The Money Diet: Reaping the Rewards of Financial Fitness - Hardcover

It all started as a financial-help segment on the Today show. Which prompted 54,000 letters. Which then resulted in Ginger Applegarth's The Money Diet. Applegarth, who has practiced financial planning for more than 20 years and leads a prominent Boston-based financial and investment firm, believes that the "processes of financial planning and dieting are almost identical." Both require an honest assessment of the present, a realistic goal for what you want to become, and a plan for getting there. At the heart of Applegarth's program for financial wellness are her "Willpower Worksheets," tools designed to help determine your net worth, monitor your spending habits, set financial goals, determine your insurance needs, select investment plans, and buy a house. The Money Diet is an upbeat and well-rounded guide to managing money that should benefit almost all people, especially those trying to get their money habits under control.

Financial planner Applegate, a correspondent on the Today show, demonstrates her financial know-how and draws a clever analogy here: budget dollars saved are like diet calories cut. Noting that many Americans have no budget but know how to diet, she offers advice for achieving financial fitness. One lively chapter on credit-card debt, of which some $300 million, we learn, was outstanding in the U.S. last year on more than a billion cards, suggests Americans' spending habits in an era when people are discovering that their standard of living will probably never reach that of their parents. In addition to hard-headed money-managing techniques, practical tips abound. One Applegate client froze her credit cards in a container of water, knowing she couldn't rapidly thaw them with the microwave without destroying the cards' magnetic strips. It's all here, including home and car buying and selling, life insurance, health care.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.