Scott Gamm - More money, please: the financial secrets you never learned in school

A PLUME BOOK

MORE MONEY, PLEASE

SCOTT GAMM is the founder of HelpSaveMyDollars.com, a financial website focused on helping consumers save money. He has appeared on NBCs Today show, CNBCs Closing Bell, MSNBC, CNN, Inside Edition, Fox Business Network, ABC News, and CBS.

He is a writer for CNBC.com, Forbes, and TheStreet.com, and a contributor to The Huffington Post and Business Insider.com.

Scott has contributed to articles for FoxBusiness.com, the Associated Press, Reuters, Family Circle, USA Today, Womans World magazine, and others.

Scott studies finance, marketing, and communications at New York University Stern School of Business.

Praise for More Money, Please

Gamm demystifies everything from credit scores to student loans in an easy-to-understand and entertaining way. Highly recommended!

Stephanie Nelson, New York Times bestselling author of
The Coupon Moms Guide to Cutting Your Grocery Bills in Half

More Money, Please sheds light on the financial woes that have plagued young people for decades. If youre ready to get your financial house in order, read Scott Gamms book!

William D. Cohan, New York Times bestselling author of
Money and Power: How Goldman Sachs Came to Rule the World

More Money, Please is the go-to source for smart and simple answers to the most pressing financial issues facing young people. An excellent read!

Jean Chatzky, financial expert and bestselling author
of Money 911

MORE
MONEY,
PLEASE

The Financial Secrets You
Never Learned in School

SCOTT GAMM

PLUME

Published by the Penguin Group

Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street,

New York, New York 10014, USA

USA | Canada | UK | Ireland | Australia

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Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

For more information about the Penguin Group visit penguin.com

First published by Plume, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 2013

Copyright Scott Gamm, 2013

All rights reserved. No part of this product may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

REGISTERED TRADEMARKMARCA REGISTRADA

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Gamm, Scott.

More money, please : the financial secrets you never learned in school /

Scott Gamm.

pages cm

A Plume book.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-101-61549-2

1. Finance, Personal. 2. High school graduatesFinance, Personal. 3. College studentsFinance, Personal. I. Title.

HG179.G272 2013

332.024dc23 2012049212

Designed by Eve L. Kirch

PUBLISHERS NOTE

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If you require legal advice or other expert assistance, you should seek the services of a competent professional.

While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers, Internet addresses, and other contact information at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors or for changes that occur after publication. Further, publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

To my parents, Donna and Harvey,
and my sisters, Shari and Lindsay

Introduction: My Story

T hey say money makes the world go round, but what happens when it turns your life upside down?

When I was a kid, life was good. I grew up in a middle-class town on Long Island, with loving parents and two older sisters whom I admired and looked up to. My family went on vacations and frequently ate out at restaurants; we were always laughing and having a good time together, no matter what we did. But the family dynamic changed when the recession hit. Bills started piling up, and that led to a lot of tension in the house. My parents arguments seemed never-ending, and eventually the financial stress was just too much. They divorced when I was fifteen. My world was rocked. It just didnt seem possible: how could money cause such pain?

From that point on, I promised myself that I would learn everything I could about money, to make sure the financial headaches of my childhood wouldnt repeat themselves later on in adulthood. But there was a problem: easy-to-understand information about money didnt exist for people my age.

Because I was kind of a nerd, I went into research overdrive. I read dozens of personal finance books for adults and watched financial TV shows, trying to make sense of how to be successful. Did I need to play the stock market? Did I have to have a trust fund? I saw example after example that proved one doesnt need any of those things to be financially savvy. It seemed that with a little bit of work, determination, and tenacity anybody could make smart financial decisions and live a life full of security.

When I talked to friends whose families had also experienced hardship in the economic downturn, I realized I wasnt alone in my concern about finances. We were all anxious about, and worried and overwhelmed by, money. I wanted to share what I had learned, so I decided to write up all the information I had gathered in my quest to conquer my personal finances and put it into a website. I started HelpSaveMyDollars.com in 2009, and the reaction has been overwhelming. Nothing excites me more than getting e-mails from readers who have benefited from the info on the site. The message is clear: our generation isnt going to stand idly by and watch our personal finances wreak havoc on our lives. We want to be in control of our money, and, hell, lets be honest: we want more of it.

As I wrap up my junior year of college at New York Universitys Stern School of Business, news about the economy is still shaky at best, and it doesnt look like its going to get better anytime soon. I understand how tough it is for people my age to start out on the right financial footing. And thats why I decided to write this book: so people like me would have a source they could relate to for information about money. I dont want to be preached at or talked down to. I just want practical knowledge thats easy to implement. And thats what I hope to offer here. Whats the point of reading a finance book if the info is too dense to be put into action?