Business Money Books

I'm a personal trainer and this industry is full meat heads and corporate idiots that know zero about the fitness world. There main goal is to make numbers and get paid, while the trainer works his/her butt off to make a living. I saw Plummer speak at a seminar and he owns a chain of gyms in Colorado but he explains that in order to run a business you have to first take care of the employees and second creative a great workout atmosphere. Unlike Gold's gym or 24 hour fitness, kid's should be involved as well as grandma and grandpa.

Not meat heads that slam the weights down or overcrowded gyms where people ignore the 30 minute rule on the cardio equipment. Health problems in this country is on the high side of things just look at ur friends and family everyones getting fat and out of shape. We owe it to ourselves as Americans and to our families as fathers, mothers, etc to take care of our fitness and health cause its important.

Don't even think of starting or running a gym without reading this one! The ideas and lessons saved me thousands. Great for the staff too.

I am 18 years old and very interested in running a gym in the future. I believe this book can help me enormously. I worked at the front desk of a low budget gym, selling memberships for 6 months. I had a great time, but members constantly complained about the broken machines. Even so, members renewed their contracts at a pretty constant rate. By reading this book, I was able to target the pros and cons of the gym that I worked at, and I am even more excited about having a chance to possibly get involved in the fitness industry on a high level.

This book discusses gym busines: how to set it up, run it, attract members and so on. I was a little disappointed as I was expecting more info on becoming successful as a personal trainer.

The book is good and is based on extensive personal experience of the author. He goes into a lot of detail on how to deal with everyday realities of the gym business. If you want to run a gym, the information will be very useful. But not if you want to practice as a personal trainer.

This is the book that I used in a college-level hospitality course.
My department-hospitality management-was interested in showing that
the principles and orientations of a successful hotel or restaurant
applied to many other businesses as well.
One of the obvious choices was the fitness/spa business which depends
on customer perception of value received and on a strict attention to
cost controls and sales and marketing. This book was the only one that
had a useful perspective and that covered all the relevant aspects
of running a fitness operation. Of course, no book can prepare you with
all the answers about any business, but this one certainly started
students out with the right questions.

Lynn Hoffman, who interested in fitness, but really loves wine. New Short Course in Wine,The

After reading two other books by Justin Mamis, I was excited to read this one. When to Sell: Inside Strategies for Stock-Market Profits and The Nature of Risk were two extraordinary books on trading. This author knows what he is talking about and really relates tough topics in an easy to read fashion.

My opinion is if you trade, you need to read all three of these books.

This book, "How to Buy", covers everything you need to make your decisions and pull the trigger on a trade. He explains what to look for, how to gauge the strength or weakness in a stock, how to gauge the attraction for other traders, and how to get in on that stock as it is being accumulated.

Why would you buy a stock that may not do anything for you? Get one that is showing the signs of moving where you want it to go. Justin talks about buying sensibly and not emotionally. He also talks in depth about when NOT to buy. That topic alone could save you a fortune on your next stock pick.

I can't say enough about the series of When to Buy, When to Sell, and The Nature of Risk. Ironically, I bought the When to Sell years ago, read it and shelved it. It's pages would have saved me a bundle over the past year. As the worst seems to be behind us, knowing when to get back in is key. Simply written with great examples, make this book a must own.

From covering all the thoughts that go through ones heads at the time of pressing the trigger, to all the consequences of these thoughts. Everything is covered in this book.
Then it helps one create a strategy for buying based on facts rather than emotions.

I would recommend this book and When to Sell above most books about trading.

An engrossing read for anyone who has an interest in business and economic history as written by contemporaries of yesteryear. Enjoy!

Walter Bagehot was the first editor of the now world-famous Economist magazine, which has in many ways remained faithful to the liberal philosophy (in a European sense)of its founder. Lombard Street might be difficult to read at first, but as with Charles Dickens once you get used to the style the tale is riveting. And his advice on how a central bank, as the lender of last resort, should behave in the face of a banking crisis remains valid to this day.

