Review & Giveaway – How to be Rich: The Couple’s Guide to a Rich Life Without Worrying About Money
Posted on October 20th, 2011
“How to be Rich: The Couple’s Guide to a Rich Life Without Worrying About Money” is a fresh take on the average personal finance book that weaves a story with financial advice.
Instead of throwing as many money-saving tips as humanly possible at his readers, certified financial planner Chuck J. Rylant focuses on helping consumers understand the emotions tied to financial decision-making, while also providing the basics needed to make educated choices about your money.
Meet Richard and Janet
Rylant chronicles the lives of married couple Richard and Janet and their finances, and oftentimes, this book reads more like a novel than a personal finance guide. At the beginning of this tale, Richard receives a promotion at work just as Janet receives news that she’s pregnant. The following chapters describe each character’s state of mind as they continually quarrel over finances and budgeting with a baby on the way.
With new things to consider, such as a mortgage and life insurance, the couple faces many challenges as they try to get their finances in order. This half of the book provides an important background in discussing the psychology behind this average couple’s daily struggles with money. Richard and Janet are constantly battling the stress of their credit card debt and lack of savings for their baby. Once these emotions are addressed, readers can learn how to avoid making the same financial mistakes this fictitious couple continue to make.
Weaving financial education into the story
Rylant slips in some straightforward financial advice through the character of Danny, a financial advisor the couple consults after their financial woes bring them dangerously close to a divorce. Richard and Janet are overwhelmed by the thought of needing a financial advisor at first, but they quickly warm up to him as he helps provide a safe environment for them to discuss their finances.
After their first few initial meetings, Danny begins to delve into his five financial fundamentals which provide great advice on how to take inventory of your debt, and prioritize credit card payments based on interest rates. Danny also discusses the importance of setting up an emergency fund and eventually learning to save 10% of their annual salary to put towards this fund.
More important than the advice Danny provides is the reaction each character has to learning money management. They find Danny’s advice useful, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t skeptical about making some of the changes he suggests. Having their point of view makes the advice more obtainable, and encourages readers to make these changes in their own finances.
Entertaining read, useful advice
Overall, this book has some quality advice integrated into an overarching plot about an average couple and their struggles with money. Rylant works hard to create an educational storyline without force-feeding the reader too many personal finance tips. This book is an easy and entertaining read for those looking for advice on navigating the slippery slope of marriage and finances.
Give credit where credit is due,
Danielle Belfatto, Karma Contributor
Want to win a copy of “How to be Rich: The Couple’s Guide to a Rich Life”?
All you have to do is “Recommend” this review on Facebook, and then answer the following question in the comments:
“What’s your best money management tip for couples?”
Leave your response in the comments! We’ll choose our favorites and randomly pick a winner! You have until 6pm PST on Tuesday, Oct. 25..
** “How to be Rich: The Couple’s Guide to a Rich Life Without Worrying About Money” is available for sale at Amazon.com.
Filed under Book Review, How To Be Rich, Personal Finance, Reviews, Saving Money, book giveaway, budgeting, consumers, debt reduction, giveaway, money management | No Comments »
5 Money Management Apps You Might Not Be Using Yet, And Why You Should
Posted on October 15th, 2010
**Welcome to Extra Fun Fridays here at Credit Karma Bootcamp: Your 31-Day Credit Health Plan.**
**Special guest post by Maya Grinberg, host of a weekly tech news podcast called the Girls Out Loud show and a tech blogger for CuteGeek.com.**
Everybody and their mom has an opinion on how you should handle your personal finances. While some people are voracious defenders of credit unions over banks, others advocate putting your money under your mattress.
My opinion, as a young and intelligent (read: geeky) girl, is to let intelligent software tools, like various web and mobile apps, help you best manage your money.
Check out my picks for the top 5 tools you may have heard of but aren’t using yet, and why you should give them a go.
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SaveBenjis
SaveBenjis is a quirkily-named, but super useful app. Have you ever been shopping for something in a brick and mortar store, picked up the item you want, and wondered, “Can I get this cheaper somewhere else?” SaveBenjis lets you either scan the barcode of the item in store, or type in the model number, and it checks an extensive database of real time prices and returns for what the item may cost elsewhere. It returns prices from some of the most popular consumer retail outlets, like Walmart and Bestbuy, so that you’re not looking at an obscure price comparison from a website you’ve never heard of overseas.
