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Edward H. Romney advocates (advocated?) a lifestyle based on voluntary simplicity and self-reliance, and here he gives a whole lot of ideas for achieving this. Some of these ideas are very sensible, such as buying used clothes, paying cash for reliable preowned autos, and avoiding debt.

Some of them, however, are hardly practical. His short "Chapter Three: Saving Up to $37,500 A Year" is an example of impractical thinking. One example he tosses out is "cutting off phone service and using an old citizen's band radio for emergencies". Sorry, but in the real world, a phone is essential for looking for work or doing business if self-employed. Ditto for internet connections.

Another example he tosses out is selling your $250,000 house, moving out to the boondocks "renting for $300 a month, and investing the difference." Sorry, but in the real world, renting is almost never smarter than owning, and while it is folly to buy more house than you can afford (as so many have realized in the real estate crashes of 2007-2008), it makes far more sense to live very frugally and hang onto one's home in the suburbs than it does to strike out for the remote countryside where there are usually no friends, no relatives, no jobs and no business. Amy Dacyzyn's advice makes more sense for those of us living in the real world.

Many of the suggestions the author tosses out are for those people facing the loss of everything and / or who are fed up and want to start a whole new life, away from major metropolitan areas, out in the country. The author also discusses more radical alternatives (or, given Ed Romney's politics, make that more ultra-conservative alternatives) for those who are REALLY down and out. For these people he talks about setting up camp in the woods, converting old school buses into homes, learning to hunt and fish, etc. That may work for some, but is simply not practical for most of us.

So if it's all too often impractical, why is this book great?

1. The book is great because it reminds you to keep your self-respect, not get caught up in the mentality of "I have to have it", and to think instead "Do I really need it?" The author reminds us not to be sucked in to a debt-fueled lifestyle, especially where he says you can be poor but proud, and that you don't have to give up your self-respect due to lack of money. Half the reason lower-income people can't make it is because they have been led to think they're failures--just because they have to be more careful with their money. Sadly that belief is a pretty powerful motivator into debt-fueled financial irresponsibility.

2. The author also remembers the Great Depression from his childhood, and his perspective from that era is sobering and inspiring at the same time.

3. I appreciated his thoughts on maintaining a spiritual outlook, keeping one's family together in hard times, and avoiding the pitfalls of too much dependence upon government assistance, and how such dependence often mentally and emotionally cripples and paralyzes the recepients that it is supposed to help.

4. Mr Romney boldly states a truth too many Americans today have forgotten: there is no shame whatsoever in "blue collar" work; much of it can actually be quite skilled. There is also no shame whatsoever in gruntwork, manual labor, or working fast food, if there are no other opportunities available, if one really needs the (extra) work, or if one is a young man or woman just starting out.

5. The author also has more serious business and investment advice, and his chapter on avoiding "redneck economics" when dealing in antiques, collectibles, thrift shopping, or investments of that nature, is well taken.

Because it gives the reader perspective and inspires one to think outside the proverbial box, I recommend the book.

I found Mr. Romney's self-satisfied ode to living the life of a small-town scrooge/tight-wad to be arrogant, self-righteous and bordering on out-right offensive in places.

His chapter titled "Save Up to $37,500 a Year and Live on $12,000 a Year" was basically the only useful chapter in the entire book and that was because it gave me my laugh for the day. Among such common sense items as home haircuts, vegetable gardens and doing your own yard work were cutting off phone service and using a $25 citizen's band radio for emergencies, no more country clubs, no more dining in fancy restaurants, and my personal favorite, selling your $250,000 house and renting for $300 a month. Except for one or two items, Mr. Romney's book is virtually useless for anyone living in an urban or suburban area and even if you're living in a small town many of his ideas are out-of-date, impractical or impossible to implement without having resources to start with.

If you looking for a way to save money... or at least not spend so much of it in these difficult economic times... the best place to start is by not buying this book. If you're looking for ways to be frugal or if you just want to live a simpler life, any other book out there that's not this one will give you advice and tips that are just as good, if not much better and more up-to-date, all without having to put up with Mr. Romney's fake-folksy, smug attitude, ripping off fast-food restaurants for condiments and jellies or dumpster-diving for government-surplus food in housing projects because 'Many of the people there are too lazy to cook things like flour and oats and they sneer at the government cheese and Spam.'

