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Davina - BookBrowse.com
This is a very entertaining and informative book recommended for anyone who feels that money controls them, instead of them being in control of their money.
Written in a style similar to the very popular Fish and Who Moved My Cheese, but with its focus on personal financial planning, Fortune In Your Cookies illucidates the key fundamentals in 9 short and entertaining chapters - each with a food theme.
Starting with 'Million Dollar Beef Stew', to explain the magical benefits of compound interest - just as a good stew takes a long time to cook, so your money grows exponentially the longer you invest it (and the earlier you start), then moves through other basic financial strategies, right through to estate planning and splitting assets in a divorce.
There are a plethora of personal finance books on the market - you probably have one or more on your bookshelf already, but, based on the evidence that more and more Americans are living in debt, most people who buy such books don't change their behavior.
If you fit this description, I encourage you to browse a chapter from Fortune In Your Cookies - it might just be the book that will put you in control of your finances - at last!
Michela, March 2002
Abbondanza!
'Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death' is a line from 'Auntie Mame.' Good food and good financial planning can help one live life to its fullest. In 'Fortune in Your Cookies,' Meena Cheng combines her expertise in both areas to create an entertaining primer on investments, tax matters, wills, ways to save, and much more, with recipes for delicious dishes. Her use of food metaphors for teaching time-tested principles of money management are quite apt, such as the one about crayfish. Anyone who has tried to make a meal out of crayfish can relate to the notion of how many days out of a year one must work just to pay Uncle Sam. Like the memory of an enjoyable meal with family and friends, the excellent advice in this entertaining book stays with you for a long time.
(first published at Amazon, reproduced here with the permission of the author, Meena Cheng, edited for length).
Beth Hartford, March 2002
Yep. Chocolat meets Wall Street!
What would you say if I told you that there is an awesome book available that not only gives you best financial advise as well as some super easy recipes for the most discriminating palate? Well, there is. Titled FORTUNE IN YOUR COOKIES Finding Financial Wisdom In Everyday Eating by Meena Cheng who is from the Seattle area. The small fortune cookie on the cover has the following written on the small piece of paper inside "Eat and be wealthy".
Fact is this is one of those books that energized me as well as made me wish it had been around 15 years ago before my husband was disabled by a drunk driver. Oh well.... But in light of the Enron debacle and other downsizing going on it is a book I believe every person and couple under the age of fifty should read.
Shy two hundred pages there is no wasted space and every page is full of usable and in my opinion, overlooked wisdom that if applied starting this week, will reap benefits both financially as well as in a less stressful lifestyle.
(first published at Amazon, reproduced here with the permission of the author, Meena Cheng, edited for length).
Joseph Pierre, March 2002
A delicious recipe book; the entree is financial planning.
Meena Cheng has a winner here! The nine recipes in the book are genuinely good and appropriate: Cherries Jubilee; Million Dollar Beef Stew; Beginner's Sushi; Fiery Gumbo; Prawn Stir Fry; Bruschetta with Goat Cheese, Tomato and Basil; Linguine with Garlic and Anchovies; and Apple Pie (two recipes: one for the crust and one for the filling.)
Stirred in with the recipes is sound financial advice, because Cheng is a certified financial planner and CPA. She dispenses advice on saving ("Pay yourself first"), how to use time to amass wealth through compound interest, the importance of life insurance for your family's benefit, and other good financial advice.
One of her best pieces of advice came early in the book, when she says in the introduction, "But, more importantly, it takes sensibility to recognize that no amount of money or food will bring about peace, joy and satisfaction if we fail to recognize that by themselves, they are only a means to an end."
This is an entertaining book full of good advice and good recipes, both of which should contribute to a happier life if they are followed closely.
(first published at Amazon, reproduced here with the permission of the author, Meena Cheng, edited for length).[/]
