Book Review: How to Be the Family CFO
This review will be short, because my view of How to be the Family CFO, is mixed. Let me start by saying that I preferred the book Easy Money, by Liz Pulliam Weston, because it had more concrete advice than did Family CFO, by Kim Snider.
Also, I did not feel that I was being “marketed to” in Easy Money, but I did in Family CFO, particularly toward the end of the book, where the dividend-oriented Snider Investment Method (R), is discussed. What put me off was the promotional nature of the writing, and the lack of detail, particularly any information on capital gains and losses from the strategy. Definitely not Global Investment Performance Standards-compliant. Also, the strategy would be undiversified, in my opinion, by being overexposed to income factors.
Now, there is one major positive to the book, a place in which it is superior to Easy Money. It motivates the “why” of getting your financial life in order, while Easy Money is better with the “how.” What I admire about the author is that after failure, she grew up, and learned to be a serious adult about planning for the future, and using money wisely.
Most of my readers I expect are good at handling their money, but perhaps you have family or friends with self-inflicted money troubles. If they lack motivation, you could get them a copy of Family CFO (with my caveats). If they have motivation but lack knowledge, you could give them Easy Money.
Both are available from Amazon:
Easy Money: How to Simplify Your Finances and Get What You Want out of Life (Liz Pulliam Weston)
PS — Remember, I don’t have a tip jar, but I do do book reviews. If you enter Amazon through a link on my site and buy things from them, I get a small commission, and you don’t pay anything extra. If you wanted to get it anyway, it is good for both of us…
