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Managing Your Money All-in-One For Dummies
Foolish Assumptions
In order to shovel so much material on such a wide variety of topics into a
single book that's actually helpful and inviting, we make a few assumptions
about you, the reader. See whether one or more of these shoes fit:
You can't seem to get out from under credit card debt.
You'd like to find ways to spend less money, but the idea of sitting down
and setting up a budget makes you feel slightly ill.
You've heard about how great it is to save for retirement in an IRA or
401(k), but the whole concept seems too complicated to deal with.
When tax time rolls around, you feel frightened and uncertain.
You can't seem to keep up with mounting bills and wonder where in the
world your paycheck goes every month.
You worry that you'll ever be able to afford college for your kids.
You have a vague feeling that you should probably have certain kinds of
insurance, but what they might be is a mystery.
You have health problems and are afraid they are going to end up bank-
rupting you.
If we've hit the mark with any (or, God forbid, all) of these descriptions, this
book is most definitely for you.
How This Book Is Organized
Managing Your Money All-in-One For Dummies is organized so that you can
easily and quickly access the information you're looking for. We've arranged
everything into seven "books," each of which focuses on one aspect of your
financial life. Without further ado, here's how it's all set up:
Book I: Taking Charge of Your Finances
We start at the very beginning and take a good, hard, honest -- and yes, per-
haps slightly painful -- look at where you are now financially. (Sometimes
pain leads to something good: Look at surgery, for example, or birth.) The
chapters here ask that you be truthful with yourself and your habits when
it comes to handling your own money. Only by seeing what you are actu-
ally, really, and truly doing with your cash now will you be able to make the
