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Your Money: The Missing Manual 1st Edition
Keeping your financial house in order is more important than ever. But how do you deal with expenses, debt, taxes, and retirement without getting overwhelmed? This book points the way. It's filled with the kind of practical guidance and sound insights that makes J.D. Roth's GetRichSlowly.org a critically acclaimed source of personal-finance advice.
You won't find any get-rich-quick schemes here, just sensible advice for getting the most from your money. Even if you have perfect credit and no debt, you'll learn ways to make your rosy financial situation even better.
- Get the info you need to make sensible decisions on saving, spending, and investing
- Learn the best ways to set and achieve financial goals
- Set up a realistic budget framework and learn how to track expenses
- Discover proven methods to help you eliminate debt
- Understand how to use credit wisely
- Win big by making smart decisions on your home and other big-ticket items
- Learn how to get the most from your investments by avoiding rash decisions
- Decide how -- and how much -- to save for retirement
- ISBN-109780596809409
- ISBN-13978-0596809409
- Edition1st
- PublisherO'Reilly Media
- Publication dateApril 20, 2010
- LanguageEnglish
- Dimensions6 x 0.8 x 9 inches
- Print length334 pages
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Editorial Reviews
Review
If you need a book on personal finance, Your Money: The Missing Manual is a solid choice. It gets all the important stuff right, and does a great job of distinguishing between that stuff (that you have to get right) and the peripheral stuff (that you can do any of several different ways, as long as you do it).
-- Philip Brewer, --Philip Brewer
J. D. Roth's book is a much-needed dose of reality in the world of personal finance, and I would strongly recommend it to anyone looking to "clean house" when it comes to their financial affairs.
-- Thomas Duff, --Thomas Duff
Your Money: The Missing Manual a good, basic manual on learning how to manage your money in such a way that it doesn't consume you.
-- Miranda Marquit, --Miranda Marquit
Your Money: The Missing Manual is not a cutesy quick-fix for those of you with the 'McDonalds Mentality.' If you're looking for something like that, keep looking. But if you're looking for a real manual, a text book if you will, on money management, spending habits, and the psychological insight needed to understand why we do some of the dunderheaded things we do, this could be your ticket. Your Money The Missing Manual can show you how to get out of debt and to truly understand what makes you, personally, tick. You will learn how to manage your resources so that you can pursue the things/activities that make you truly happy.
-- Artie Alinikoff, --Artie Alinikoff
If you need a book on personal finance, "Your Money: The Missing Manual" is a solid choice. It gets all the important stuff right, and does a great job of distinguishing between that stuff (that you have to get right) and the peripheral stuff (that you can do any of several different ways, as long as you do it).
-- Philip Brewer,
About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : 0596809409
- Publisher : O'Reilly Media; 1st edition (April 20, 2010)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 334 pages
- ISBN-10 : 9780596809409
- ISBN-13 : 978-0596809409
- Item Weight : 13 ounces
- Dimensions : 6 x 0.8 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #294,159 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #437 in Retirement Planning (Books)
- #935 in Budgeting & Money Management (Books)
- #969 in Introduction to Investing
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

J.D. Roth is an accidental personal-finance expert--a regular guy who found himself deep in debt. After deciding to turn his life around, he read everything he could about money and finance. In 2006, he started the award-winning website Get Rich Slowly, which Money Magazine named the Web's most inspiring personal-finance blog. Over the past four years, Get Rich Slowly has grown into an active community where thousands of readers a month share ideas on how to improve their financial lives. J.D. lives with his wife and four cats in a hundred-year-old house in Portland, Oregon.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book easy to read and well-written. They appreciate the practical information and advice on financial topics like budgeting, saving, and planning. The book offers sound advice on getting out of debt, buying vs. renting, investing, and real-life experiences that inspire and encourage readers.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
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Customers find the book provides practical information and useful advice on personal finance topics like getting out of debt, buying vs. renting, and investing. They appreciate the clear presentation with real-life examples to inspire and encourage them. The book is comprehensive and offers reference URLs for additional resources.
"...There are a lot of reference URLs in the book and being able to open the book with the Kindle for PC application and just click on these links was..." Read more
"Tons of practical info to teach you basic fancial literacy, I'd recommend it to everyone...." Read more
"...His book is well-organized and provides step by step suggestions and instructions on getting out of debt, focusing on what is important, learning to..." Read more
"...It offers sound advice on all the big personal finance topics: getting out of debt, buying vs. renting, investing, and so on...." Read more
Customers find the book easy to read and informative. They appreciate the thorough research and writing style. The book provides practical advice in a step-by-step format. Readers also mention that it includes helpful tips, reader stories, and Roth's own experiences. Overall, customers find the book useful and well-organized.
"...been incredibly handy before I bought my car, but it was still useful to read it over now to help me to understand the process a little better...." Read more
"...If you are in poverty, this book is useful, but it WILL piss you off, because it will argue you should set goals that may feel impossible and not..." Read more
"...As always, J.D. is readable and relateable. His book is well-organized and provides step by step suggestions and instructions on getting out of debt..." Read more
"...To date, it's the best one I've found. It's thorough. It's easy to understand. And the advice it offers is sound." Read more
Customers appreciate the book's financial advice on budgeting, saving, and planning. They find it informative and worth reading. The book covers topics like getting out of debt, buying vs. renting, and investing. It provides specific advice like how to automate savings and what types of accounts to use. Overall, readers describe it as an easy-to-read and well-written book on money and happiness.