Wiley Investment Classics generally fall into two categories, tough and dreary reads full of information, and lively entertaining accounts which also educate. Unfortunately, Mr. Bagehot and Mr. Bernstein's text is the former. The book does an outstanding job of promoting the importance of a strong central banking system and the importance of strict credit control when combating financial crises. However, it does so amidst extremely repetitive and somewhat painful language. The authors provide outstanding quantitative and anecdotal evidence supporting their case, but they do so in such a way that makes the book a true labor to read.

This book would be very beneficial to anyone doing research on, or working for some kind of central banking organization. Otherwise, I would suggest looking to any of the other Wiley Investment Classics for a more interesting and educational read about finance.

Can a book about finance written in 1873 be helpful in a world with complex financial markets and plenty of information about how they work? The answer is yes. It is not that "Lombard Street" is a classic that one finds quoted many a time; the reader's interest should transcend historical inquiry or curiosity; "Lombard Street" should be read and revered by anyone interested in the underlying, abiding features of financial markets.

But what are those characteristics? Bagehot, then editor of The Economist, writes that credit centers on trust: "Credit means that a certain confidence is given, a certain trust reposed." And, banks always have on-demand liabilities that far exceed their readily available assets. In short, credit works on trust, and the system, in the absence of trust, can fall apart rapidly.

What follows from these premises is a careful examination of how the money market came about, what its uses are, how its operations are connected to trade and country's overall welfare, and, most importantly, how central banks can deal with financial crises. Written elegantly, "Lombard Street" is, at the same time, an introductory overview of the market and a trenchant analysis of its most salient features.

But what makes "Lombard Street" timeless is that it deals with finance in its human form. Bagehot talks about power, prestige and perception as much as he does about interest, discount, and credit. Trust is based on institutions and people: the human features of finance-trust, anxiety, mania, optimism-are timeless and apply to the financial markets of the nineteenth, twentieth, or twenty-first century. That is why "Lombard Street" is an ever useful introduction and guide.

I have been investing for about 3 years now. I am 27 years old. I wish this had been my first book on investing. It probably would have been my only one. Dick Davis is VERY realistic. There are no get rich quick schemes. No mathmatical equations, no B.S.. he is very honoest and very informative. I would suggest this book to anyone who owns a stock, is thinking of buyin a stock, or is curious about investing. Wonderful!!!

Great stuff!
Having read most everything by Bogle, Swensen, Bernstein, Swedroe, et. al., I found "Dividend" refreshing for it's objective take on the financial industry and the media's daily coverage of same. Yes, you've likely heard much of this elsewhere, yet not likely so well organized and presented. And yes, the book is long, but well worth a read - or two. I particularly enjoyed the broad coverage of passive portfolios. Dick Davis encourages exploration and critical questioning, to find what works for you.
Highly recommended.

This book is, without question, one of the best investment books available. Mr. Davis is a phenomenal writer who conveys concepts with ease, taking care to reiterate those concepts that many investors would prefer to overlook. The reader can tell that Mr. Davis truly cares about helping others learn to invest wisely. The book includes a culmination of wisdom learned over a lifetime dedicated to the investment field.

Today is Tuesday, March 25, 2008. Last Wednesday, my portfolio dropped $154,229 or 8%. I am a successful investor who started with about $700,000 in February of 2002. Do the math! I'm almost all the way back today.

Several of the "pearls of wisdom" in Dick Davis' book were comforting after that, my largest drawdown ever, and that is despite the fact I like to think I have "nerves of steel." His book should be required reading in any investment class. The same is true for you if you invest for yourself or your family. No matter how sophisticated you think you are, this 80+ year old man, with a lifetime's worth of experience will teach you something important and vital. If you are new, he will teach you lots. One gem could make or save you thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. At 58 when I attend Continuing Legal or Real Estate Education Classes, I know a lot of what is being taught beforehand. I seek gems. Nowhere can that one gem affect your fortune more than in investing, and Dick Davis' book has hundreds. Read the book. Memorize all that you can!

