Bookstore - Alphabetical List

The 401(k) Millionaire

By Knute Iwaszko and Brian O'Connell

"If you, a regular Joe like me, are not a movie star or an overpaid professional baseball player or a lottery winner or a high-powered executive, what are your chances of becoming a millionaire? Better than you think—much better. And you don't have to strike oil to do it. The secret? It's not glamorous, but it is simple, and almost foolproof, because the math is in your favor. It's my story, and the story of others who are quietly amassing 401(k) fortunes—and the simple plan to make your story my story."

A surefire plan for financial independence—through bull and bear markets.

Knute Iwaszko—by turns a chemist, a salesman, and an innkeeper—made a million dollars without robbing a bank, without an inheritance, and without a Silicon Valley startup. He made it in a reliable but thoroughly new-fashioned way: by maximizing the potential of his 401(k) plan—and now he's going to tell millions of people how they, too, can become millionaires. This book will thoroughly explain the ins and outs of how 401(k) plans work, including tax benefits, contribution requirements and limits, withdrawal limitations, and risk management—and then fully describes "Knute's Unbeatable, Unbreakable Rules for Making It to a Million": a foolproof formula that gives readers a step-by-step regimen for maximizing the potential of their 401(k) plans.

With simple, accessible language and clear, detailed steps for financial success, The 401(k) Millionaire is required reading for anyone who wants to make the most of his or her money.

 

The Banker's Secret

By Mark Eisenson

One of the most frequently asked questions we get from our readers has to do with completely paying off one's home mortgage.

How high a priority is it? Should it be completed before I begin my long-term investing program? What about the tax considerations? What if I plan on moving soon? When should I prepay and when should I refinance?

It has been our position that the sooner you can retire your home mortgage, the better. And we've frequently mentioned the benefits of prepaying. As Eisenson makes clear, prepayments are not additional costs. They are advances, payments that would have to be paid shortly in any event.

By routinely advancing a few dollars whenever you can, you'll ultimately save a small fortune in interest without having spent one cent extra. This book shows you—step by step, using easy-to-read charts—exactly how to build up your net worth by saving on interest costs and ultimately keeping much more of your money in your own pocket.

 

Beating the Street

By Peter Lynch

In his best-selling first book, One Up on Wall Street, Peter Lynch revealed the philosophy that guided him as manager of the Magellan Fund. Now he shows investors how he puts his investing philosophy and techniques into action as he takes readers step-by-step through the process of selecting the stocks he recommended at the 1992 Barron's Roundtable.

Lynch also examines his years at the Magellan Fund, analyzing the reasons why he outperformed all other fund managers. He discloses that it was a small number of major successes that were the principal reason for the fund's superior record.

He draws a lesson for the average investor: there are good companies looking for investors, and it takes only one or two good companies a decade to turn a portfolio from an average performer into a winner.

"This book is a treasure." —Adam Smith

"Investors would do well to heed this advice." —Wall Street Journal

"Stock tips from a master." —USA Today

"Once of the 'seven pillars' of investment advice." —Forbes

 

Bogle on Mutual Funds

By John C. Bogle

Rather than a quick route to "wealth without risk," this conscientious guide offers strategies for developing a diversified portfolio that will weather the market's short-term variations. With painstaking care, Bogle warns the reader of the major pitfalls common to mutual fund investing. Ideal for investors at every level of expertise, Bogle on Mutual Funds shows how to:

• Design a portfolio of funds to meet your current financial objectives
• The six common mistakes in retirement planning
• Design a portfolio of funds to meet your current financial objectives
• Recognize excessive fees, minimize taxes, evaluate risk, and spot false advertising claims
• Balance risk and return through asset allocation strategy and tactics, astute fund selection, and effective use of index funds
• Understand the important role of cost, the third leg (along with risk and return) of the eternal triangle of investing
• And much more

Bogle shares from his wealth of experience as the man who guided the Vanguard group of mutual funds to prominence over the past three decades.

 

Buying Stocks Without A Broker

By Charles B. Carlson, CFA

This is the book that ignited the commission-free investment revolution. In the second edition of Buying Stocks Without A Broker, Charles B. Carlson, CFA, has thoroughly updated his unique guide to dividend reinvestment plans—better known as DRIPs.

These investor-friendly programs provide a safe, proven method for buying stocks directly from issuing companies, often with a discount and always without paying commission fees to brokers. New features of this Second Edition include:

• An expanded directory listing nearly 1000 DRIPs—including brand-new, enticing DRIP opportunities
• Thumbs-up and thumbs-down "at-a-glance" ratings of every DRIP on the market
• New corporate profiles and performance ratings
• New model portfolios using stocks available through DRIPs

"Investors who want to own stocks but don't like paying brokers' commissions can have the best of both worlds...One useful source of companies that sell stocks directly or through DRIPs is Buying Stocks without a Broker." —Business Week

 

Common Sense On Mutual Funds: New Imperatives for the Intelligent Investor

John C. Bogle

In Common Sense on Mutual Funds, Bogle takes a critical look at the mutual fund industry and how we invest, and charts a compelling course for change. This book examines the fundamentals of mutual fund investing alongside industry practices that are often in conflict with a sound long-term investment program.

Common Sense on Mutual Funds shows investors how to revolutionize their portfolios by embracing simplicity and then avoiding industry pitfalls. Emphasizing long-term investing and asset allocation, Bogle finds in simplicity the solution to the riddle of fund selection by investors. From stock and bond funds to global investing and index funds, Common Sense on Mutual Funds provides insight, illumination, and enlightenment. Organized as a series of essays on the investment issues of the day, this insider's view of the industry makes vital information on mutual funds accessible to experienced investors as well as those just beginning.