"...-organized and provides step by step suggestions and instructions on getting out of debt, focusing on what is important, learning to curb your..." Read more
"...It offers sound advice on all the big personal finance topics: getting out of debt, buying vs. renting, investing, and so on...." Read more
"...The financial advice on budgeting, spending, saving, planning, etc...." Read more
"...I learned about credit cards, annual and monthly budgeting...." Read more
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2010I'm someone who highlights, underlines, and annotates like crazy while reading books, particularly non-fiction ones. This book was no exception. I have 214 highlighted passages and 8 notes on this book, according to my Kindle. This book is stock full of useful information that I'm certain I will reference again.
If you're debating between the Kindle edition or the paperback edition - go with the Kindle edition. There are a lot of reference URLs in the book and being able to open the book with the Kindle for PC application and just click on these links was incredibly useful.
I think that I have a strong handle on my personal finances, compared to most people. I skimmed through most of the chapter on debt and buying a house, as those sections weren't really applicable to me. In the other chapters covering money and happiness, goals, budgeting, banking, credit, large purchases, insurance, taxes, death, investing, and retirement, I highlighted quite a few passages.
A lot of the ideas that J.D. Roth presented, I already knew and understood. But sometimes, he was like a trusted friend reminding you that those things you know in the back of your head actually are true.
On the other hand, as a recent newcomer to the US and as a recent college graduate, some sections were incredibly valuable to me:
- In the chapter on using credit wisely, he went into great depth on where your credit score comes from and how it can hurt you to not have good credit.
- The chapter on buying a car would have been incredibly handy before I bought my car, but it was still useful to read it over now to help me to understand the process a little better.
- The chapter on mortgages, to me, was interesting food for thought, but not applicable at this current stage of my life. It helped to cement some of my reasons for renting now.
- The chapter on personal investing was incredibly valuable to me both as a newcomer to the US and a recent college graduate. Before reading this chapter, I had a lot of tidbits floating through my head on how investing worked here and in general, but reading this chapter helped greatly to feel more comfortable with the investing options available to me.
In my opinion, the most valuable aspect of this book is that it collects information on so many different topics. Yes, you could find a lot of this information on the internet somewhere, but that takes incredible amounts of time. An excellent foundation for many financial topics is in this book, with links to websites with further information - essentially, J.D. Roth took care of a lot of that legwork for you in his research for this book.
Who is this book for? It's great for newcomers to the US, recent college graduates, someone looking for general reference material and links to further information on a variety of general finance topics (check the table of contents to make sure this has something related to what you're looking for), or someone who needs to get a better understanding of their personal finances.
- Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2020Tons of practical info to teach you basic fancial literacy, I'd recommend it to everyone. BUT, it's not exactly grounded when it gives advice to those in debt. If you are in poverty, this book is useful, but it WILL piss you off, because it will argue you should set goals that may feel impossible and not recognize just how much you will need to struggle to make those things happen. His advice will work though! Goid luck, you got this! Oh also I think his opinion of credit cards lacks some nuance. If you can pay off your statement in full each month dont be scared of credit cards. But some people cant or need them to survive till pay day, something the book doesn't recognize either.
- Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2010I am a longtime reader of J.D.'s blog so I've been waiting for this book for awhile. It came in the mail today and already I can tell you, it is sooo good. I was worried that many of the topics covered would be a review from his blog writing. This is not a rehash/review of the blog. This book provides seriously enhanced and deeper knowledge in a structured, useful way. I like the way J.D. points out what he thinks and how tools and tips are useful and he also points out drawbacks or situations in which you may want to consider other paths. For example, as he cites in the book, his path for getting out of debt is closely aligned with Dave Ramsey's plan, which worked for him (and me) but he also provides slightly different options that might fit your needs or priorities better but will still achieve results.
As always, J.D. is readable and relateable. His book is well-organized and provides step by step suggestions and instructions on getting out of debt, focusing on what is important, learning to curb your spending and doing what makes sense for you.
The tips, notes, and website suggestions are excellent. I'll be using this as the text for the financial literacy class my husband and I teach at our church. I've already been quoting J.D. to our current class and we've all truly latched onto "The perfect is the enemy of the good" --too many people don't get started in tackling their finances because they are looking for the perfect first step... "Action beats inaction" I know personally, and from others in my class, these are big hurdles we create ourselves that prevent us from moving forward. J.D. named them and in doing so, helped us remove them and do something. I think these are J.D.'s words, but if not, they are a great example of the exhaustive reading and research he does to compile an excellent book full of resources so that you don't have to go out and read all of the other books and research.
Highly recommended!
Top reviews from other countries
- LiReviewed in Canada on June 25, 2014
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent advice!
Great book, and excellent advice; it's not for the feint of heart as this is not a get rich quick scheme, and requires one to be determined
- Hilary VogesReviewed in the United Kingdom on April 26, 2015
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Brilliant, easy to follow
- Markus khanReviewed in the United Kingdom on April 28, 2018
2.0 out of 5 stars Decent
Although very Americanised it had a good section on budgeting that is useful to anyone looking to take charge of there finances