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Easy Money: How to Simplify Your Finances and Get What You Want out of Life Kindle Edition

by Liz Weston (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 40 ratings
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This is the eBook version of the printed book.

Pulliam Weston (Your Credit Score), columnist for MSN Money and author of the nationally syndicated column "Money Talk," provides a practical, easy-to-understand guide to taking control of personal finances and establishing financial security. Like most financial advice books, this collection covers the basics, such as creating a financial toolkit, investing, planning for retirement and saving for college. While Pulliam Weston provides insights into these areas-especially for those without a financial background-she also charts new territory with her "60 Percent Solution" and "50/30/20 Plan," both aimed at spending control, as well as getting the most out of your credit cards and what to do if you've overspent on a car purchase. An advocate of online banking, Pulliam Weston maps out the right way to pay bills and advocates account aggregation and consolidation. She also provides a useful resource guide for finding a financial planner, a tax professional and an estate planning attorney. Checklists are included in each chapter, as well as helpful charts and tables that aid in getting and staying organized. This book will be a valuable guide on the path to financial control and security.

--Publishers Weekly

“If you want to simplify your life and make solid decisions—fast—this book is your answer. It’s one more reason Liz remains one of America’s most trusted financial columnists. Quick, easy, and empowering!”

—Jennifer Openshaw, Author of The Millionaire Zone and CEO, WinningAdvice.com

“As usual, Liz cuts to the chase to provide readers with practical, easy to implement tips for living a rich life. If you follow only half of her on-the-money recommendations you’ll be exponentially better off tomorrow than you are today.”

—Lois P. Frankel, Ph.D., Author of Nice Girls Don’t Get Rich and

Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office

Simplify your financial life…

now and forever!

• By the Internet’s #1 personal finance expert, MSN’s Liz Pulliam Weston

• Stop feeling overwhelmed by your finances: take control, the easy way!

• Save time, avoid mistakes, and help secure your future

Common sense. Easy solutions. Plain English. Best selling author,

Liz Pulliam Weston, takes on the problem everyone has, and nobody talks about: the sheer hassle of managing your money! Weston offers practical guidance and easy checklists for every decision: investments, credit cards, insurance, mortgages, retirement, college savings, and more! Discover how to consolidate, delegate, and automate your finances…save time and money…and live a more rewarding, secure life!

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  1. Print length
    218 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    FT Press
  5. Publication date
    November 9, 2007
  6. File size
    1153 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Pulliam Weston (Your Credit Score), columnist for MSN Money and author of the nationally syndicated column Money Talk, provides a practical, easy-to-understand guide to taking control of personal finances and establishing financial security. Like most financial advice books, this collection covers the basics, such as creating a financial toolkit, investing, planning for retirement and saving for college. While Pulliam Weston provides insights into these areas—especially for those without a financial background—she also charts new territory with her 60 Percent Solution and 50/30/20 Plan, both aimed at spending control, as well as getting the most out of your credit cards and what to do if you've overspent on a car purchase. An advocate of online banking, Pulliam Weston maps out the right way to pay bills and advocates account aggregation and consolidation. She also provides a useful resource guide for finding a financial planner, a tax professional and an estate planning attorney. Checklists are included in each chapter, as well as helpful charts and tables that aid in getting and staying organized. This book will be a valuable guide on the path to financial control and security. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Liz Pulliam Weston is the most-read personal finance columnist on the Internet, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. She’s also an award-winning, nationally syndicated personal finance columnist who can make the most complex money topics understandable to the average reader. She is the author of the national best-seller Your Credit Score: How to Fix, Improve and Protect the 3-Digit Number that Shapes Your Financial Future and of Deal with Your Debt: The Right Way to Manage Your Bills and Pay Off What You Owe. She also was a contributor to The Experts’ Guide to the Baby Years.

Liz’s columns run twice a week on MSN Money, which reaches more than 12 million readers each month. Millions more read her question-and-answer column “Money Talk,” which appears in newspapers throughout the country, including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Palm Beach Post, the Portland Oregonian, the Newark Star-Ledger, Stars & Stripes, and others.

