The Everything Personal Finance in Your 20s & 30s Book: Eliminate your debt, manage your money, and build for an exciting financial future

by Howard Davidoff

Get control of your finances - and your future!

Do you feel like you'll never pay off your student loans? Worried about your mounting credit card debt? Wondering when you'll ever make enough money to stop living paycheck to paycheck? You're not alone - millions of young Americans are finding it hard to save for the future and still pay today's bills on time.

But with The Everything Personal Finance in Your 20s and 30s Book, 3rd Edition , you'll learn how to be financially independent

You'll also learn how the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau can help you navigate the often-confusing world of financial service products. With this easy-to-use guide, you'll learn how to manage, save, and invest wisely - starting today!

Genres: Finance, Nonfiction, Personal Finance, Reference

304 pages, Paperback

First published August 18, 2012

Reviews

[Breanna Bellows]

Overall not a bad book, but I wasn't overly impressed with either the writing style or the content. I would however recommend the book for anyone who doesn't know anything about personal finance and would like a solid starting point.

[Jessie Seymour]

Took me long enough to finish this one...

Not the greatest book I've ever read. It often felt like reading a textbook. I would read through a chapter then have to put it down just because it was dull to me.

With that said, there is some good information in this book. My low rating comes from how this book helped me specifically, and overall, I don't feel like I learned much of anything new. My mother gave me a solid foundation regarding finances, and I've always enjoyed managing my money. I get a thrill from saving, and I'm ultra-conservative about spending my cash. I don't pay interest on credit cards, and I have budget spreadsheet that I've created on my own. I would say that I have it together better than most my age. At this point in my life, I need a book that dives deeper into the world of money management, and this simply wasn't the book for me.

But if you're someone who is brand spankin' new to personal finance - no foundation, zero knowledge, perhaps you're someone who spends and spends living paycheck to paycheck but you're ready to live differently - I think this could be a super informative book. It doesn't change the fact that the writing is dry. But I do think the information could be helpful.

There were a few chapters I enjoyed. The first chapter is about net worth statements, and I realize I need to add another sheet to my budget spreadsheet. "Net worth" isn't just for the super wealthy. I also liked the last few chapters about investing, retirement planning, and estate planning.

[Aarif Qureshi]

Nicely

[giselayvonne]

I know this book is simplistic and in many ways reviews a lot of what I already knew, I still made a concerted effort to read this book thoroughly and re-educate myself. I have never read a personal finance book cover to cover, nor so intently. I picked it up because I wanted more explanation than I was finding elsewhere, in a manner I am familiar digesting. The result: I know about a lot of things I care about now that I did not care about in my 20s; for example, disability insurance, estates, the difference between traditional and Roth IRAs, and so many other things. The first few chapters were annoying - budgeting, saving, basic stuff - the stuff I needed to get through my 20s as a carefree person.

What I found especially valuable in this book was its edition - 2012. Things have changed post-recession, there are a lot of new rules, laws, and protections for us that I knew existed but felt overwhelmed every time I tried to tackle them by myself. I felt I was shown these changes slowly as I read and given resources to find them. I had no idea where to look before, what was legitimate, and what I could actually find when I visited webpages.

Don't expect a lot of stuff on ACA, because it hadn't fully formed at the time of publishing. There are other things out there to know about, but the book provides links (still working? haven't investigated yet), tips, and recommendations for investing, what is different about annuities, investments, and the difference between stocks and bonds and in a simple, comprehensible tone.

From that last sentence, you can gather my level of financial knowledge prior to reading this book. If you want to know about these things too and have a similar level of knowledge, this may be a good read for you too. Finances are boring as hell, but if you discipline yourself to actually read about it, it may (as I am hoping) pay off in the long run.

[steph]

It helped. I liked that it was updates to reflect the changes to the finance world since the recession of 2008/2009. Didn't use all the chapters but the ones I used where helpful. Gave me a nice overview of how to handle my finances.

[Wanji]

As a person who is in their early 20s the book definitely served it's purpose of introducing me to the world of personal finances, which is all I wanted anyway. There were some points that it had lost me, like in the investments and tax sections, but I pushed through and learned a thing or two.

[Laura]

You will love this book if your IQ is 75. Otherwise, you will be bored to tears. Overly verbose and not enough actual information.

[Hilary]

but the reason I didn't like it is ....
I read the blink 'n thing 4 times
& the shit still don't make sense, thank the gods I don't manage my money!!!

[Alexa]

I was well beyond the starting point on most of the topics by the time I read this, but it's a great comprehensive Personal Finance 101 book. Recommended for anyone in college.