 

Contrarian Investment Strategies: The Next Generation

David Dreman

David Dreman's name is synonymous with the term "contrarian investing," and his contrarian strategies have been proven winners year after year. His techniques have spawned countless imitators, most of whom pay lip service to the buzzword "contrarian," but few can match his performance. His Kemper-Dreman High Return Fund has been the leader since its inception in 1988 -- the number one equity-income fund among all 208 ranked by Lipper Analytical Services, Inc. Dreman is also one of a handful of money managers whose clients have beaten the runaway market over the past five, ten, and fifteen years.

Now, as the longest bull market in the history of the stock market winds down, there is increasing volatility and a great deal of uncertainty. This is the climate that tests the mettle of the pros, the worries of the average investor, and the success of David Dreman's brilliant new strategies for the next millennium.

Contrarian Investment Strategies: The Next Generation shows investors how to outperform professional money managers and profit from potential Wall Street panics -- all in Dreman's trademark style, which The New York Times calls "witty and clear as a silver bell." Dreman reveals a proven, systematic, and safe way to beat the market by buying stocks of good companies when they are currently out of favor. At the heart of his book is a fundamental psychological insight: investors overreact. Dreman demonstrates how investors consistently overvalue the so-called "best" stocks and undervalue the so-called "worst" stocks, and how earnings and other surprises affect the best and worst stocks in opposite ways. Since surprises are a way of life in the market, Dreman shows you how to profit from these surprises with his ingenious new techniques, most of which have been developed in the nineties.

 

Crisis Control in the New Millennium

By Larry Burkett

As the new millennium approaches, are you and your family prepared for what could be a major bump in American's road to prosperity? Although the U.S. infrastructure may be strong enough to minimize the consequence of the sporadic, localized interruptions due to the Y2K bug, the world's economy has the potential of suffering a huge hit in the event of a catastrophe.

In Crisis Control in the New Millennium, Larry examines the impact of the new millennium and identifies key principles that can help shore up your family's finances, irrespective of what's forthcoming in the economy.

 

Debt-Free Living

By Larry Burkett

With credit so easily obtained today, countless couples find themselves facing debts they can't handle. Each month theymust decide which bills to let slide in attempt to catch up to others. Monthly payments become larger than monthly income. "Borrowing is permitted in Scripture," says author Larry Burkett. But he also points out that most people fail to understand the biblical principles concerning debt and borrowing.

This book is designed to help individuals understand the origin of most financial troubles. Debt-Free Living provides a means to escape the "debt cycle." Trace through the true-to-life experiences of several marriages on the brink of ruin. As you follow each couple through financial counseling, the biblical principles for breaking out of the debt cycle emerge.

In addition, it provides a layman's guide to consumer rights with summaries of federal codes covering credit agencies, credit reports, debt collection agencies, and bankruptcy.

This paperback addition also comes with a free companion audio CD!

 

Desiring God

By John Piper

In this paradigm shattering work, John Piper reveals that the debate between duty and delight doesn't truly exist: Delight is our duty. Join him as he stuns you again and again with life-impacting truths you saw in the Bible, but never dared to believe.

 

The Eternity Portfolio

By Alan Gotthardt

All too often, Christians give out of guilt or legalism instead of joy and purpose. Even those who have a biblical perspective on giving rarely have a strategic plan for carrying out their beliefs. In The Eternity Portfolio, respected CPA and financial advisor Alan Gotthardt combines biblical teaching with modern investment-portfolio theory and offers fresh, practical how-tos for strategic, satisfying giving. A motivating and practical book from Generous Giving.

 

The Financially Challenged

By Wilson J. Humber

In The Financially Challenged, Wilson Humber offers practical steps to steer clear of—or emerge from—financial disaster. Each chapter is packed with principles that will help you move beyond your financial challenges by learning to:

• Adjust your habits and attitudes, viewing your income, possessions, giving, and savings from a biblical perspective—and cut costs dramatically
• Save money on your two largest expenses: housing and transportation
• Become totally and permanently debt-free in three years or less
• Save your money the right way and harness the awesome power of compound interest
• Retire financially secure
• Stretch your paycheck 15 percent or more
• And much more

This book is a survival guide that not only outlines short-term solutions but generates long-term results.

 

The Financially Confident Woman

By Mary Hunt

Unemployed and $100,000 in debt, Mary Hunt had to give up credit cards or face financial ruin. In The Financially Confident Woman, she gives you the chance to learn from her mistakes.

As she shares the story of her long journey back from the brink of financial disaster, Mary explains how to avoid hidden dangers of credit cards, and shows you how it's never too late to turn bad financial habits around.

 

First Comes Love, Then Comes Money

By Roger Gibson

From Roger Gibson's first (now) humorous story of spending decisions in the early days of his marriage to Kari, he explores several aspects of the money pitfalls in marriage, including:

• debt management
• investing
• principles of being an effective manager
• discovering your money personality
• and balancing the differing spending habits of spouses.

A good nuts and bolts book for learning to avoid crippling confrontations.

 

A Fool and His Money

By John Rothchild

Do you wonder if the average investor really can make money on Wall Street? Do you want to know how the stock market works, where NASDAQ actually is, and how brokers are trained?

John Rothchild, armed with a modest financial stake and a hopeless case of irreverence sets out to answer these and other questions. He provides a list of 25 Useful Tips (like "Never buy anything from a broker at an airport."), and gives a true inside look at the financial marketplace.

The New York Post said: "A Fool and His Money may be the funniest book about investing ever written. It's the reader's capital gain."

And The Washington Post: "What makes this book so good is that Rothchild can explain things and leave the reader both edified and laughing... witty, fast-paced and educational."

This humorous account of one man's odyssey through Wall Street is an enjoyable way to learn about investing. It has been one of our best-selling books over the years.

 

The Fortune Sellers
By William A. Sherden

The Fortune Sellers contains in-depth explorations of the seven most prevalent forecasting professions today —meteorology, economics, investments, technology assessment, demography, futurology, and organizational planning. As Sherden uncovers their historical roots and traces their track records, he deftly reveals just how accurate—or inaccurate—their predictions really are. Fascinating historical facts, scores of actual examples, and a wealth of eye-opening statistics illuminate the difference between reliable real-world information and spurious guesswork.

