughter was at the Toy Grocery Store and asked if she could use her money to buy a new toy.  I said if there was something she really wanted and it was within her $10 budget.  At the Toy Grocery Store it is easy to see what is on sale because they use bright yellow stickers.  My daughter looked at items on sale and could not find anything she wanted.  We then headed to clothing department where she found a cute top.  Her first question was whether it was on sale and they could she buy it.  Since this wa clothes I told her I'd buy it letting her keep her allowance.

When I related the story to my husband later that day he was surprised that our daughter would know when something was on sale and that she didn't spend her money. He was the one that suggested this post.

#50BookPledge Count on Yourself

Book 5 Count on Yourself (Take Charge of Your Money) by Alison Griffiths from Touchstone – a Division of Simon and Schuster.

Alison's latest book, Count on Yourself was the January Yummy Mummy Book Club pick. One thing that sets Alison apart from other finance authors is her style isn't my way or the highway, but rather she works on becoming your friend or confidant.

Count on Yourself is written by a Canadian for Canadians and was released when a number of us are looking at our RRSPs in the ramp up to tax season. The book is an easy read with lots of tips for you to manage your investments. Each of the four sections of the book covers a specific step in getting you to be your own money manger. I also like that Alison uses example of everyday people from all walks of life including her own experiences.

Part 1 talks about how we are willing to share almost all aspects of our life with our girlfriends, but the second the conversation turns to money, even a simple question that doesn't require you to share dollar amounts, we clam up. She doesn't get into the psychology of this but rather discusses that we have to talk about it so that we can learn about it and become proficient in managing our investments with very little time investment on our part. This section really drives home that we are not alone.

The second part deals with putting our financial closet in order. Not so much how to get control over debts, etc, but cataloguing the financial instruments and what we know about each item. The goal of this exercise is to make you aware of what you have and see if there are ways to trim what you need to managing (by having fewer items) to make things simpler. It was an interesting exposes and even the accountant in me hadn't previously considered such an inventory. I especially liked the idea of streamlining your user name and passwords for all aspects of your life, as much as is possible.

I felt that parts 3 and 4went together well, summing up the whole book. Not only do you need to make a plan before you take action but you need to have that plan in place so that once you take action you can reflect making sure you are doing as planned or make necessary changes. Those changes could be to your original plan or to keep your action on track with your plan. The examples and explanations in these two sections go along way to help anyone take control of their investments.

Count on Yourself (Take Charge of Your Money) is well worth the read if you want to understand your investments and take a more active role in understanding them. It has given me food for thought and I'm hoping to get my husband to read it. My problem is that the book reads as though it was written for women rather than both sexes so I'm not sure it will hold a guy's interest.