Review: How to Really Ruin Your Financial Life and Portfolio by Ben Stein

Title: How to Really Ruin Your Financial Life and Portfolio
Author: Ben Stein
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Wiley
Publish Date: October 2, 2012
Source: I received a copy from the publisher; however, this did not affect my review.

Why You're Reading This Book:

• You're a fan of economics.
• You're a satire fan.

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "Hilarious advice on what NOT to do with money, from financial funny man Ben Stein. Everyone's searching for the secrets to financial success, but what about the best ways to lose money . . . fast? In "How To Really Ruin Your Financial Life and Portfolio," bestselling author, economist, financial commentator, and media personality Ben Stein explains exactly what to do . . . to go bust The ultimate "how-NOT-to" guide, the book gives readers invaluable tips that should be avoided at all costs. Written in Stein's own inimitable style, this hilarious guide provides essential financial advice on what not to do when it comes to managing money.

From reading and acting upon investing newsletters to trading on a margin, from investing in bonds to breathlessly following CNBC, and from buying stock in firms you do not understand to believing in your own genius at stock picking to keeping as little cash on hand as possible, Stein presents the rules that every would-be investor needs to know, so they can do the exact opposite and actually make money. Fully revised and updated, this new edition presents all-new missteps that can destroy any portfolio.Fully revised and updated edition of the tongue-in-cheek bestseller that shows investors what not to do with their money. Written by acclaimed author economist, financial commentator, and media personality Ben Stein. Loaded with indispensable pieces of bad advice that readers should avoid at all costs

A laugh-out-loud approach to personal finance, "How To Really Ruin Your Financial Life and Portfolio" is an accessible guide to money from the funniest man in finance."

My Two Cents:

I have always really liked Ben Stein. I love his dry sense of humor. I find it very funny. Many people are familiar with Ben Stein the professor from "Ferris Bueller" or the Ben Stein from the "Clear Eyes" eyedrop commercials but Ben Stein in real life is actually a pretty smart guy (but maybe we knew that from Comedy Central's "Win Ben Stein's Money"). In all seriousness, he is a smart guy. He was a speech writer for President Nixon back in the day and has a litany of other credits to his name. It's sort of an interesting jump from politics to comedy!

In this fairly slim book, his sense of humor is on display. This book is all about exactly what you should not do in order to be financially successful through your investments. The investments that Ben Stein focuses on are mostly stock market investments. This is a satire. Do not take Ben Stein's bad advice. The book is fairly straight forward and may be of interest both to those who already have a lot of investments and those who have not really dipped their toes into the magical world of the stock market.

With the holidays coming up, I could see this being a great gift book with wide appeal. This isn't really an investment primer but it is a good read nonetheless.

Bottom line: This book makes investment both fun and funny!