Product Description

A street–smart guide by a trusted expert that exposes how we make shocking money mistakes, often involving the people we trust the most, and explains how we can prevent or undo those missteps.

In Everybody Wants Your Money, David W. Latko uses straight talk, a sense of humor, and vivid human stories from the trenches of real life, to illuminate the potentially catastrophic fiscal missteps that Americans make in the course of their lives. He shows readers a sensible path to success and financial security, carefully documented with solid facts. As Latko emphasizes throughout the book, most of the money–related lessons we have been taught since childhood simply are wrong. Attempting to apply such misinformation to our personal financial practices, virtually ensures failure.

We fall into these money traps by trusting our family, our adult children, our financial advisors, neighbors, or friends. Most of these people mean us no conscious harm, but are in the grips of the same misguided conventional wisdom that leads people into money minefields that cost us BIG.

Latko advises readers on the common errors people make in selecting and entrusting a financial advisor, and explains how to make an informed choice where you stay in control. He brings to light the mistakes many retirees make in giving their adult children the keys to their financial kingdom –and offers innovative, low–risk strategies for protecting, and passing on, our lifetime's wealth.

Latko challenges the conventional wisdom of divorce settlements, asserting that the so–called 'equal' division of assets is almost always a travesty to the women involved. Using real–life case histories, Latko shows precisely how most divorce settlements are structured to trap the ex–spouse in a downward spiral of poverty.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #676845 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-01
• Released on: 2006-03-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

From Booklist
Latko, a self-made millionaire and financial adviser, hosts the talk-radio program Money & More, broadcasting in Chicago and other major cities. His first book, Financial Strategies for Today's Widow (2003), won an award from the American Book Readers Association. After spending years in the trenches of the major brokerage houses, Latko wants to help you beat them at their own game--draining you of your money through high commissions, fees, and surrender penalties. Whether it's banks, insurance companies, or brokerage firms, these companies are more concerned with their own salaries and pleasing their shareholders than they are about your portfolio. So who should you turn to when choosing a financial adviser? The best bet is an independent adviser, and Latko offers a 10-question quiz to score any prospective advisor you are considering. The balance of the book involves myth busting and horror stories involving real estate, divorce, and identity theft. It's not what the "industry" wants you to hear, but this honest advice could save your financial future. David Siegfried
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
" Leave it to David Latko to discover the common sense in building cents." -- Neil Cavuto, Anchor, Fox News Channel

"Real world, based-on-actual-experience insight and advice on protecting and growing your money." -- Steve Forbes

"The book is a wonderful primer on money and life -- a sound investment." -- Lis Wiehl, Legal Analyst, Fox News Channel, Co-host, The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly

Review
"Real world, based-on-actual-experience insight and advice on protecting and growing your money." (Steve Forbes )

" Leave it to David Latko to discover the common sense in building cents." (Neil Cavuto, Anchor, Fox News Channel )

"The book is a wonderful primer on money and life-a sound investment." (Lis Wiehl, Legal Analyst, Fox News Channel, Co-host, The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly )

Customer Reviews

A 'Must Have' Guide for Everybody!
Boy, does that title ring true! I also noticed on the cover of this book the wording, "Because that hand in your pocket... isn't yours!" You and I know that everybody wants your money in one form or another. However, I discovered some new ways while reading this book that I just finished. It is Written by David W. Latko, who is the co-host for the national radio program, "Money and More". Impressively, David Latko ranks among the nation's top one percent of financial advisors. I can just imagine how 'in demand' he is. He started off in a middle class neighborhood and moved his way up by helping people.

Where do you usually turn for answers with questions regarding investing, real estate, divorce, automobiles, identity theft, and so much more? If you say your family, friends, neighbors, or your own financial advisor, then you REALLY need to read this book to make sure you are steered on the right path. Looks can be deceiving. Do your homework, starting with this book, because it is YOUR money and YOUR financial future you are looking out for. No one else has such a vested interest in your finances as you need to, except for the slime balls mentioned in this book that you have to watch out for who want your money.

David not only presents practical advice in this book. He also shares memorable stories that yank on the heartstrings and gets your blood boiling. Think you are safe from your own family members who are to inherit your money? Think again and take a look at the story examples in this book. If nothing else, you will at least be aware and prepared just in case.

This book would make great gifts for everyone in your life. What better gift can you give them than to make sure they don't make wrong financial decisions that can destroy their future? I'm going to be buying and giving this book to some of my own family and friends as gifts. I am keeping mine to refer to and share with my children when needed. This book is definitely worth it!

... Story example: Willa and Tony, a retired couple who had a horrific experience with their first financial advisor. They came into some money. They had no idea what to do to invest or what to do.

So they solicited some advice from other retired friends. One of them had received a postcard in the mail a week before, and he passed it along to Tony and Willa. It gave the name and number of a financial advisor who worked in a branch office of a major brokerage which they knew of from hearing about it on TV.

In short order, their new advisor "handled" their prosperity problem. He put them into a range of investments that Willa and Tony did not clearly understand. Then, after a month or so of frenetic activity, he stopped calling-or returning their calls.

With their frustration mounting, they mentioned their problem to a person who happened to be a client of Davids. Turns out the other advisor had locked Willa and Tony into investments that carried staggeringly large up-front commissions; others carried long-term (and expensive) surrender charges.

There was little that could be done. The couple were tied into investments that could not be changed without taking a significant financial hit, in the case of Willa and Tony, it was more than a $26,000 loss.

Missing Information?
I purchased this book after seeing the author interviewed by Ron Corning on ABC World News Now. The subtitle of the book, "The Straight-Talking Guide to Protecting (and Growing) the Wealth You Worked So Hard to Earn" is only partially true. While there is an abundance of information in the book on PROTECTING your money, the GROWING (your money) part is woefully lacking. Latko provides very little specific information about exactly where to invest your money, depending on your age, income, family situation, etc. Mostly, Latko tells readers where not to invest it. He does not divulge any investment strategies. You will have to hire him (or someone else) as your personal financial advisor to get that information.

Aside from that, the information about how to deal with your broker or financial advisor is helpful. There is also some good information on buying versus leasing a car, buying versus renting a home, how to deal with real estate agents, and the finances of divorce. However, the section on identity theft breaks no new ground and offers no new information about how the prevent ID theft. In fact, Latko quotes an FBI agent as saying: "I can give you some tips. But as a practical matter, nobody has figured out how to stop these people. And between us, it is going to get a lot worse." Well, thanks a lot for that!

A winning guide which tells how to stay in touch with what you've already got
Most books talk about how to earn wealth, not how to protect what you've already got: enter EVERYBODY WANTS YOUR MONEY: THE STRAIGHT-TALKING GUIDE TO PROTECTING (AND GROWING) THE WEALTH YOU WORKED SO HARD TO EARN. Now, here's a winning guide which tells how to stay in touch with what you've already got. Chapters come from a self-made multimillionaire who came from a lower-middle-class family and today manages over $100 million in client assets. They speak of how brokers, financial advisors and others get their hands on your money, how to avoid scams and pick pros you can trust, how to manage divorce and wills to keep money options in the best possible places, and more. From common scams and con games to understanding how financial predators work, EVERYBODY WANTS YOUR MONEY doesn't require a million in the bank: even small-scale investors will learn from Latko's wisdom.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch