Overwhelmed by saving for college? This is your book!
595400
My husband and I are both law school graduates, but when the time came to start talking and thinking about saving for college for our kids, we felt totally overwhelmed by our options.  This book has helped us more clearly understand the options and figure out a realistic plan for saving well and saving smart.  Bought a few extra copies to share with friends, too--can't wait to hear what they have to say!
1800265
If only I would have had such a resource like this when I started college! It took me years of trial and error to learn the tips that are in this book. Whether you're starting your first semester or heading into your last semester, the advice and guidance about balancing the college life are well worth the read!
3636480
THIS BOOK IS UNREAL! Everything in motivates you to be smarter with your money. Great for college girls!
1749769
I can't say enough great things about this book.  Just a year ago, I heard about tuition-free dual enrollment with a local college.  I jumped at the chance.  Somehow, I stumbled across Jennifer's HFCC FB page, and discovered there are SO many more options!  I am a person that loves to research something and find out all I can.  Jennifer is the same.  She's been so thorough.  I am thrilled that there was someone who did all this work and shared it with us, because at this point in time, I would probably go crazy getting all this information together.  I'm teaching 5 children and it would take weeks and weeks to do what she's done.  Thank you, Jennifer!  If you're interested in saving money on college and/or spending less time "in college" after h.s. then buy this book!  I don't think you'll be disappointed.  On a side note, on the inside, it may not look like you get as much material as you'd think.  The columns are narrower than I've seen before, but it makes for easier reading and the option of making notes in the margins.  To me, it was worth the price I paid.  It's print-on-demand and was shipped quickly.
4074819
I wish this book had been around when I was starting college!

I'm glad that it is here for my nephew (who starts this August) and my children. In fact, I think that it will be the perfect addition to any High School Grad's gift!

I had parents that talked to me about the dangers of credit cards and how it was important for me to be financially responsible, but who listens to their parents at that age? Who, when finally given the freedom to apply for their own credit card, at 18 doesn't want to buy what they want when they want it? I ended up over $3,000 in debt from credit cards by the end of my Junior year.

Hopefully, hearing from someone (other than a parent) who is an expert will help my family members to NOT make the mistakes I did!

I was able to read this book for Free using Kindle Unlimited!
356388
I got this book right after I graduated from college (actually at a seminar with the author put on by our alumni association), and it's helped me a bunch of times.

With it I learned the basics about paycheck deductions, and how if you are contributing to a pretax retirement account and are OK with having a $20 deduction from your paycheck, you can actually increase it by the amount you're being taxed, and the net amount going into your account will be more than $20 (but you'll only see a $20 net decrease in pay).

It also convinced me of the power of saving early, and encouraged me to do a lot of retirement saving before age 30 (since compounding interest really adds up over the long term).

It does a great job of explaining things like mutual funds, and because of it I looked to see the load fee I'd be charged when selecting mutual funds for my retirement plan.

The conversational style gets a little annoying at times, but this book has been a great overview on the basics that you need to know when first taking a job-- insurance, retirement, savings, and debt.  I've given it as a gift and recommend it wholeheartedly, especially if you are still learning the basics.
2478976
The College Savings Factor is a wonderfully insightful read for anyone who wants to gain a general knowledge on how to save for college. Though it may be written from a parents point of view, as a soon to be high school graduate who plans to further their education, I found this incredibly helpful and highly recommend it.
4176170
I saw this book on my friends coffee table, and he said, "Hey, you should REALLY get that book!  It has helped us SO much."  Might I add that this friend (we are both 24), has a so-so job, but just bought his first house, has no credit card debt, and is in a really good place in his life!! So, I bought the book and after reading just the summary on back, was hooked! A big THANK YOU to Suze Orman.  I've had my copy a month, and it is already dog-eared from so much reading and referencing.

  When I bought this book, I really didn't know much about Orman.  But after reading it, I can tell she is a knowledgeable, gifted person who is out there to HELP people.  This book covers everything from credit cards (and why they are GOOD for you), to student loan debt, buying a house/car, and more.  She addresses everything in an easy-going, easy to follow, humorous manner, and makes a very daunting subject seem not-so-bad.  The book is arranged in chapters, each with an introductory section, a question-and-answer section, and a follow-up of the important points covered.  This approach is great, because you can jump ahead to chapters that really apply to your place in life (such as saving or buying a house).  I would highly recommend reading the ENTIRE book, but even if all you *think* you need is help with credit card debt and student loans, you'll find it here!  As a bonus, for purchasing the book Orman gives you access to the YF&B portion of her website, which has lots of calculators, extra info, and newsletters from her.  In all, I would recommend this book for EVERY person who turns 18, is under 30, has/wants a job, is in school, wants to go to school, lives on their own, lives with their parents, and pretty much anyone who finds his/herself in a financial quandary! (I could go on and on...)  It has helped me, and I KNOW it can help you!

