Raise your financial IQ

Wed., Feb. 15, 2006

David Uffington King Features Syndicate

Whatever your stage in life or your financial situation, there are books that can help you move ahead and make decisions about your finances. Here are some new ones.

• Are you a Squirrel? A High Roller? In “Master Your Money Type” (Warner Business Books, 2006), author Jordan E. Goodman provides all the tools to help you determine how you make your financial decisions. What happened in your past to give you your current relationship with money? There are Ostriches, who wait for rescue from others, and Squirrels, who accumulate and hoard, never enjoying their money. Using worksheets and quizzes, Goodman walks you through the maze of understanding how you acquired your methods of dealing with (and making) money, and helps you strategize a plan to change your future.

• In “Generation Debt: Take Control of Your Money” (Warner Business Books, 2006), former Money magazine editor Carmen Wong Ulrich offers financial advice to young adults. Whether you’re saving for college or your first house, trying to get out from under your first mountain of uncontrolled debt or navigating the maze of lease vs. buy for your first car, Ulrich’s positive attitude (as well as no-nonsense advice) can help get young adults on the right path. Easy to read and full of helpful Web links, “Generation Debt” should be required reading for late teens — before they get out on their own — as well as young adults who already are.

• Where do your parents keep important papers? If your parents live out of state, who is available to help them in an emergency? Are they getting all the government benefits to which they’re entitled? In the event of the death of one parent, can the other one live alone? And if not, are living with you or in a nursing home the only options?

At some point for most people, caring for an elderly parent becomes a situation that can’t be ignored. Add in the confusion about medications and Medicare, wills and probate, privacy and guilt, and you have a tricky path to navigate. “Caring for an Aging Parent” (On The Road series, Dearborn Trade Publishing, 2006) by Sheryl Garrett can help you make sound decisions and show you options you might not have considered.

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