The Skinny on Real Estate Investing is an introduction to the subject. It provides the Big Picture about what it takes to buy and sell real estate for profit, but it doesn’t give details on how to find deals, how to make deals, and so on. This is the first part of a three-part series, and I’m unsure whether all of the books in tandem would actually give the reader all the info they need to invest in real estate. But this is a fine place to start. I’ve been interested in the subject for a long time (much to Kris’s chagrin), and have a much better grasp of what’s involved after having read this book. I plan to read part two.
Personal-finance comics
For a while now, I’ve wanted to find a way to combine two of my greatest passions: personal finance and comic books. I’ve read some personal-finance comics (most notably those from the Federal Reserve), and, to put it frankly, they suck. They’re dull and uninspiring. I’ve chatted with Pop from Pop Economics about how one could produce effective personal-finance comics, but haven’t taken any action.
That’s okay, though, because Jim Randel seems to have found a way to meld comics and money in a way that makes sense. Because make no mistake: The “Skinny On” books are comics. Sure, they use cheesy stick figures instead of work from expensive artists, but so what? That’s part of their charm.
By sticking with (heh) simple line drawings, Randel is able to focus on what’s important: the content of his books. The comics format provides freedom that a traditional text-based book doesn’t have, but Randel doesn’t abuse this. Instead, he’s created a series of fantastic, informative volumes about financial literacy and personal achievement. I give these books my highest recommendation.
Books in this series that I’ve read and can recommend include:
- The Skinny on Real Estate Investing (this is the first of a three-part series)
- The Skinny on Credit Cards (great for somebody getting their first credit card — like a college student)
- The Skinny on the Housing Crisis
- The Skinny on Success
And writing this review has made me want to read more, so I have a pile of other “Skinny On” books to take home with me for the weekend:
- The Skinny on Time Management (I wonder if it says: “Don’t play Starcraft II!”)
- The Skinny on Willpower
- The Skinny on Networking
- The Skinny on The Art of Persuasion
Are there any duds in here? There may be, but I haven’t found one yet. I’ve been impressed with the presentation and content of these books. The Amazon reviewers seem to love the books, too. These titles may never become best-sellers like the “for Dummies” and “for Idiots” series, and that’s too bad. The “Skinny On” books are great introductions to their topics and deserve a wider audience.
Another significant departure from Yahoo: Steve Schultz (pictured here), who was GM of its important and powerful Yahoo Finance unit, has left the company to become COO of Pageonce, an online personal-finance “assistant.”
Yesterday, the editor-in-chief of Yahoo’s Shine women’s site, Brandon Holley, left Yahoo to run Lucky magazine for Condé Nast.
Also recently gone from Yahoo (YHOO): Social platforms head Neal Sample to eBay (EBAY) and Jason Titus, who ran its communications products unit and whose next job is unknown.
Schultz, though, is landing at a Palo Alto, Calif., start-up that has raised $8 million in venture funding. Pageonce collects online financial information and displays it on a unified and personalized page.
Schultz, who has been at Yahoo five years, was, according to his company bio, “responsible for business and content strategy and oversees business development, partnerships, marketing and sales. Prior to this role, Steve led product efforts in Yahoo!’s personalization products group, where he launched Yahoo!’s unified user profiling platform and managed personalization strategy and implementation efforts for Yahoo.com and My Yahoo!”
In the interests of fairness, BoomTown lobbed an email into PR at Yahoo tonight for the name of the person taking over for Schultz and also a list of major execs the Silicon Valley Internet giant is hiring.
Yahoo said no one has been named yet to replace Schultz.
Here is the press release on his new job:
Pageonce Names Steve Schultz New Chief Operating Officer
Company Strengthens Executive Team with Recognized Leader in Consumer Finance
Palo Alto, Calif.–September 9, 2010–Pageonce, the award-winning personal finance assistant, today announced that the company has named Steve Schultz, as its new chief operating officer. Schultz is a demonstrated leader in the consumer finance category, and brings a wealth of experience in product development, strategic partnerships, and business strategy.
In this role, Schultz will lead Pageonce’s business and sales strategy, distribution partnerships, business development and help guide the company’s strategic development into mobile personal finance. Schultz joins Pageonce from Yahoo! where he was the head of Yahoo! Finance, the #1 financial news website, and Yahoo! Real Estate businesses.
“Steve’s leadership and experience will be an invaluable asset to Pageonce as we continue to develop products and increase market share within the personal finance category,” said Guy Goldstein, Pageonce CEO and Founder.
During his tenure at Yahoo!, Yahoo! Finance doubled its market share attracting more than 40 million unique visitors according to Comscore. He led its business and content strategy, business development and strategic partnerships which included relationships with Intuit, Fidelity Investments, Dow Jones, ScottTrade, Bankrate and Bloomberg.com. He was also responsible for Yahoo! Finance’s original content strategy, oversaw the site’s push into mobile applications, and entered partnerships with dozens of new content providers. With Yahoo! Real Estate, Schultz helped lead the site from the #10 to the #2 real estate destination on the Web, was named one of the 100 most influential leaders in the real estate industry by Inman News in 2009, and architected a strategic partnership with Zillow.com in 2010.
“Pageonce shares my focus on developing and delivering forward-thinking personal finance products that fit the needs of today’s on-the-go consumers. Today that means focusing first on mobile,” said Schultz. “We have a very promising future and I’m looking forward to being a part of it.”
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