Make Money, Not Excuses: Wake Up, Take Charge, and Overcome Your Financial Fears Forever

If you like Jean Chatzky's approach to handling money on The Today Show, then you'll like having this book as part of an introduction to managing money. She walks the reader through the process of understanding money and how to make it work for you. She also gets to the basics of understanding math (calculating interest, percentages, decimals, etc)in general which is great for the person who suffers from math anxiety. Jean Chatzky demystifies the abstract, the fear of money, the idea that if you haven't taken courses in economics, business or finance, you won't ever figure any of this "money stuff" out. She makes women "get" what many people may not want us to "get". It is empowering. Thank you, Jean.

I really enjoyed this book. It is basic money management. It was easy reading and gave some great tips. I shared a lot of the information with my 25 year old son. It reinforced what I already knew about money management. I highly recommend it for beginners, people in debt or those that don't have a plan for the future. I believe we have to make our own retirement funds because in todays world every job is a temp job so it will be hard to earn a retirement fund.

This is a well-written, informative, resource for women. Definately a great learning tool and valuable resource for your library. I bought this book for my daughter and ended reading it first for myself. So I ended up buying another for me. I bought this book after listening to the author speak on Oprah and Friends XM radio show. She was impressive and had excellent financial advice. It was a good choice.

To say this book is written for females from a feminine perspective is a misnomer. While that may be true, it is also undeniable -- anyone reading this book will benefit from the author's practical and realistic advice. The entire book can be summed up in the four recommendations everyone can and should do to have financial solvency. Readers will enjoy and appreciate how the author compares things we do in our daily lives ( i.e., organize the closet) to be more efficient , as guidelines to get our financial house in order. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it for all women (and men) looking to become financially independent -- and have fun while doing it! Reggie Johnson, author, How to Close More Customers

Jean Chatzby has a special knack for reaching the average consumer and clarifying seemingly complex, frightening or confusing financial topics. Much of what she covers SHOULD be taught at home or in school but, if consumer spending patterns are any indication, people aren't picking up the information before adulthood...for whatever reason. This book, as the title implies, will help those who feel overwhelmed and fearful of handling their money. I've watched her on television and read her online columns as well as other books and I really like her newest book. The book addresses these topics and more: 1. The importance of saving regularly, no matter how little. 2. How even small changes in spending patterns can make a HUGE difference. 3. Getting on top of debt, including credit card debt. 4. Retirement planning. 5. Taking the fear out of investing and showing that one does not have to be a stock market whiz to accumulate savings through investing. Even an amateur with the right portfolio balance can achieve nice, steady gains. 6. The basics of home finance and financial literacy, broken down into a few simple steps.