The Wall Street Journal Guide to Understanding Personal Finance

This book was great I had to read if for an Economics class and it helped me to understand more about financing and how to raise money for school. It is great to have an understanding with this so i can be ahead, and collect as much money as I can for retirement. This book goes into many categories in financing such as banking, investing, financial planning, credit, and mortgages. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn more about how to have a good financial life.

(this review is based on an earlier edition) Most of us have some gaps in our understanding of personal finances. This approachable guide lays it out briefly and understandably. Since my attention span is short for this topic, this is the kind of guide I needed. For instance, the two-page section on DEALING WITH A LENDER, shows a loan application form with 6 boxed explanations for parts of the form. You won't learn everything you need to know in two-page bites, but it gets you briefed on everything from mutual funds, making a will, getting insurance, understanding credit card statements, 401(k) plans, your W-2 form, etc. Once you grasp the basics, you can find a book specifically on wills or whatever you are dealing with at the moment. Gaining control over your finances can start with this book!

This book is filled with illustrations and is great for beginners or for those who are more visual learners. I personally didn't find this book extremely helpful because I have a background in finance but the illustrations and information is helpful for tutoring and explaining some of the concepts. It is also a good review tool or handy reference guide when you have a quick question about finance matters. In addition the range of material covered is great. You won't find this much investment information in one place so concisely organized.

I highly recommend thsi book, I live in Mexico, and altough some things are different in my country regarding to investing it works for me a lot (85%) I suppose that this is a great book to American people, it helps a lot understanding issues that you do no get, like calculating all kind of interests and yields.