fainancial

The Generation X Money Book was definitly something weel worth the read - If you are under 30 or are just getting in touch with the idea that you have to have some sort of financial stability in your life... THIS BOOK'S FOR YOU, and me

When I was in high school I got the first edition of the excellent book. Now as a college student I picked up the second edition and it is as good, if not better than, the first edition. Like the old edition it is still divided into two parts. The first part is a strategy guide with lots of useful tips for finding scholarships, writing your application, negotiating for financial aid, and even specific tips for specific scholarships. The rest of the book is a scholarship directory. It looks like it contains more than the first edition - although I didn't actually count. The presentation of the scholarships are better than before and I found it easier to find awards for my major and career goals. Overall, I am very happy with this book. Although there are sections for high school students I feel that I have benefited as a college student. This is a valuable resource that I highly recommend.

The book was very well written and easy to read. It's a must read for anyone who's seriously trying to save and invest. She really makes the reader understand the power of compound interest over time -- understanding that concept alone changed my whole attitude towards saving!

"Getting Ready for College" is an amazing resource for high school students on the verge of attending college. The handbook covers not only the essentials (like what to bring, study tips, planning your schedule, etc.) but also addresses the much fuller picture of college life - facing a new social scene, getting homesick, the added pressures one faces with new found independence, and so much more. The book is full of tips and advice from those who've recently gone to college. Based on my years of experience working in student affairs on a college campus, their perspectives are accurate and incredibly helpful. The handbook also serves as a useful guide in preparing for summer jobs between school years and getting ready for the work world when graduation looms near. It's a book you should buy, read from cover to cover, and take with you as a reference guide throughout your college years. You'll be very glad that you did!

This book is very readable. The authors use anecdotes to illustrate many of the points they make, enabling the ordinary person to visualize by thinking, "I've been there!" Although the book is primarily focused on readers in their 40s and 50s, there is much good information for older readers, and this is an excellent resource for those younger readers which the authors don't even seem to know exist (such as myself, at 32). Whatever your age, if you're just starting to look at retirement, this is the book for you.

The author reviews numerous economic forecasts measuring the impact of global aging on the financial markets. Global aging is a looming major macroeconomic event. The huge baby boom generation will start retiring in 2011. By 2025, the entire baby boom generation will have retired. During this period, the baby boomers will be drawing down on their pension and retirement funds. The baby boomers draw downs will put huge downward pressure on bonds and stocks prices.

Pension funds will experience rising negative cash flows as their benefit claims will surpass their contributions. In the U.S. for defined benefit pension plans, Schieber and Shoven forecast that the gap between benefit claims and contributions will deepen from - 1.5% of payroll in 2040 to - 4% in 2065.

Regarding precise equity return outlook there is little consensus. The study from Schieber and Shoven forecasts that real equity returns will decline from an historical 8% down to 5%. Another study by Jan Mantel from Merrill Lynch claims that equities will not decrease in price throughout the retirement of the baby boomers. But, he did not express by how much equity returns would decline if equity prices grow at a slower than historical rate. Other economists forecast worse scenarios including bear markets lasting decades.

There are three factors that will negatively affect equities. The first one, as mentioned, is the baby boomers selling their stock holdings throughout their retirement years. The second one is the pension funds changing their investment mix away from equities towards bonds and cash to meet upcoming liabilities associated with retirees. Mantel forecasts that between 2000 and 2050 pension funds will reduce their equity allocation from 72% to 60% of investments in the U.K, from 63% to 54% in the U.S., from 45% to 30% in the Netherlands, and from 40% to 28% in Japan. Because these four countries account for 80% of the World's private defined benefit pension assets, this shift in investment mix will represent a huge downward pressure on equity prices. The third factor is an anticipated increase in worldwide interest rates associated with a rapid increase in government borrowing through the industrialized World to support government retirement systems and elders healthcare benefits. Governments worldwide are ill prepared for the funding of these liabilities. Roseveare, an OECD economist, predicts government debt will reach staggering levels by 2030, and represent 339% of GDP in Japan, over 200% throughout the EU, and 115% in the U.S. These debt levels are a multiple of current levels.

