Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Personal Finance Books

One of my 30-by-30 goals is to read one personal finance book per month and thus far I'm on track.

In this post I thought that I'd share a few of the tips that really resonated with me and what I loved about some of the books I've read so far.

1) 397 Ways To Save Money by Kerry K. Taylor:
Feature I loved: Month-by-Month Maintenance Checklist
Best Tip: Fly from a U.S. airport.....great for those of us who live close to a border!

2) Rich by Thirty by Lesley Scorgie:
Feature I loved: A list of file folder topics for a standard filing system
Best Tip: Always take free money.  In my last job my employer matched RRSP contributions up to 4% of your income.  It baffled me that not all of my colleagues were taking advantage of this money.

3) The Automatic Millionaire Homeowner by David Bach
Feature I loved: The Double Latte Factor Challenge - included writing down each bagel, donut, coffee, phone service, modem rental, etc. that you charge each month and tracking if the item can be either eliminated or reduced.
Best Tip: Don't be afraid to ask for a better deal when shopping around for a mortgage (not necessarily on the rate, but perhaps on the closing costs)

4) Thrifty: Living the Frugal Life with Style by Marjorie Harris
Feature I loved: The shopping tips - for a mattress, dishwasher, home decor, auction and estate items, and especially the garage sale how-to
Best Tip: Buy well and you buy once. Quality is the hallmark of thrifty shopping.

5) The RRSP Secret by Greg Habstritt
Feature I loved: The sample mortgages.  Having never purchased a home I'd never seen a mortgage document.
Best Tip: Do the math on your deal and you may find out that what seems like a high interest rate allows you to create a significant profit.

6) Home Girl by Brenda Bouw
Feature I loved: The Checklist and Common Mistakes to Avoid at the end of each chapter
Best Tip: To avoid nasty surprises [when buying a home] spend some time in your desired neightbourhood at different times of the day.

There are some wonderful books out there, and these are just a snapshot of the books I've enjoyed.

What are your favourite personal finance books and what are the best tips you've learned?

4 comments:

  1. Definitely The Wealthy Barber. I particularly liked the section on insurance (as it explained to me why I don't actually need life insurance and what the difference is between term and comprehensive insurance).

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  2. If you haven't yet read "Debt Free Forever" by Gail Vaz - Oxlade, I suggest you give it a read. One of the best I've ever read. You can probably borrow it from your local library.

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  3. I read teh Dave Ramsey book since everyone raves about him...I couldn't get into it though. I felt like it was such a chore to read and I'm not entirely sure I agree with his principles all that much...

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  4. I'll add those to the list of future books!

    I've read a lot about the Dave Ramsey's snowball strategy to paying off debt on PF blogs. I wonder if he covers savings as well, or only debt?

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