I'm a sucker for any book that tells me how to live a more frugal life. I think we're much too consumer oriented, so I like the idea of living a more simple life. This book touches on many of the "hints" that one can find in any book for more frugal living, but it seems to be filled with many odd tips. Even though the author doesn't condone it, he mentions all of the medications people throw away and implies one could go dumpster diving. Nothing like self-medication. This book seems to be a little more focused on survival and not living. I for one want to live comfortably and responsibly now, but also ensure that I won't have to worry about money or my basic needs down the road. I'm willing to make some sacrifices, but can't quite go this far. Yes, the author does have a very obvious political and religious bent. It is so obvious, that I didn't find it threatening. A little obnoxious though. I wouldn't buy this book, but I would definitely look through it at the library and save a few bucks. :)

The author was older. He had lived during the depression. If you hate hearing your parents and/or grand-parents belittling you because you did not survive the depression you will not like this book.
Romney says to move to a small town where the living is inexpensive. If everyone did that the small town would then be expensive because that is what urban sprawl does to land values. I donated the book to a second hand store where, if nothing else, the charity will receive fifty cents.
I would recommend reading Suzie Orman or Progress & Poverty edited by Bob Drake if you want to have money.

This Book has helped me to save a lot of money and learn to be smarter with my time and money Great Book I Highly Recommend it.

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've worked for different Microsoft partners for almost 10 years. I hoped this book would provide new, interesting, and perhaps secretive information that I could use in building relationships with the field level sales teams.

I did like how the author starts out by talking about how Microsoft views the partner ecosystem. The author compares the Microsoft partner ecosystem to other big software/hardware makers such as Oracle, Sun, Apple, and IBM. With a partner driven model, these chapters helped frame how good we have it in the Microsoft ecosystem.

The book contains sections on how different types of partners can be successful with Microsoft. The author compares working with the Microsoft corporate office versus the field sales teams. I found this very beneficial in how I prioritize my time investing with Microsoft personnel. I work for a services partner so the software partner, reseller partner, and hardware partner chapters were not very beneficial to me. However, those chapters may be a good reference for future use.

I found the book to be a slow read compared to the last dozen business books I've ready this year. Perhaps it was because I've been doing this type of work for years. I also became weary of how the author repeatedly told the reader he was going to answer a question in a future chapter. By the time I read the later chapter, I didn't go back and cross reference the question. Am I supposed to be doing that?

Despite some concerns with the book, this is a must read for any professional working for a Microsoft partner; especially in a sales role.

If you partner with Microsoft in sales, this is a must read. But it's also a maddening read becuase the same topics are reviewed over, and over, and over, and over again. It's like the author had to make a certain word count, so they just kept repeating themselves to make the magic number. I would recommend you digest the material over a period of weeks rather than a day or two. It's certainly not a page turner. . .

I had the privilege in attending a "Partnering with Microsoft" presentation and I am reading Ted Dinsmore's book now. Since the meeting with Ted Dinsmore, our organization is adopting many of the techniques revealed in his book and our corporation now has serious momentum with Microsoft. I highly recommend reading the book, and if the opportunity arises to meet Ted, don't miss it.

Within 21 years of becoming the most powerful company therein, Microsoft has ascended to the pinnacle of the IT industry. Authors by Ted Dinsmore and Edward O'Connor have done an outstanding job of telling the readership of this book, how by virtue of its own commitment of partnering with other firms, Microsoft has done so to an extent unparalleled by other large companies in the industry.

Dinsmore and O'Connor begin this book by telling you why you should partner with Microsoft. Next, the authors detail the core attributes of Microsoft's culture, organization and strategy, and explain the position of Microsoft's partners in its ecosystem. Then, they build on the responsible understanding of the ecosystem by elucidating the principles of partnering with Microsoft. The authors next focus on the partnering tactics that successful ISVs employ vis-a-vis Microsoft. Dinsmore and O'Connor continue by focusing on the partnering tactics that successful services firms employ vis-a-vis Microsoft. In addition, the authors focus on the partnering tactics that successful resellers employ vis-a-vis Microsoft. Finally, they advance the tactics implicit earlier in the book; that is: how to leverage other Microsoft partners not only to improve your relationship with the company, but to accentuate your firm's success by working productively with other partners in Microsoft's Partner Ecosystem.