Reviewing the investment outlook for the second quarter of this century (2025 to 2050), we derive the following:

1)Equity prices and returns will be affected by a decrease in demand;
2)International equities should fare worse than U.S. ones because both the EU and Japan have more rapidly aging population and have weaker fiscal position associated with higher government debt level;
3)Bond prices and returns will be affected by a staggering increase in supply due to rising government debt. International bonds will be more vulnerable for the same reason as for equities;
4)Real estate will be affected by a declining demand associated with lower demographic growth and lower rate of household formation;
5)All medium to long term investments will be affected by a rise in real interest rates associated with a huge increase in government borrowing throughout the industrialized World to support government programs aimed at retirees.

There are several moderating factors that may reduce the impact of global aging. However, these arguments are not convincing. The first one is that all the above predictions regarding pension plans are associated with defined benefit plans where a pension fund pays a predetermined annuity to retirees. Apparently, the more modern defined contribution plans (401K) would have a different and more robust cash flow than defined benefit plans. Retirees would not draw down on their 401K holdings as quickly. This makes sense, but the dollar amounts in defined contribution plans worldwide is small compared to defined benefit plans.

The most intriguing economic argument that would counteract the negative impact of global aging relates to equities demand and supply equilibrium. If equities prices decline because of global aging, the cost of equity capital will go up for corporations. As a result, corporations will issue less equity and instead finance growth with bonds. Thus, the supply of equity will decrease and match the reduced demand for equity. And equity returns and prices ultimately will not be affected by global aging.

Unfortunately the demand and supply equilibrium argument is flawed. The reduction in equity supply, as depicted, will be minimal compared to the reduction in equity demand associated with pension funds selling equities both to meet retirees benefits and to shift their portfolio mix towards bonds. Also, for corporations to steadily finance their growth through bond financing will further jack up real interest rates. This is due to increasing bond supply and increasing the credit risk premium on corporate bonds. This increase in real interest rates will hurt both bonds and equities.

This book offers a timely and compelling explanation that will allow the reader to understand why Mexico, a country that became the darling of the international financial community after following orthodox liberalization policies, ended up in 1995 with the most dramatic recession in its modern history and cuased the Tequila Effect, which threatened the stability of the world's financial system.

The author shows how political considerations played a key role in the direction of the liberalization process of Mexico's financial system. The author argues that liberalization led to inconsistent and unsustainable patterns of financial policy, which contributed to Mexico's 1995 deep recession and the consequent bank bailout. The author argues that although market reform has been promoted in developing countries to improve economic efficiency and stimulate growth, in Mexico financial liberalization provided rent-seeking opportunities for privileged groups and increased the states' ability to finance politically inspired obligations.

The book examines four periods: the populist administrations of Presidents Luis Echeverria (1970-1976) and José Lopez Portillo (1976-1982), during which the foundations of modern financial markets were paradoxically laid; the debt-crisis years of Miguel de la Madrid's adminsitration (1982-1988), who reversed his party's political strategy by favoring the business class with financial opportunities; the economic transformation undertaken by Carlos Salinas (1988-1994), who mixed genuine reform with destabilizing anti-market measures; and the political watershed of the Zedillo administration (1994-2000), whose unpopular bank rescue gave opposition parties unprecedented power within Mexico's policy making process.

The author also offers a comparative perspective of financial liberalization in two other emerging markets, South Korea and Russia, which also underwent financial crisis in the late 90s, and examines the political roots of crisis in both countries. By providing a comparative analysis the author derives some lessons from financial liberalization in developing countries. He concludes by suggesting how greater attention to questions of power, social organization, and challenges to state authority can help the policy-making community avoid giving well-meaning advice that is unlikely to be implemented in a sustainable way.

The book should be read by those interested in development and economic policy reform as well as those following policy making processes. This book is certainly a contribution to understanding a period of profound changes in Mexico's history and its process of economic reforms.

This book provides an insightful analysis of global deregulation and its impact on the financial markets. I strongly recommend it for anyone on either side of the current globalization debate. Whether you are going to protest at the next World Financial Forum or participate in it, this book will provide you signficant insights.

I read the Japanese version of this book. This is one of the best finalce books I've ever read. This book helped me to understand much better the future of financial businesses. It is especially good in explaining: what is the rationale for financial intermediaries to exist, how capital markets evolved, why corporations hedge by themselves, and how asymmetric information affects financial instruments.

This is a very new book printed in 2001, and I am very lucky to find this book as the source of my study on financial globalization. This book does not only cover broad range of topic of globalization in financial market but also cover the economic, social, and national aspects of globalization. In addition to that, this book does not only discuss the theoretical part but also the practical importance to make it easier for me to understand as a student. I recommend this book to other student studying on globalization in financial market, and also to working professionals interested to learn about financial markets.