The 1-2-3 Money Plan: The Three Most Important Steps to Saving and Spending Smart

• Publisher:   FT Press
• Number Of Pages:   304
• Publication Date:   2009-05-16
• ISBN-10 / ASIN:   0137141734
• ISBN-13 / EAN:   9780137141739

100% Practical, 100% Specific Financial Advice Everyone Can Use: Exactly What to Do and Exactly How to Do It "Greg Karp makes managing your money as easy as 1-2-3. He offers sensible, time-tested advice to help you make smart decisions and get your finances on track." --Liz Pulliam Weston, "The most-read personal finance columnist on the Internet" (Nielsen//NetRatings), author of Easy Money, Your Credit Score, and Deal with Your Debt "I love this book. Greg's simple strategies push you to be smart with your dough and act right away." --Clark Howard, The Clark Howard Show "Within one hour of picking up The 1-2-3 Money Plan, I already had a list of easy next steps to save on several of our household expenses." --Stephanie Nelson, founder of CouponMom.com "Greg Karp really knows his stuff, and he lays it out in plain language that will help anyone save money and get financially fit." --Jeff Yeager, author of The Ultimate Cheapskate's Road Map to True Riches "The money you spend on this book should easily be recouped by the time you're only several pages into it!" --Russell Wild, financial advisor, author of Exchange-Traded Funds for Dummies, Bond Investing for Dummies, and Index Investing for Dummies "Greg Karp is a lifesaver for people worried about stretching their dollars in a tough economy. He's no Scrooge. Rather, he nudges you into sound decisions and smart spending." --Gail MarksJarvis, Chicago Tribune personal finance columnist, author of Saving for Retirement Without Living Like a Pauper or Winning the Lottery "Today everyone is looking for a quick answer to their financial problems. In The 1-2-3 Money Plan, Greg Karp has created an excellent resource. It's well organized and full of great ideas. But, most importantly, it's written in a language that the average consumer can understand and apply. Many people will thank Greg for helping them survive financially tough times." --Gary Foreman, editor The DollarStretcher Web site, stretcher.com "Greg Karp tells it like it is, with the specificity and candor busy people need. I am saving money already." --Jean Chatzky, author of The Difference: How Anyone Can Prosper in Even the Toughest Times, blogging at jeanchatzky.com Today, frugal is the name of the game. But you don't have to take a vow of poverty: You just have to be smarter about how you spend, save, and invest. Sound hard? Not anymore. In The 1-2-3 Money Plan, top personal finance columnist Greg Karp offers 100% practical, 100% specific financial advice everyone can use...organized into simple three-step plans that tell you exactly what to do and how and where to do it! Discover how to save money by putting your bills on autopilot...which specific brand names to buy in everything from index funds to cellphones...how to improve your credit rating...how to get the right insurance, without wasting money on unnecessary coverage...easier ways to save for college and plan for retirement...and a whole lot more. Finally: simple, reliable financial advice you can act on, from an award-winning expert you can trust! *Don't be paralyzed by perfection: Be good enough Better a good decision now than a perfect decision someday*Just set it and forget it Make the financial decisions you only need to make once and can then ignore for years*Stop wasting money on things you don't care about Plug wasteful spending leaks, so you can redirect cash to things you truly care about*Easy step-by-step techniques and specific recommendations What to buy, in everything from mutual funds to cellphone service

You're not going to find anything new here that you haven't heard or read before but the simplicity (easy as 1-2-3) of this book can help to reinforce your need to save money wisely, spend money wisely and invest money wisely. This isn't the best book that I've ever read on personal finance but it's easy to read, informative, and might just help with your wealth building. Just remember that reading alone won't help you achieve your goals. You'll have to plan your future with realistic and measureable goals. This book is great for the beginning steps of wanting a debt-free life. Invest in yourself before you invest in other vehicles. Stop dreaming and start doing!!!

I'll boil down the essence of Mr. Karp's book with a personal example: I love a certain brand of "fruit and nut" bars. (I won't plug the name here.) They're incredibly tasty and packed with nutrition, but they're wickedly expensive - $1.69 each at my local grocery store. Now, your typical save-money guru would say, "Do you really need that fruit and nut bar each day? Stop wasting your money." Not Mr. Karp. He would say, "If that fruit and nut bar is important to you, buy it, but find a way to buy it for less." Alas, using the online shopping techniques in his book, I found those same fruit and nut bars for $1.49 each in bulk. If I eat one a day - and I usually do - I'll save $73 a year. That ain't nuttin'. (My apologies for the bad pun.)

Karp's book focuses on spending money wisely, and does a fairly good job of that. However, it is too dismissive of, or ignores making wise choices in other areas - making wise career, employment, and marriage choices. Without a good, steady income with benefits, Karp's good advice on spending will have limited benefit. Ideally, one will find a career with a solid record of job stability and good benefits (health, retirement, disability). Public or health care employment are the two areas that most stand out for most high-school graduates over the last several decades. The best money in each situation requires a college-degree; however, given the high and rapidly escalating college costs and frequently ruinous costs of borrowing, this is not likely to mean going to an expensive school away from home. Instead, maximize opportunities that avoid expensive room and board costs - eg. community colleges for the first two years are a particularly good choice (recommended by Karp). Secondly, a solid marriage to someone with good economic sense and emotional stability is also key. For most individuals, achieving economic happiness is not likely with only a single income. Karp provides good treatment of a number of spending areas, beginning with the use of credit cards, avoiding impulse buys, setting spending goals, referencing Consumer Reports for big-ticket items (especially cars), avoiding extra-cost product warranties, used cars instead of new, index funds, etc. However, he sometimes go overboard - eg. coupon-clipping vs. finding and sticking with a generally low-cost retailer (eg. Wal-Mart), eliminating phantom electricity use by TVs (the amount saved isn't worth the hassle involved in resetting the timers etc. included - about $5/year, and pales in comparison with A/C use). Karp also doesn't provide enough coverage on the potential savings (both shopping time, and eventual outlay) from using the Internet to help or even actually buy appliances. Finally, "The 1-2-3 Money Plan" doesn't begin to provide enough background on home-buying, especially in this age of the mortgage meltdown, nor enough on minimizing the cost of even of used car (no SUVs, loaded with accessories). I also think the book would benefit from a few words on avoiding expensive weddings.

