Author: Randy Petrick

ISBN: 9780595481972

Publisher: iUniverse

One of the problems with books pertaining to money management is that very often you are preaching to the converted. Unfortunately, many individuals who would reap the most benefits aren’t very interested in reading the sage advice that is dished out. Perhaps, Randy Petrick’s Money Games will overcome this reluctance and provide much needed money management counsel to a good portion of our population. He has come up with a novel approach in exploring how best to manage one’s money.

And what perhaps differentiates this book from the thousands of books, magazine and Internet articles, as well as talk shows dealing with the same subject matter, is that Petrick presents them in a way that may be more paletable and digestible.

Petrick, in his introduction, states that the premise of his book is that it is possible for almost anyone to acquire significant assets. He admits that he isn’t a financial wizard or a superb investor, nor has he inherited his wealth. Basically, he made his money a few dollars at a time. The trick or secret is that saving and investing money has to be fun! Consequently, Petrick has searched for the past twenty-five years for every possible way to save money. In essence, that is what the book is all about and every chapter of the book shares his ideas in demonstrating how we can have fun in building our wealth. One caveat, Petrick makes it very clear from the onset that the book is not how to buy real estate with nothing down or how to make 160 percent on your investments. There are no magical secrets between the pages of the book that shows you how to get from zero net worth this year to being a millionaire the next. Succinctly, you will not get rich overnight.

The book divides itself into different games entitled, Adventure, Bedtime, Bored, Card, Computer and Spy, Critter, Pig, Family, Geographical, Magical, Musical, Quick Hit, Savings, Thinking, Weather, No-No, and the Final Game. Within these chapters are a multitude of suggestions as to how to set aside a few dollars.

Most suggestions are quite well known to those readers who are money conscious, nonetheless, the book is still an excellent primer that basically reflects the old adage that it is not how much you earn that is important but how you manage your money.

One idea, however, I don’t go along with is the second game Petrick presents. He calls the game “Strip” Poker, a fun way to get your friends to pay for your meals. How it works is that after you finished a meal with your friends at a nice restaurant call the server over and tell everyone at the table to hand over his or her credit card. Then encourage the server to put all the cards behind his or her back, shuffle them up, and choose one card at random. The owner of the card chosen will pay the full bill for the entire party.

If you don’t wind up paying the bill, then set aside in your savings account the amount that it would have cost you. Unfortunately, I’m one that is not keen on splitting restaurant bills and I always ask the server for separate ones. To gamble paying someone else’s bill who perhaps gorged himself or herself and had a few drinks to top it off, is not exactly a very good way of saving money. Sorry Randy, here is one game that should have been left out and it certainly is not “fun” for the individual who is stuck with the bill!

On the other hand, and particularly in our present economic environment, I will commend Petrick for reminding his readers that the best things in life are often free. As he points out, how much does it cost to take a walk in the park and enjoying nature. In other words, do we have to travel miles to explore nature when very often it may only be a few blocks from our home? Moreover, there are many free attractions close to our homes such as galleries, exhibits, music concerts, plays, etc.

And don’t forget our public libraries that have been transformed over the years into places where we can borrow DVDs, CDs and many interesting books.

Petrick also reminds his readers about all of the “freebees” that we can receive from the various Internet sites. Check out the listed sites in his chapter, “Browsing Around.” If you are concerned about your finances being wounded and debt is killing you, check out the “Machine Gun” chapter where Petrick gives us dozens of great ideas as to how to pair down our expenses.

I will admit that there is nothing new in this book that hasn’t been rehashed thousands of times, however, it is the way it is delivered that will appeal to individuals who are really serious about changing their approach to saving money but are not quite sure as to how to go about it.

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