With the preceding in mind, the authors have done an excellent job of helping your firm come to terms with Microsoft, to assess and mitigate the risks of partnering, and to pursue and realize the rewards of partnering with this globally successful company. At the end of the day, only by understanding what makes Microsoft tick and how the company thinks and behaves, can your firm be a successful Microsoft partner.

A great many companies want to use computers in their business to do something a little bit different than what the programmers originally thought. Many companies do not want to invest, perhaps they cannot invest in their own IT department to understand and develop exactly what they need.
Microsoft understands this very well. Consequently many of their products are designed so that someone else can take their products and make it function as the final customer needs.

A perfect example is a database. A company wants to keep track of something. A database is the ideal way to do this. But does anyone at that company understand enough about database design to implement the database, design the forms and reports to make it easy enough for the clerks in the company to use, and then train the clerks?

The result is Microsoft's partnering philosophy. If you will set up your company to take Microsofts basic software and make it work as the final customer wants, then Microsoft wants to work with you, will supply you with support and leads, give you all kinds of advantages.

The alternative in the IT industry is to do your own thing, perhaps in competition with Microsoft. History tends to say that this isn't all that wise.

The authors fo this book are experts in working with Microsoft. In this book they give you the whole scoop, including the bad points (Suppose the customer really should use Linux!).

The book includes lots of information you already know if you approach things with a modicum of common sense. E.g., this fragment is characteristic of the book: (p48) "Having drawn up a shortlist of (image) libraries you feel should be suitable for your work, the next stage is to find out exactly what they require." Duh! Similar "gems" abound: "once you have been accepted [...] you will be expected to sign a contract" (no example of a sample or typical contract is included). The chapter on stock image libraries does NOT even include a brief list of image libraries you may consider (n fact, not even one is listed!), or a single spec sheet from an actual existing image library to give you an idea of what each requires (in terms of size or file format), and there is no index or appendix of places to consider.

Embarrassingly, the issue 57 of this year's (2007) Digital Camera magazine in its cover section titled "Make cash with your camera" (authored by the very articulate, no-nonsense freelancer and book author Lee Frost) provides more useful info than this book (e.g., the article includes a list of stock agencies that accept submissions from amateur freelancers, with requirements of size and image type, as well as website addresses, etc. for each).

To make things worse, the author cannot decide if the book is to be on how to sell what you have, or how to generate it in the first place (e.g., a very general chapter on what lenses to use for wedding photography and similar sections on beginning technique are out of place here).

My recommendation: save yourself the time and trouble. Get the back issue of Digital Camera, and you'll learn more.

This book isn't too bad. It doesn't cover anything revolutionary, but it does a good job of covering some of the basics of getting out of debt. It's an easy read and goes fairly quick. If you want to read it I'd suggest picking it up at the library rather than buying it. One pitfall it does have is that the author could have left her anti-government and political propaganda out of it, that was a bit annoying.

I have read many books about getting out of debt. Most of them have approx the same theories. I gathered two valuable pieces of information from this book. The first one was about how to go about paying off the mortgage and the second was how to prioritize your credit card bills to pay off. Inspiring!

"You can pay off your debts and your mortgage in 5-10 years." During the next five to ten years, you will need to stop spending and make the decision to have "No more debt". Emotionally ignite yourself and believe you can be debt free. You will need to get each member of the family to believe in the vision of debt free and help encourage them to accomplish this goal by rewarding them to stop wasting money and buying at a discount. Be a contratrian moving against the trend, "the more we make, the more we spend" and transform it too "the more we make, the more we invest." 9% of the population will retire with an income of 50k. Make it a goal to own your car and home. Typically, once your income stops, you have 90 days before the bank wants to foreclose. Suppose a home cost 165k for the initial purchase and the borrower of the loan makes 17 years of payments totalling 165k then loses his job and is forced into bankruptcy and foreclosure proceedings. The bank ignores the fact that the borrower has made 165k worth of payments, eliminates most of the equity in the home by offering "auction prices", takes possession of the home, and resells it for a profit. The bank wins through the monthly interest/principal payments and the resell and financing of the home to a new borrower. The author lost her home worth $1.4 million, 14,000 sq ft, and received $5k. She became angry and decided too become debt free.

