Posts Tagged ‘Books’

Read this book if you’re:

• lacking credit.
• struggling with your student debt.
• confused about 401(k)s.
• thinking about buying a car or condo but have no idea if that’s even plausible.
• wondering just how in the heck you’re going to find the extra cash to start a savings account.
• getting married and don’t know what to do about finances.
  

For some reason or another people just love to make fun of Suze Orman—I’ll admit, myself included. She’s one of those motivational speakers we all like to roll our eyes at. Like, “if that lady tells me balance my checkbook one more time, I’m gonna scream.” So how did I come to read and ENJOY an entire book of hers?

Last year while perusing the incredibly small selection of business books at Women and Children First up in Andersonville, I came across a book with a title I couldn’t resist. Young (”Hey, I’m young-ish!”), Fabulous (”I’d like to think I’m pretty fabulous”), and Broke (”Yep, most definitely”). Her short, choppy ‘do and those pearly whites stared back at me, and I knew I was fated to fork over my last $16.

Divided into 10 sections about 10 very important aspects of your young, fabulous, and broke life, each chapter provides insight, answers questions, and sums it all up in plain language–nothing fancy, just a conversational tone with facts, facts, and more facts. It’s a great point of reference as well. It isn’t one of those books that you read from cover to cover; instead, choose which sections “speak” to you.

1. Know the Score.
Orman stresses that this is the most important aspect of your financial life–your FICO score. Whether you’re searching for a new apartment or trying to secure a loan for your new car, this score will make or break your interest rates. In this section, she reviews identity theft, how to keep your FICO score strong, and why to avoid bankruptcy at all costs.

2. Career Moves.
And I quote, “You are way too young fabulous to sign up for a life of drudgery.” It’s something a little bit difficult to wrap your brain around, but money should not dictate your life. In other words, don’t stay with a job just because it (almost) pays the bills. We’re young enough (and most of us are mortgage-free and child-free) to be able to switch careers without much consequence. In this section Orman also gives us some pointers on how to make ourselves indispensible, how to get a raise, and why going to back to school should only happen if you’re wanting a career change–not as an excuse to get out of a situation that doesn’t work for you.

3. Give Yourself Credit.
You might think that Orman’s advice to a broke person would be, “Avoid credit cards like the plague!” But it’s not. In fact, she admits that credit is important most especially if you are broke. One piece of advice that really surprised me was that you should use your credit cards as a lifeline when you don’t yet make enough money to live on. As long as you pay the minimum every month and don’t have a huge interest rate, in the end everything will be okay (Suze says!). Do avoid cash advances, though, which are a total rip-off.

4. Making the Grade on Student Debt.
Suze reiterates all of the stuff you should’ve paid attention to and retained from your loan counseling each year throughout college. But seriously, who really retained that stuff? No one. The good news is that student loan corporations are way more forgiving than credit card companies, so if you find yourself unemployed you can always get your loans deferred for up to three years.

5. Save Up.
Turns out you don’t need to make more to save more. Orman swears that you can find extra cash if you really look hard for it. For example, waiting a couple of weeks longer to get your hair cut will reduce the number of haircuts by two every year. That’s at least $100 if you’re a female in Chicago. But wait, there’s more. Don’t start a savings account until you invest in your 401(k)–that is, IF your company matches (that is, for every dollar you invest, your company invests a dollar or a percentage of that dollar).

6. Retirement Rules.
This section deals with the two main retirement funds Suze recommends for us: Roth IRAs and 401(k)s. Now here’s a statistic that blew my mind, and a supreme example of why saving for retirement starting NOW is imperative: If you invest $300 every month and earn an 8 percent average annual return from the ages of 25 to 40 (stay with me here), you’ll have invested $54,000, and the account will be worth DOUBLE THAT. Suppose you never invest another penny. By the time you’re 70, you will have $1.05 million. Now suppose you don’t start saving till 40, and you invest $300 till you’re 70. You’ll only have $450,089 to your name. What a difference starting early makes.

7. Investing Made Easy.
If you’re going to listen to anyone about investing, listen to a stockbroker. And Orman was one for years. Remember: Stocks are only for long-term investments where you don’t need the money for at least five years. If you’re wanting to save an emergency cash fund, do not invest in stocks. Start a savings account instead. A safe bet, if you’re interested in investing and you’re all but broke, is to invest in mutual funds–not stocks.

8. Big-Ticket Purchase: Car.
Buy your car. No leasing! If you lease, you’re just going to be making payment upon payment upon payment. When you do buy, buy something you can afford–like, not a Mercedes. Cars are the worst investment you’ll ever make, according to Suze. They depreciate the moment you drive them off the lot, as you’ve probably heard. Another word of advice: Keep your car for as long as possible. When you finally own your car, you’ll have more cash handy for other investments.