If you think this review is long, wait until you see the book - 454 pages.

I don't feel satisfied with the book. The reviews for it were great, it was recommended on a popular investment blog, I expected a lot. As someone who has been investing for several years, I don't think I got what I expected.

Without the preface, acknowledgments, etc, the book is 454 pages long; it's well written and well organized. But the first 50 pages are about Dick Davis, his early childhood, how much he enjoyed his summer camp, etc. I think I learned more about Mr Davis than I need to know.

One useful thing identified in the first part of the book is how Mr Davis operated as a media commentator and later as author of his newsletter, The Dick Davis Digest. Mr Davis writes that he was not comfortable recommending stock, bonds, and investments, so he focused on reporting what OTHERS were recommending, always trying to present a balanced view. I concluded that's the format for the rest of the book - what other people think with some input from Mr Davis, and of course Davis selected the people and work he's cited. I do think he tried to present a balanced view, or at least a view that is not so presumptive as to imply "this is the only way to do it, anything else is wrong!".

My basic frustration with the book is that I concluded that Davis was summarizing (often with other peoples words or work) what he has been led to believe are truths about the stock market, how to invest in it, etc, as opposed to presenting specific information that has worked well for him and why - there's a big difference. If you've been paying attention to mainstream commentary over the years, you've probably heard most of what's in the book. For example, at one point Davis argues that index investing is the way to go because so many experts use index investing; that argument left me cold, I'd like to see some numbers that lay out an irrefutable case. I'm not sure there is an irrefutable case.

Other examples: Mr Davis is comfortable with a portfolio of 80% passive investments (index funds) and 20% active investments (almost anything else). Why 80/20? My sense is that it's a consensuses number based on what investment luminaries he's dealt with have hit upon. No original analyses, it's probably ball-park right, just go with the flow.

Mr Davis presents 28, as I recall, lazy portfolios that were developed by investment luminaries. Enroute we learn that Andrew Tobias is concerned with gay issues and that Jim Lowell lectures on philosophy and religion and is an avid sports fisherman - why do I care? What we don't get is any sense as to how well the portfolios have performed in comparison to each other over a common time frame. Seems to me that without considerable analyses regarding the performance and relative performances of the portfolios we are left simply with a collection of hypothetical portfolios - which to me amounts to trivia.

He discusses mutual funds vice ETFs, and you've probably heard the tradeoffs before.

In fairness, Mr Davis does include several good resource lists for things like classic investment books, newsletters, financial blogs, etc. I've seen similar lists in other publications, but having them all drawn together in one book has value.

If you are a beginning investor perhaps this book has value, you may not have heard or read about some of the topics covered and it may offer some issues for you to think about. If you've been investing for even a few years, you've likely seen or heard nearly all the investment material covered in the book. Either way, it's a long read.

I just received this book in the mail and opened it up. I am a little disappointed the book I received is a "First Edition" where the copyright is 2000. If I understand this correctly, the information in the book is "as of the 2000"; eight years ago.

I bought this intending to use it along with my recently opened E*Trade account. I now expect there to be significant differences between what the book is showing and what the current E*Trade website looks like. If the book is just sticking to the fundamentals this will probably turn out just fine; time will tell.

I wish I had been able to tell the year when the book was published before the decision was made to purchase but that is information that needs to be added to the Amazon website and not a criticism of this specific book.

