I finished Suze Orman’s book “The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke” last night (herein referred to as YF&B). I’d like to give my hopefully-better-than-lackluster review of it.
Basically, the book goes through all of the questions and assumptions a 20-30 something might have about money when they’re just starting to take an interest in taking control of their own finances. The book goes in near chronological order for what you should do: starting with improving your credit score, and gradually moving up to things like purchasing big ticket items (a house or a car).
I like the book as a good place to start. I’ve already recommended it to a few clueless friends, because it says a lot of the things I would tell them, but with a bit more grace and experience. I’m glad that I grabbed the book to read for my own education – I did learn a few things, especially about the particulars of picking out mutual funds. Since I haven’t worked my way up to that yet, I hadn’t looked into it yet.
The book makes a good reference, but it somewhat lacks as a library book, since it is such a good reference. I’m disappointed that I’ll have to return it soon, since I know there will be times in the future I’ll want to flip back to a certain section to recheck something or to reference it when talking to someone else.
All in all, I would recommend it for nearly everyone in that 20-year age bracket – at least one read-through for the intermediately financially savvy, to see if they can pick up anything new, and I would probably recommend it as a buy for someone just starting out, so that they can keep it as a reference.
Buy The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke from Bookshop today!