At $0.99 for the app, you’ll make your money back in an instant if you even use it to make a purchase decision just one time.
ATM Hunter
ATM Hunter is another handy mobile app, available for iPhone and Blackberry, that uses geo-location features on your phone to search out what ATMs are nearby.
For me, that means plugging in my banks only, because I hate paying hefty ATM fees!
Personally, I’d rather walk an extra couple blocks than shell out an extra couple bucks to a bank ATM fee. I use this app to save money, and you should too!
WePay
WePay is a handy tool that, similar to PayPal, allows you to collect and transfer money between people, but its geared towards collection between groups. For example, can you think of an easy way to collect rent money from all your friends when you share a 5 bedroom house? How about a way to split the horrifying costs of going on an extravagant trip? Any simple way to collect dues from a house full of sorority girls or frat brothers? Unless you consider incessant nagging, potential bickering, and all out fistfights “simple”– WePay is the web tool you want to use.
From the website: “WePay was built from the ground up to make it really easy to collect money from your friends. Just create a free account and you can start sending out bills in seconds. We’ll handle the rest – processing the payment, keeping track of who has paid and who still needs to cough up, and even sending them reminders. We’ll be “that guy” so you don’t have to!“. In terms of costs, its free to sign up, create groups, and receive payments. Making payments costs 50 cents per transaction made with your bank account, or up to 3.5% if payment is made with their credit card (whichever amount is greater). Wouldn’t you say 50 cents is worth it to be spared the headache of splitting monthly rent?
Wesabe
Have you ever wondered about how best to approach financing a house, consolidate your debt, or what consolidating your debt even means? Where did you go to get your questions answered? While some (if not most) ask their parents, Wesabe is an online community of “real people dealing with real money issues.” Outside of your folks, whose opinions I wholeheartedly endorse, it’s good to keep track of what people in a similar situation as yours have done and learn their advice and reviews of how you could move forward on your decisions.
From the site: “We believe pooling information on where we all spend can help you make better financial decisions and ultimately take control of your money to reach financial goals. The Wesabe community shares tips and advice to help each other make better financial decisions.”
Mint
Last but certainly not least, my absolute favorite tool that I use all the time to manage my money is Mint. Mint.com is a well-known personal finance management site that aggregates all of your finances in one place. You can keep an eye on how every account is doing, instead of trying to remember to log in and check your bank and credit accounts at 5 different bank websites.
From the site: “Mint immediately pulls in your balances, purchases, stock trades, etc. to give you a complete picture of your finances. Mint connects securely to nearly all US banking financial institutions that have Internet banking capability, saving you hours of tedious data entry.” Outside of just keeping an eye on your finances, Mint tracks budgets you set, sends reminders that you’re approaching your shopping limit for the month, as well updates on your monthly financial summary. Additionally, if you’re looking for a new credit card or a new bank, Mint will recommend certain banks based on your net worth, calculating where you can make the most returns on your savings or your investment.
It’s free to use, so I can’t imagine trying to go back to the days when you balanced your checkbook in a little paper booklet or tried to figure out what you were spending by writing things down. I’m a digital girl all the way, and I can’t stop recommending Mint as the most handy personal wealth management tool on the market.
CK Bootcamp Tip: Managing your finances is a 24/7 job–the moment you slip is the moment your credit score can dip. Use creative resources, like these apps, to encourage you to stay on top of your finances in fun and interesting ways so you stay engaged with your financial health.
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Credit Karma Bootcamp: Your 31-Day Credit Health Plan
Throughout October, Credit Karma Bootcamp gives you daily information on what you need to make wise, credit-savvy decisions when it comes to credit cards, mortgages, insurance, loans, and most importantly, ALL THINGS CREDIT.
Follow along to get financially fit and credit healthy.
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Filed under Banking, Bootcamp, Guest Blogs, Personal Finance, Reviews, apps, billpay, budgeting, money management, smartphone, smartphone apps | No Comments »