Rating: 
Summary: Powerfully impacted our lives - Salespersons beware
Review: My wife and I bought Financial Self-Defense along with More Wealth Without Risk some time ago and wanted to share our experiences with other readers.Salespersons BEWARE! My wife and I are armed with the truth thanks to Charles J. Givens. Being a dentist, I am constantly bombarded with all types of salespeople and financial planners wanting me to buy their products. Now I can dictate to them what I want or turn them away without a second thought. Since we bought the books and began applying the strategies espoused by Mr. Givens, we reduced our car insurance by 50% and also reevaluated our need for other types of insurance. We have over $20,000 invested in mutual funds and another $15,000 in retirement accounts, and bought two townhomes under fair market value with a $550/month positive cash flow. But the best thing we have done is set our goals, both long and short term, developed a plan of action in order to reach them and are currently in control of the rest of our lives. Many people think that physicians and dentists are rich. While it is true that they have substantial incomes, their total financial picture leaves much to be desired. First off, most physicians and dentists are financially ignorant. Secondly, they are over-insured because they have been told by insurance salespersons that since they are doctors, they can never protect themselves enough--"The more coverage the better" they say - yeah for the salesperson! Thirdly, they are abused by investment scam artists luring them into risky limited partnerships, stock futures, their brokers "stock of the day" and so on. Doctors are experts in their respective fields only and desperately need the advice that More Wealth Without Risk and Financial Self-Defense provides. I highly recommend these books to all medical professionals. We have been most pleased with the results of our decisions, and realized that without the advice of Charles Givens these decisions would not have been smart decisons, but instead uneducated guesses which would have cost us thousands of dollars. We give ourselves and all others who are following the Givens strategies a pat on the back for having the desire to take control of our lives and doing something about it. We appreciate and thank Charles Givens for having the desire to help all those interested in taking controlof their future. Thank you Mr. Givens!
Rating:
Summary: I already was a tax expert.
Review: My wife and I have been aggressive tax preparers for several years and considered ourselves as knowing about all there was to know. This book taught us many new strategies. So much information. We also suggest "Super Self"a real super book on personal development. Thanks Chuck, great books.
Rating:
Summary: $7,954.26 richer after five days.
Review: So far, after just five days of applying the strategies in Financial Self Defense and More Wealth without Risk my husband and I have saved over $662.85 which is $7,954.26 which we now have to invest and improve our lifestyle.Great books. I also recommend Superself.
Rating:
Summary: How to Win the Fight for Financial Freedom
Review: There is a war going on out there and everyone has their hands in your pockets. Fincancial Success is WAR and in Financial Self DeFense, the late, great Charles J. Givens offers defensive and offensive stratgies on how to win the war for financial freedom. For me, by using just some of the insurance strategies was able to save over $... a year on life insurance. I took our family on a wonderful trip to Disney World on a satisfying tax deductible vacation, using just some of the tax strategies. By using the 10% solution strategy, there is no limit to what we will save by retirement, which will be a lot sooner than what we had initially though, thanks to Givens. We started and have revised (upwards) our dreams list and know that we can achieve them with the confidence that the Givens strategies has given us. Also recommend More Wealth without Risk.
Rating: 
Summary: A reasonable investment of your time and money
Review: This book is the predecessor of the excellent best-seller "More Wealth Without Risk". This book is not as useful or as comprehensive as MWWR, but the two books are largely complementary without too much overlap. If you are know little of personal finance, insurance, investing, etc. in the USA, then I would recommend that you buy both books -- both will save you some money and help you make more informed decisions. Givens has a reputation as a bit of a rogue but he is smart and humerous. Take care to apply his suggestions carefully so that you don't leave yourself exposed (some strategies will only work if you apply all elements), but do try them -- some are easy no brainers that will save you hundreds of dollars with little effort. Insurance sales people must hate these books! Ha!
Rating:
Summary: Givens does it again
Review: This book was a followup to More Wealth without Risk and uncovers the schemes and scams unloaded on the unwary public by bankers, auto dealers, auto, life and health insurance salemen and more. The book is dated back to 1995, but the principles are timeless. I recommend "The New Rules of Money" by Ric Edelman in addition to this and of course More Wealth without Risk.
Rating:
Summary: A guide for management personal money
Review: This books gives you more than 100 strategies for manage your money, since the personal goals until tax strategies. This book is a real base for maximize the personal profit of the money.
Rating: 
Summary: A GOOD INTRO TO GIVENS STRATEGIES---VERY MOTIVATING!
Review: This cassette is a good introduction to Givens famous strategies. Some very good power packed strategies. I highly recommend the book of the same name and of course More Wealth Without Risk.
Rating:
Summary: Read this along with More Wealth Without Risk
Review: This great book by the late, great Charles Givens along with More Wealth Without Risk is all the protecion you need to save yourself from dangerous advice disseminated from brokers, insurance salesmen, car dealers, financial advisors or planners. Financial Self Defense is actually even more hard hitting that More Wealth Without Risk. One area that I saved was in buying cars. Following the advice in this book, I bought my dream car, sold my old car myself and pocketed nearly $10,000 in savings compared to what I would have spent had I followed conventional wisdom. Great book Mr. "G". Rest in peace and thank you.
Rating:
Summary: Now I have a "Black Belt" in Financial Self Defense!
Review: This great book by the late, great Charles J. Givens is a must read for anyone who is serious about making the most of their money.I first became a fan of Charles Givens through More Wealth without Risk and did incredibly well with mutuals.In Financial Self Defense, Givens goes even further and how to hang on to more of you've got.We set up a records management system ( I was a terrible organizer) and aligned our dreams and goals with values and set up the right strategies.We moved money that was sitting dead in low interest/high fee bank accounts to high yielding/no fee money market mutuals and poor performing CD'S to outstanding performing no load stock mutual funds. I like the fact that with mutuals, unlike CD's, there is no penalty for premature withdrawal. I still can't understand why banks charge you to get your hands on your own money, especially when they are paying so little. CD really stands for coming down! They are by no means--investments.We also moved money out of bonds into stock mutual funds. Using the strategies in Financial Self DeFense also enabled us to get out of a Universal Life Insurance Policy which we put into mutuals. By using the Life Insurance Clearinghouse and calling the toll free number in the book, we were able to get better insurance and pocket $3,700. It bothers me that my insurance agent was making big commissions off of us and his advice was costing us nearly $4,000 in unnecessary junk.We will be forever grateful to Givens and the Insurance Clearinghouse to getting us straight.This book was appropiately named because money is war and it seems that everybody has their hands in your pockets. Thanks to Givens exellent book, we are able to throw a financial "karate chop" to insurance agents, financial advisors, bank loan officers and even the IRS.Great book.
| 
