You Need More Money (Matt Manero)

You Need More Money: Wake Up and Solve Your Financial Problems Once and For All
Matt Manero
Portfolio
Nonfiction, Finance
***+ (Okay/Good)

DESCRIPTION: What does it mean to be wealthy, or even financially healthy? For most, it means having a few months' cushion in the bank and a decently reliable income stream. This is better than many people have in today's America, and should be good enough to see one through. Right?
Wrong.
It only takes one unforeseen incident to topple the "good enough" wagon - and unforeseen incidents are almost a given unless you're living in a bubble. It doesn't help that everything's getting more expensive; the retirement savings that worked for the previous generation are unlikely to last more than a few years for today's workforce. Even if you think you're doing okay, stashing a little aside here and there for the future, odds are very good it's not nearly enough. So what, in today's world of rising costs and stagnant wages, is one supposed to do about it? The first step is to wake up and see the problem while there's still an outside chance of course correction. Successful entrepeneur and finance speaker Matt Manero offers a wake-up call to those who think "good enough" is good at all, with questions to ask oneself and a roadmap for taking control of your financial life.

REVIEW: I live under no delusions that I'm anything but poor. This "wake up call" is not one I need; it's the "what to do about it" that proves elusive. Once again, however, the "what to do about it" in this book applies mostly to people who are already higher on the social and financial rung than I am, and at the very least are in (or have access to) white-collar sectors; there really isn't a ton here that's useful to warehouse workers, especially ones who lack anything like a marketable "super power" to capitalize on, unless "taking things out of totes" can be transformed into a six-figure income. (I did have to chuckle at the idea of checking what similar jobs to mine pay via sites like Glassdoor to negotiate for higher pay, as I listened to this audiobook at work... I'm the level of employee that the people on Glassdoor eliminate en masse at a stroke of a pen to earn themselves a bonus for saving the company money.)
That said, Manero does offer some decent advice. He also does not expect every reader to run out and start their own business, as some finance gurus seem to insist; he acknowledges that not everyone is cut out for that, that there are benefits to not being the boss, and he offers suggestions for getting the most out of being employed, such as how to improve one's visibility and effectively bargain for raises or seek greener pastures elsewhere. In other areas, though, he's very vague. Research risks on investments, he says... but where? And how does one separate the wheat from the chaff on investment advice and advisors, especially when one's a newbie? "Become interesting" to help with networking and finding new areas to explore, he says... right after insisting that the first thing one should do is eliminate any and all nonessential spending, and anything like a hobby ought to be monetized to justify time and energy spent on it (because all effort not spent on "stacking and racking" money before hitting the big goal is wasted), and any time not spent actively working should be spent considering where and how to obtain even more revenue streams (save his five-to-ten minutes of mental downtime he allows himself daily). So... when exactly is one supposed to be able to pursue the interesting-for-the-sake-of-interest things, and with what money (because even a walk in the park requires, at the least, bus fare to the park)? Though this is a relatively recent title, there are already signs of it aging; he mentions Twitter as a great place to network, especially because it's free - blissfully unaware of who would purchase it and what they would do to it, and how they would sell the appearance of credibility with a meaningless checkmark. He also mentions how skills like writing would always be lucrative in some form, completely unaware of what so-called "artificial intelligence" would do to creative industries and jobs like journalism, advertising, and article writing (built pretty much entirely on stolen material, no less). Other places made me raise an eyebrow, such as when he extols Cuba's history as one of the wealthiest nations in the world thanks to sugar, and expresses hope that they will rise again, completely disregarding the fact that that wealth was built entirely on the backs of literal slave labor (though I suppose that might strike an entrepeneur as an ideal situation, a workforce that required no pesky payroll department - and if they can't leverage their super powers to be running the place in five years or taking themselves to another plantation for better opportunities, I guess it's their own fault?). I also caught a whiff of victim blaming in his no-excuses attitude about wealth acquisition, how it's entirely a person's own fault if they're crushed by the system and/or haven't racked up north of seven figures by retirement age, even while acknowledging that the old ladders out of poverty, such the middle class, are disintegrating. When those ladders are gone, are the poor just supposed to fly, and sucks to be them if gravity exists? Why is this disintegration and stratification and exponentially increasing inequity treated as some nebulous natural phenomenon like plate tectonics or the weather, beyond comprehension or control, when it's a system ultimately created by humans, driven by humans, and co-opted by humans? When fewer people intentionally hoard more power and money, raising prices on those who can least afford it while boasting/gloating of record gains, while actively erasing means to acquire even the crumbs left behind, how are those hoarders utterly blameless for the consequences of their actions and the deprived entirely at fault? Just pull yourself up by the bootstraps, he declares - ignoring how that phrase was originally meant to show the impossibility of the task, especially when someone else has bought up all the boots. Heck, the notion that one can just learn whatever one needs to thrive for free via the internet presupposes one actually has sufficient access to the internet... and also presupposes that sites like YouTube will remain free to access in the future and aren't paywalled off. (Even libraries, one place a person used to be able to count on for services one couldn't afford if one was, y'know, not wealthy, are under threat.)
In any event, there is plenty of solid, if not entirely unfamiliar, advice to be found in this book, overlooking the parts that feel tone-deaf. Figuring out specific goals, paying closer attention to where money is going, being smarter about where to save and invest, being alert to opportunities and aware of one's worth, all are things worth considering. And there are things one can do to manage one's finances better in many circumstances (if not all). Ultimately, though, it's yet another book that I just can't see having much practical application to my situation.