In the Fortune Sellers, you'll discover how:

• Anyone who is counting on a weather forecast more than a day or two in advance might just as well flip a coin
• How economics earned its nickname—the "dismal science"—and why it sticks
• How profits from prediction work on Wall Street; how academia, business, and the media feed our fascination with science fact and fiction and future technology
• How futurists—predictors of societal change—use the infirm foundations of social science to predict everything from utopia to techno-totalitarianism
• And how prognosticators failed to predict many milestone events, including the stock market crash of 1929, the recession of the 1980s, and the fall of East Berlin

An intriguing and utterly fascinating exploration of the methods and the madness of today's growing number of future "experts," The Fortune Sellers is not to be missed—and that's no speculation.

 

Free and Clear
By Howard Dayton

Overwhelmed with debt? There is hope and freedom for you no matter how big your problem. Skyrocketing debt has crippled and divided millions in this age of rampant credit, interest-only mortgages, and record loan defaults. The way out from under debt burdens is not a declaration of bankruptcy, but surrender to the Word of God. Becoming debt-free may seem an impossible dream for many, but it is actually an attainable goal according to Howard Dayton, president of Crown Financial Ministries. He overcame his own struggle with debt by applying God's principles to managing his finances, principles he lays out in this practical, encouraging, never-give-up book.

 

Fresh Power

By Jim Cymbala

Amazing things happen when ordinary men and women are led and filled by the Spirit of God. Yet how many of us today can make the same claim as Paul? We're good at teaching straight from the Scriptures, but too many hearts and lives remain unchanged. We need more than sound doctrine—we need the power of God.

With passion and conviction, Pastor Jim Cymbala of The Brooklyn Tabernacle reminds us that in this sin-torn, heart-broken culture, we cannot do without the Holy Spirit. And we can't afford to presume his presence. We need to seek him with the same fervor as the early believers.

Most of us are aware of excesses attributed to the Holy Spirit, from emotional fanaticism to outright charlatanism. But in the midst of the counterfeits, the Spirit remains real and available. He can't be manipulated by any person or defined by any movement. Instead, the Holy Spirit longs to reveal the mind of God to us and to release heaven's limitless resources to meet the desperate needs in this world today.

Fresh Power will expand your vision for what God can and will do, and inspire you to pray like never before for the power of the Spirit in your church—and in you.

 

Generous Living

By Ron Blue and Jodie Berndt

What do generous people know that makes them give gladly and liberally of their time, talents, wealth, and other resources? Why should you become such a person—and how can you?

Financial advisor Ron Blue explains why an openhanded spirit is the key to freedom, contentment, and joy. In Generous Living, he shows what happens when you become a giver, and helps you start right where you are cultivating a generous lifestyle.

He talks about why Christians should give, how to give, where is best to give, and when and how often to give. You'll also gain important insights into making a will, setting up a trust and foundation, and teaching your children to give.

"An outstanding book, greatly needed...thoroughly biblical and wonderfully practical." —Howard Dayton, President, Crown Ministries

 

Get Rich Slowly

By William T. Spitz

If your tired of losing money through fast-talking brokers or friends' "sure thing" advice, Get Rich Slowly is for you. The very first investment book to approach the art of accumulating wealth from a mature and realistic perspective. Get Rich Slowly cuts through all the get-rich-quick schemes. It offers an honest, straightforward account of how best to map out your financial goals and shows the best and most logical route to accomplishing those goals.

William Spitz, the treasurer of Vanderbilt University and recognized as one of the nation's leading experts in finance and investments, shows you how to:

• figure out what your long-range goals are;
• determine how much risk you should take with your money;
• better understand the various financial instruments that are available to the typical investor;
• plan out major future expenses, such as your retirement, paying for your children's college education, and so on.

By using easy-to-understand charts, simple financial logic, and at-a-glance chapter summaries, you can quickly plot out the best financial strategy to fit your personal needs. Spitz has done all the homework for you, complete with thorough explanations of various financial paths you can choose.

 

Getting Started in Annuities

By Gordon Williamson, CFP

Annuities are among the most popular retirement investment options. This handy volume provides a thorough examination of annuities, revealing exactly what they are, the kinds available, how they work, and what advantages they have over other investments.

On of the most popular retirement investment options, annuities are also among the most difficult tocomprehend. This handy volume provides an in-depth, easy-to-understand look at these complex instruments, revealing exactly what they are, how they work, and what advantages they have over other investment vehicles. Along with performance tables, sample portfolios, and a helpful Q & A section, you'll find up-to-date details on tax law changes.

 

Gifting to People You Love

By Adriane G. Berg

Overseeing your money for future generations is a critical step in managing the financial future for your children and heirs. "Even though you will be reading about law and money, this book is really about love and trust," writes Adriane G. Berg, financial expert and attorney, in this basic, essential guide on how to make the most of your gift-giving to minors, including small and large gifts, college savings, trusts, bequests, and investments. Here, in one clear, easy-to-read volume, all the basics are covered, including:

• how to make the tax laws work for you
• how to set up trusts and avoid probate
• the benefits of family limited partnership
• how to decide between college-friendly investments and lump-sum planning

Indispensible and timely, Gifting to People You Love will help adults make the wisest choices for themselves and thier families.

 

Giving and Tithing

By Larry Burkett

• Does God need money?
• What is a tithe?
• Should I tithe from my net or gross income?
• How can I know which organizations to support?

Although it is better to give than to receive, giving is also much harder. Especially financially. Yet today's church needs physical and financial support from Christians. There are people who need God's help that comes through God's people.

Respected Christian financial counselor Larry Burkett uses God's Word to explain church benevolence ministries, showing the strong biblical basis for giving and serving in the church. Burkett says that God uses Christians to minister in His name, and knowing that fact is encouragement for you to set up a plan to give back to God out of what He has given to you. At the same time, you will be opening yourself up to opportunities to help others.

