Smart Couples Finish Rich: 9 Steps to Creating a Rich Future for You and Your Partner

Like many savvy business people of the 21st century, David Bach offered his first pearls of financial wisdom to women, in his bestselling book Smart Women Finish Rich. Recognizing that these women are often accompanied by significant others and that money arguments are the number one cause of divorce in America, Bach has now broadened his scope. Presumably intended to help change this depressing statistic, Smart Couples Finish Rich is a well-written financial planning tool, packed with useful charts and information, inspiring examples, and practical advice.

For people who've been disappointed by the shallowness of some of the "quick tips" self-help books out there, the subtitle of this book is a little misleading. Bach's nine steps are not instant change techniques or chirpy little quips to recite to yourself whenever you go to balance your checkbook. Instead, the first few steps include a series of exercises that will help you determine what you know (and don't know, or understand) about saving and investing, what role money should play in your life (which includes understanding your values), and how to work together toward a common financial goal. From there, Bach teaches his readers how to account for "disappearing" money, how to build retirement, security, and dream baskets of wealth (providing detailed options for all three), and how to avoid the most common financial mistakes most couples make. Though the focus of the book is predominantly on working with your existing income, Bach includes a final chapter entitled "Increase Your Income by 10 Percent in Nine Weeks."

Bach's writing style is engaging and his advice is user-friendly. A successful financial planner, he obviously believes passionately in all the "fringe" benefits of being financially responsible but employs a no-nonsense approach that makes financial smarts available to everyone. So whether you're 25 and just starting out on the earning, saving, and spending road or you plan to retire next year; whether you've recently got hitched for the first time or you've just entered your fourth marriage; and whether financial planning comes first or last on your list of fun things to do, the advice in Smart Couples Finish Rich is worth heeding. It's not about becoming a money-obsessed bore, it's about getting smart... and rich. --S. Ketchum

Price: $14.95

Click here to buy from Amazon

Silver Investing Shocking Secrets

Silver has numerous practical uses that make it an attractive investment. Silver is a commodity that has the potential to rocket three times more than the gold in this decade. Silver has far more industrial uses than gold and as the global economy comes out its recession, it demand is going to skyrocket. Silver has many industrial applications such as conducting electricity, creating bearings, welding, soldering, brazing, photography, washing machines and many more.

Silver can play an important role in your portfolio. Because of its precious metal status, you can use it as a hedge against inflation. Now, you can invest directly in silver by buying and selling silver coins and bars. Two popular silver coins are the Silver Maple Coins (produced by Royal Canadian Mint) and the 100 oz. Silver Bar. Silver futures contracts like the gold futures contracts give the most direct access to the silver market. The most liquid silver futures contracts are the COMEX Silver futures contracts. This is the standard silver futures contracts that get traded on the COMEX Division of NYMEX. The other is the CBOT Mini-Silver. This contract is available for electronic trading.

ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) have become highly popular in the last two decades. They give you the benefits of both stocks as well as mutual funds. Now, you can find many ETFs tracking a basket of commodities. You can find Gold ETFs as well as Silver ETFs. The most popular one is the iShares Silver Trust Fund that is managed by the Barclays Bank. The bank hold the silver bullions in its vault. This ETF tracks the spot price of silver. So by investing in this ETF, you can profit from the silver price volatility. However, right now there might not be many ETFs that solely track this commodity. As the demand for silver increases and its price skyrocket, you will soon find many new ETFs tracking this precious metal.

Now, if you have been trading stocks and know something about stock investing that most probably you will love to invest in a silver mining company. The problem is this that most of the mining companies mine a number of metals that might include silver. What this means is that the stock of those mining companies will not reflect the gyrations in the silver market in the true sense. Though a percentile of their stock price variation can be linked to this precious metal. What you need to do is to look for a company that exclusively mines silver. This will give you a direct exposure to the silver market.

One of the silver mining companies is the Pan American Silver Corporation. It has got six mines. Some of these mines are located in Peru, Mexico and Bolivia. Another silver mining company is the Silver Wheaton Corp. Many silver mining companies have smaller interest in other metals too. This is one of the few companies that generate all its revenues from silver mining activities.

Trading Silver futures in my opinion is the best way to get direct exposure to this precious metal market. You can trade these futures contracts electronically. Now, if you are new to futures trading, you can practice for a few months paper trading. Meanwhile try to learn the intricacies of the silver market. This way, you can specialize in trading silver futures!

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard. Richard Dennis started with only $300 and ended up making $150M trading commodities. Watch this Triple Threat FX -Trading Psychology FREE Video Series that reveals a weird trading technique responsible for earning millions! Discover Chris Rowe's Options GPS -the ultimate Stock Options Trading Course that can make you rich!