Recommended Reading


	The Wealthy Barber In one of the biggest-selling financial-planning books ever, David Chilton simplifies the complex puzzles of personal finance and helps you achieve financial independence. With the help of his fictional barber, Roy, and a large dose of humor, Chilton shows you how to take control of your financial future--slowly, steadily, and with sure success. Chilton's plan (detailed in an entertaining story) is no get-rich-quick scheme, but it does make financial independence possible on nothing more than an average salary. (From Amazon.com)
	The Total Money Makeover Radio talk-show host and bestselling author Ramsey (Financial Peace) is less a financial analyst and more of a preacher, which explains both his popularity and the appeal of this book, which just might gain a wide audience. The bedrock of his system is simple: work hard, pay what you owe and stay out of debt. His main commandment is "Pay cash." He first exhorts the reader to take "baby steps," which are designed to build on each other: first, save $1,000 as an emergency fund; then, pay off all debts from smallest to largest; save a larger three-to-six-month emergency fund; finally, start to save for college and pay off your home mortgage. Ramsey understands the difficulty in putting these steps into action, and therefore packs his book with personal testimonials from everyday people who have used his system and have become debt free, with obvious struggles. The key is what Ramsey calls "Gazelle intensity," which is to live a financial life the way a gazelle saves itself from an attacking cheetah-"outmaneuver the enemy and run for your life." While Ramsey provides some helpful charts and graphs so readers can keep track of their efforts to follow his steps, the strength of this book is that it is a straightforward motivational tool. He provides the brutally direct truth about the hard work it takes to become free of debt, and his directness is a great part of the book's charm. (From Publishers Weekly)
	The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don't Need Despite rising wealth and incomes, Americans do not feel any better off. In fact, we tell pollsters we do not have enough money to buy everything we need. And we are almost as likely to say so if we make $85,000 a year as we are if we make $35,000. Author Juliet Schor believes that "keeping up with the Joneses" is no longer enough for today's media-savvy office workers. We set our sights on the lifestyles of those higher up the organizational chart. We seek to emulate characters on TV. For teenagers, "enough" is the idle splendor that hardly exists outside of what MTV un-ironically calls The Real World. Schor offers an original and provocative analysis of why many Americans feel driven and unhappy despite our success. As an alternative, she profiles several "downshifters" who've taken up voluntary simplicity in search of a more satisfying way of life. (From Amazon.com)
	The Millionaire Next Door How can you join the ranks of America's wealthy (defined as people whose net worth is over $1 million)? It's easy, say doctors Stanley and Danko, who have spent the last 20 years interviewing members of this elite club: you just have to follow seven simple rules. The first rule is, always live well below your means. The last rule is, choose your occupation wisely. The authors' conclusions are commonsensical. But, as they point out, their prescription often flies in the face of what we think wealthy people should do. There are no pop stars or athletes in this book, but plenty of wallboard manufacturers--particularly ones who take cheap, infrequent vacations. Stanley and Danko mercilessly show how wealth takes sacrifice, discipline, and hard work, qualities that are positively discouraged by our high-consumption society. (From Amazon.com)
	Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance In Your Twenties and Thirties For twentysomethings and thirtysomethings, controlling one's financial life is a challenge many times exacerbated by a lack of knowledge about how money works. Author Kobliner, herself under 30, has assembled an excellent collection of basic money management principles and has specially tailored this presentation to the particular interests of these age groups. She discusses investing in mutual funds, tax-deferred savings plans, staying away from ATMs, legal tax deductions, understanding the minimal return on bank passbook savings accounts, tearing up credit cards, 401k plans and IRAs, and other important topics. Kobliner emphasizes the personal discipline required to implement these sound suggestions, an example of her keen insights with this targeted audience and her experience as a contributor to Money magazine. (From Library Journal)
	Extra Credit: The 7 Things Every College Student Needs to Know About Credit, Debt & Ca$h Extra Credit is the book that every college student and high school senior should be armed with as they are about to be assaulted by credit card solicitations each semester. Extra Credit should be a mandatory book for all incoming freshman. You will be able to get your first credit card and use your debit card on your own, but nobody taught you how to use them, when to use them, how to balance your account, or how to tell if you are getting ripped off. (From Amazon.com)
	Credit Card Nation: The Consequences of America's Addiction to Credit Credit Card Nation is part history and part exposé of the damaging social and political consequences of America's increasing reliance on credit cards. Using original research and consumer interviews, Manning analyzes the growth of the credit card industry and its related businesses by looking at the story of its consumers—the people who use credit for convenience and those who rely on it for financial stability. In addition to providing a consumer history of credit card usage, Robert Manning analyzes the larger societal attitudes toward debt. The history of the credit card industry's expansion is one of the creation of a new class of consumers who utilize credit—and its steep interest and penalty rates—for economic survival. Manning discusses the societal toll that the "credit card nation" is placing on the young, the elderly, and all those in search of the "good life" marketed by the credit card and banking industries. (From Amazon.com)