This book is a basic overview of how to handle your finances in your twenties and thirties. By basic, I mean basic it goes over everything from your basic financial goals (how to decide what they should be) to budgeting to starting a family and estate planning. While it covers a lot of the basics, it doesn’t delve too deeply into anyone category. It is a book that should be used more as reference book.
Pros
- Covers the basics
- Gives additional resources for more information
- Easy to understand
Cons
- Does not into great depth on most topics
- Not easy to read in one or two sittings—much more of a reference book
Guide Review
This book is well written and it covers nearly every aspect of your financial life in your twenties and thirties. It starts with the basics and works it way into more detail. However, you may be better off looking at the additional references the book supplies before you take any major additional financial steps. It is important to realize that a book like this provides a lot of good general information, but you need to know how it applies to your individual situation.
If you are looking for a quick reference guide to refer to when you are concerned about your retirement or you are wondering how having a family will affect your retirement, it is a great book to have on hand. The book explains how these different things will affect your life. More importantly it teaches you how you should handle your finances in regards to the different issues that you have in life.
One great thing about this book is that it is written geared specifically for people in their twenties. The choices that you make when it comes to investing, retirement, and basically any other major financial decision will be different from someone who is close to retirement. This book can give you the perspective that you need on facing the choices you have around you now. Debby Fowles does an excellent job of adapting her advice to match where you are right now in life.
This book can help you to plan for your future now, so that you can have a good nest egg and retire comfortably. It address the basic financial things most people consider, but also talks about jobs and benefits, starting your own business and dealing with taxes. This book would make an excellent graduation gift for a college student or to help anyone just starting out financially.
Debby Fowles used to be the about.com guide to Financial Planning.