I can't believe how people criticize Chritos Cotsakos. Sayingthat this book was just for publicity is ridiculous. I was surprisedwhile reading this great book how he did mention other competitors ofhis. This is a quote from his book, "At this point you probablythink I'm going to tell you to go directly to [Etrade] and sign up foran account with Etrade. Even though I am very, very proud of what wehave accomplished, I'm not going to do that. The whole point of thisbook is to empower you. The worst thing you can do when managing ourown money is to blindly follow someone else's advice-no matter whoseit is. If I thought that was a good idea, I wouldn't have bothered towrite this book. Managing your own money online is a way of takingcontrol of your actions, your research, your information, yourdecisions, and your own account. It's not a form of gambling. Makingfinancial decisions without knowing what you're doing is a form ofgambling. Instead of telling you what to do, I'm going to give yousome guidelines to help you select the best possible financial serviceprovider, and then set you loose on the Internet to make the rightdecision-for yourself. So, how do you evaluate and choose a goodfinancial service provider? Start with what I call 'the six Ss':security, speed, simplicity, service, sharing, and scalability. Thebest financial service providers do all of these very well." Nowof course he does mention how great Etrade is but if it was my book, Iwould to. Anyways, the book is great for almost anyone. The book ispretty simple in the beginning, but it helps later on in the book. Thechapters are as follow:

Welcome to the Revolution

Step I: GetReady Chapter 1: Your Financial Future Is Online

Step II: Get Set,Get Online Chapter 2: Turn On, Tune In Chapter 3: Get Your ModemRunning Chapter 4: Make It a Good One Chapter 5: Open Your AccountToday Chapter 6: Know Where You're Going

Step III: Meet the StreetChapter 7: Start with Stocks Chapter 8: Bonds. TreasuryBonds. Corporate Bonds. Municipal Bonds. Chapter 9: Funds, Funds,Funds Chapter 10: Where to Stash Some Cash Chapter 11: KnowThyself

Stop! (the stop just tells you to go back and make sure youunderstand everything said) Go! (just says go ahead and read)

StepIV: You've Got the Power Chapter 12: Online Stock Investing Chapter13: Online Bond Investing Chapter 14: Online Mutual FundInvesting

Chapter 15: Keeping Track

Step V: High Gear Chapter 16:Your Options Chapter 17: Stock Investing 2.0 Chapter 18: Let's TalkTrends Chapter 19: IPO's and More Advanced Stuff

Talking the Talk (auseful glossary of terms) Bibliography & e-contact sites Stay inTouch (contact information) Acknowledgements About the Author Index

This book is great for most people and he just explains how to readstock information and what everything means. It's not an equation ofhow to find the next Wal-Mart or Cisco. I don't know how people saythat this book won't help you at all.

This book gives you the nuts and bolts about trading and investing on E*Trade. It also covers investment tips and references to use, such as margin trading. The book does not tell you what to invest in but how to manage your own money. Great starter book for E*Trade investers and investors who think they know what they are doing but do not.

This book was completely unfulfilling. It's hard to imagine a book that could be less useful for investors. Perhaps Costakos assumes that his potential customers are simpletons who don't know how the Internet works. Even so, his consistent proselytizing for his own online brokerage will annoy both neophytes and experienced traders alike.

As others have stated the book is little more than a 200 page advertisement for e-trade.

I read the book because I know very little about investing in the stock market and I would like to learn.

Even as god awful new to the stock market I am, I learned almost nothing from the book. Many of his descriptions of the way things are "Why do companies go public?" were oversimplified to the point of being wrong.

I went into the book with a bunch of questions and left will all of the same questions.

At best the only thing the book does is convince you to invest money in the stock market through E-trade.

If you are going to trade online, the $13 per trade commission E-Trade charges you is much higher than the $7/trade rate offered by Scottrade, or the $10/trade Ameritrade offers but you won't find that in the book.

If you want to learn about the stock market, I would recommend instead Jim Cramer's 'Mad Money' or 'Sane Investing in an Insane World'.

If you managed to make it here to read this review then it is a fair bet you already know everything 'It's Your Money' has to say. The book is really that worthless.

This book can be summed up with one theme: defer paying taxes for as long as possible. One excellent point that this book does define for you though is how to choose your beneficiaries in the best possible way. As a financial planner this has become one of the most popular questions that I am asked from people whom I meet. This book is a great guide towards answering those questions.

Bravo!

This book is a must read if you're planning to retire wealthy, or at least securely.

And...

Every college student should be required to study this book carefully if they want to avoid all the common mistakes and money pitfalls that 98% of us fall into. I wish I had read this when I was in college... I would be $100,000 wealthier.