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How to Manage Your Money When You Don't Have Any (Eric Wecks) - My Review
Making a Living Without a Job (Barbara J. Winter) - My Review

Vengeance Road (Erin Bowman)

Vengeance Road
Erin Bowman
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Fiction, YA Western
****+ (Good/Great)

DESCRIPTION: Kate Thompson just turned eighteen a short time ago - and she grows up fast, the moment she rides home to find the house in flames and her beloved Pa hanging from the mesquite tree over Ma's grave. She doesn't know why the Rose Riders, notorious gang headed by Waylan Rose, rode all the way from their usual stomping grounds to Prescott to target her family, but it doesn't matter: she won't rest until each and every one of them's as dead as the father she buried. As she rides across Arizona Territory in pursuit, she inadvertently picks up the Colton brothers, Will and Jesse, who prove impossible to shake... especially when there may be gold involved, a lost mine deep in the Superstition Mountains and in the very heart of Apache territory. Kate couldn't care less about any gold, not while her father's killer still walks and talks, but much blood has already been spilled over this claim - and hers may be next.

REVIEW: This is a fast-riding Western adventure in the vein of True Grit, with flying bullets and lost fortunes and twists and turns aplenty. A frontier girl, Kate grew up strong and keen, setting out on her quest without quite caring if she ever makes it back alive. Along the way, she's forced to confront more about herself than she wanted to know, learning just how much she really has to learn, but she keeps her spine and her fire through most of the tale. She's not a perfect heroine, letting the ends justify the means more than once... but nobody in this book is perfect, and everyone ends up using someone for their own goals at some point - sometimes with tragic consequences. This is not a watered-down young adult love-on-the-range tale, either; though there are some sparks of romance, they're firmly kept on the background for most of the book, and even when they try to move to the forefront, there are many complications. The characters are solid residents of their era, with the attendant attitudes and prejudices: all the whites look askance at the Apaches, who in turn rarely speak less than ill of the whites, with little more than grudging tolerance ever managed. They also smoke, drink, and make casual reference to prostitutes. It was a hard time that produced hard people, but they were still human, still trying to do right by themselves and, when possible, those they love... even if they failed at least as often as not. With hardly ever a dull moment or sour note, not to mention its unflinching willingness to take its characters to some very harsh places, both physically and emotionally, I highly enjoyed this Old West romp.

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The Misadventures of Maude Marche (Audrey Couloumbis) - My Review
The Sisters Brothers (Patrick deWitt) - My Review
Six-Gun Snow White (Catherynne M. Valente) - My Review

How to Manage Your Money When You Don't Have Any (Erik Wecks)

How to Manage Your Money When You Don't Have Any
Erik Wecks
Erik Wecks, publisher
Nonfiction, Finance
**** (Good)

DESCRIPTION: Money problems plague most every household, even those who seem to have it all. Debt has become an acceptable way of life for too many people, who willingly trade future financial disaster for immediate relief. It doesn't take a rocket scientist or an accounting degree to figure out that you can't get out of a financial hole if you keep digging, but in today's economy, with a weak job market and stagnant wages, there's no other way to get by. Or is there? Backed by years of professional and personal experience, Wecks offers real solutions for real people - solutions that don't promise yachts or mansions, but the even greater reward of financial freedom.

REVIEW: Like many people, I struggle to get the most out of my paychecks without sinking into the black hole of debt. Like the author, I've looked at the programs offered by those financial gurus you see on TV and found myself alienated: I don't make enough to play the investment games they often teach, and I just can't buy the implied promise of diamonds and gold awaiting me if I only follow their plans. Wecks wrote this book, as the title implies, for those of us who simply want help keeping our heads above water in a world that increasingly accepts the indentured servitude of endless debt as just part of living the American dream. There are no pie-in-the-sky offers to grant untold wealth to part-time cashiers or erase bad habits in thirty seconds flat. Financial stability takes hard work, not to mention a complete overhaul of one's relationship with money. Every once in a while, the writing gets a little too clever for its own good, and occasionally it repeats itself, but overall I found it informative and helpful.

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Stash Your Swag - 100+ Secret Hiding Places (Tarrin P. Lupo) - My Review
The Laws of Money, the Lessons of Life (Suze Orman) - My Review
Making a Living Without a Job (Barbara J. Winter) - My Review

Stash Your Swag - 100+ Secret Hiding Places (Tarrin P. Lupo)

Stash Your Swag - 100+ Secret Hiding Places
Tarrin P. Lupo
Porcupine Publications
Nonfiction, Finance/General Nonfiction
** (Bad)

DESCRIPTION: Since the latest financial crisis, most everyone has figured out that Big Banks do not have your best interests at heart when it comes to handling your assets. In the not-too-distant past, the American government "legally" seized private property, paying pennies on the dollar for gold and silver while citizens stood by helplessly. So how can you keep your cash and other valuables safe from Big Brother and other thieves? Lupo offers many ingenious hiding places in and around the home.
A Kindle-exclusive title.

REVIEW: It was free, and I thought it would give me some story ideas - one can never have too many story ideas, after all. Unfortunately, I got about what I paid for here. Lupo tries for wit, but falls flat more often than not. He cites a few real-world examples of famous historic hiding places, but not nearly enough to justify the overall repetition and shallow presentation. He also ventures into tin-foil-hat-level Guv'mnt paranoia once or twice. (I also had to wonder about someone who points to the latest financial meltdown as a reason to stash your money all through your home, while ignoring the associated housing market meltdown and mortgage/foreclosure crisis that has forced so many Americans out of their houses. So... what, the intention is to leave your valuables behind when the bank repossesses your property?) In short, I'm just as glad I'm not out any money for this one.