Most people believe the only way to acquire a million dollars is by purchasing a winning lottery ticket. The authors of Future Millionaires' Guidebook contend that making smart and deliberate financial decisions can help anyone achieve this goal. Written by the reporters and editors of the award-winning personal finance website Bankrate.com, Future Millionaires' Guidebook is designed to help readers learn about every facet of their financial lives. Chapter topics include organizing your finances, savvy ways to use credit cards, how to boost your credit score, finding college financing, getting rid of debt, setting up bank accounts, buying a car, purchasing a home, shopping for a mortgage, managing risk with insurance, investing like a pro, saving for retirement, figuring your taxes -- and even estate planning. Each chapter is written by a reporter or editor who covers that beat and is deeply familiar with the subject matter. Their hope is to share valuable information that helps their readers make smart decisions and achieve financial success. The book targets young people because they stand to gain the most by learning about money at an early age. As an example, if they begin investing in their 20s instead of waiting until their 30s, they can amass more than twice the amount as the procrastinators by the time they retire - with just a 10-year head start. (We explain the magic of compound interest in the investing chapter.) Though Future Millionaires' Guidebook was written with the young person in mind, anyone can benefit from reading it. Teachers could confidently assign Future Millionaires' Guidebook as a summer reading assignment to their students, knowing that students will attain a wealth of information that will set them on the right track to managing money. Each chapter ends with a fun quiz that helps reinforce the material. The book can also serve as a textbook for personal finance classes. One big obstacle to wealth is the subject matter of finance itself. It's complicated, full of intimidating jargon and a big mystery to many people, young and old alike. Future Millionaires' Guidebook decodes the jargon and explains in easy-to-understand English how to make money work for you so that you can make the most of it. Most personal finance books geared to the youth market - and only a handful exist - are either too bland or too bossy. The approach used in Future Millionaires' Guidebook is different because we think personal finance can be fun. In a light, airy tone designed to engage the reader, Future Millionaires' Guidebook gets across all the important points about how to handle personal finances and why it's important to take it seriously. But we talk to readers as if we were friends sitting next to them at a sushi bar. The authors - Claes Bell, Kay Bell, Christina Couch, Kim Fulscher, Janna Herron, Jay MacDonald, Sheyna Steiner and Barbara Whelehan - are uniquely qualified to write this book. They work together at Bankrate.com, an award-winning financial website known for its excellent editorial content. They each follow their respective beats closely and know them well.
