Provides a solid foundation for making informed decisions about large investments.
Young’s informative, concise debut offers invaluable guidance on lump-sum investments.
A “Sudden Large Lump Sum,” or SLLS, may come from a real estate or business sale, inheritance, or retirement, but whatever its source, the author cautions that making an investment mistake with an SLLS can be catastrophic. Young’s objective in writing this book is clear; he discusses potential investment vehicles while prudently avoiding specific recommendations, urging readers to instead rely on the counsel of a certified financial planner. The information provided here, however, empowers the consumer to have a broad understanding of investment risks and make sensible, sound decisions about investing. In short, easily comprehensible chapters, the author covers investment basics, such as selecting a financial planner, creating a financial plan, developing an investment portfolio, and coping with bear markets. He also provides useful details about annuities, donor-advised funds, legacy planning, and environmental, social, and governance investing. This latter topic, previously known as socially responsible investing, is especially intriguing. Young offers an intelligent discussion of ESG investing along with a rational, insightful argument for how best to address ESG considerations. Of particular value are the author’s calming voice and pragmatic approach. Some of his observations may seem counterintuitive, but they are based on his extensive experience. For example, on assessing the performance of fund managers at an annual financial review, Young writes, “strange as it may seem—investment results are potentially the worst possible way to select or monitor investment funds….Instead, the focus should be on what investment characteristics a manager brings to the table and why you need them.” The appendix is as useful as the rest of the book. It offers seven important questions to ask when evaluating financial planners.
Provides a solid foundation for making informed decisions about large investments.Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-9912324-9-9
Page Count: 138
Publisher: MysteryCaper Press
Review Posted Online: April 23, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
IN THE NEWS
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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