THE NEW YORK TIMES GUIDE TO PERSONAL FINANCE

The Times columnist on personal finance here meets the demand of his readers with a book based on those columns which can well be recommended as a basic reference book for any young couple. Lawyers polled claim that 89% of the causes of divorce are one of two--financial difficulties and drinking. The term money management is chosen here rather than budgeting but the main purpose is the achievement of a financial program. This involves maximum mileage for the dollar as well as broader goals: major money demands (food--26%; housing--another 25%; a car, etc.). Then there is advice on installment buying, credit cards, loans, life insurance and its basic function as family protection, other forms of insurance, systematic saving, taxation from income tax to inheritance, the importance of wills, the creation of trusts--all topics of predictable consideration in other books of this kind. This one is as comprehensible and applicable to the needs of average incomes as has been done.