- Dave

James Lang has had so much excellent advice for my husband and me that we purchased 7 copies for our adult children and are hopeful they will benefit from the knowledge in the books and cds.

James Lange's Retire Secure, offers great techniques to help persons planning for retirement. He is on the right track - to postpone and minimize the impact of taxes - in order to maximize the retiree's money and extend the spendable income. This book makes a valuable contribution to the field of personal finance - for both the consumers and the professional advisors who serve them.

Reading "Retire Secure" will not alone make you rich. However, if you read and follow Mr. Lange's advice, you will build wealth and then protect it to the fullest extent possible. The book outlines a very clear path to maximize savings using the most effective vehicle available to you. Then it goes on to provide a thorough roadmap to minimizing your tax consequences and maximizing your after tax returns. Finally the book provides several different strategies for passing along wealth to your heirs while once again factoring in the greedy hands of Uncle Sam. The author not only provides you with the theory, as many financial planners do, but backs up his recommendations with solid proofs and confirms them with amusing case studies. Overall this book is an excellent source for information on the use of retirement funds for wealth building and hopefully inheritance to pass on.

I was really disappointed in this book. I really love the other books in this series including: The Rules of Work, The Rules of Management, and The Rules of Life. This book seems to say the same thing over in different ways and most of the information is common sense. I wonder if the author was rushed in writing this book?

This is an excellent book. It's nice & simple. Though I am very financially literate, we must remember that most people who have a poor or middle class upbringing (like I did) have no idea how money works. They just spend their lives working for money --- they never learn to have money work for them. They live under the old & false ideas that "it takes money to make money", "I will never be rich because I was not born rich", etc. Ha. Those are things negative people say, and they are not realistic. Anyone can become rich if are smart & try hard enough. Period. Take it from someone who is very successful in business & life already --- this book is good. It's nothing more than a list of 100 facts that people who are already financially successful already know, so for some people this will sound like a repeat of just common sense information. For other people it will be new & exciting information. If you are part of the latter group, I highly recommend you buy many more financial books in addition to this particular one so that you too can learn how to make your money work for you. Again remember that books like this, Rich Dad Poor Dad, etc are purely basic educational books on money which can still be very interesting to read...and most importantly these books will NOT show you step by step how to get rich, but they will function as guideposts to help you along the way.

This is the worst nonfiction book I have ever read. There is absolutely no useful information in here unless you are a complete idiot. If you are, (1) don't get yourself into debt, (2) put money aside to earn interest, and (3) don't waste money. That is all this book really says, repeated and reshaped in order to make 100 rules and to cover a couple hundred pages. Each rule also has a sentence repeated and emphasized in a gigantic font and all caps to drive the point home, except the sentence often sounds idiotic out of context.

Examples:

"A BALANCE SHEET HAS TO BALANCE."
"I WOULD COOK A THIN AND SICK-LOOKING CHICKEN WITH CHEAP WHITE WINE AND SHE WOULD PROVIDE LOBSTER AND CHAMPAGNE."
"I REALLY HOPE MY SONS DON'T READ THIS, OR I'LL BE CORNERED IN MY HOME LIKE A RAT"
"I'VE ALWAYS HAD MY DOUBTS--AND THIS IS ENTIRELY SUBJECTIVE, ENTIRELY PERSONAL--ABOUT SUPPORTING A PENGUIN."

That's right, you get all of those gems plus 96 more, each surrounded by a box that fills up half of the page.

Besides the book being 90% filler, it feels rushed. The author must have been just writing whatever came to mind as he went even if he was repeating a previous point, without doing much editing, and he repeated himself a lot too. However to break up the monotony he did make sure to add plenty of bulleted items. Those had the added benefit of filling more space with very little writing! There were also some obvious typos and an entire paragraph that was duplicated that somehow nobody noticed.

