Smart and Simple Financial Strategies for Busy People

Over the past five years I've read at least three dozen books on personal finance--everything from Marshall Loeb's classic tome to Ben Stein's contrarian books--and Quinn's latest is easily the best read I've encountered for the *average* person. Quinn effectively covers budgeting, insurance, wills, investing/retirement, and buying a home. She writes clearly, concisely, and avoids financial jargon. All of the financial advice is sound, there is nothing unorthodox here. Her defining trademark however, is her emphasis on 'Set it and Forget it' solutions that insure your well laid plans are automatically executed without too much intervention on your part. Quinn is one of the few financial experts that actually understands that most people can't spend hundreds of hours managing their money. If you ask folks to do that then it is just a matter of time until life, family, or work interfere and cause damaging mismanagement. Most people are either misinformed about financial management or simply too lazy to do the things which they ought. Quinn's book nicely tackles both sorts with straightforward information and low-effort solutions. HIGHLY Recommended without reservation.

This is quite simply the best book I've ever read on personal finance. When it comes to investing and personal finance there are two types of people: those who think they know, and those who hope they know. The latter are the 1% who making a living in the finance industry and the former are the other 99%, you and me who watch the shows, read the books and think they can do it. The result? We've either not yet made the first step due the overwhelming array of choices or have been investing personally and not even come close to match the market yet outperform it over the long term. even the so called pros rarely outperform the market long-term. What this book has done is give you the simple strategies you need for your financial health. It actually does your homework for you and researched the best products out there and limited them to two or three for you to choose from. It explains that the key to financial success is find simple and good products, investing regularly in them and then sit back and let them grow. What you learn is that even with average returns, this strategy will more than meet your objectives. Trying to beat the market by individual stock picks however brings unneccessary risk to the table that rarely ever pays off in the long run. This doesn't mean there isn't room for individual stockpicking, but do it if you have time for extensive research and a real interest in the financial markets. Otherwise do yourself a real favour and buy this book.

My name is Larry Swedroe and I am the director of research for a large investment advisory firm and also the author of five books on investing. In my opinion, Ms. Quinn is one of the most respected and trustworthy members of the financial media. She is one of the not much more than a handful that are worthy of respect (e.g.,Jonathan Clements,Jason Zweig, Humberto Cruz, Scott Burns, Lynn O'Shaugnessy, and Paul Farrell). Her new book more than lives up to its promise of providing simple, yet very comprehensive, strategies that really work that you can put into effect yourself. This is book for investors that understand that the best strategies are usually simple and straightforward and low cost, requiring only the development of a well thought out plan and then having the discipline to stay the course. It is a wonderful book for beginners and busy people (who know that there are more important things in life than trying to beat the market) that covers the full financial spectrum from spending and saving (and how to save), to debt, to home buying, to paying for college, to retirement planning, insurance needs, investing, and even record keeping. And it provides simple, easy to implement ideas you can do on your own. Would make a wonderful gift for a friend in need of sound investment advice. In summary, it is a perfect complement to the Boglehead Guide to Investing. And speaking of compliments, my compliments to Ms. Quinn on a job well done.

This outstanding book motivated me to overcome nine years of inertia regarding financial planning. My husband and I have been vaguely worried about not saving enough for retirement or college, but we kept procrastinating research into the myriad of competing plans and investments and strategies. Fortunately, Jane Bryant Quinn has done the research and makes clear, solid recommendations about how to manage family finances. She covers all of the financial bases (including insurance and wills), so that you can be confident you haven't left anything out. She helps you establish clear financial goals, and explains which type of investments work best for various goals. Once you create your financial plan and set up automatic deposits into your investment/retirement accounts, she recommends you leave them alone and make adjustments as needed once a year! No time and energy wasted on buy/sell decisions after each stock market wiggle. Now granted, this investing program is unlikely to provide the spectacular returns that some lucky people have made in real estate or by timing the market. But Quinn argues that people who earn huge returns on their investments are really few and far between. Furthermore, she points out that those investors take on a lot of risk in order to get those kinds of returns. Her book is more than "common sense" however, - in fact, some of her ideas fly in the face of popular belief. For example, I was convinced any financial plan would have to begin with a strict budget that would ruthlessly prune lattes etc... out of our lives. Quite the contrary - Quinn says that the "latte factor" is not a significant factor in a family's financial health - it's the big ticket items that show up on credit card statements. Rather than attempt to budget and plan in ADVANCE where non-essential money goes, Quinn recommends you automate deposits to your savings/retirement accounts because you, in turn, will automatically, subconsciously, and painlessly start reining in your expenses to match the size of your checking account. It's an interesting theory, and one I want to start ASAP, as my efforts to budget every expenditure and invest anything left at the end of the month have not been very successful. She does say, however, that if you are habitually living beyond your means, racking up major credit card bills, etc..., you'll need to get that under control before you can really implement/benefit from most of the strategies in this book. All in all, an excellent book full of sound, straight forward ideas that anyone can implement - no matter how busy.

I've been searching for a personal finance book like this for years! I bought this book because it's Washington Post columnist Michelle Singletary's Book Club selection for January. I was skeptical at first because I've read so many personal finance books that just confuse and bewilder me. This one, however, is perfect. You don't need to work in a brokerage firm to figure out how to invest your money. The strategies and advice are simple just like the author promises. I now feel like I can form a solid financial plan and stick with it. I've already made changes to my work's 401(k) plan based on her recommendations. I opened an online banking account, checked my credit report, and am opening up an account with Vanguard to start a "Cushion Fund" through a Roth IRA or money market fund. If you're like me and you've been procrastinating on how to start a retirement plan because the array of choices is too overwhelming, this book is ideal. It's a quick read but every chapter has worthwhile information. And I cannot stress enough how simple and straighfoward the advice is. The author includes websites, phone numbers, specific funds etc. She's done all the work.