 An overview of the chapters:

  1. Know the Score (about credit score, moves to boost your score, etc.)

  2. Career Moves (surviving on a small paycheck, job-hunting, etc.)

  3. Give Yourself Credit (credit cards, fee traps, etc)

  4. Making the Grade on Student Debt

  5. Save Up (squeezing more out of what you make, paying off debt vs. saving, etc)

  6. Retirement Rules (410K, Roth IRA, etc)

  7. Investing made easy

  8. Big-Ticket Purchase: Car

  9. Big-Ticket Purchase: House

  10. Love & Money (merging finances when you merge lives, life insurance, will, trusts, borrowing from friends and family)

Anyway, just my 2 cents, but thanks to this book, I've now got 2 cents to give to you! Enjoy!
3523737
I am a financial consultant that works with parents (with a high school student) to reduce their college expenses and assist them with helping their student create the best college experience possible. I found a recommendation for this book on an education blog and ordered it to see if it might serve as an appropriate gift for the students I work with.

I have a son who is starting his sophomore year in college.  He was home this summer so I thought he could serve as the perfect reviewer. (Just to give you a little background, my son is a very strong student that is very organized and feels he has developed good study skills. Yet he admitted that he found the coursework at college to be very different than in high school and that he was caught off guard during his first freshman semester.)

I asked him to read the book and let me know if the author's tips would be helpful to him or other students.  As he read, he made various marks in the book to indicate where various pieces of advice given is relevant and helpful.  Once he had finished reading the book I went through it and boy did it have lots of marks noted throughout!  He highly recommends the book and believes it will greatly assist him with his studies in the coming year.  He feels the book would be most helpful to students once they complete their first semester in college.  He believes this because until students have experienced classwork at the college level, they will not be able to relate to the material nearly as well since the author shares so much about his personal academic experiences.  Having already completed his freshman year, my son said he could totally relate to many of the examples the author cited, which helped make the author's suggestions more credible to him. My son is typically a tough reviewer, so his enthusiastic endorsement of this book confirms for me that it will serve to be a great gift for the students I work with.

Deborah Fox
[....]
580103
Every college student should be required to read this and start saving! Even though I'm 50 and doing well financially, I learned some great tips and will refer back to this often.
3951339
Advice from someone who accomplished this! I wish I had this book when I was starting my college career.
146223
As much as I spend money, I needed this as a guide to save more.  This is simpistic, and easy to follow.  So far in the past 3 months that I have followed the advice in this book, I have made tremendous progress in my spending patterns and saving habits.  I even put some money in a CD to avoid spending it!  For me, that's a miracle.
I suggest that if you want to start basic, this book is an excellent way to start.
504706
This book is great! It comes with so many fantastic ideas on saving money! I am going to start many of these right away! Some of the things I just can't do right no, or rather I'm just not ready or don't want to. But for the most part, this book is full of easy simple ways to cut back on spending and start saving money! Yay!! I highly recommend this book!
1369896
I really love this guide! It's a quick read and provides various, realistic scenarios that get you thinking critically about your own spending habits. I highly recommend this book to 20 and 30-somethings in college and beyond that want to start taking charge of their financial future.
2254920
i was going to spend a large sum of money on "normal" things, like mortgage payments, fuel, food, clothing...you know, stuff you "need"

but then I decided to buy one of these instead! I mean, screw my kids college education. Now i have every tool imaginable at my fingertips.
4133879
Amazon and Kindle makes buying expensive textbooks easy -- and less expensive! The cost of college books for my kids was way out of hand... so we invested in a HD Kindle (Amazon weekend deal) and it was the best decision ever! Now my daughter can download her text books easily, highlight text, create folders for assignments and pre-test studying and more. PLUS she doesn't have to carry a ton of heavy books! Using the Kindle she can buy her necessary books in minutes and begin to learn immediately! If you have a college student check their school requirements first to see if they allow electronic books! (They all should!)
1952488
This book is super informative for young and old alike. We all want our children to make smart financial decisions, but sometimes they just don't listen to us parents am I right! This book breaks it down simple and easy, it even shows how you can save and spend at the same time, which is great cuz my daughter and her friends are 11 years old so they love going to the mall spending their allowance but they need to know that a portion of that money that needs to be saved for future spending. My daughter is thinking about college already and I know it's going to be a huge chunk of money that we need to save for this.

 In the spirit of full disclosure I received this item for you to facilitate this review.