 

The God of All Comfort

By Hanna Whitehall Smith

God's has not called anyone to lead a spiritually uncomfortable life, but rather a life of promise and victory! He can be with you and comfort you every step of the way. Let Hannah Whitall Smith show you how to become better acquainted with God and experience all that He has for you.

This precious volume illuminates the true meaning and message of God, particularly in this age of so much doubt and fear: Become closer to God, believe what He has promised, and your troubled hearts will be filled with joy, for He will supply your needs, He will provide deep and lasting peace and comfort.

[Mentioned in our Easter Meditation article from April, 2000.]

 

The Greedy Hand: How Taxes Drive Americans Crazy and What to Do About It

By Amity Shlaes

Shlaes, a Wall Street Journal tax journalist, makes an impassioned case for the complete revamping of the American tax system. She traces its history, offers a witty commentary on how taxes wrongfully affect everything in your life, from your clothes to your marriage, and finally provides a commonsense action plan for what government officials can do to fix it all. Shlaes makes very pointed arguments about such heated issues as social security, the marriage penalty, and estate taxes.

The Greedy Hand is an illuminating examination of the culture of tax and a persuasive call for reform, written by Amity Shlaes of The Wall Street Journal. This book is a cultural examination of the way taxes influence our behavior, how they force us into an arbitrary system that punishes families and individual enterprise. Shlaes unveils the hidden perversities of our lifelong tax experience: how family tax breaks do little to help the family, and can even hurt it. She demonstrates how married women pay a special women's tax rate, higher than anybody else's. She shows how problems that engage and enrage us - Social Security issues, or the inadequacies of our schools - are, at heart, tax problems. And she explains why the solutions Washington offers merely prolong a vicious cycle. Finally, Shlaes shows us a way out of this madness, endorsing a number of commonsense reforms that will give all Americans a fairer and simpler tax system.

 

How to Listen to God

By Charles Stanley

After becoming a Christian, believers discover the joy of God's voice, but often the purity and freshness of that initial experience becomes clouded by the daily routine of life. In How to Listen to God Dr. Charles Stanley helps readers rediscover how to distinguish God's voice from all other voices around them, and how to joyfully and obediently respond. Dr. Stanley uses personal experiences from his life and ministry to discuss: why God wants to communicate with us, how God gets our attention, how God communicates with us, and how to listen to God and enjoy His presence.

 

Invest in Yourself

By Marc Eisenson, Gerri Detweiler, and Nancy Castleman

Simplification is one of the major trends in this country. People are looking for ways to successfully balance their personal finances, work, and family life. Invest in Yourself addresses these concerns and provides the perfect mix of down-to-earth philosophy, financial strategies, and money saving tips all designed to lead to a happier and more productive life.

While other personal finance books tend to focus on living frugally, this book explains ways to lead a richer life by only spending money on what's important. The authors, consumer advocates, have formulated a six-step program designed to help readers assess their needs and wants, and eventually lead them to creating the life they desire. The book also offers helpful tips on such timely financial topics as lowering credit card fees, reducing long distance phone service, prepaying mortgages, and negotiating flex time at work.

 

Investing for the Future

By Larry Burkett

In the introduction to this book, Larry writes: "The rules about investing given in God's Word still work. Apply them and you will prosper over the long run. Violate them and you will lose all that you have worked so hard to accumulate."

Larry speaks from the vantage point of one who works daily to help people avoid the financial pitfalls that are so plentiful in our world, and who has witnessed almost every foolish decision made in the handling and investing of money.

He offers his own approach to the world of investing. Beginning with how understanding the economy can help make you a better investor, he proceeds to key principles from God's Word, what he considers the best and worst investments, and his evaluations of the many types of investments.

There is very little overlap with what you find in my new book or the SMI journal. Some of the chapters include:

• Why Invest?
• The Investment Hall of Horrors
• Following Solomon's Advice
• Financial Seasons of Life: Ages 20-40, Ages 40-60, and Ages 60-Up

Also included is an extensive appendix which is complete with names and addresses of many additional resources.

 

Investment Illusions

By Martin S. Fridson

Investment Illusions is an illuminating guide to the way Wall Street really works. One by one, securities expert Martin Fridson explodes dozens of the most widely held misconceptions about investing. Beyond his astute observations, he also gives you specific advice on how to separate reality from illusion and control your risk.

Each concise, highly-focused chapter in Investment Illusions reveals a real-life story of foolishness, deceit, or confusion that occurred in the financial world. You'll learn from the mistakes of the "experts"—from the purveyors of "foolproof" systems to the promoters of companies that become overnight, overbought sensations—all of whom, hilariously, ended up with egg on their faces. You'll discover how to see through get-rich-quick scams, media spins, and the hype of investment pundits. And you'll gain practical insights into the way the Street really works via Fridson's illuminating analogies to sports, gambling, and psychology.

Without offering any "sure-fire" magic formula, Investment Illusions does what few other investment books do. It strips away the illusion from an environment that is fraught with it, leaving you with unglamorous reality—which, along with the intense discipline and effort, provides your best shot at investment success.

 

Investment Psychology Explained: Classic Strategies To Beat The Markets

By Martin J. Pring

It's no wonder Martin Pring is one of the most respected independent investment advisors in America. While so many were losing their heads and their money in the frenzied 1980s, he kept his, dispensing the kind of considered advice that enabled his readers to weather the worst market storms and secure steady profits.

Martin Pring's classic investment approach is even more welcome now, as many chastened investors have come to realize: There are no easy answers, no magic formulas.

