Business: Reads to Riches

Guides to the joys of cash

Perhaps a windfall-profits tax should be levied on prolific financial journalists in these inflationary times, because the inkwell is as mighty as the oil well. Anyone who can write with wit or apocalyptic certitude about how to cope with shrinking purchasing power and vanishing nest eggs does not have to worry about where his—or her—next Mercedes 300 is coming from. In women's magazines, articles on sex have almost taken a back seat to advice on money management. Bookstores are crammed with many new volumes about the joy of cash and the juggling of credit. But among the surfeit of get-rich guides and Chicken Little screeds, at least five books merit attention:

Sylvia Porter's New Money Book for the 80's. This syndicated columnist's 5-lb. doorstopper sells for a hefty $24.95, and anyone with the stamina to lug it home probably will not need any other money guide. Written for a reader who seems to know absolutely nothing about personal finance, Porter's 1,305 pages—completely updated and revised since the publication of her bestselling Money Book in 1975 —cover budgeting, energy saving, career planning, investing, dressing well for less and even dying thriftily. (She recommends preplanning the funeral and discussing costs in advance with the mortician.) There is a section coyly called "Sex ... and ... Money" that offers suggestions on how to shop for and reduce the costs of an abortion. Glossaries help to explain insurance, stock market and real estate terms that Porter calls "bafflegab." Her style is brisk and hortatory. Porter warns her readers: "If you need a spring rain coat, don't stop off at the section reserved for bathing suits and buy a bikini at top price. I've done this sort of thing plenty of times, and I bet you have, too!"

Everyone's Money Book by Jane Bryant Quinn. Conversational in style and lucid in its ex planations, Quinn's book, a third shorter and at $14.95 almost 50% cheaper than Porter's, is also a lot more fun to read. One section quotes Robert Frost: "Take care to sell your horse be fore he dies. The art of life is passing losses on." The book is well indexed, cross-referenced and divided into discrete subject areas; each chapter assumes the reader has not read the others. Quinn covers the usual ground of budgeting, investing, saving, home buying, divorce and burial. Her 101 pages on life insurance are especially valuable. The Newsweek columnist and television reporter analyzes and compares the bewildering array of policies and options. Term insurance, she advises, is usually the best policy for young families.