Reader Survey: Which Personal-Finance Books Should I Review?

There’s no book titled “How To Survive the Coming Economic Collapse”? Or “How To Build a Time Machine and Strangle Sub-prime Mortgages in Their Cradle”?

I suppose this doesn’t help much, but I’d like you to review whichever one interests you the most.

# The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less by Barry Schwartz — reader recommendation

To learn more about personal finance I don’t read personal finance books. I read fiction or biographies/autobiographies of people who lived through hard times. Sometimes reading about 25% unemployment, no government safety net, or no access to credit or failed banks or life without central heating, indoor plumbing and electricity is the best personal finance kick in the pants I need. Please don’t forget the value of a good story over charts and graphs.

I say go for the one that has the most outlandish premise.
The problem I find with quite a few personal finance books is that so many of them just rehash the same concepts over and over, just in different words. I’d like to hear about some books that think outside the box, maybe less conservative in their teachings, introduce new and interesting concepts about money-management/lifestyle/investing. You got one of those?

I found The Paradox of Choice very helpful, and would love to hear someone else’s view of it, so it gets my vote.

What about Nudge by Thaylor?

I vote for the The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less.

Investing in an Uncertain Economy for Dummies edited by Sheryl Garrett

My vote would be for Stumbling on Happiness, Buyology, and The Paradox of Choice.

Thanks.

I vote for “Overcoming Underearning”. I’m a CPA and one of the constant refrains I’ve been having lately is telling people to go get a job. Being a student or an artist or an ex-wife is not actually a career that provides food and shelter for an adult and the time comes when they’ve got to stop living on debt and just suck it up.

Sadly, lately I’ve been finding this is true of people in their sixties, too.

I’ll do you a solid, though, and review one for you so you don’t have to. You’d hate “Killing Sacred Cows”. Read here to find out why:

http://gwendally.livejournal.com/302682.html

I suspect Mr. Bogles would be the most useful and the guide to gold and silver collecting the least.

I don’t know if any of these books would help someone manage their money better but I like to be reminded of how tough times were 50, 100, 150 years ago.

Five Points, by Tyler Anbinder (non-fiction). This book dismisses every stereotype about “the worse slum in America.”

Scratch Beginnings by Adam Sheppard (non fiction). I learned about Adam at GRS. I love him! Visit http://www.scratchbeginnings.com

Paradise Alley by Kevin Baker (fiction). This book is about the desperation of New Yorkers during the draft riots during the Civil War. I add this book to the list because poverty and desperation shows how people lose any regard for human life. The violence in this book is very graphic so it’s not for everyone.

The Prizewinner from Defiance Ohio, Terry Ryan (non fiction). Terry Ryan’s father drank away a good portion of the his earnings, so Evelyn Ryan entered contests to help support her 10 kids. Before credit cards, people lived on cash.

Slammerkin by Emma Donoghue (fiction). Female, no skills, no money, no prospects except prostitution.

Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression, Studs Terkel (non fiction). Ah Studs, I will miss you.

I’ve read several of these and I thought “Enough” by John Bogle was a pretty awesome book. Should only take about 3 hours. It was about a lot more than money — how people should develop character and find something worthwhile to add to life.

The problem with pf books is that once you’ve read a bunch – you get very little value out of reading anymore since there aren’t really a lot of new (useful) ideas out there. My suggestion is to pick 2-3 of this bunch (based on reader input) and then give/toss the rest away.

Your Money and Your Brain – excellent, excellent book – on my blog we did two reviews of this book it was so good. Admittedly it does drag on after a while but it is worth reading. I believe that this book is a great companion to Four Pillars of Investing because it really gets into the psychological aspect to investing which is briefly explored in Four Pillars. Read a couple of chapters if nothing else.

The Paradox of Choice – Worth reading, great premise. Admittedly, I couldn’t get to the end of this book since it just gets too repetitive. I would suggest reading part of it but once you get bored then put it down. But read it!

(yes, I have a hard time finishing books)

I see a lot of votes for Predictably Irrational, which I read and really enjoyed.

I’d love to see a review of :How to Be the Family CFO by Kim Snider since that’s sort of my job.

I would love the chance to read some of these titles, any way you can send them to some readers once you’re done reviewing them? I’d be happy to share what I think with you once I’m done.

Stay warm!

I also vote for “Predictably Irrational.”

Here are the votes of the Belgian jury:

1) What’s new in the latest edition of YMOYL
2) Saving for Retirement without Living Like a Pauper or Winning the Lottery
3) Investing in an Uncertain Economy for Dummies
4) Enough
5) Stumbling on Happiness

Thanks for your book reviews! I don’t have much time to read and get much useful information out of your reviews. Happy holidays!

I recently finished predictably irrational and loved it. I also spoke with the author, great guy. He’s witty and smart.

My review: http://tinyurl.com/3vgsvz

Overcoming Underearning by Barbara Stanny

The Wise Inheritor – A Guide To Managing, Investing, and Enjoying Your Inheritance By Ann Perry.

Estate Planning is one area of personal finance many people tend to overlook (including myself). This book tells the personal story from both sides. Check it out and review it!

Let’s see, I’ve read It’s Not About the Money, Negotiate Anything, and half of Flow. I’d obviously not recommend Flow… Negotiate Anything wasn’t bad, but it is rather specific to selling & negotiation. Not About the Money – I find myself often quoting that book, referencing things I found in it, and just in general offering up thoughts inspired by it. Great book, and I’d recommend it highly. His story on Ram Dass, and a LovingKindness meditation to deal with financial worries is nonstandard for a financial book, and very good.

Things I’d like reviewed / I’d like to read (probably in this order):
Predictably Irrational (getting from library)
Overcoming Underearning
Paradox of Choice (library)
How to Be the Family CFO

Okay, mostly the two I didn’t find in my local library then…

Overcoming Underearning first. That really seems like an area not addressed, and as a financial educator, that seems to be a huge area for many people. They’re cutting back, they’re doing what we tell them, but there’s still not enough money to go around. I’m talking with a lot of fixed-income retirees too – how do they work with a set income and growing expenses?

If you’ve got too many to review, have you thought about giving a book to a reader to write a review for you?

My vote goes for Motley Fool. I can’t figure out how I feel about these guys, so I’d like to hear your take. Either that or something focused on investing.