Every page of Investment Psychology Explained reflects this refreshing sanity. Pring puts the emphasis back on the timeless values of hard work, patience, and self-discipline. But he does far more than this. Drawing on the cumulative wisdom of history's top investment minds and his own rich experience, Pring shows you how to:

• Overcome emotional and psychological impediments that can distort your decision making
• Map out an independent investment plan—and stick to it
• Know when to buck herd opinion—and "go contrarian"
• Dispense with the myths and delusions that drag down other investors
• Resist the fads and so-called experts whose siren call to success can lead to disaster
• Exploit fast-breaking news events that rock the market
• Deal adeptly with brokers and money managers—and much more
• Learn and understand the rules that seperate the truly great investors and traders from the rest

Reading Investment Psychology Explained you'll have a renewed appreciation of the classic trading principles that, time and again, through the bull and bear markets, have worked. You'll see, with the help of illustrative historical examples, what goes into making an effective investor—and how you can work toward achieving that successful profile.

 

Itsdeductible: Tax Year 2004 Workbook

By Intuit, Jeff A. Schnepper

Anyone who gives clothing or household objects to charities and itemizes their tax return can benefit from ItsDeductible™ - the only book available that determines the fair-market value of commonly donated items. It is updated annually, with 75 percent of the valuations changed for this year's edition.

Although millions of people deduct such donations on their returns, most underestimate the value of their items. With categories for clothing, jewelry, baby supplies, toys, small appliances, tools, sporting goods, and more, this "comprehensive and detailed" workbook (The Wall Street Journal) will increase the user's tax savings by an average of $500. In addition to assessing noncash donations, readers can also easily track monetary and property donations, out-of-pocket expenses, and mileage expenses incurred while driving on behalf of a charity.

 

Learn to Earn

By Peter Lynch and John Rothchild

For the basics on investing, get this book by mutual fund superstar Peter Lynch and author John Rothchild. It teaches the basic principles of business, the stock market, and investing in a primer that will enlighten and entertain anyone who is high-school age or older.

In Learn to Earn, they explain in a conversational, easy-to-understand style such matters as how to read a stock table in the daily newspaper, how to understand a company annual report, and why everyone should pay attention to the stock market. They explain not only how to invest, but also how to think like an investor.

Chapters include: A Short History of Capitalism, The Basics of Investing, The Lives of a Company, and Stockpicking Tools.

This book would make a great gift to a teenager. In fact, the authors often offer tips to the reader under the assumption he or she is a high school student. Highly recommended for the beginning investor!

 

Living Well on One Income: In a Two-Income World

By Cynthia Yates

Cynthia Yates shows readers how to enjoy life more but spend less–on one income. She presents ten habits that help readers:

• maintain the right attitude: a cheerful heart
• discover their creative genius
• live within their means.

Abundant personal stories, amusing anecdotes, and practical ideas demonstrate strategic ways for readers to:

• dazzle guests with fun but economical meals
• put pizzazz in their palace and pocket the change
• give gifts from their heart that don't empty their wallet.

With this invitation to a life of "one–income living with flair," readers will develop a system that will help them to celebrate life, to fill their lives with beauty, to be content, and to bring glory to God.

 

Maximize Your IRA

By Neil Downing

There's no doubt about it: The Individual Retirement Account is a hot topic this year in the world of money and investing. Here's a plain-language guide with answers to all your IRA questions — What, exactly, is a Roth IRA? How does it work? And how can it best work for you? What about the new Education IRA? Are there better ways to save for a child's college education? And what's making the traditional IRA so popular again? You'll also discover new ways to use traditional IRAs.

This is a friendly, honest look at the benefits -- and the drawbacks -- of IRAs. It's an IRA owner's manual, packed with tips about how to choose an IRA that's right for you, and manage your IRA from your working years right on through retirement. It also helps you navigate the tricky rules for withdrawing money, making minimum required withdrawals, cutting your tax bill, and converting a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA.

You'll also find helpful hints and step-by-step instructions to help you make the most of your IRA and ensure a secure retirement.

Find out:

• Where to open an IRA
• How to invest your IRA dollars
• Ways to lower or avoid fees
• Getting access to your money when you need it
• Avoiding early-withdrawal penalties
• The benefits and pitfalls of Roth IRAs
• And a lot more.

This book also offers handy resources — including addresses, toll-free telephone numbers, and World Wide Web sites — that you can use to get booklets, newsletters, computer software and other information, much of it free, and all about IRAs.

 

The Medical Bill Survival Guide: What You Need to Know Before You Pay a Dime

By Pat Palmer

Ready for a real medical horror story? Nine out of ten medical bills contain errors. The average error per patient is $1,300. And the total yearly overcharge nationwide is a staggering $10 billion. Counting on your insurance to pick up the slack? Don't even think about it.

Now a leading consumer advocate for patients everywhere gives you the knowledge you need to fight back. The Medical Bill Survival Guide will help you get back what's yours-and make sure you'll never have to spend an extra, unnecessary dime on the care you deserve, ever again. Discover:

• What hospitals don't want you to know-and how not knowing can cost you a fortune
• The unbreakable code of medical-bill language-and how to shatter it
• Excessive, duplicate, hidden, and undocumented charges-and how to bust them all
• What insurance companies mean by usual, reasonable, and customary treatments-and how to reverse your claim denials
• The patient's financial bill of rights-ten common courtesies worth fighting for.

For years, doctors have urged us to take control of our own health care through preventive measures like exercise, diet, and right living. Now, it's time we took control of our health care finances-through preventive measures like due diligence and common sense. Assuming responsibility for the accuracy of your medical bill is right living too.

 

Money Before Marriage

By Larry Burkett

Before you say your vows, disarm two sure threats to your wedded bliss: money mismanagement and poor communication. This financial workbook for engaged couples is an invaluable guide based on the author's decades of intense Bible study and experience counseling hundreds of couples in financial trouble.

In the Money Before Marriage workbook, you will learn to:

• Apply to your marriage what God's Word says about finances
• Understand your personality profile and that of your future mate
• Discover the practical aspects of managing your personal finances
• Answer the tough questions relating to debt, credit card use, life insurance needs, and separate bank accounts
• Prepare your new family's first spending plan.