What is the bottom line? Suppose 45 years of income with a total income of $2,250,000, Less Total Taxes Paid of $1,187,685, Less Mortgage and Interest $315,929, Less Automobile costs - $615,929, leaves $416,386 of money for your family. After 45 years of work you have $416,386 left less other expenses, such as, medical & dental, insurance, food and clothing, utilities, furniture, gifts, and vacation/entertainment, school and college, investment for retirement, child car, and repair on home & auto. Most people retire with less than 100k.

Break the chain of debt: 1. Get rid of credit card debt. For each dollar paid it will cost $4 to repay and 20 years. CC debt and medical emergencies are the number one destroyer of middle class wealth and stablity. 2. Don't buy new. Offer $500 above dealer trade in value for a car. Let friends and relatives know you will be interested in buying their car when they are ready to trade up. Automobile leasing is a cash drain and only makes sense for businesses which can take a tax credit. 3. Insure for 5-7 times your income. The rule of thumb for Insurance is "raise your deductibles" according to risk. 4. Make future payments on your mortgage. Here is where I disagree. Invest your money and then payoff your mortgage with the investments in one swoop. Let the money work for you outside the banking system. 5. Eliminate unnecessary spending and invest the money. Be a predator on spending waste. 6. Increase your income: 1. get a second job 2. create a business, turn your hobby into a money making venture. 3. sell cars, have yard sells, liquidate excessive items 4. reduce eating out and costly recreation/entertainment. 5. Stop impulsive spending - Stay away from bargain sales and marketing media. 6. Put a chart on your refrigator that tracks all the spending. Implement an family open books policy that shows where all the expenses when. Let family members provide feedback and ideas to improve the financial health of the family. Let family member critique the expense ledgers. Make the decision of overcome the spending temptation. 7. Become a thrift spender: buy older cars, clip coupons, attend auctions, look for things at yard sales, buy wholesale, join discount buying organizations, shop at consignment shops, buy only at end-of-season, and buy discount travel.

Other resources: Money Harmony: Resolving Money conflicts in Your Life; Overcoming Overspending, A winning plan for spenders; The money Drunk; 1001 ways to cut your expenses; Great buys for People over 50; Penny Pinching: How to Lower your Everyday Expenses without Lower your Standard of Living; The underground shopper; The Wholesale-by-Mail Catalog; Wholesale Guide to Buying Furniture.

"If it's going to be, its up to me". "The choice is yours!"

Contrary to the preceding opinion from Alabama, this book is a good buy. It tells how to get rid of all your debt in the shortest possible timeframe, saving thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. It even gives a few examples of ways to decrease expenses so that you can use the difference to accelerate repayment of your debts. Following the advice in the book, I expect to be completely out of debt (over $140k, including the mortgage) within 5 years and expect to retire (comfortably) at least seven years earlier than I had anticipated. (P.S. -- I don't make six figures and have a young child.)

The only thing I would change is that the author tells you where to go to find the "best" credit cards. Is there really such a thing? Getting another credit card will, over time, put far too many people back to square one. If you keep in mind that if you can't buy something for cash, that means you can't afford it -- this book can take you the rest of the way.

If you think this book is useless you're probably looking for an easy way out of debt (expecting an inheritance?).

THIS BOOK COVERS MATERIAL ALREADY KNOWN TO ALL READERS OVER THE AGE OF 16. DOES NOT FORMULATE OR DISCUSS ANY PRATICAL PLAN FOR DEBT REDUCTION

This classic is a must-read for anyone interested in economics, for two reasons:

First, for its age, it is strikingly modern. Although economists have picked apart various points Keynes makes, the core ideas of this text remain both solid and influential. In my opinion, the single most important idea contained in this text is the importance of disciplining the currency supply, keeping the currency supply in rough proportion to the extent of the economy. In this regard, the intellectual ideas contained in this book are the underpinning of virtually all modern economies, and this text is the first in which these ideas appear in their modern form.

On the point of smaller details, while some of Keynes' reasoning and analysis has been picked apart, or shown not to hold in a more modern context, there are other aspects of this book that go ignored by many economists and are still valid. Keynes has a healthy dose of skepticism, more so than is typical for modern economists: he talks not only about his idealized world of ideas, but also about the political realities of implementing what would be the "best practice", and how to reach reasonable compromises. In particular, Keynes seems to be acutely aware of the potential for unhealthy accumulation of wealth in the hands of a powerful but not-necessarily-productive minority, a point that seems to be ignored by all but the most radical economists nowadays.

