Books

Shoptimism

Shoptimism is a guided tour through the parallel worlds of selling and buying. Part I, “Them Versus You,” explores “the Sell Side,” where marketing, retailing, advertising, and consumer-research forces take aim on the American buyer. Part II, “You Versus You,” looks at buyers and examines what people are looking at when they buy things, why some people are loose with money and others pinch pennies,…  More About: Shoptimism

Get a Financial Life

Get a Financial Life is a real-world guide for “millennials” that teaches young people tricks for becoming the masters of their financial universes.

Get a Financial Life focuses on what you need to know when you’re just starting to pay serious attention to money matters. Whether you earn $20,000 or $200,000, Get a Financial Life can help you navigate the new world of personal finance.…  More About: Get a Financial Life

Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture

Many of us feel conflicted when buying cheap goods. You ask yourself, “How can this thing be produced so cheaply and still honor worker’s rights and environmental safeguards necessary for all industry today? In “Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture,” an Atlantic magazine correspondent looks at what may be the true cost—in economic, political, and psychic terms—of our penchant for making and buying things…  More About: Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture

Asset Allocation for Dummies

Consumer Action is somewhat turned off by the “Dummies” series, not by the content of many of the books, which is excellent, but by the supposition that people who have not been educated on a certain aspect of life are inherently “dumb.” Everyone can learn new things if they want to, and this book does not dumb down the topic of asset allocation.

This easy-to-understand…  More About: Asset Allocation for Dummies

Busted

“Busted: Life Inside the Great Mortgage Meltdown” is a personal and journalistic look at the free-wheeling lending that led to our nation’s housing crisis. A veteran New York Times economics reporter, Edmund L. Andrews was intimately aware of the dangers posed by easy mortgages from fast-buck lenders. But, eager to buy a home and start a new life, he gave in to temptation and began…  More About: Busted

Prescription for Real Health Care Reform

Conversations on how to reform healthcare are long-standing and varied. But healthcare costs have soared, health insurance companies get richer and even those who pay dearly for health insurance frequently find that their policies don’t adequately cover them when they need their coverage most.

Howard Dean—the physician and former governor credited for reviving the Democratic Party after the 2004 elections—has ideas on what needs to…  More About: Prescription for Real Health Care Reform

In The Black

With economic uncertainty reaching unprecedented levels, Aaron W. Smith’s nine-step plan is designed to help African Americans take control of their financial futures, emphasizing the importance of saving, budgeting, investing in retirement plans and risk management. According to Publishers Weekly, “Smith shares uplifting case studies of clients and public figures, ranging from the wealthy and successful (e.g., Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, a multimillionaire couple,…  More About: In The Black

But Wait, There’s More

Whether it was a Ginsu knife, George Foreman Grill, Tony Robbins’ motivational book, kitchen device by Ron Popeil, or any of the countless other famous products that have been marketed on infomercials over the years, you or someone you know has bought one—and you’re not alone. Last year, one out of every three Americans picked up the phone and ordered a product from a television…  More About: But Wait, There’s More

Stopping Identity Theft

This new book—available March 6, 2009—outlines 10 steps you can take to protect yourself or your family from ID theft and medical identity theft, the fastest growing crime in America.

By reading this book, you will learn what to do now to safeguard your bank accounts, online presence, credit record and more from the potential financial damage of identity theft.

An identity theft…  More About: Stopping Identity Theft

You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man

Since the Bernard Madoff “Ponzi scheme” scandal broke, shocking investors and the Wall Street community, this insider’s guide to investment rip-offs, scams and con artists has been in demand. The book, published in the late ‘90s, is designed to educate consumers and make them aware of how scams work.

It takes an investigative look at the reasons why Ponzi schemes and pyramid frauds are…  More About: You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man

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