 

Money, Possessions, and Eternity

By Randy Alcorn

Randy Alcorn has provided a fresh mining of the biblical texts regarding money and possessions.

His work is well-researched and painstakingly biblical. Christians who want a balanced survey of the Bible's teaching on wealth will not be disappointed.

The four sections are:

• The challenges of money and possessions;
• Seeing money and possessions in eternity's light;
• Giving and sharing our money and possessions;
• Handling our money and possessions.

"The Christian who wants a balanced survey of the Bible's philosophy of wealth will not be disappointed with this book. The pastor who wants to teach his people and parents who want to train their children will get help from it. I especially liked his practical applications." — Dr. Warren Wiersbe, Back to the Bible Broadcast, Lincoln, Nebraska

 

Money Talks, and So Can We

By Ron and Judy Blue

Ron and Judy Blue offer a framework through which couples can successfully communicate about their finances. By specifically addressing some of the most common conflicts, this book provides practical advice and valuable tools couples can use to strengthen their marriages and secure their financial future.

Conflict in marriage comes for many reasons-and when you mix in the subject of money, it's not hard to reach the boiling point. Ron and Judy tackle most of the specific problems that couples encounter, offering solutions that will help couples meet one another's needs, encourage communication, and provide practical financial tools and strategies for solving the part of the problem that involves money.

Everyday strategies for communication will help couples pay the bills without arguing, plan for the future, schedule regular time together and make the most of it, and discuss other important decisions including children, jobs, and church involvement. Whether a couple is just beginning their marriage or have been together for many years, Money Talks and So Can We makes sense of the dollars-and-cents part of being together.

 

One Up On Wall Street

By Peter Lynch

Peter Lynch knows how to make money. If you had invested $10,000 in the Fidelity Magellan Fund when Lynch became its manager, ten years later you would have $190,000!

In his plain-English and humorous style, he shows that for the average investor, the key to making money is sticking with what you know. As a mutual fund manager, his primary emphasis was on how to go about selecting individual stocks as good, long-term investments. (You'll not find much here on how to select mutual funds.)

Speaking from his years of experience, but with commendable humility, Lynch also explains Wall Street's jargon and much more. It is full of informative, sound advice. Co-authored by John Rothchild, this book also has a sense of humor. It was deservedly a fixture on the best-seller lists for many months.

More than 600,000 investors have bought this book, making it one of the most successful books ever written about the stock market. If I could give only one book to a young investor to help them get a fundamentally sound perspective on stock selection, this would be the one.

 

The Pleasures of God, Meditations on God's Delight in Being God

By John Piper

Beginning where the foundational truth of Desiring God left off, that "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him," this expanded rerelease of another classic by John Piper will further explore a life-changing essential — "We will be most satisfied in God when we know why God himself is most satisfied in God." Fully understanding the joy of God will draw the reader into an encounter with His overflowing, self-replenishing, all-encompassing grace — the source of living water that all Christians desire to drink. The Pleasures of God will again put God at the center of Creation and leave the reader very satisfied in Him.

 

The Power of His Presence

By Adrian Rogers

As Christians we are temples of the living God, but we don't usually think about ourselves in this way. The Power of His Presence is aimed at helping you integrate this grand truth into your life so you can start fully enjoying your true identity in Christ.

 

Raising Money-Smart Kids

By Ron Blue and Judy Blue

Based on the belief that parenting includes not only a huge financial investment, but also the investment of spiritual wealth, this book teaches parents how to train their children to be good stewards.

With their experience of raising five children, Ron and Judy Blue provide practical insight and a successful training system for preparing children for their financial future.

This is an easy-to-understand guidebook that shows how parents and children can enjoy a lifetime of financial well-being and security — leading to financial independence and family harmony. By offering hands-on worksheets and charts, this guidebook also gives parents the tools to teach children to make — and live on — a wise budget.

In today's world of debt, peer pressure, "scams", self-centeredness, countless investment options, and short-sightedness, this book instructs parents on how to help their children confront these pressures and receive the blessing of financial success.

 

The Roaring 2000s

By Harry S. Dent

One of the world's most prescient economic forecasters unveils his predictions for the beginning of 21st century -- and shows readers how we can take advantage of the unprecedented opportunities that will accompany the great financial boom to come. In The Roaring 2000s, Dent focuses on the full spectrum of changes that will follow in the wake of the burgeoning turn-of-the-century economy. According to Dent, how and where we work and live is about to change more drastically than at any time in our history due to the convergence of the mainstreaming of the Internet and other technologies, and the peak spending years of the aging baby boomers.

This will result in nothing less than the greatest boom in history and an unprecedented opportunity for investors and entrepreneurs, great buys in real estate, and a wealth of high-quality lifestyle choices for the savvy people who anticipate these changes. We will see such rapid and exciting change as we have not seen since the dizzying pace of the productivity revolution unleashed by the assembly line in the Roaring Twenties. Dent not only offers detailed investment strategies aimed at exploiting the coming boom for the next 15 years, but also explains future trends in the job market, technology, demographics, and real estate.

 

Saving Money Any Way You Can

By Mike Yorkey

They say money doesn't grow on trees, but tell that to the super shoppers in this book. Full of advice and engaging stories from consumers just like you, Saving Money Any Way You Can takes the mystery out of s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g your dollars.

Now they—and the numerous families interviewed for this book—say they spend less but enjoy it. Saving Money Any Way You Can shows you how to spend less with tried-and-true tips on:

• How you can save dollars by using (not abusing) credit cards rather than cash.
• Ways to deflate the pressure on your kids to wear designer clothing.
• Maximizing your grocery dollars so you don't have to scrimp on food.
• Creative and effective ways to put aside money for your child's college education.

 

A Short History of Financial Euphoria

By John Kenneth Galbraith

How is it that, with all the financial know-how and experience of the wizards on Wall Street and elsewhere, the market still goes boom and bust? How come people are so willing to get caught up in the mania of speculation when history tells us that a collapse is almost sure to follow?

