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Forecast: While there's no dearth of personal finance self-help books on the market, Knuckey's down-to-earth tone should appeal to 20-somethings, especially considering her online presence, detailed in the book's final pages.
--Publisher's Weekly
In The Ms. Spent Money Guide, Deborah Knuckey wants everyone to be a conscious spender.
You know, someone who never buys things spontaneously and never purchases things they never use. (The kind of sensible person, in short, who is the opposite of the heroine in the funny best-selling novel, Confessions of a Shopaholic.)
No one makes you spend money, but experts spend a lot of time and money making it hard to resist. "Advertiser' and marketers' success depends on their ability to link their products with your wants, and increase the volume until you can make a purchase. Think you can pit your self-will against their sophisticated marketing? It's tough," she writes.
The way around this pressure: Be aware of what triggers you to spend so freely. That, of course, is a lot easier said than done. But she does have exercises to put you into a less lavish frame of mind. One exercise: Take 5 minutes to write down all the influences that put you into a shopping mode - when did you first hear of the product? Did friends or colleagues egg you on? Do you know someone who has something similar - are you keeping up with the Joneses? The problem with conscious spending is that it requires a delicate balance of today's wants and tomorrow's needs. Knuckey says it can be painless by following her spending model. This hierarchy places the soul at the top of the pyramid. The soul category encompasses travel, vacation home, cable, books, music, hobbies, sports, massages, manicures and jewelry, among other things. After that come expenses for things like food, shelter.
Security is the foundation of the pyramid, which includes insurance, retirement planning, emergency expense funds and debt management. A strong security base means you're less vulnerable to unexpected circumstances, such as illness, divorce, unemployment or business failure. Of course there is a hitch. Under this plan, you have to fulfill the security foundation before you can float to the top - and then buy the fun stuff.--Juliette Fairley, Special for USA TODAY, April 23, 2001