education-investments

I bought this book as a novice in the rental business hoping to find information that would get me started out on the right foot. I WAS QUITE DISAPPOINTED. I will not go as far as to say that this book is worthless; there are some useful tidbits of information that i found helpful, but there are other books out there that are so much better. I strongly suggest LANDLORDING, by Leigh Robinson (Ninth Edition or newer). It's available on amazon, of course.

On reading this book no matter how much I tried to focus I found myself wondering whether the content actually related to my own situation in the Uk.

I purchased the book looking for straightforward advice on being a landlord covering aspects such as legal implications, inventory advice etc. However from the information I read on site it was not clear that this was very much a book for those in the USA. Once I started reading it soon became apparent when it spoke of the different laws for different "states", forms with "zip codes" etc. Whilst the general information was useful I felt that I couldn't rely on any document or legal advice as this might not hold for the UK.

A good read but I felt that it should have been highlighted on the site that it was for the USA

As a landlord for over 30 years and teaching classes on the subject in two different schools, this is one book that I have found invaluable as a resource for wannabe and experienced landlords. Don't think you know it all no matter what you read, learn, experience... I'm still picking up tips and hints! Much of my curriculum was already covered in this book but still there was more to use and learning from each other is the way to go! Very happy to see this book on the market and in laymen's terms and with the prominent hints and smiles to make it easy reading.

This woman should be forced to take parenting classes if this is how she treats her own three kids.
Kids learn through good advice coupled with kind hearts and caring parents.

Skip this book. There are more empathetic and useful money books for parents trying to instill values in their kids.

This book is just plain nasty.

I'm not exactly sure what the previous reviewers disliked about this book. I found it to be a frank discussion of money issues related to kids. Maybe the "for kids" in the title was misleading, the content is clearly for parents. With this book a parent can get a grasp on a large number of ideas and resources to help kids manage money. The author has done a good job of putting together a work covering everything from handling money discussions with preschoolers to working out money issues with teens and everything in between. This is a great reference book containing ideas about guiding kids who are making money, and also has information to help kids manage that money and manange the situations surrounding it. There are web sites, a generous bibliography and plenty of ideas and advice for different age kids and different situations. The book is worth the price for the three chapters on savings, investments and kid businesses alone. If you are looking for a well written, no nonsense book about kid finances you would do well to give this book a second look.

There are a lot of books out there for kids about money. There are tons of books out there for adults about money. But there are suprisingly not a lot of books out there to help parents raise kids who are financially savvy. In a nation where kids have more and more discretionary income, earlier access to credit, are targeted with advertising from a young age and influence on the spending of parents, this type of book is needed more than ever.

You don't need an MBA to read this humorous, down-to-earth style. The advice applies to real life families and real life situations. Many times you will read the question and answer section and wonder if you yourself or at least your kids actually wrote in to the author.

The book does have an emphasis on personal responsibility (which was actually why it resonates so well with me) and teaching your kids to be responsible consumers. Perhaps the people who offered negative reviews disliked this aspect of the book. For example, if your child has spent his allowance and needs money to buy a birthday gift for a friend, is it more caring to let him learn his lesson or do you just give in and give your son additional cash?

The chapter on allowance is worth it alone. I can't reccomend this book highly enough.

This book is full of falacies that no one could live by. It's a purely fictional world in which a miserly lifestyle would have to be adopted. Wealth is not only monetary. Slaving over numerous minimum wage jobs does not define wealth. It might work for Mr. Steamer, but I think the majority of us would like to enjoy their jobs and the fruits of our labor.

Mr.Steamer's suggestions imply that in order to become a millionare, one must be essentially perfect and alone- that is, having no health problems, minimal bills, no family, and find the cheapest place to live. I think it can be assumed that if one were to live alone and have perfect health in the cheapest city in the world and not spend their money on frivelous things, they too could be a millionare. Personally, I would rather sacrifice the millions of dollars that James Steamer claims I can make, and rather have a family, accept my imperfect health (and treat it with the backing of health insurance), and spend money on fast food or an occassional movie once in awhile.

I was disappointed in the book. Perhaps I've already read too many financial books, but I honestly didn't get any new good ideas from this book. One of his ideas really concerns me - Mr. Steamer offers that if one is fairly young, in good health, and has no family history of health problems, he/she could consider going without health insurance (in effect, they become self insured paying their own costs out of pocket). He doesn't explictedly recommend this, but he does offer it as a potential cost saving. I believe this is a bad idea, since a major medical emergency (although perhaps remote), would lead to financial ruin. It's just too great a risk in my opinion. I should add I'm in no way affliated with the healthcare or insurance industry. I also believe that most financial planners would agree with me that this is a bad idea.

The other thing that bothers me about the book is that we're to believe Mr. Steamer somehow managed to sock away $250,000 over a ten year period with a cumulative gross salary of only $220,000 for a family of three. At one time, I tried to live by myself on an annual salary of less than 17K and it was difficult (and I consider myself a pretty frugal person). The book offers cost savings tips and financial advice, but I don't see how you could achieve what Mr. Steamer claims he has even if you used all of his ideas. I guess that was the biggest problem I had with the book. That fact kept bothering me as I read more of the book. Perhaps Mr. Steamer should have included some more factual information on how he himself achieved all that wealth. I wouldn't have been so bothered if he claimed to have gotten real lucky in the stock market, bought a house at auction for next to nothing and fixed it up himself, etc.