Renowned economist John Kenneth Galbraith calls this book "a hymn of caution" as he reviews, with insight and wit, the common features of the great speculative episodes of the last three centuries—the seventeenth-century craze in Western Europe for investing in an unusual commodity: the tulip; Britain's South Sea Bubble and the eighteenth century's fascination with the joint-stock company, now called the corporation; and, more recently, the discovery of leverage in the form of junk bonds.

Along the way, Galbraith explains the new types of debt that different generations have dreamt up, and he entertains with anecdotes about the ingenuity with which some of the more notorious charlatans have convinced people to invest in their recommendations.

 

Social Security, Medicare, and Pensions

By Joseph Matthews with Dorothy Matthews Bermann

This book shows you how to get the most from your retirement and pension income and medical coverage. Find out what benefits are available and how to claim them as quickly and as easily as possible. Topics include:

• Learn how to fill out and file every important document
• Social Security retirement and disability benefits
• Social Security dependents and survivor benefits
• Veteran and Federal civil service benefits
• Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
• Beating the high cost of medical care
• Learn how to qualify for Medicare and Medicaid
• Find out exactly how much your benefits will be at the age you plan to claim them
• Timing your retirement to claim your benefits at the best time for you—not just the soonest

Social Security, Medicare, and Pensions is a handbook that covers just about every topic relating to your retirement and medical benefits. It is an excellent resource when you need some help finding out what benefits are due you.

 

The Sound Mind Investing Handbook

By Austin Pryor

As a subscriber to the SMI newsletter, we strongly encourage you to purchase Austin's book, The Sound Mind Investing Handbook. Although you can get by without it, it will surely enhance your understanding of the articles in the monthly journal and make using it easier. Plus, it's a thorough and convenient reference at a great price. Concerning the book, Dr. D. James Kennedy has said, "A comprehensive handbook for any person seeking professional guidance in investments. I am especially appreciative of the godly orientation manifest throughout..."

For additional information, click here.

 

Splitting Heirs: Giving Your Money and Things to Your Children without Ruining Their Lives

By Ron Blue

Finish well. That is what we are called to do in Scripture, but where will our money and possessions finish? The Bible has the principles that provide answers to the challenge of parenting and passing along an in heritage. Within the next decade, over ONE TRILLION DOLLARS will change hands from one generation to the next. Individuals with adult children will need to transfer that wealth without ruining their heirs' lives. Ron Blue, an authority on personal and business finance, will help:

• Identify exactly how much money would be transferred were the reader to die today
• Identify the need for creating a will
• Identify tax-wise financial planning
• Teach the way to leave money without creating an unhealthy dependence

 

Storm Shelter

By Ron Blue

Storm Shelter shows how to solve all your money mysteries—regardless of your present financial position. Financial expert Ron Blue gives practical, Scripture-based advice that enables you to prosper through tomorrow's uncertainties. Included are:

• Real-world examples of financial strategies that work—and others you'll want to avoid
• A detailed plan for your financial security
• Questionnaires to help you evaluate your current fiscal situation, determine your goals for the future, and understand how you can best achieve those goals
• A six-step method for effective investing
• Cost-saving tactics covering everything from food bills to education purposes

Storm Shelter shows how you can prepare for the future by building a financial strategy resting on the firmest of foundations.

 

Taming the Money Monster

By Ron Blue

Don't let money rule your life. Taming the Money Monster offers expert advice to help you manage your money wisely and find real financial freedom. From Focus on the Family and Ron Blue, this is a practical, hands-on guide:

"For those who are committed to overcoming indebtedness, Blue's book is a helpful, biblically-based, step-by-step primer that points the way to financial freedom." —Moody Magazine

"Should be required reading for all...who may find that the joy is being squeezed out of their lives because of money problems." —A Christian Woman

"Filled with down-to-earth advice, from straight-from-the-shoulder facts, figures, and no-nonsense financial advice...this is incredibly frank and nearly indispensible book. You will turn it again and again—use it as your ever present 'personal money manager.'" —Guideposts

 

The Treasure Principle

By Randy Alcorn

In this book, bestselling author Randy Alcorn introduces readers to a revolution in material freedom and radical generosity that will change lives around the world. Ninety-five percent of Christians have never come to terms with a biblical perspective on their material possessions, Alcorn writes. God has entrusted His wealth to us and called upon us to manage and invest His money. This is in everyone's best interests, including our own. When Jesus told His followers to "lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven," he intended that they discover an astounding secret: how joyful giving brings God maximum glory and his children maximum pleasure.

 

The Ultimate Credit Handbook

By Gerri Detweiler

Master the secrets of good credit and find out how to turn a credit rejection into an acceptance. You will learn how to get through credit catastrophes and how to fix your credit if it has already been damaged.

You will also find out:

• How the credit bureaus rate you
• How to improve your credit
• How to correct credit bureau errors that can wreck havoc on your financial life

You will be armed with information to help you battle credit card fraud, bank foul-ups, and merchandising rip-offs. This book can help you take control of your credit.

"The last word for anyone who has gone into debt..."
—Linda F. Golodner, President, The National Consumers League

 

What Car Dealers Don't Want You to Know

By Mark Eskeldson

Written by a trusted automotive authority with two decades of experience, this book evens the playing field for showroom-bound readers, offering everything they need to know about extended warranty rip-offs, the pros and cons of using auto brokers and car-buying services, the optimum time of the year to buy a vehicle, and more.

In this new edition of the consumer guide to car buying, the author cites a recent undercover investigation to show how dealers use deceptive sales practices to trick shoppers into paying outrageous overcharges. The book details every scam - from "dealer's cost" surcharges to leasing rip-offs - in use today. This book is unique in its consumer protection information and insights from car dealers, attorneys, and victims.