The second reason I think economics students would benefit from studying this book is its radical perspective and philosophy. Rather than accepting things the way they are, Keynes questions fundamental assumptions and looks for new solutions. I think he must be hailed as a genius for coming up with the ideas in this text when we consider that they were both novel, and that they conflicted very strongly with the dominant ideas of his time. This book is a prime example of "outside the box" thinking. Keynes' genius is even more apparent when we realize that he was able to communicate these ideas in such a way that they became actively embraced by others--in a time frame that is quite impressive for ideas so radical. I think current students could be encouraged and inspired by Keynes' persistent drive to question deep assumptions and come up with what he believed to be the best possible system based on what he knew.

I would recommend any student of economics to study this book. It is not particularly long and it can be a quick read if you have an analytical mind, and I can guarantee that you will find it worthwhile! My advice to the more critical readers: keep an open mind...although many of the ideas in this text are out-of-date, you may find that you can learn form the philosophy and approach that Keynes takes. This book's radical spirit can be inspiration for people in all fields to search for creative new solutions, especially for people facing problems that cannot be solved within the framework of established orthodoxy.

Keynes's Tract on Monetary Reform allows the reader to conclude that,while Keynes did distinguish between uncertainty(Ellsberg's ambiguity,measured by his rho index and/or Keynes's weight of the evidence of the A Treatise on Probability,measured by his w index)and risk on p.105,he had not yet formally integrated the role that uncertainty plays in the demand for money(liquidity preference).Keynes talks about risk in international product markets, trading,currency exchange,backward-forward markets,etc.,but it is clear that he is talking about the various spreads that incorporate risk premiums.Considerations of risk alone lead to the transactions demand for money as being the only explanation for holding money balances in the quantity theory of money as understood by classical and neoclassical economists from Hume to M.Friedman and R.Lucas.The standard quantity theory of the demand for money is operationalized by assuming the applicability of a normal probability distribution.Interestingly,not a single neoclassical,moneterist,or rational expectationist economist has ever done a goodness of fit test first to see if the normal distribution is applicable.Keynes,in 1924,implicitly goes along with this approach.The most important portion of Keynes's book is contained on pages 61-69.He presents the standard approach,given by the following formula: n=p(k+rk'),where n equals cash in circulation,p equals the price level(cost of living index),k equals the public's holding of a cash equivalent,k' equals the public's holding of the cash equivalent in the form of bank deposits,r equals the bank deposit's reserve ratio,and rk' equals the amount of bank reserves.The standard classical and neoclassical short run and long run neutrality of money assertion is obtained if,and only if, n increases while(r+rk') remains invariant.The price level variable p will increase by the same amount as n.In the General Theory(1936),Keynes demonstates in chapter 21 that this result,which he accepted in 1923-24, is only a special case that holds under the existence of risk(the normal probability distribution used by Friedman,Lucas,Tobin,etc.)or certainty.Under conditions of Ellsbergian ambiguity or Keynesian uncertainty(or ignorance),the correct,generalized equation of exchange requires that either the rho index or the w index be integrated into the equation of exchange.The generalized Keynesian-Ellsbergian equation of exchange is then written as n=p[(k/w)+r(k'/w')],where w and w' represent the weight of the evidence available to the general public(w) and the weight of the evidence available to the banking industry(w'),respectively.Both w and w' are normalized on the unit interval between 0 and 1,i.e.,w,w'are elements of the set[0,1].Only if both w and w' are equal to 1 does one obtain the results claimed by Friedman and Lucas.This is why Lucas asserts that macroeconomics must be based on a concept of risk represented by the normal probability distribution,as does Friedman,who also asserts that there is no such thing as liquidity preference(only a transactions demand for money).Friedman thus asserts that there is no such thing as ambiguity.Friedman must make such an assertion because he is a lifelong advocate of the Ramsey-De Finetti-Savage subjective probability approach that asserts that it is not possible to incorporate uncertainty(Savage's vagueness)in a decision rule. Friedman's claim that the GT is based on excessive liquidity preference follows from his acceptance of the LJ Savage approach to probability.Unfortunately for Friedman,there is vast empirical evidence to support the existence of decision making under conditions of uncertainty or ambiguity.One can see the progress Keynes made by comparing the Tract with chapter 21 of the GT.Friedman works with the standard equation of exchange,MV=PO.This is misspecified.The correct generalized equation is M(Vw)=PO,where w is the weight of the evidence.Friedman has a special theory based on the assertion that w=1.Only risk considerations determine the demand for money.