Liz appears regularly on numerous television and radio programs, including American Public Media’s “Marketplace Money” and NPR’s “Talk of the Nation” and “All Things Considered.” She was for several years a weekly commentator on CNBC’s “Power Lunch” and has been quoted in numerous publications, including Consumer Reports, Real Simple, Family Circle, Men’s Health, Woman’s Day, Parents, Christian Science Monitor, the Associated Press, the Chicago Tribune, the Boston Globe, Forbes.com, and others.

Weston is a graduate of the certified financial planner training program at University of California, Irvine. She can be reached via the “contact Liz” form on her Web site, www.asklizweston.com.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B004M18MG2
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ FT Press; 1st edition (November 9, 2007)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 9, 2007
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1153 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Up to 5 simultaneous devices, per publisher limits
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 218 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 40 ratings

About the author

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Liz Pulliam Weston

Liz Pulliam Weston

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Liz Pulliam Weston is the most-read personal finance columnist on the Internet, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. She's also an award-winning, nationally-syndicated personal finance columnist who can make the most complex money topics understandable to the average reader.

Her first book, "Your Credit Score," is the best-selling book on credit scoring and was recently published in a fourth edition. Her other recent books include "The 10 Commandments of Money" and the ebook "There Are No Dumb Questions About Money."

Liz's columns run twice a week on MSN Money, which reaches more than 12 million readers each month. Millions more read her question-and-answer column 'Money Talk,' which appears in newspapers throughout the country, including the Los Angeles Times, the Portland Oregonian, Stars & Stripes and others.

Liz has appeared on "The Dr. Phil Show," "The Today Show" and "CBS Evening News with Brian Williams" and is frequently featured on American Public Media's "Marketplace Money" and NPR's 'Talk of the Nation' and "All Things Considered." She was for several years a weekly commentator on CNBC's "Power Lunch."

Weston is a graduate of the certified financial planner training program at University of California, Irvine. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and daughter. She can be reached via her Web site, AskLizWeston.com.

Customer reviews

3.7 out of 5 stars
3.7 out of 5
40 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Shopper in Baltimore
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2014
Verified Purchase
Well written and easy to understand. Lots of good ideas and information!
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Nick Lauletta
4.0 out of 5 stars Good
Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2016
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Good
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TwinRLee
3.0 out of 5 stars Three Stars
Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2016
Verified Purchase
ok read
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Lisa Shea
5.0 out of 5 stars Very Helpful Basics for All Ages
Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2008
Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )
Money troubles plague people of all backgrounds, of all income levels, of all races and colors. It is usually the prime reason that couples split up. People routinely think "If I just had a little more money, everything would be all right." Then they do make more money - and promptly their living expenses expand to use up that money as well. The solution is a sound financial plan.

Liz Pullman Weston's book "Easy Money" has a gold seal on it claiming she is the "Internet's #1 Personal Finance Expert". I found this a bit extreme when I first began the book - I've read many books with similar claims. However, Liz really is what she claims. She handles thousands of questions on websites, on TV and radio. No matter how desperate your situation, she's probably seen worse and has seen a solution. I don't mean to unreasonably praise her, but to give you comfort. Really, even if you're near bankruptcy, she probably has some suggestions that can help you out.

She starts from the beginning and goes step by step. First you have to get a handle on your current situation, no matter how bad or good it is. Get yourself financial software, a notebook, Excel, whatever it is that is going to work best for you.

Next, once you have a solid grounding on what your situation is, you need to start making small, tweaking changes to head in a positive direction. Switch your bank accounts to free accounts. Move to financial software (if you don't have some already) and get it to auto pay. Set up electronic payments to save you stress and stamps.

Then come the larger changes. Work to set up a small "pad" in your checking account, to prevent costly bounces. Try to save a little each month so you can work up to having a savings of 3 month expenses, so that a hiccup like a job loss or injury does not destroy your finances.

Liz has both the concrete tips (how to set up your desk area to make bill paying easy) and more philosophical style tips (do a "buy-nothing-month" and see how much money you save if you only buy the real essentials).

