June 2008 booklist

[jennymae.livejournal.com]

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
Mom read Robinson Crusoe to my brother and me when I was really, really young (I'm guessing when I was 6 or 7), but I didn't remember much of it.  I have to admit that I really didn't care for it.  I liked Swiss Family Robinson much better.  Robinson Crusoe was just so..vain!  I did think that it was neat that he found the Bible and was able to read/study it....but his vanity really bugged me.  Still, I'm glad I read it since it's such a classic.

A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
This summer, my goal is to read several of Shakespeare's plays since I've only read a few and am extremely lacking in that department. :-)  I didn't even know the story of Midsummer, and haven't seen a movie or play of it, so I have to admit that I really struggled with it.  I'm sure I didn't catch a lot of his meaning and even much of the storyline.  What little of the storyline that I understood, I didn't really enjoy at all...  And I didn't find it to be funny as I'm sure it was supposed to be.  I think I'll have to maybe watch a movie see a play of it--it might help with my understanding a bit. :-)

Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff
We listened to this on the way to the Jelly Belly factory in San Francisco and on the drive home (which ended up taking an extra long time because of the fires along Route 1).  It's a young person's book about a girl, Hollis Woods, who has been in more foster homes than she can remember.  She has a talent for drawing, so she has "pictures" of the various events in her disjointed life.  She longs for a family, and well, you'll have to read it. :-)  It's written in first person, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Ordinary People, Extraordinary Wealth by Ric Edelman
Ric Edelman, a financial adviser/speaker (or something) interviewed...or had his staff interview...five thousand of his clients to see how these ordinary people (teachers, policemen, engineers, homemakers, blue collar, middle-class people) became wealthy.  Through the interviews, he found eight things that most of these ordinary people did to create their wealth:
1) They carried a mortgage on their house, even if they could afford to pay it off.  Their thinking was that the amount of money they made by investing the "extra" money (money that many people would use to pay off their mortgage faster) and the tax exempts they have by having a mortgage  is higher than the amount of interest they have to pay by "stretching" out their mortgage.
2) They diversified among different asset classes; they take full advantage of their 401(k)s.
3) They invested whatever they could, whenever they could as often as they could.  Even if it was just $5 that month.  It adds up.  Much of the book was quotes/advice from the clients.  A majority of them said that they always put something away for savings/investing, and that the best advice they could give was to start doing it as soon as possible.  Many of them said that they wished they started saving sooner.  And that they wished they would've taken advantage of their 401(k)s when they were younger.
4) They buy stocks/mutual funds and just hold them for years.  Time and the law of compounding interest are your friends.
5) They ignored the Dow, S&P, NASDAQ.  Basically, they didn't freak out of the Dow went down that minute, hour, day, week, month, etc.
6) They didn't spend lots of time analyzing your money.  See #4 and #5.
7) They talked with, and educated their family about money. (Something all parents should do.  Schools don't teach personal finance.)
8) Tune out the fodder the analysts are constantly spewing. See #4, #5, and #6.
So yeah, I enjoyed this book quite a bit.  Not sure if I agree completely (especially #1)--haven't done enough research--but I really enjoyed hearing all the quotes/advice from the clients.  The main thing was: save now.

Comments

[eattheolives.livejournal.com]

I loved Swiss Family Robinson when I was a kid. I still do, I just don't reread it as often any more. :) I always found fascinating how they made such a neat life out of almost nothing on the island!

[jennymae.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, Swiss was great. I thought it was more than a little unrealistic, but I, too, thought it was great how they were able to make anything and everything (how in the world they KNEW some of the stuff is beyond me...). But Robinson wasn't NEARLY as good, in my opinion. His ego was way too big, and there wasn't as much emphasis on life on the island--more on how to get off and "Christianizing" the "savages."

[jennymae.livejournal.com]

For sure! I'll have to watch movies or go to plays before I read his plays. I'm sure it'll help. There are a couple plays of his that I haven't read, but have seen, so I'll start with those next, I think. :-)