According to PersonalMBA.com as reported in BusinessWeek.com

Josh Kaufman, editor of the website http://www.personalmba.com/ compiled and posted his list of the 77 best business books which would, if they were all read, amount to the equivalent of a personal MBA. His list, which includes my book, can be found at http://personalmba.com/best-business-books/. The list was then mentioned again in an article in BusinessWeek.com -http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/apr2006/bs2006042_3490_bs001.htm.

Here is what Mr. Kaufman had to say about Finance for Non-Financial Managers:

If you're responsible for profit and loss in your business or organization, you need a business finance reference close at hand.

Finance for Non-Financial Managers is everything that a business finance reference text should be: clear, comprehensive, and easy to use. Using plain and simple English, Siciliano makes even the most obtuse financial concepts easy to understand and apply.

Most accounting and finance reference texts have a bad habit of being terminally boring. Fortunately, this book's snappy presentation of financial concepts will give you all the information you need quickly, without putting you to sleep in the process. Call-outs and sidebars add additional context to core subjects, giving you a broad understanding of how financial matters impact your company and teaching you "tricks of the trade" that can help you keep your company's financial situation under control.

With the help of Finance for Non-Financial Managers, you'll be prepared to understand any financial situation.

What more can I say? Available in paperback or e-book. Buy one.

A plug for Microsoft's new stuff (NOT Vista)

I was working with a small spreadsheet that I use to track some personal information today, and I wanted to have access to it from both my home and office PCs. My home machine has Microsoft Office 2007 and the office machine has Microsoft Office 2003.

In looking at the two files side by side, I noticed that the 2003 version file took up 621 kilobytes of space, but the 2007 version file took up only 365 kilobytes, a 41% savings of space! That's a bunch! I checked out a larger Excel file and found a 55% savings in space. I know space is cheap these days, but using twice as much as you need has got to cost you sooner or later.

So if you use Microsoft products, and you can't think of a good reason to upgrade your office software version, and the new look and features aren't enough of an attraction, how about effectively doubling the size of your hard drive?

As always, I welcome your comments

Finance for Low Paid Professionals

Well, that's the working title of a new book that a publishing client has asked me to consider writing. The low paid professionals that will be the target market for the book are in the education business (teachers, to be exact) but the need could apply to any number of professionals who are in low paying jobs but stay there because they are passionate about the work. Think: teachers, social workers, administrators, actor/waiters, etc.

So this post is not so much information from me as it is a request for information from you. What do you think is the most important issue faced by such professional workers as they pursue their careers and at the same time must provide for family, savings, and ultimate retirement?

I'd really like to hear your thoughts. They will help me decide how to approach this book. You might even get credit in the book for a really good idea or suggestion.

Controlling passwords is easy now

If you're active on the web as I am, you probably have dozens of passwords to remember for all the controlled sites you visit. I have nearly a hundred so far. If you keep them all in your head, you're clearly smarter than I am, and if you've got them written down on a piece of paper somewhere, you're clearly not.

My solution is RoboForm, a password manager that is itself password controlled, but once activated will with one click fill in the user ID and password that you've selected for whatever site you're trying to access. Thus one humongous (if you want) password to open RoboForm, and ease thereafter no matter how many controlled sites you visit. I think they offer a free version that will enable 10 or so passwords to be saved before you have to register and pay a modest one-time license fee. Great utility program.