Ernst & Young's Personal Financial Planning Guide: Take Control of Your Future and Unlock the Door to Financial Security (1st Edition)

A practical guide to financial planning covers the basics in Part One and uses a unique ""life event"" perspective in Part Two, offering tactics for meeting financial goals associated with marriage, children's education, home buying, and other major happenings.

As is common with financial planners, this one, written by staff at one of the Big Six accounting firms, covers such things as determining net worth, setting up and following a budget, accumulating assets (most importantly by developing the savings habit), and stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and cash equivalents. It explains investment risk and return; home buying and selling; the various types of insurance (life, home, health, car, and disability); the financial consequences of marriage, prenuptial agreements, and divorce; paying for college; and estate planning. The work is unique in a couple of areas: it covers starting a business especially thoroughly and bases planning on a "life event" perspective?gearing the planning to the goal. Unfortunately, in common with other financial planners, it virtually ignores singles. Up to date, comprehensive, easy to use, and reasonably priced, this merits purchase for general collections.?Alex Wenner, Indiana Univ. Libs., Bloomington
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Given that the information contained therein is authoritative and thorough, financial planning guides are one category of book where the newest is often the best. This most recent arrival comes from the respected accounting giant Ernst & Young, already well regarded for its personal tax planning guides, and its new manual is also comprehensively encyclopedic in scope. Divided into two major sections, the book first covers the fundamentals of financial planning (the actual planning process, investing, insurance, estate planning, etc.) and then focuses on major life events (marriage, home buying, starting a business, raising a family, retirement, etc.), showing how each event or stage in life affects one's current financial picture and future outlook. Included are 70 charts, tables, and work sheets. With the added feature of being issued in an inexpensive paperback edition, this is one book that all public libraries should consider. David Rouse