A Review of The Truth About Money by Ric Edelman

Ric Edelman is consistently rated as the top independent financial advisor in the country by well-respected publications. He also hosts a weekly radio show where he talks about the economy and answers questions. As a go to financial advisor in the industry, Ric is also the best-selling author of 7 books.

Aside from his work on his radio show, where listeners are encouraged to call and talk about money with Ric Edelman, this top-rated finance expert is also a regular on public television. The Truth About Money with Ric Edelman, is a show that deals with investment advice and other financial issues. It was produced by 3 Roads Communications.

Also within the media, Ric has supplied advice and insight to amongst others CBS Evening News, Associated Press, CNN, Oprah Winfrey, the Washington Post and the Huffington Post. He is renowned for being an easy to understand investment advisor.

As if this all wasn’t enough, Ric fronts his own firm.  Edelman Financial Services LLC has been helping people achieve financial success for more than 25 years. The firm is involved with managing 5 billion dollars worth of assets.

Even if you think you know a lot about finances, Ric is the type of guy that will re-educate you and challenge your financial plan. While it’s true that this book covers many of the standard areas that many books of this nature cover like stocks, bonds, mutual funds and so on, it’s also the most well rounded personal finance and investing book that I’ve ever read and I’ve been around the block.

It’s also worth saying that Ric says everything that he needs to say in language that is easy to understand. I can honestly say that there wasn’t anything in the book that I didn’t get. Having said that, Ric doesn’t treat his readers like idiots. If he needs to use more complicated figures and formulas he will.

You get pretty much every aspect of financial planning advice you need to make an important financial decision in one easy to understand book. The Truth About Money includes information about such overlooked topics as:

Estate Planning

I bet a lot of you have never used the services of your financial advisor to talk about estate planning. Retirement planning is great, and this book covers many investments for retirement ideas, but what about preserving your wealth for your heirs? After all, you don’t want to work hard all your life to see your money disappear rather than be there for your kids, and their kids, to enjoy. Ric covers this in detail and also provides solid arguments on why you can’t afford not to take Estate planning seriously.

Insurance

Before reading this book, the topic of life insurance seemed unnecessary. It’s a topic that no one really wants to think about. However, reading this book really opened my eyes to why you need it, as well as health insurance. Too many people scrimp on these and then lose everything due to a sudden major illness that costs thousands to treat or a sudden death that leaves many debts unpaid and no insurance to cover them. The truth about money is that this is a risk you can’t afford to take.

Personal Finance

This book not only covers investing but other personal finance details that most people need to know. This advice includes how you can get out of debt, if you should pay for child care, the best ways to pay for college, whether it’s better to buy or lease your car and the truth about home ownership. Most investing books don’t touch any of these topics but Ric covers them in depth and provides you with points of view that will help you make more sense of your personal finances.

Investment Principles

You’ll learn why you shouldn’t try to time the market, why investing based on your emotions is bad, why world events won’t really hurt your portfolio that much and the truth about how fees charged by mutual funds will eat up your gains. These aren’t the cookie cutter principles you’ve read about in other books! These are the facts about investing that you need to know so that you can get your investing right.

Taxes

If this wasn’t enough, this book also dedicates a section to reducing your tax burden. Who wouldn’t like to pay less tax? Ric outlines some common deductions that you might be missing out on as well as some that you might not be aware of. By creating awareness of these and highlighting who can benefit from a tax professional, Ric demystifies the complex world of the tax code.

Future planning

One thing that I really like about this book is that it talks about future planning that doesn’t necessarily involve just the reader. That’s the thing about life, other people can affect your finances too. For instance, you may have aging parents who are going to need long-term care. How are you going to budget for this? It’s great that a book includes this sort of discussion.

This book was last revised in 2004 prior to the new 4th revision. This latest revision includes updates and a lot of new content. Ric has put in the effort to make changes that make a really big difference. The book is still written in the same fun style though, which makes it really easy to read as well as being a great education.

This book will change the way you think about investing for your retirement and how you plan for the unknown right now. In fact, after reading this book, I changed the way I think about investing significantly. Ric makes it easy to understand and gives you clear advice and steps on how to improve your financial situation. I challenge you to try reading it for yourself and seeing if you don’t learn at least five new concepts that you didn’t already know.

If you have anything to say about Ric Edelman and his book, feel free to comment below.

Check out The Truth About Money