Making Money (The Ten Keys to Financial Success):

Penguin Books (Published 2008)

Written By Paul Clitheroe

Australia

Review 4 Stars – Excellent Book

How the blurb describes the book:

Strategies to help you through the financial crisis and set you up for the future.

Paul Clitheroe, one of Australia’s leading personal finance advisers, explains how to achieve your financial goals so you can enjoy the good things in life. Even when times are tough, there are plenty of things you can do to make life more comfortable in the short term, and ensure your financial security in the future.

Whether you’re a novice or a an experienced investor, Making Money, Australia’s top-selling personal finance guide, shows you how to make the most of your dollars, and answers those big money issues that face us each day:

How can I pay off my mortgage faster? - How can I save more effectively? – Should I invest in shares, even in a volatile market? – How do I get the most from super and ensure that it will still be there when I need it? – How do I minimise tax? – Should I salary sacrifice? – What should I look for in an investment property? – How do I retire comfortably?

Making Money is the essential guide to see you through tough economic times.

Paul Clitheroe has written a number of books on money and personal finance. He is the chief commentator of Money Magazine and a founding partner of financial planning firm IPAC Securities. In 2005, Paul was appointed Chairman of the Financial Literacy Foundation.

Mr Home Budget’s Review:

To call this a book is a bit misleading. This feels more like a college textbook. What this book doesn’t tell you about money in Australia is probably not worth knowing. If for example, you want to know the year Australian stock exchanges went from using paper to trade to using computers. Or what about how much Australians spend on average each month on their credit cards? This book has it all.This is not to say the book is not worth reading. Quite the opposite is true. But at times you will feel like your brain cannot take one more fact about money.

If you think you can just read this book in a few hours, guess again. Trust me, this is a big one. So big you might get it confused with the yellow pages (just joking). My advice is not to get this book from the library. Purchase it so you can keep it on your bookshelf and refer to many times over your life. Have a question about super, debt, wills, estate planning, credit cards, starting a business, home budgeting, shares or a million other topics. You can quickly and easily turn to the right part in the book which deals with this issue. As you probably won’t have all the questions in the same year as one another, this is where the book becomes a valuable lifetime tool, a money genie, if you will.

Paul Clitheroe is probably best known for his early ‘90s’ TV show Money. The magazine is still on sale also called Money. And more recently, he has been back on TV with a show called, Money for Jam. Plus in 2008, he was awarded an Order of Australia for service to the community and the financial sector. His knowledge on the Australian landscape of money is vast and you can really see why media outlets turn to him for their programs.

Paul splits his readers into two groups; Wealth Builders and Wealth Protectors.  As you can probably guess, people who are wealth builders are a younger group whose main object is to work and earn money. While wealth protectors have worked for a number of years and saved a nice nest egg and now want to make sure they have enough in retirement. While the book is not split into different parts for these two groups the advice sometimes leans towards one or the other more strongly.

One of the great things Paul does is use real life case studies to help make a point. Due to his years in the industry the stories are thick and fast right throughout the book. And many of them offer cautionary tales of things to avoid or scams to look out for.

One of the better lines which caught my eye, “How often do you have one of those great moments where you notice a detail that really says it all? I remember having one flash at Warwick Farm Racecourse some years ago as I was walking into the racetrack past the car parks. There was a large parking area for the public – the punters – and another smaller one for the bookmakers, and what really struck me was the stark difference in the types of cars in each. One was filled with clapped-out bombs, the other with gleaming BMWs, Mercs and the odd Rolls Royce. There are no prizes for guessing which cars belonged to the bookies and which to the punters!”

Or this from the book, “Credit cards are particularly hazardous for those who, by their own description, are born to shop. Born to stay broke is more like it. My recommendation to anyone who fits this description is to throw your credit cards away, now.”

This book could easily be handed out on your first day of high school. And in many ways it could be taught in high school as an extra lesson. Do yourself a favour and pick up a copy today!

Pros: This should be the one book for quick, complete and accurate information on any money question in Australia.

Paul is a veteran in the money game and his writing displays it.

Great stories from history in Australian money and banking.

Cons: Can feel like you are reading a textbook at times, which can become a tad boring.

Some subjects are just way too in depth.