Besides the book being 90% filler, it feels rushed. The author must have been just writing whatever came to mind as he went even if he was repeating a previous point, without doing much editing, and he repeated himself a lot too. However to break up the monotony he did make sure to add plenty of bulleted items. Those had the added benefit of filling more space with very little writing! There were also some obvious typos and an entire paragraph that was duplicated that somehow nobody noticed.

Seriously, that's how bad it was. The only thing that kept me reading was to see if it could get any more terrible, see how many rules he could reuse by just changing the wording, and just to read something to help me fall asleep at night.

Don't waste your money unless you're an idiot with money anyway and you need a book to motivate you to get your act together.

OK, I don't know what's up with the other reviewer but I found this to be a pretty awesome and informative book. I've read a lot of personal finance books so yes some information will repeat itself. But this didn't really bother me I did find some other good bits. The other reviewer is nit picking and taking quite a few things completely out of context. And what was mention were not rules but were bits out of the chapters. The rules go something like this:

Rule 1: Anybody Can Make Money - It Isn't Selective or Discriminatory
Rule 2: Decide On Your Definition of Wealth
Rule 7: Understand That Wealth Is a Consequence, Not a Reward
Rule 9: Decide What You Want Money For
Rule 11: If You See as the Solution, You'll Find It Becomes the Problem
Rule 17: Don't Envy What Others Have
Rule 40: Pay Off Your Loans and Debts as a Priority
Rule 56: Pay Attention to the Details
Rule 59: Control Spending Impulses
Rule 63: Carry Out a Finance Health Check Regularly
Rule 70: Don't Try to Get Rich Too Quickly

The list goes on. The book is also wisely divided into 5 parts:
Part I: Thinking Wealthy - Rules 1-18
Part II: Getting Wealthy - Rules 19-62
Part III: Getting Even Wealthier - Rules 63-79
Part IV: Staying Wealthy - Rules 80-88
Part V: Sharing Your Wealth - Rules 89-100

I personally like the author writing style, it's not the funniest stuff on earth but he funny enough (at the appropriate moments of course) to keep you entertained and not bored with the book. Personally I dig this kind of writing. The book kind of reads like 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad', 'Who Moved My Cheese', and some other books that I just can't think of right now.

I suggest that you check it out at your library or read a few chapters in the book, which I did before I brought it and don't regret a moment of it. My favorite bit from this book is from Rule 11, which I alreadly noted, "Money isn't - and never will be - the cure. It is the oil that smooths the wheels. It isn't the engine." There are also quite a few typos in this book but nothing I couldn't get over.

I brought this book last year and have been doing my best to be a Rules Player. Let me tell you the hardest thing is changing your thinking. I can now say I am almost debt free (I'm shooting for end of Feb.), I am finally in the black nonetheless (I took Rule 40 and 59 very seriously)not by much but I'm still proud of it. Rule 63 I definitly do everyday now.

You can take this book and called it simple crap like the last reviewer, which is fine, everyone has there own point of views and whatnot. But to me if it's so simple and you are still stuck in the same rut you were before, obviously it's not the information that's the problem. In the words of Bruce Lee "Knowing is not enough, we must act, Willing is not enough, we must do". "Your attitude determines your altitude" that's what I say. Got that off a NASA poster.

Sorry the review was so long, but I thank you for reading it. T.

I'm giving this book 3 stars because its cover is misleading. The majority of the book is about starting a business - any business. It also fails to adequately address law. For example, non payment is prevalent in contracting. But the book doesn't mention bond agents, licenses, waivers, releases, etc.

If you are looking to tighten your operation, learn more about a specific topic or ensure collection, this is not the right book.

This book covers everything you need to know as a self-employed contractor through hiring your first employee.

The straightforward language of this book explains the business side of being a professional tradesperson, and shows the benefits of doing things properly. It is backed by many examples of what has worked and not worked for others.

The book also shows how to plan for your retirement and balance your business and personal life.

Whether you are just thinking about going out on your own, or you've been running things by the seat of your pants, this book will help.

Good solid information on the accounting, legal and business details of a construction company.

