The Ultimate Financial Plan: Balancing Your Money and Life

by Jim Stovall, Tim Maurer

How to build a financial plan that really blends into your life The latest volume in the bestselling Ultimate series, Jim Stovall and Tim Maurer's The Ultimate Financial Balancing Your Money and Life is a one-stop, comprehensive, personal financial planning book exploring the intersection of money and life. The Ultimate Financial Plan examines the connection between actions, thoughts, and feelings when it comes to all things financial. The key to getting the most out of your wealth, the authors argue, is certainly found in the wise utilization of tools, like budgets, bank accounts, 401(k)s, IRAs, Roth IRAs, education savings plans, and real estate, as well as home, auto, business, health, disability, and long term care insurance, but even more so in the contentment found in balancing money's influence in our lives with personal values and goals.An insider's look into the recently humbled "Big 3"--the banks, brokerage firms, and insurance companies--and the inner workings that often set their proprietary goals and objectives above all A critical examination of the role of various financial sales people, advisors, planners, and consultants A guide to navigating Economic Bias--a conflict of interest involving money--and how it affects every financial decision we make The Ultimate Financial Plan is the application of the resources at your disposal for the purpose of living your life to the fullest, and this book will show you the quickest route to getting started on the path to ultimate success.

Genres: Finance

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 4, 2011

About the author

Jim Stovall has been a national champion Olympic weightlifter, the President of the Emmy Award-winning Narrative Television Network, and a highly sought after author and platform speaker. He is the author of the best selling book, The Ultimate Gift, which is a major motion picture starring James Garner and Abigail Breslin. He is also author of The Ultimate Life and The Ultimate Journey, which have inspired another major motion picture to be released September 2013.
Steve Forbes, president and CEO of Forbes magazine, says, “Jim Stovall is one of the most extraordinary men of our era.”    
For his work in making television accessible to our nation’s 13 million blind and visually impaired people, The President’s Committee on Equal Opportunity selected Jim Stovall as the Entrepreneur of the Year.  He was also chosen as the International Humanitarian of the Year.

Reviews

[Sunny Livingston · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good beginners guide to personal finance

[Carrie Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really good book full of solid financial advice. There's one aspect of the book that's really annoying, though. Jim Stovall wrote another book that was a bestseller and got turned into a movie. I have not read that book, and it's probably good, but it had nothing to do with why I was reading this book. Unfortunately, Jim Stovall doesn't want me to go more than a few pages without reminding me that he wrote a bestseller! He constantly references his fictional characters from his other book. It drove me so nuts at the beginning of the book that I almost stopped reading, but fortunately, the references got less common as the book got into more in-depth discussion of its topics.

[Jbfricks · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a decent book for overall financial planning. I like the way Stovall and Maurer portray money as a tool which must be conformed to your values and principles. When getting into the details, there is not a lot I can see to make this book stand above many other books out there. Not bad, but I'd probably look towards Dave Ramsey's material for details and consider this book for overall framework.

[Andrew Orton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first half of this book for the perspective that it offers about money and wealth. Money is not our master, but it is a tool that we use to achieve our goals and promote our values, whatever they might be. This book encouraged me to take a look at my finances, and to understand how my financial decisions impact different parts of my life.

[Catalina Rembuyan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did a quick read. Sensible advice for a single person learning the basics of personal financing. Read it before you decide to embark on a family. Does not contain a lot of 'get rich quick' motivational nonsense.

[Tim Maurer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I co-authored this book. And yes, I really like it.

[Tricia]

This was the second most helpful financial planning book I read in May 2012.