Financial Peace Planner or Richistan

Financial Peace Planner: A Step-by-Step Guide to Restoring Your Family's Financial Health

Author: Dave Ramsey

Dave Ramsey knows what it's like to have - and lose - it all. After falling so far into debt that he was forced to declare personal bankruptcy, Ramsey rebuilt his financial life. Now he offers his hard-won advice, and much-needed hope, to many Americans who find themselves in serious debt and desperate for a way out.

There are no gimmicks or quick fixes to Ramsey's method of financial salvation. Instead he encourages you to take "baby steps," set realistic goals, and seek the support of family and friends. Ramsey's advice is easy to follow, and, because he's been there, he doesn't talk down to you. His workbook format allows you to frequently monitor your progress and, most important, to face your situation honestly.

Inside you'll find help on how to

• Asses the urgency of your situation
• Understand where your money's going
• Create a realistic budget
• Dump your debt
• Clean up your credit rating

Like any regimen, achieving financial peace requires patience and hard work. But the benefits - even if they're only the ability to sleep at night, answer the telephone, and balance the checkbook without stress - are well worth the effort. And once you're back on your feet, you'll find information on how to grow your wealth, provide for a comfortable retirement, and leave a legacy of financial peace.

Filled with inspirational insights that come from personal experience, The Financial Peace Planner may be the most valuable purchase you ever make.

Interesting book: Save Your Knees or The Perricone Promise

Richistan: A Journey Through the American Wealth Boom and the Lives of the New Rich

Author: Robert Frank

The rich have always been different from you and me, but this revealing and funny journey through “Richistan” entertainingly shows that they are more different than ever. Richistanis have 400-foot-yachts, 30,000-square-foot homes, house staffs of more than 100, and their own “arborists.” They’re also different from Old Money, and have torn down blue-blood institutions to build their own shining empire.
Richistan is like the best travel writing, full of colorful and interesting stories providing insights into exotic locales. Robert Frank has been loitering on the docks of yacht marinas, pestering his way into charity balls, and schmoozing with real estate agents selling mega-houses to capture the story of the twenty-first century’s nouveau riche:

House-training the rich. People with new wealth have to be taught how to act like, well, proper rich people. Just in the nick of time, there’s been a boom in the number of newly trained butlers—“household managers”—who will serve just the right cabernet when a Richistani’s new buddies from Palm Beach stop by.

“My boat is bigger than your boat.” Only in Richistan would a 100-foot-boat be considered a dinghy. Personal pleasure craft have started to rival navy destroyers in size and speed. Richistan is also a place where friends make fun of those misers who buy the new girlfriend a mere Mercedes SLK.

“You want my money? Prove that you’re helping the needy!” Richistanis are not only consuming like crazy, they’re also shaking up the establishment’s bureaucratic, slow-moving charity network, makinglean, results-oriented philanthropy an important new driving force.

Move over, Christian Coalition. Richistanis are more Democratic than Republican, “fed up and not going to take it anymore,” and willing to spend millions to get progressive-oriented politicians elected.

“My name is Mike and I’m rich.” Think that money is the answer? Think again as Robert Frank explores the emotional complexities of wealth.

And, as Robert Frank reveals, there is not one Richistan but three: Lower, Middle, and Upper, each of which has its own levels and distinctions of wealth —the haves and the have-mores. The influence of Richistan and the Richistanis extends well beyond the almost ten million households that make up its population, as the nonstop quest for status and an insatiable demand for luxury goods reshapes the entire American economy.

DaleFarris - Library Journal

Frank, Wall Street Journalsenior special writer, created a stir in popular culture when he began his weekly WSJcolumn and daily blog called The Wealth Report, which discussed the way of life of "Richistanis," residents of the unique world of "Richistan," who have realized tremendous wealth. In 2003, the author learned that the number of American millionaire households had more than doubled since 1995 to over eight million and that these newly affluent were beginning to cluster and create their own universe. In 2003, WSJassigned Frank to focus full time on the life and times of the nouveau riche, which led to his popular Wealth Reporter column and, ultimately, to this fully fleshed work, which provides a fascinating analysis of the life and the culture of the ultra-rich. He digs deep, analyzing their high-end investing patterns and business savvy, charitable giving, and purchase of luxury goods and services. Frank describes their own personalized health-care system, specialized transport system, unlimited, customized travel network, household managers, and much more. He also provides an understanding of the paradoxical nature of many of the newly rich that explains why so many are as common as ordinary middle-class Americans, even though they have more money than they could ever spend and are nothing like the select few among this subculture who attract a media frenzy, like Warren Buffett, Donald Trump, and Bill Gates. The lively narration by Dick Hill helps maintain interest throughout this material, which provides an important contribution to the fields of economics and demography. Highly recommended for university and larger public libraries.