 

When the Game Is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box

By John Ortberg

Pastor and bestselling author Ortberg (God Is Closer Than You Think; Everybody's Normal Till You Get to Know Them) offers a thoughtfully written instruction manual for Christian game players of all ages. Using games as a metaphor, Ortberg presents carefully considered tactics for succeeding in life from God's vantage point. Each chapter weaves the rules of gaming with the Christian journey: understanding the object of the game (being spiritually rich toward God); the setup (keeping score, taking turns, preventing regret); how to play (with rules, gratitude and a mission); hazards (competition, greed, losing); and winning (choosing the right trophies).

Christians will especially appreciate Ortberg's wise counsel on being the kind of player other people want to sit next to, as he exhorts readers to learn to lose with grace, win with grace and forgive with grace. Perspective is key; after all, when the game is over, it all goes back in the box. Ortberg demonstrates some finesse in bringing together the extended game imagery with various real-life stories that are by turns comical and poignant. With excellent tools for personal and group study alike, this book's strategy offers a win-win solution.

 

Whose Money Is It, Anyway? — A Biblical Guide to Using God's Wealth

By John MacArthur

Reading books on money and giving typically makes us feel worse than when we began.

"I don't want you to feel worse; I want you to feel better. And the path to feeling better is understanding what the Bible really says about giving and spending. This book will help you do that." — John MacArthur

John MacArthur has written this no-nonsense book to affirm Christ's teaching that "it is more blessed to give than to receive." In this practical, easy-to-read book Christians can find out:

• How to give, where to give, and how much to give
• Scriptural guidelines for acquiring money and investing it
• The right and wrong ways to go about giving
• The connection between generous giving and prosperity
• Why get-rich-quick schemes like gambling are wrong

"When you give as God has commanded, you will find it liberating, rewarding, joyous, and profoundly enriching" — John MacArthur

Find out in this book how the blessings that go with giving can be yours.

 

Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes — and How to Correct Them, Lessons from the New Science of Behavioral Economics

By Gary Belsky and Thomas Gilovich

Why do so many otherwise smart people make foolish financial choices? Why do investors sell stocks just before they skyrocket — and cling to others as they plummet? Why do shoppers overspend when using credit cards rather than cash? What do our habits of tipping or buying lottery tickets indicate about our relationship with money?

In this fascinating investigation of the ways we spend, invest, save, borrow, and waste money, Gary Belsky and Thomas Gilovich reveal the psychological causes — the patterns of thinking and decision making — of irrational behavior. Most important, they focus on the decisions we make every day and, using entertaining examples, provide invaluable tips on avoiding the financial faux pas that can cost thousands of dollars each year.

Winning the Loser's Game, Timeless Strategies for
Successful Investing

By Charles D. Ellis

Charles Ellis has 40 years of experience working with the leading investment organizations around the world and is in the unique position to tell it like it is. Winning the Loser's Game provides dozens of sound ideas on how to be a smarter investor, and for plugging the leaks in your investment returns. From preventing unnecessarily high taxes to avoiding unconscionably high fees, this common-sense guidebook for independent investors reveals how to:

• Match your investment program to the realities of the market and work effectively with your investment managers
• Make the most of the "unfair" index fund advantage in today's tumultuous market environment
• Keep from getting burned by the market's inevitable up-and-down cycles
• Institute an annual review process that includes both your and your heirs' lifelines
• Maximize financial success through five stages, from Earning, Saving, and Investing through Estate Planning and Giving

In today's markets, an unprecedented quarter-century of performance has blinded investors to the historical base rate of investment returns. Winning the Loser's Game cuts through the fog like a beacon of common sense and clarity, and helps you to see how today's most highly touted shortcuts and secrets are almost always guaranteed to hurt you in the long run. With updated facts and figures and six new chapters, it sidesteps complications and formulas to provide you with the straight-talking secrets to winning investing.

 

Women Leaving the Workplace

By Larry Burkett

Outside influences are wreaking havoc on family values. Now is the time for mothers to find a way to spend more time with their children. Two-income families outweigh single-income families three to one. Home-based businesses are becoming the trend. Larry Burkett gives insightful, practical counsel on how to survive the cutback from two incomes to one.

Larry thoughtfully deals with a wide range of topics.

• Preparing to live on one income
• Developing and living on a budget
• Dealing with the lack of self-esteem
• Coping with an unsupportive spouse
• Creating income while staying at home
• Being willing to make sacrifices
• Homeschooling the children
• Reentering the work force

Women who have made the transition from marketplace to home share honest, personal accounts of victories, setbacks, fears, and joys.

If you desire to be a stay-at-home mom but fear financial disaster, Women Leaving the Workplace will help guide you in the right direction.

 

Working At Home

By Lindsey O'Connor

Starting a business at home is one way of adding extra income to help ease the battle-of-the-budget. Lindsey O'Connor's book will help you decide if a home business is realistic for you. She includes:

• Godly principles on which to build your business
• Ways to keep work from invading your home-life
• Insights into mastering your time
• Ideas for home businesses
• Steps for getting started
• Pitfalls to avoid
• And more.

I like this writer's sensitivity to maintaining a balance between work and parenting. This book is a good place to start if you're considering a home business.

 

The World's Easiest Guide to Finances

By Larry Burkett

Maybe personal finances aren't exactly your cup of tea. Maybe you'd rather attend a paint drying contest than look for ways to cut your budget. Maybe you'd rather volunteer for exploratory dental surgery than explore methods of scaling back your spending.

Now there is an easy and comprehensive guide that even a beginner can understand. Suddenly it's easy to put all your finances back together...which will make your future look a lot better. It also includes a helpful CD-ROM with the Simple Budget Calculator and the Debt Eliminator to help you apply the principles discussed in the book.

 

Your Finances in Changing Times

By Larry Burkett

With more than a million copies in print, this book is a perfect introduction to basic financial management. It is a complete money guide, offering practical suggestions for building a sound financial program. Following Burkett's time-tested, biblically grounded advice, you will learn to plan for a secure future, get out or stay out of debt, and enjoy the freedom that comes from having your financial house in order.