9. Big-Ticket Purchase: Home.
This is the section I paid attention to the most, since I barely have a clue what the word “mortgage” even means. Suze explains mortgages, property taxes, down payments, seller’s and buyer’s markets, home inspections, and home insurance. This section is a crash course in Home-Buying 101.

10. Love & Money.
What to do when you get married? Orman suggests merging accounts and paying for all living expenses from this account, but making sure to keep your own checking account with your own credit card. Other things to consider once you’re married and/or have a family are life insurance, a living revocable trust that includes a durable power of attorney, and a will.

After you’ve implemented some of Orman’s suggestions, I hope you’ll find yourself young, fabulous, and on your way to unbroke.

P.S. Turns out Suze’s alright. I stand corrected.

“This is a must-read. I wish I had this book at the beginning of my career.” I recently received The Rules of Work: A Definitive Guide To Personal Success in the mail with a note from my dad saying just that. Thanks, Dad.

If you’re looking for a kick start to your professional day or just need some inspirational career reading, The Rules of Work has what you need. This 219-page collection of two-page business tips, penned by British author Richard Templar, relies on what he claims is his own considerable success in business. This truly is a bible for biz tips.

What’s even more ideal about this book is the layout—sound and applicable advice sectioned into 10 very readable parts. Plus, Templar writes like he means it—simple, to-the-point, and never sugar-coated.

Here are five Rules of Work that spoke to me:

1. Underpromise and overdeliver.

“If you know you can do it by Wednesday always say Friday. A lot of people are so keen to be liked, or approved of, or praised that they will agree to the first delivery time offered to them—’Oh yes, I can do that,’ and then they fail. They look like pushovers in the first place and incompetent in the end.”

2. Be attractive.

I fully admit, this tip gets a bit cheesy, but hey, it’s true. The more attractive you are, the more potential you have to get where you want to be in life. Templar urges us to be like Hollywood stars in that we have “life, presence, drama, power, and personality.” Being attractive doesn’t mean you have to be naturally beautiful. What it does mean is that you should walk proudly, have a firm handshake, dress as well as possible, and be groomed to a T.

3. Know your role.

The Plant. The Resource Investigator. The Coordinator. The Shaper. The Monitor Evaluator. The Team Worker. The Implementer. The Completer. The Specialist. Know which one you are and how you fit into the team. Change your role if you want, too.

4. Don’t gossip.

“Gossiping is the occupation of idle minds—those who haven’t got enough work to do. It is also the domain of workers who have mindless jobs to do—jobs they can do without thinking and thus have to occupy themselves with inane chatter, tittle tattle, rumor, lies, and malicious stories. Trouble is, if you don’t join in you can be seen as severe or stuck up. You have to look as if you gossip without ever doing it…Don’t be seen disapproving—just don’t do it and keep that to yourself.”

5. Never lie.

Don’t. Not even a little. Ever. If you have a reputation of never lying, you’ll most likely never be asked to cover up for someone else. This doesn’t mean you can’t talk up your skills and qualifications on your resume, just don’t lie about them.

Want more? Check out 95 more tips in The Rules of Work.

I had the opportunity to meet Barry Moltz early this year as a guest speaker at a luncheon I attended. When I signed up I wasn’t expecting much; just another entrepreneur talking about his path to success and what he learned along the way. But Barry’s approach was different. For the first time a business guru was highlighting failure not as an interesting course correction on his road to inevitable success, but as seemingly random events that might just as often have no more to teach us than the number of clouds in the sky. This is not to say that he believes failure is unrelated to preparedness, just that not all failure holds the secret to success—sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

The best way to be prepared for failure, says Barry, is to build your “bounce” in the form of ten “Building Bands of Success.” These bands are meant as much to stretch you as they are to provide the elasticity of your bounce. Bands such as humility, facing fear, and giving up shame begin to build a resilient foundation for the bounce you will need to recover from the failure you are sure to experience.

I recently invited Barry to speak at an upcoming YPC event, and took it as an opportunity to read his latest book Bounce! Failure, Resiliency, and Confidence to Achieve Your Next Great Success. His book was difficult to read—not for the style, but for the content. I identify strongly with the try-and-try-again archetype. I embody the failure is not an option attitude that is vilified in the book. And I have held many a “post-mort” meeting trying to draw learns from less than successful ventures. I’m not ready to stop the project autopsies anytime soon—but I may be apt to spend less time with the cadaver.

If you would like to hear more about Bounce! directly from the author, YPC will be hosting Barry Moltz at a Sttratigic Insights dinner this Wednesday. For more information or to register click here.