Ever think winning the lottery would solve all your problems? Actually, Mr. Karp tells us spending is more important than earning (or winning, in this case), which explains why most lottery winners end up broke. He tells us to spend our money on things that rise in value, like our homes, businesses, mutual funds, etc. As it turns out, most consumer purchases lose value quickly. Take the purchase of a new car, for instance. On the average, a new car depreciates 30% the first year. If you buy a $30,000 car and sell it after a year, that's a loss of $9,000.00. The Get FIT chapter tells us how to save money in Food, Insurance and Telephone expenses. The FIT category consumes $14,000.00 per year of the average American family's budget. That's a chunk, isn't it? This chapter is packed with solid, easy-to-make changes which should result in savings of thousands of dollars in these three categories alone. Here are just a few of the many suggestions: FOOD
*Shop the sales - stock up when things are on sale. You will save about 20% of your annual food spending. At the average family food expense of $7,000.00 per year, you will save $1400.00 per year.
*Try supermarket store brands.
*Redeem coupons.
*Reduce meals out.
*Make your own freezer meals. There are some great books to help you with this, including mine . . . Lunch Buddies: Buddy Up for a Better Diet. INSURANCE
*Raise deductibles.
*Say no to extended warranties.
*Say no to identity theft insurance. TELEPHONE
*Cancel your traditional landline phone service.
*Research, review and re-evaluate your cell phone, computer and television packages. If you're like me, you probably can't account for how your money gets spent. Well, guess what? I found out from Mr. Karp that there are websites making that an easy task, like Mint.com which automatically imports your transactions from banks, credit cards, and investment companies. It even suggests vendors that can save you money. This review covers just the tip of the iceberg of Mr. Karp's money-saving strategies to get your financial wellness back on track. The 1-2-3 Money Plan includes everything from warranties to websites, online shopping to security, food to phones, and more. If you implement just a few of the strategies in Mr. Karp's book, your initial investment will be returned many times over. So read this book now and reap the rewards as you maneuver your Battleship "Budget" through the rough financial seas. Ahoy, mate!

Reading and applying the common sense advice in this book will save a person at least a small fortune over their lifetime. This is so well written that it's almost impossible not to understand its many practical, common sense lessons.
The book is divided into three major sections "Spending Smart Today," "Spending Smart Yesterday" and "Spending Smart Tomorrow." "Spending Smart" today is talking about current everyday expenses. "Spending Smart Yesterday" is about paying off debt for purchases made in the past. "Spending smart tomorrow" is about saving and investing for future spending. It's about overcoming the human hardwired instinct to consume immediately. It's as simple as one, two, three. And everyone can count to at least three. Therefore anyone should be able to apply at least some of this information to making his or her own lives easier and much, much less stressful. It also tells its readers how to become solvent instead of being broke all the time. It's the kind of advice that your grandparents provided if they had lived through the Great Depression. "Waste not, want not." "Don't buy it if you don't have the money to pay for it." There is no free lunch."
The author uses the metaphor of a Global Positioning System navigator for this book. This book is a GPS system for "smart spending" and avoiding "dumb spending." He points out that most people simply want to be told what to do and then they make up their own minds about whether to do it or not, but mostly they just do it. Therefore much of the advice in this book doesn't examine every piece of advice from a dozen different angles, the author just points to a time-honored and proven piece of advice and says, "Do this, and everything will be fine and you will be happy." He then points out that not all the advice in this book is original; it's simply what has worked for most people on the planet who try it.
The author gives plenty of straight talk on the subject of debt and overspending. He warns against all those expenses people set up to be automatic, but which can build up sight unseen, like extra minutes on a cell phone, an unused monthly gym membership, and interest on credit cards. At the same time the author points out the dangers of leaving these meters running and building up costs, he talks about the ways to set up automatic savings and investment plans. Having automatic paycheck deductions made each month for an IRA, 401K or other pension plan, for future college costs, for any kind of savings or mortgage payment in fact are good things because most people don't miss the money if they don't see it. And, as Mr. Karp points out, once good spending habits and automatic savings plans are set up, they are automatic and don't need constant attention as they work their own kind of scientific magic.
This is an excellent book for understanding how spending works for or against you. Every page is packed with helpful advice about any facet of our economic life. It introduces comparison-shopping as the key to controlling all expenses and warns against the overuse of credit cards. If a person can't pay off the balance on their credit card each and every month, they are spending too much and should call a halt to that "dumb spending." The author emphasizes the increasing importance of maintaining a good credit rating. Since the
book is just off the press, some of the changes that will follow this current serious recession are also discussed in detail with possible paths through the economic quicksand pointed out.
It has excellent advice about all phases of our economic life including the importance of wills and insurance and how to get the best deals on those items. I loved the advice about buying cars that don't depreciate by 50% the minute the buyer drives off the car lot. It sounded like the exact words my Father gave me years ago because over a lifetime, most people spend more on their automobiles than they do their homes. If everyone in the nation followed this advice, it would be a much happier and wealthier place. And it's a page-turner too. It's excellent advice!

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