Smart and Simple Financial Strategies for Busy People

Bryant Quinn's slow and gracious voice narrates this traditional lesson on how to manage one's finances. The NEWSWEEK columnist provides an array of numbers, acronyms, and investment products, all designed to help listeners make choices that promote financial health now and in the future. More than just information, she also offers a way of looking at money, and this is where her style works especially well. It's safe to say that the program is aimed less at people who struggle with money than at people who have enough of it to make choices. A wonderful tool, and very easy to hear, for waking up the money manager within you. T.W. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

March 6, 2006
Financial maven Quinn's upbeat audio helps busy people put their finances on autopilot with fairly foolproof action plans. Whether she is touting the benefits of repaying a mortgage early, heralding the marvelous innovation of the automatic payroll deduction or encouraging the purchase of index funds, Quinn's attitude is professional and motivational. Her voice suggests that she does not brook fools gladly (witness her clear disapproval for get-rich-quick schemes and the too-good-to-be-true "option ARM" mortgage), but any schoolmarmish moments are balanced by the performance's overall can-do attitude and encouraging tone. While it remains to be seen how effective personal finance advice is on audio—it's an inconvenient way to retrieve specific information when you need it quickly—Quinn does her best to overcome the medium's limitations, carefully spelling the addresses of financial Web sites and repeating important telephone numbers. While the print version of this book is clearly divided into helpful sections (buying a home, planning for retirement, saving for college, etc.), listeners have a harder time locating various topics because the audio package contains no information on locating them. Despite such hassles, this is a lively rendition of Quinn's trademark intelligent, sensible advice. Simultaneous release with the S&S hardcover (Reviews, Jan. 9).