The Preface of Monetary Reform by John Maynard Keynes is dated October 1923, in a time when there were few economists. As the Preface of this book states this dire aspect of the situation:

"Nowhere do conservative notions consider themselves more in place than in currency ; yet nowhere is the need of innovation more urgent. One is often warned that a scientific treatment of currency questions is impossible because the banking world is intellectually incapable of understanding its own problems. If this is true, the order of Society, which they stand for, will decay. But I do not believe it. What we have lacked is a clear analysis of the real facts, . . ." (p. vi).

There are charts in this book to provide the facts which Keynes was concerned about. Index Numbers of Wholesale Prices Expressed as a Percentage of 1913 on page 5 covers the years 1913 to 1923 (First half-year) for nine nations, looking most outstandingly bad for Germany, which has a final number of 765,000 for half of 1923, far larger than the maximum number of any other country. Italy was at 624 in 1920 and declined to 577 in 1921, still higher than the 510 monthly average that France had in 1920.

A chart at the top of page 18 with dates from 1815 to 1922 is supposed to illustrate "what a splendid investment gilt-edged stocks had been through the century from Waterloo to Mons, even if we omit altogether the abnormal values of 1896-97. Our table shows how the epoch of Diamond Jubilee was the culminating moment in the prosperity of the British middle class." (p. 18). But for people who were concerned about the tumble taken after 1914, things were not so great. "The whole of the improvement of the nineteenth century had been obliterated," (I'm looking at an old edition, so my page numbers might be way off from whatever book you might be able to buy today).

The basic information that is most important to Society as a whole is contained in Chapter I, The Consequences To Society of Changes in the Value of Money, considering separately the interests of the Investing Class, the Business Class, and the Earner. The power of any government which can produce money merely by printing it is considered in Chapter II, Public Finance and Changes in the Value of Money, particularly with respect to Inflation as a Method of Taxation. In order to show that a government might have some choice in such matters, Keynes also considers "Currency Depreciation versus Capital Levy." If this seems like an odd topic now, Keynes is reassuring that such a move might only be considered "when the State's contractual liabilities, fixed in terms of money, have reached an excessive proportion of the national income." This might happen (sooner or later) to any country which stops producing anything except educational opportunities, medical bills, entertainment and banking, in years when a high national debt must be refinanced at high interest rates.

Chapter III gives us The Theory of Money and of the Foreign Exchanges. Recently INFECTIOUS GREED by Frank Partnoy provided an example, early in his book, of how bankers still don't have any yardstick for figuring out how much they are making when Bankers Trust was trying to figure out how much profit it could declare on trading in the foreign-exchange markets by Andy Krieger in 1987. Being able to bet the assets of a large bank on the direction that a currency would go in 1987 allowed Andy Krieger to get a job with George Soros in April, 1988, where turnabout became his main play. "Krieger reversed the position, and bet against the pound. A single trade with Chemical Bank was for more than $1.8 billion." (Portnoy, p. 33). Really and truly, I think Partnoy blames Krieger for taking stable currencies and earning large bonuses by making them worth much less than they had been worth before he had the option to sell it at a given price. Part IV. The Forward Market in Exchanges in Chapter III of Keynes's MONETARY REFORM attempts to state three practical conclusions. First, hedging a risk won't work when the situation is so bad that there is "a fear of a sudden implosion of exchange regulations or of a moratorium." Partnoy seemed to think that the private trading in derivative contracts was where the big money was made, and public positions in an exchange could be fake positions hedging a bet in the opposite direction, but that there was no law against this kind of manipulation of the market for money. Keynes was more interested in stability. "With free forward markets thus established no merchant need run an exchange risk unless he wishes to, and business might find a stable footing even in a fluctuating world."

Second, there must be money from speculators in such a market for the market to function. "The wide fluctuations . . . have been due, not to the presence of speculation, but to the absence of a sufficient volume of it relatively to the volume of trade."

