Review: Let's Talk Money

Author Akhil Khanna
Title: Let's Talk Money; Roads to Riches Made Easy
Author: Akhil Khanna
Genre: Non-Fiction
Published: 2012 by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.
Find it at: Flipkart / Amazon
Pages: 174
My Rating: 4/5!



From the book’s cover!
Warren Buffet has two rules. Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget Rule No. 1. Let me add a Rule No. 3: Know how to apply Rule No. 1. For, neither our upbringing nor our education gives money any significant place. Money is the least discussed topic within a family. Formal education about it is absent.
The aim of this book is to help people from non-financial background to become aware of the world of money. In a simple, jargon-free language, it tries to acquaint us with this world – the various options one has of investing and the things one should bear in mind while choosing an option. We come to know of the complexities of the global investment climate we live in today and the dangers to our investments.

Remember: It is not important what one earns; true wealth is what one manages to keep.

My thoughts!
I’ve never been one to talk about money. Somehow, the thought of money takes my mind to ‘materialism’, which is something I’m not much a fan of. How can I be? You’ve seen how people go crazy pursuing materialistic things and forget all that matters, and you get bored of it. I wasn’t very keen on reading this book earlier, considering the money talks, but the content-index of the book was appealing. Also, I wondered if it's really as simple a book as it sounds, I might just get a hang of the finance related stuff that has always scared me somehow. I think I can make some amazing decisions sometimes, and the decision to go ahead and read this book is definitely one of them. 

The book is divided into ten chapters that are structured in such a manner that you learn the very basics first and then gradually read about things built up on what you've read so far. Beginning with the concepts of money demand and supply, economic and investing environment, inflation and deflation, the book then goes on to explain the different options you would want to know from an investor's viewpoint. That's the essence of the book. How do you make your money grow, that too in an environment (like India) where so many things have changed the economy recently. You would read about 'Property', 'Business and Commodities', 'Fixed Deposits and Bonds' and how you might think about investing in them. And it's not only about investing. I actually understood so many things I couldn't understand before and I know why. I was always reading about them in the papers (on the rare occasions I did that) or in some context while reading for class. 

This book, however, has been written in an elucidated and very simple language that it's not really hard to 'get' those economics and finance concepts. I am from a commerce background and since high school have been surrounded by these terms and honestly, they've baffled me many a times. That's one reason I'm going to keep this book handy because it explains almost everything you need to know about investing and the concepts, so that whenever I would have to look up a term, I could read again from the book. There's almost everything you would need to know, in little dosage, of course (174 pages!), but you easily understand and there's no need to pull out your hair out of frustration because you'd get it in the first reading. I, who's always been terrified of the name "stock market", actually considered learning more about stocks and investing in them. See? Effective. Well played Mr. Khanna, well played. 

Apart from these, the book talks about the effects of globalization and outsourcing on the world economy, gives an insight into investments from the point of view of speculators (who, by the way, seem scary to me.), explains different kinds of insurance and how "happiness" is the best investment. Finally, the last chapter, which is my favorite, is on the Global Financial Crisis 2008. God, whenever there was any reference to this crisis, I used to shrivel up, considering how, even after many classes in college, I always had trouble understanding the whole thing. From this book, however, I understood almost all of it in one go! Perhaps it was easy because I had read a bit before, even if all was not clear, but even then, I was able to read and apply it easily and I'm sure I could explain it to anyone now. :D 

It's been written very clearly, so that people from non-finance backgrounds can understand it. That's the USP of the book, I suppose. Not many people understand the cruel world of investments and money and they have to depend on specialists for safeguarding their money. If you're one of those, I would highly recommend this book to you! Also, if you're a student like me, you should still read it for clarity of concepts. It's really handy. I like it. :)

The only thing I wished could have been better was the cover. And I'm not just saying because I'm a book cover freak. I really think if I saw the book in a bookshop, maybe I wouldn't have looked twice at it. The cover has to be gorgeous. Okay, not gorgeous, but not so plain. If the publishers are planning on making more editions, I would suggest a more 'attractive' cover. Just a little bit more.

PS- The E-Book of "Lets Talk Money - Road to Riches Made Easy" was launched on Saturday, 9th February, 2013 at the World Book Fair, 2013. Here is a picture from the launch! :)





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