Putting Your Family's Financial House in Order

This review will be short because my view of How to be the Family CFO is mixed. Let me start by saying that I preferred the book Easy Money, by Liz Pulliam Weston, because it had more concrete advice than did Family CFO, by Kim Snider.

Also, I did not feel that I was being “marketed to” in Easy Money, but I did in Family CFO, particularly toward the end of the book, where the dividend-oriented Snider Investment Method (R) is discussed. What put me off was the promotional nature of the writing, and the lack of detail, particularly any information on capital gains and losses from the strategy. Definitely not Global Investment Performance Standards-compliant. Also, the strategy would be undiversified, in my opinion, by being overexposed to income factors.

Now, there is one major positive to the book, a place in which it is superior to Easy Money. It motivates the “why” of getting your financial life in order, while Easy Money is better with the “how.” What I admire about the author is that after failure, she grew up, and learned to be a serious adult about planning for the future, and using money wisely.

Most of my readers I expect are good at handling their money, but perhaps you have family or friends with self-inflicted money troubles. If they lack motivation, you could get them a copy of Family CFO (with my caveats). If they have motivation but lack knowledge, you could give them Easy Money (also available from Amazon).

Full Disclosure: Remember, I don’t have a tip jar, but I do do book reviews. If you enter Amazon through a link on my site and buy things from them, I get a small commission, and you don’t pay anything extra. If you wanted to get it anyway, it is good for both of us.

Comments

[PastTense:]

I see no substantive content in this article--and find it incomprehensible that SA editors gave it a priority headline placement on the front page.

What I would have expected that Mr. Merkel would have summarized the major points of advice of the book.

2008 Dec 13 01:57 PM

[bearfund:]

When is someone going to write a genuinely good book on personal money management? That is, one that recognises that one can not only get away with but profit from unlimited bad, selfish, and/or risky choices provided substantially everyone else is making the same choices at the same time. If I were looking to help my children or siblings better manage their money, I wouldn't bother telling them how to clean up their balance sheets, make a budget, or manage risk. I'd tell them to find bubbles and chase them, then file for bankruptcy or claim government handouts when things go sour. It's hard to actually GET rich that way, but very easy to LIVE rich for a surprisingly long time. And when one such run ends, the consequences will be surprisingly mild and short-lived before the next opportunity comes along.

You can deny it all you want, but the cold hard truth is that all such books on the market are giving bad advice. This is the world you have built. Live in it.

2008 Dec 13 03:13 PM

[In The Mitten:]

I always love how people have books (supposedly) telling others how to "Get Rich Quick" or "Manage Your Money". I have all the answers, just buy my book. Then the only ones getting rich are them from selling their stupid books, that don't offer any real advice or good/solid plans anyway.

2008 Dec 14 05:04 AM

[Chris@RichA...:]

I don't know... I keep it pretty simple. If I can't afford it, I don't buy it. I'm also going to use Dave Ramseys idea of not ever having a car payment by paying off my current car and saving the payment every month after I have it paid off. My wife HATES the idea because she wants a new car now. I'm not budging...

Nov 04 12:34 AM