MONEY 911

The author's latest money management guide is a no-frills 130-question reference work. Organized into categories like credit, taxes, marriage, retirement, and real estate, the questions have practical urgency and cover cradle-to-grave issues that almost every individual faces. Chatzky's friendly speaking style invites engagement, and her straightforward tone is a good vehicle for the practicality of her ideas. She outlines financial choices and makes clear recommendations with no personal judgments. An encyclopedic guide like this is difficult to navigate as a lengthy MP3, which, unlike the CD edition, sends listeners to a Web site to print the documents she references. But as an audio lesson on life's major money challenges, this could not be more comprehensive and easy to hear. T.W. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine [Published: APRIL 2010]