For beginners only. Written as if you don't know anything about the business, so if you don't then buy it. It will not open your eyes to anything new if you're in the business.

This was an interesting book. I kind of liked it. It was certainly clear and straightforward. And I think it probably can be helpful to some contractors who are clueless as to how to run a business. There is a lot of practical advice provided here. The funny thing, at least to me, is that it comes across as preaching the same fluff that bar associations sell in the form of CLE booklets for young lawyers to buy who want to start there own law practice. Not much original content is included in this book.

Those CLE booklets all talk about the billable hour and how it is how to price your services. While I agree that all business people should price their company's goods and services so the owner has a certain amount of taxable income at year-end, it is very short sighted to worry about profit margins on each hour worked PER PROJECT. You will want to factor minimum hourly rates for time into your bid, but you should ALWAYS quote what the market will bear. And this amount is higher than what this book tells you to charge.

The biggest problem I had with this book is that it fails to talk about the importance of having a written business plan. A sound 25-35-page business plan would be the contractor's roadmap to success. And it covers all the things mentioned in this book and more. It would include financial reports, i.e., balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow statements. And if the contractor fails to do business the way the plan dictates, then the contractor could evaluate why his company is coming up short and take corrective action.

Besides a chapter on why a business plan should be researched and written, I think the book should have had a nuts and bolts chapter on how to put a business plan together. And I didn't particularly like the outline of this book. I would have liked it lots better if it had been broken into four parts as follows:

I. Choice of Entity
6. Sizing up your options: Corporations, Partnerships, Employees

II. Financial
4. Managing the paper chase
5. Drawing the line: Business vs personal finances
7. Taxes: Plain and simple

III. Operations and Marketing
1. Money matters: Pricing, billing and collecting
2. Contracts and beyond: Protecting your business
12. Your first year in business
3. Running and growing a business

IV. Risk Management
8. Insurance: Money well spent
9. Medical insurance: How to live with it
10. Disability: Anticipating the solution
11. Retirement planning: Never too early

Ideally the first part of the book would be retitled "Business Plans" and Chapter 6A (Why You Need a Business Plan) and Chapter 6B (How to Write a Business Plan) would be added. I think Chapter 5 should have made some mention of QuickBooks Pro bookkeeping software. And I think Chapter 7 should have made some mention of TurboTax software. More could have been written about rainmaking (growing the business) in Chapter 3. My favorite chapter in the book was Chapter 2. I just think the author did a very nice job with it.

I think the chapters I label as risk management above were a little too involved for a general business book for contractors. There was so much more that could have been covered in parts 1 through 3 that I felt as though Part 4 was just too thorough. As a result, the book did not have an "even" feel to it for me. There are books that talk just about risk management and retirement planning. Why not just refer the reader to some of those books? 3 stars!

This book is a kind of compilation of 20 chapters written by a number of different writers with each one being an expert in the time frame which they covered. The book was very informative about when and where in the world people started using money and financing to transact business. Starting in Mesopotamia with the first known transaction with interest around 1820BC. Then moving on through the Roman Empire and the first annuities to the first use of paper currency by the Chinese around 960AD. The origins of stocks and bonds are also covered along with many interesting facts about the fiancing that took place during the Revolutionary War. There is about 4,000 years of economic history represented in this book which a person interested in economics and history will find an interesting read.

William Goetzmann and K. Geert Rouwenhort have provide readers with a most wonderful work. Though clearly a wonderful coffee table book, I had to remove it from there due to IT becoming the center of attention in the room. The content is completely well done with beautiful photos and flowing prose. For those interested in gaining a keener understanding of how value developed as the economic force we all contend with today, take a look at this great work! Very well done indeed!

The book details several particular financial instruments of note during the history of civilization and explains the importance of each one to the evolution of finance in general. The concept of interest, the (unfortunate) discovery of inflation, paper money, bonds, and stocks are covered. It's really an interesting read, though the history isn't entirely linear. I think the emphasis was on the advent of particular financial innovations more than just a straight story along a specific timeline.