Live Well on Less Than You Think : The New York Times Guide to Achieving Your Financial Freedom

Rating:
Summary: Read this and lower your blood pressure
Review: Brock scores anther big hit. The data he provides on salaries versus cost of living around the country are invaluabnle. Required reading for anyone who wants to lower his or her anxiety level about spending and saving. The chapter on how little things add up is especially enlightening, and the chapter on education costs is a real eye opener.

Rating:
Summary: Best financial advice for the average person
Review: This is one of the best books I've seen on financial management for the average person. It is clear, simple, practical and completely workable. It is relevant to anyone, from the guy starting a first job out of high school to a retiring couple with a good income from a pension plan. It works for the well-off, the middle-class, and the "blue collar" worker.

This is not typical general advice about how to budget and save (zzzzz). This is specific, useful information and advice on the practicalities of credit, debt, home ownership, Social Security, car buying/leasing, education's relationship to career placement and earnings, insurance, banking, and choices in where to live and work to best suit your lifestyle. Some individual chapters are worth the price of the book all by themselves.

Not only does the author tell exact how-tos, but he also teaches how to think about money and managing it.

Another big plus: the author includes many references and URLs for further self-education and self-improvement in financial matters.

I'm buying more copies as gifts for friends and relatives.