1,001 Things They Won't Tell You: An Insider's Guide to Spending, Saving, and Living Wisely

by Jonathan Dahl and Smart Money Magazine

Are you getting the most for your money? 1,001 Things They Won't Tell You offers the experts' knowledge on 100 industries and institutions that readers interact with daily, sometimes profoundly: financial planners, cable providers, car dealers, insurance agencies, caterers, contractors, real estate brokers, funeral directors, dentists, personal trainers, college prep counselors, casinos, florists, cruise lines, and more. Based on the popular and addictive...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0761151370
• ISBN13: 9780761151371
• Release Date: May 2009
• Publisher: Workman Publishing
• Length: 536 Pages
• Weight: 1.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.0" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

Great and useful trivia on important life subjects.

Got this book very quickly and was delighted to browse through it it has so much information that will save you a lot of heart ache and MONEY111. It is easy reading and entertaining and covers life areas from financial information and schools . Oh and it may also save you a ton of money.

A very good read

When I was reading SMART MONEY, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL MAGAZINE, "1,001 Things They Won't Tell You" I just knew I had to buy it. There was so much information, I had to sit back in my chair and think about some of the things that has happened to me in the past. I was impressed with the information. It has kept me on my toes.

Great Info and Valuable Read

A good book with lots of great information. A great reference too. Janice

Excellent; This Book Is a Great Collection of Tips To Make You More Savvy

This book is really great. It's organized well, with a very definite theme. I like that. And it's readable, even enjoyable, which says something for a book that has many financial parts. You can read a section, put it down, come back, and not feel like you've lost your place. It's not just one big story. The book is designed to be a collection of vignettes, like "10 Things Your Financial Planner Won't Tell You", and then it goes on to describe key points that are really useful. Some of the sections are actually scary, however. The section, "Ten Things Your Nursing Home Won't Tell You" made my stomach churn a little bit. I guess some things you don't really want to know. The book is further divided by sections. There's a section on money, education, goods and services, medical expenses, etc. It's very well put-together and a fine read. Conclusion: Recommended!

1,001 THINGS is a book I'll refer to often . . . you will, too.

SMART MONEY, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL MAGAZINE has an addictive column, "Ten Things They Won't Tell You" . . . it contains information that most folks don't know--and perhaps never even think about. Jonathan Dahl, editor-in-chief of the above magazine, and his fellow editors have now put together many of these tips into one book: 1,001 THINGS THEY WON'T TELL YOU (see also Section 2) . . . to cite the subtitle, it's AN INSIDER'S GUIDE TO SPENDING, SAVING AND LIVING WISELY. You'll find useful advice from 100 professionals on health care, education, finance, automobiles, house and home, insurance, goods and services, travel, entertainment, pets, food and drink, and a whole lot more. However, what convinced me that this was a book that I could rely on was the fact that it cited Courtney Yelle--a good friend and one of the most knowledgeable guys I know--as one of the experts: * Courtney Yelle was in his Bucks County, Pa., yard raking leaves when a gleaming pickup truck pulled into his driveway. Yelle says that a clean-cut workman emerged and told him it looked as if his driveway needed to be repaved-which Yelle admits, was the case. But before he would commit, Yelle, former director of Bucks County Consumer Protection, said he'd need a written estimate along with the worker's phone number and address. The guy said he'd leave it in the mailbox, according to Yelle, then backed out of the driveway and disappeared forever. Yelle says that the "worker" was a seasoned scam artist who approaches people's homes offering to do jobs at bargain-basement prices, often on the premise that he has leftover materials from a nearby project. In reality, if he does the job at all, he'll do shoddy work with low-grade materials, says Wendy Weinberg, former executive director of the National Association of Consumer Agency Administrators. While it sounds like common sense to be suspicious of solicitors, clearly these curbside con artists can be convincing: Lisa Curtis estimates they bilk homeowners out of $20 million per year in Colorado alone. Some stuff in the book I already knew, but I nevertheless appreciated the fact that it was included so I could share with others--such as this tidbit: * Whether they're candy "honor boxes," wishing wells, or plain old tin cans, those ubiquitous countertop collection boxes you see around so many checkouts are often not what they appear. In most cases, the charities aren't getting all the money people drop into the container; rather, they're renting out their name to for-profit vendors for a flat fee or a small percentage of the intake in exchange for posting the charity's logo. . . . Most charity watchers agree: Go ahead and toss in your spare change if you want to, but don't expect it to be doing much for the cause. "If you're serious about helping the charity," says Daniel Borochoff, "then get out your checkbook and write them a check." And, lastly, I appreciated this reminder that I'm amaz