Busy Family's Guide to Money (USA TODAY/Nolo Series) - Softcover

Block, Sandra; Chu, Kathy; Waggoner, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1413308368 ISBN 13: 9781413308365

Publisher: NOLO, 2008

Synopsis

Simple steps to take control of your family's finances.

Most of us are so busy living our day-to-day lives we don't always have time to think through important financial decisions.

Written by top USA TODAY personal finance columnists Sandra Block and John Waggoner and reporter Kathy Chu, The Busy Family's Guide to Money cuts to the chase with real, practical financial solutions - fast. Learn how to rework the family budget or shop around for the best college savings account and get a handle on the most pressing financial issues your family faces.

The book covers concise, sensible information on how to:

discuss money with a spouse

create a budget the family can stick to

get the best mortgage

take control of debt

teach kids about money management

get the most out of healthcare

plan for college and retirement

simplify investments and avoid mistakes

You'll also find out how to claim kids as tax breaks, deal with major one-time expenses, save for retirement and protect your loved ones with basic legal documents.

Filled with helpful charts, checklists and resources, The Busy Family's Guide to Money makes managing finances a snap!

About this title

About the Author:

John Waggoner is USA TODAY's investing columnist, and also covers personal finance, the stock market, and the economy. His investments column runs in a dozen newspapers via Gannett News Service. John writes an online question and answer column on USATODAY.com, and is a regular commentator for PBS's Nightly Business Report. He won the Strong/Medill Financial Writers and Editors for spot reporting in 2001. Waggoner is author of Money Madness: Strange Schemes and Extraordinary Manias On and Off Wall Street (Business One Irwin), co-author of The Parents' Guide to Money, an interactive CD-ROM (Vertigo Development), and author of The Fast Forward MBA in Investing (John Wiley and Sons). Before joining USA TODAY in September 1989, Waggoner was senior editor at The Independent Investor, an investment advisory newsletter. Prior to that, Waggoner was senior editor at The Donoghue Organization.

Kathy Chu is a reporter for USA TODAY, who has written about a financial topics from credit card fees to Hurricane Katrina's economic toll on businesses and homeowners. Before working at the paper, she covered personal finance, corporate bankruptcy and the aftermath of Sept. 11 for Dow Jones News Service. She has also written for the Wall Street Journal, Asian Wall Street Journal, and Newsday, worked on LIFE Magazine's Year in Pictures, and on the European edition of a 1997 Fodor's travel guide. Kathy was a 2006 finalist for the Online Journalism Award.

Sandra Block is a personal finance columnist/reporter for USA TODAY's Money section. Her "Your Money" column appears every Tuesday in the newspaper and online at USATODAY.com. She joined USA TODAY as a markets reporter in 1995 and then moved to the personal finance team in 1996. Prior to joining USA TODAY, Block also worked as a personal finance reporter for the Akron Beacon Journal in Akron, Ohio; held a Knight-Bagehot Fellow at Columbia University in New York; and was a reporter for Dow Jones News Service in Washington, DC.

Review:

Money management books are in no short supply. What's been missing is a book that addresses the complexities of family finances in an easy-to-read style that doesn't dumb-down the content. The Busy Family's Guide to Money fills that vacuum. (Patricia Kutza 2009-01-01)

Contrary to what some popular money books would have you believe, we Americans are not idiots, we're not stupid - we're just BUSY! The Busy Family's Guide to Money dispenses with the disclaimers and digressions to offer stripped-down straight talk for people on the go. No time to read a money book? This one's for you. (Jay MacDonald Bankrate.com 2009-01-01)

Clear, practical, and nicely enhanced by charts and checklists. (Library Journal 2009-01-01)

This book can be a huge money-saver if you play your cards right.... provides all you need to know about budgeting basics and beyond. (Parent & Child Magazine 2009-01-01)

About this edition

• Publisher: NOLO
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1413308368
• ISBN 13: 9781413308365
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304