It's important to keep in mind that - despite news media hammering that the entire US is debt-ridden - that many people DO manage to live within their budgets. 1/4 of US households do not use credit cards. Another 30% of households use them, but pay in full every month. So there are a lot of people out there who have figured out how to do this, and do it successfully. I for example now pay my balances in full each month. It wasn't easy - I used to have a lot of debt - but I followed a system very much like this and climbed out of that hole. It definitely is possible.

Liz offers step by step instructions, checklists, reminders. She provides information on getting credit cards, on buying a house. She tells you not to lease a car, and to really learn to be content with the life you have. More money doesn't always help. Also, she encourages you to give yourself some kudos. We all make mistakes. Every person has made a "silly" financial decision or two. You own up to them, reevaluate and move forward.

That being said, she points out it is critical not to fall into the trap of saying "it's not my fault". Yes, we all have troublesome exs, unexpected illnesses and other situations hit us. However, a well laid out financial plan will handle those things. You need to really accept the situation, go through your finances with a fine tooth comb. Did you have a plan? Did you keep a savings buffer? Were you perhaps penny-wise and pound-foolish? There are always ways to save more, and thousands of websites to help you pinch those pennies. You need to buckle down and do it.

Finally, Liz points you towards the future. You have to sit down and take a solid look at your dreams. What is it that you really want to do? Not the "I want a mansion and a yacht" style stuff, but the "if I died tomorrow, what would I want to have as a legacy".

She has a ton of sections in here - planning for college, renter insurance, investing and more. Not every section will apply to every person, but all the basics will. I honestly think this is a good review for any person, and there'll always be SOME tip in here to help you improve your situation.

Highly recommended.
10 people found this helpful
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Loves Books in MD
4.0 out of 5 stars Common Sense Advice Geared Toward The Beginner
Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2022
Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )
LIz Weston has been around for some time and I've seen her articles or Q&A columns in various magazines or newspapers over the years. I found her book to be similar, giving practical and sensible advice that seemed geared toward a beginner who needs a little direction or even refinement of practices they've put into place.

While we're all in different places and ages in life, I would recommend this more for younger people who are looking for guidance to get them set up for a strong financial future - or perhaps for someone who is a bit older but is finding it difficult to get on the right path for financial security.
One person found this helpful
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David Merkel
5.0 out of 5 stars Book Review from the Aleph Blog
Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2010
For most of my readers, this book may prove to be too basic, but we all have friends that are not "money people." They don't know how to take care of their finances, and they constantly get into money troubles. This book could be of help to them.

Now, as you can see from the picture, you can see that she refers to herself as, "The Internet's #1 Personal Finance Expert." I can't vouch for that. I like to think that I am aware of a wide number of trends in investing and money management, and this was the first time I heard of her.

There were five main things that appealed to me about this book. First, it's not a long book (173 pages in the main body of text), and it is simply written, so an average person not good with finances could make his way through it. Second, even though small, it is pretty comprehensive for the finances of an average person or family. Third, I think she gets most issues right for average people who have relatively simple financial problems. Fourth, it provides advice on where to get more data, without marketing herself directly. Fifth, it summarizes action points for each area of personal finance.

I do write about personal finance a little, but you will never get the detailed advice on cash management, budgeting, personal credit, hiring advisors, and shopping smart from me that you will get from this book. My contribution is a more savvy view of investing and insurance. On the latter topic, insurance, I thought she covered the bases well. (As an aside, she shares my bias against variable annuities.)

Now, was there anything that I wasn't crazy about? I know she wrote a book on the topic, but I think it would have been worthwhile to briefly explain why keeping a high credit rating in this age is so important, because of the effect that it has on insurance premiums, and even employment, leaving aside how much you will pay in interest, and how onerous lenders and creditors will be with you if you ever make a mistake.

Now on investing topics, the book is good but not great. For the average person that doesn't matter. For those wanting to take a step up, I would recommend The Dick Davis Dividend. She focuses on saving enough (most people don't save enough), and asset allocation through passive investments. She is a little too bullish on real estate for my tastes. Someone following her advice in these areas will do better than most, if they have the discipline to avoid panic and greed.

But, leaving those quibbles aside, this is a solid book, and those following its advice will benefit.
One person found this helpful
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