Money, money honey: Books reviews

I took a few days off for the holidays and I will be taking it easy this week also. I feel so refreshed and recharged ready for an exciting 2009.

To save money or get out of debt are some of the most common new year resolutions. With the talk of the recession and the most painful economic period since the great depression a lot of people want now more than ever to have a safety cushion and to eliminate credit card debt.

Recently I read the two books on this subject. One of them is an old book from the early nineties. The title is "Your money or your life." I read the original book; I have not read the newest version. This is a great book to get perspective on financial issues; I highly recommend this book. I have many of values that the author suggests and I can say they work.

The book highlights the fact that every hour we are making money we are also investing our life; every time we spend money we are spending our "life." So every time we spend, it should justified the cost in "life" hours that we are putting on to make the money.

The book is not solid on investment ideas, but it is on money management and life strategies. I think this is a great read for most people.

The other book I read is "The smart cookies guide to making more dough." This book was written by five friends that years ago followed the Oprah debt diet. They were in one of the Oprah's shows and I found their experience very inspirational.

Well, they wrote a book documenting the changes they made in their lives in order to put their finances in top shape. This is a group of young women who have become solvent and accumulated assets while having a rich, interesting life, they are smart, chic spenders not stingy savers. The first part of the book about their lives is interesting and educative, and I
recommend reading the book.

Some of their investment recommendations including real estate are not sound and need to be taken with a pinch of salt (or a whole pound in some cases). The book discusses at the end some financial principles, this is very basic information and I think there are a lot better books to learn it from. In general a nice book to read.