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Palmer’s Planners: Finances Made Simple

November 18, 2011 by Lazy Man 7 Comments

Plalmer's Money Planner
Plalmer's Money Planner
Today is a day that I thought I’d never thought I’d see. I’m linking to Etsy.com – a site known for it’s many knick-knacks. I’ve always viewed it as a way to spend money on stuff that I wouldn’t use. For example, as I write this article, this apple cozy is being highlighted on the Etsy home page. I’m may be a grade-A jerk but I don’t feel that my apples need to be kept cozy. I’m sorry if I insulted any apple lovers out there, but that’s just the way it is. Take the money you’d spend on comforting your fruit and put it towards retirement.

Sorry I got a little carried away there. This article isn’t supposed to be about apple cozies. Instead I want to introduce you to Palmer’s Planners – a set of financial planners from Kimberly Palmer, senior editor for U.S. News and World Report’s Alpha Consumer. If you’ve read my review of her book, Generation Earn, you know that I’m a big fan. She comes from a prospective that is more like a blogger than a financial guru – that scores huge points with me. If you aren’t sure about the difference, watch an episode of the Suze Orman show. I find that show entertaining as well, but you don’t get to know the person, and that was one part of Palmer’s book that I really enjoyed.

Palmer’s Planners is a set of financial planners covering topics such as general money planning, getting out of debt, and preparing for a baby. I had a chance to look at a few, and here are couple of thoughts on a few of the products:

  • The Money Planner – While all the planners work to supplement the aforementioned Generation Earn book, this is probably the best example of it. It doesn’t go into great depth in any one area of personal finance, but it hits the important parts of many different areas. For example there are a couple of pages on debt in this planner, but the Debt-Free Planner is completely dedicated to the topic. The advantage to this is high-level approach that you don’t get bogged down in any particular area of personal finance. You can find your weaknesses and then focus on them later.
  • 2012 Money Planner – The 2012 Money Planner takes a calendar-based approach to your finances. For example, March is mostly about preparing your taxes while August is about going back to school. There are a few quarterly checklists and a year-end review also included.
  • Baby Planner – I think saved the best for last. The spiral bound baby planner looks like the perfect gift for an expecting mother. What I especially like about it is that you can give it without looking like an uppity jerk. What do I mean by that? Well if you have a friend who might be in a tough financial spot giving a money planner to someone might come off as rude, but if the person were expecting a baby, the baby planner is a socially acceptable gift. The person might like the planner so much that they pick up the other money planners. (Note: There is a PDF version of this available as well if you just want the information without the pretty packaging.)

Finally, you can get The Money Planner, the 2012 Money Planner, and the Debt-Free planner, by getting the Complete Money Planner Kit. One note of caution… take note what you are ordering, because with “Money Planner” being the most prominent term in the title in three of the products, it can get somewhat confusing.

One thing that I like is that all the planners come in PDF form, so there is no waiting. You can print them… or you can read them on your computer or tablet. In my house, they’ll make their way to our $99 TouchPads quite quickly. The other thing that stands out is the artwork. While I’m the kind of person who just loves text (note the lack of images on most of my posts), the illustrations would likely appeal to my wife. That’s not to be overlooked. While I’m a personal finance nerd, I recognize that not everyone is and every little bit helps.

Personally, I’m going to give the 2012 Money Planner a spin next year. I’ll read through the Money Planner, but I think that it would be a case where, as a personal finance blogger, I do much of what is recommended in there anyway.

P.S. That lead-in paragraph was a half-lie. I have been secreting searching for a way to link to this outstanding Jayne Cobb hat for awhile now. I was serious about the apple cozy though. I can’t believe people would pay $17.50 for such nonsense.

Filed Under: Financial Planning Tagged With: generation earn, kimberly palmer

Generation Earn by Kimberly Palmer Reviewed

November 23, 2010 by Lazy Man 5 Comments

Generation Earn
Best Book for New Grads?
When I saw that Kimberly Palmer was publishing a book, I immediately asked her for a copy to review. This is the first time that I actually asked an author for a copy of a book to review. For those who don’t know me, I tend to read about 5 books a year… and I’m counting the 90% that I never actually finish in that number. I have a bookshelf with over 100 untouched personal finance books from authors who have offered to send me their book for review.

For those of you who don’t know Kimberly Palmer, she’s a columnist for US News and World Report. In my world (which is admittedly focused on personal finance), she’s the only reason that US News isn’t another college rankings publication. You can catch up with her writing at US News’ popular Alpha Consumer website.

The book is Generation Earn: The Young Professional’s Guide to Spending, Investing, and Giving Back. The title is appropriate. It doesn’t try to cover the entire area of personal finance. It doesn’t cover questions like, “How do you know when you can safely retire?” The book focuses on just about everything that someone in their 20s and early 30s needs to know about personal finance.

The book is divided into three areas: Building Your Life, Creating a Home, and Changing the World. The Building Your Life covers the basics of budgeting, managing your career, understand credit and debt, investing, and getting a good start towards retirement. The Creating a Home section deals with all the personal finance question that come with family issues. You’ll lending/receiving money from family, cheap dating, marriage, and planning for children. The last section, Changing the World, covers being environmentally friendly, making your investments match your personal ethics, giving to charity, and starting a non-profit.

Before I give my final thoughts, I should state some potential biases I have. Since Palmer covers personal finance and I cover personal finance our paths occasionally cross. That said, I’m a particularly difficult person to please when it comes to personal finance books. I’ve been reading Money Magazine for “fun” (yes, I’m weird) since I was 13. I’ve been blogging about personal finance for 4.5 years. It is a tall task to keep me interested in a personal finance book. Plus, I’m a little biased against books. John Lennon said it best: “All You Need is Blogs.” They seem to suit my attention span best.

I found myself, time and again, nudging my wife saying, read this paragraph or read this page. There were just a number of times where I remember having this exact discussion with her in the past. If I could pry the Sookie Stackhouse / True Blood books from her hands, perhaps I can get this on her radar.

It’s sad, but one of the biggest criticisms I had was on page 17, where Kimberly Palmer devoted almost a half page to praising wine with screw caps… while that’s great, there are a number of ways to save money on wine. However, she makes up for it with a great tip on how to make homemade hummus, something that I found to a good cash savings.

The best part of the book was also the most unexpected. On area that is grossly under-covered in this space, and in the personal finance area in general, is the section on Changing the World. It always takes a backseat to the personal finance basics. It was quite a welcome surprise, especially considering where I am with my life right now. Maybe I’m having a third-life crisis or something, but I’ve been thinking more and more about how I’m going to make a difference in the world. I hope that Lazy Man and Money has helped a few (especially those who are victims of a MonaVie scam), but I’m feeling like I’m not doing enough. I’ve been spending a lot of time over the last couple of months putting a plan together that will hopefully allow me to do more.

Sometimes people ask me what is the perfect gift for a new grad. I’m putting Generation Earn at the top of that list. For more reviews an information about the book, check out the official Generation Earn website.

Filed Under: Book Review Tagged With: generation earn, kimberly palmer

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