How did you guys miss the "Sense/Cents" pun? Embarrassing.
We recently read the eponymous book (subtitle: Making Money Make Sense) from our friends at Control Your Cash: [amazon-product]1936107880[/amazon-product] (And yes, we paid full price).
For those of you who haven't aren't familiar with the "behind the scenes"... scene... in the Personal Finance sphere, the co-writers of Control Your Cash are a bit controversial (Greg more than Betty). We happen to find them both more than a little funny - so we knew a review was in order.
Did the book disappoint? No, definitely not.
We're no stranger to the Personal Finance genre (books as well as blogs/sites) - and we've read all the classics, everything from [amazon-product text="Your Money or Your Life" type="text"]0143115766[/amazon-product] to [amazon-product text="The Millionaire Next Door." type="text"]1589795474[/amazon-product] We can say that Greg and Betty bring something to the table that many other financial writers do not - a delicious lack of equivocation.
And isn't that important? While the majority of PF writers will couch their writing with weaselly scenarios and words to avoid taking strong stands, that's not something you'll get in this book. G&B present a road-map suitable for the vast majority of folks - whether said people are neophytes on the finance journey or have already decided to control their finances. From getting out of debt to minimizing taxes to an overview of stock investing - there is a lot of good stuff in here for folks of any level.
As for where the book was able to teach me a thing or two? I (and/or my wife) have no experience with managing commercial and industrial properties - we're strictly familiar with the residential side. The chapter on rentals gives a brief overview on what that market is all about - something I appreciate even if I never try to sell rental space to Best Buy.
Funny? Dense? Informative? Eschewing advice to 'consider' or 'think about' for real action? Yes on all four counts. We stand behind our Twitter comment that Greg is the Bard of Personal Finance. (Apologies to this guy).
I'd buy it again. You should buy it the first time.
Links We Liked!
- What happens when old school newsmen reflect on the number of sources available to the world today? He laments the loss of the cohesiveness of the message, of course. As a blogger, I'm proud to contribute to original messaging, content, and yes - interactive features that didn't exist before in the "classic era" of news. Sorry, folks.
- FreeBy50 talked about the in-and-out migration in a number of states. No, California isn't the "most left" state (get it?!). Plenty of people stay here despite the myriad issues - exhibit A being the guy writing this sentence.
- Do you read click-through agreements or terms of use? Yeah, me neither. How is complexity affecting your life in the present?
- Our friend JT wrote about Home Depot as an investment play on a heating up real estate market at The College Investor. This one struck home - up until the winter, HD and Lowe's were multiple-time-a-week trips. I'll be back to that soon, haha.
- How long could you rough it in the woods? I've lived in Suburbia and Urbia (?) my entire life - so probably 48 hours in a tent. Troy James Knapp had lived in the wilderness since he jumped parole back in 2004 - although many nights he didn't rough it so much as break into cabins. Still, 9 years on the run?
- 2011 data? I'll take it; the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara MSA had the most income after housing costs in 2011, as re-discovered by our friends at Burbed. We discussed this the other day with our friend Dominique at Your Finances Simplified - who we believe lives in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA MSA, #3. However, his county has more income than either Santa Clara County or San Mateo County. Someone want to break this tie?
- Continuing the real estate articles (Whew, #3? Sign of the bubble!), our friend Paula at Afford Anything had a piece on buying and fixing real estate. Smart advice here - especially, I'd like to highlight, the advice about not trusting any seller's numbers... wholesaler or not.
Links to Us!
