Martin Bamford

Like far too many young(ish) people in the UK I have a pretty solid grasp of mathematics but when it comes to personal finance my education was lacking. Although I am in the fortunate position of being comfortable financially I know that I handle money pretty badly. I borrowed this book from my local library in the hope that it would help me get a grasp of it.

This book covers how to manage money rather than how to save it in an everyday way, this is an important distinction as I was looking for a book on the former. Bamford explains things such as pensions, investment, mortgages, debt and savings in a very easy to understand manner. There is a chapter devoted to each separate area along with two final very important chapters.

The second to last chapter is about where to go for advice and what qualifications to look when looking for a financial adviser. I don't think I've seen a chapter like this in a book about finances before and it is a very welcome addition. The final chapter pulls everything together and explains how to set out a solid long term financial plan.

There is little in the way of hard and fast 'do this' when it comes to what to do with your money. Bamford lays out how to make your decisions but says that ultimately the decision can only be taken by you. Having finished this book I now feel that I have a much better understanding of personal finance and how to get mine into shape.

A final important note is that some of the facts and figures were out of date due to the ever moving world of financial governance. I didn't find this a problem as I just double checked them on the internet as I went on.… (más)

Este libro nos obliga a parar y pensar en nosotros mismos en términos estadísticos. No es tanto un libro, para mí, sobre cómo efectivamente retirarse 10 años antes, sino sobre todo sobre cómo prepararse para la jubilación y el bajón de ingresos que normalmente va asociado a ella.
El libro se divide en dos partes bastante intuitivas: cómo ahorrar más y cómo gastar menos. La segunda parte se parece bastante al libro del mismo título, rel="nofollow" target="_top">Cómo gastar menos. Y la primera nos instruye sobre vehículos de ahorro, tipos de inversiones y la importancia de quitarse la deuda en el orden apropiado (la última deuda que queremos quitarnos es la hipotecaria, pues desgrava, y cosas así).
En conjunto el valor no está tanto en los consejos concretos sobre qué hacer, sino en el hecho de pensar en que en 10, 20 o 30 años estaremos jubilados, si todo ha salido bien, y esperar a depender de una pensión de la SS es una opción, pero que puede haber opciones mejores. Interesante.… (más)