Third, high interest rates don't matter as much "unless the change in relative money-rates is comparable in magnitude (as it used to be but no longer is) with the possible range of exchange fluctuations.)" Possibly things have changed so much in the last 80 years that Keynes would phrase that differently today.

Chapter IV turns to "the United States, which has enjoyed a gold standard throughout, has suffered as severely as many other countries," but not as badly as Germany and Austria back then.

had lots of good information about foreclosures. a lot was repeated thoguh. if you learn through repitition, this should be a good book.

I have learned so much, and I am so thankful for people like Bishop Ulmer and their faithfulness.

I really enjoyed this book. Some chapters are better than others of course, but overall it is excellent.

What a clear and concise message about proper money management. It is refreshing to finally be find a book about financial responsibility that helps a regular person immediately "get it", to quickly grasp an understanding of handling money matters the right way, no matter how much or little money or income a person has. This guy writes in a way that not only explains the basic how-to's and the why's, but also the consequences of dealing with money the wrong way. For anyone who wants to build a lasting financial legacy.

This book is a must have. It will change your life with respect to the way you view money and finances. If you are a newly wed, a person in business, or even a student, this book has fundamental principles that will change your financial status for the better.

In terms of getting organized and taking control of your financial responsibilities, this is virtually certain to be the most important single book you will ever read. It will literally save you a fortune and zero out financial stress forever. The simple changes I have adopted because of this book have made a world of difference in my family finances.

I am not only making this my personal financial handbook, I am teaching my children Cheryl Hosking's system. She has done all the research and testing. You just have to adopt her system. It not only works like a charm, it is easy to stick with the program. The book includes the exact information, including the tracking forms I needed to get painlessly organized.

This book rates an A+++. It takes the pain out of a normally painful task. There is no fluff or hype here. The book is well designed, concise and eminently practical.

If you only buy one book this year, do yourself or someone you love a huge favor and make this the book. It's that good and it's that valuable.

At 38, I realized I had gone from my father handling my finances, to my husband handling them. I was too overwhelmed and scared to get any control for myself. Ms. Hosking's book helped make me comfortable with being in charge of my own finacial future. The "Get To It Budget Book" is easy to understand, and a great way to help you get ahead of debt. Thanks to it, I am thriving on a part time income! Highly recommended for anyone!

This book gives you insight into many areas of the insurance industry. It tells you what to expect and what to look for.

I hate Insurance. I hate the whole idea of an industry that is built upon fear. But my mortgage lender requires me to insure my house, the Department of Motor Vehicles makes me insure my car, my wife insists that I have a life insurance policy, and it would seem irresponsible not to provide my kids with health insurance as long as I can afford it. If you add it all up, we all spend a lot of money on insurance -- and the question really isn't if you should be buying insurance, but if you are buying the right insurance at the best price.

This book will help you answer those questions. Kim Lankford has an insiders perspective on the insurance industry (having begun her career there) and she knows how to write -- she's the authoeor of the a regular "Ask Kim" column in Kiplingers. Lankfrod gives you the inside scoop on your best options for coverage with real-life examples, resources, and tools to find your best deals. Reading this book taught me some valuable lessons about the hidden costs in health insurance plans, and how to make the most of a health savings account that is going to help me build a sizable stash of tax free money. The book is also full on unintuitive insights into life insurance prices, auto insurance pricing, and tricks to minimize potential problems when you make a claim. This book is well worth the money you will spend to buy it and the time you will invest in reading it.

As newlyweds with a new home, new car, and plans to start a family, we realized that we had to re-examine our insurance needs. After browsing through a bunch of other books on insurance, we found that this really covered everything we needed to know in clear, simple language. We learned some things that really surprised us in every category of insurance and this book really helped us make the right choices for our situation. We anticipate saving quite a bit of money after following the advice in this book, rather than just blindly selecting the insurance policies that we either already had, or that friends/family recommended.

Highly recommended as a great overview guide to insurance.

The book is a great description of the subject, and it clearly defines insurance customers' options. Very current and spans several types of insurance. After spending years caring for a chronic disease, I thought I knew everything about health insurance, but this actually taught me a few things that can cut my bills. Great glossary and list of internet resources will help keep the reader up-to-date on numbers and trends.