Focus on Personal Finance is a brief, 14-chapter book, covering the critical topics in Personal Finance courses. This 4-color, paperback text is designed and written to appeal to a range of ages, life situations, and levels of financial literacy.

A unique aspect of this text is its active approach. This text will not only get your students thinking about their current situation and financial goals, but also to put these in writing to use as a guide and revise over the course of their lives. The more a student involves themselves in the assessments, exercises and worksheets provided, the more they will discover about their current habits and how to improve them for greater financial freedom.

Students have many different financial goals, but none are more important than having a basic understanding of financial issues and peace of mind with regard to their decisions. The ultimate goal of Focus on Personal Finance is to get students to this point as a first step to achieving the many financial goals they have set for themselves.

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars Great for the financially-challenged
This is a good book for those getting ready to move out on their own. There are chapters on checking, savings, insurances, investments, finding a home and/or apartment and many more. There is a continuous worksheet to help you in your financial planning. It is very helpful.

5 Stars Great Service!
This product was exactly what it was said to be and I am very happy with the seller’s prompt shipping and truthfulness!

5 Stars Great Product and Responses
I found this seller to be very helpful and responded to emails. I found this very helpful and a plus! The product I received was what I was wanting to purchase and in the condition stated. Overall…I was very pleased and will buy from again!

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Learn the new rules of real estate marketing!

Old rule: Your website is all about you.
New rule: Your website is all about the customer.

Old rule: Online advertising will surpass offline advertising.
New rule: Integrated offline and online advertising wins every time.

Old rule: Delivering leads is the only job for a website.
New rule: The best websites deliver leads and customer service.

These are just some of the new rules of online marketing that you’ll find in this helpful, hands-on guide. In the REAL ESTATE RAINMAKER

The Right Phrase for Every Situation…Every Time

In our current real estate climate, it’s more important than ever to have the right words at your fingertips. Whether you’re new to the game or a seasoned seller, Perfect Phrases for Real Estate Agents and Brokers has just the right words and phrases you’ll need to track down prospective properties and clients, manage transactions, negotiate terms, facilitate communications between buyer and seller, and close the deal. This easy-to-use, quick-reference guide gives you:

• Hundreds of quick, ready-to-use words and phrases
• Coverage of every situation you’ll face, from meeting a new client to finalizing the sale
• Winning approaches that persuade prospects and generate sales
• Expertise from a top realtor educator and author

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars A great book for the new agent!
I found this book to be very good at providing a dialogue for the most common discussions involving in real estate. I’ve been using it. Great book.

5 Stars Perfect Phrases is money in your pocket
I’ve read through the book and now keep it motion either on my desk, or in the car to refer back too. The objections are exactly what we all come up against. The responses and solutions are valid and clever! I found that I am using the knowledge in nearly every conversation about real estate– whether its an appointment, on a prospecting call, or even a party when the topic comes up about the” housing industry” or ” the economy”, I have the confidence to handle any curveballs I get. I feel this is an up-to-date book that works. Its another layer in business planning— back it up with knowledge of your market’s inventory, current trend graphs, outstanding marketing options and you are UnStoppable!

I see this purchase as a solid investment. I would love for the author to also have a CD of the book— to hear the scripts in the car. That would be fantastic.

4 Stars Good Ideas and Insight
Simple to read, does contain some fluff, but I did like some of the insight in the book—-completely makes sense and I am very pleased I purchased it!!

Does have telephone scripts for cold calls that come into the office and gives some basic phone ettiquette lessons, which I liked.

5 Stars Good Suggestions….Laura Key
A lot of this book is common sense, but sometimes you just have to remember it and put it to good use. I will use this book on a daily basis.

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Real estate is as much about people as it is about property, and, after location, success in real estate depends upon understanding the motives of those who play the game, because many critical decisions revolve around what real estate people think, how they act and why. The Real Estate Game, by William J. Poorvu and Jeffrey L. Cruikshank, is a clear, comprehensive overview illustrated with real-life experiences about individual investors, small developers, and moguls. Poorvu has developed and managed real estate and taught real estate investing at the Harvard Business School for over 35 years. This book is drawn from his course, and is designed to help investors make the right decisions derived from the right assumptions and to provide an insider’s perspective on how to spot risks and develop strategies that provide protection and adequate investment returns.

The book uses the analogy of a game to illustrate some of the intricate and unpredictable interactions in real estate deals, and it lays out the rules of the game, including identification of the key players and periods of play: concept, commitment, development, operation, reward, and reinvestment. Readers are taught to be “value investors,” ready to buy at the right price at the right time, because the best opportunities come from buying at a discount-to-replacement cost. The value investor must be prepared to sell at the right juncture, and must not be compelled to be in the game when conditions make the game not worth playing.

The case studies that run through the book show how to evaluate, develop, and operate all kinds of real estate investments from the points of view of all involved in the process. There’s an extensive appendix covering the different property types, and the authors’ “back-of-the-envelope” method for analyzing the financial implications of a potential deal is probably worth the book’s weight in gold. –Scott Harrison

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Great read for serious investors
Mr. Poorvu’s book does an excellent job of teaching investors how to analyze real estate deals. It reads a bit like a text book but serious investors will appreciate the intelligence and depth of the content.

5 Stars Best real estate book ever
I think that this is one of the best books I have read on real estate. Successful real estate investments are not just about finding the right property, doing the due diligence, and closing the transaction. It is also about understanding how the players in this game think and act and what their motivations are behind it. The authors propose that investors be value investors, just like Warren Buffett in the stock market investing. They need to be willing to buy at the right time when opportunities are being offered at a discount-to-replacement cost.

There are many people involved in each transaction, and it is hard to understand how these people fit in the big picture. In this book, the authors show readers the function of buyers, sellers, attorneys, and appraisers. I highly recommend this book to people interested in real estate.

- Mariusz Skonieczny, author of Why Are We So Clueless about the Stock Market? Learn how to invest your money, how to pick stocks, and how to make money in the stock market

5 Stars Best of the RE Investment Books!
The vast majority of real estate investment books to be found in the Barnes & Noble investment section offer variations of Mark Twain’s stock market advice: “making money in stocks is easy. Only buy a stock if it goes up; if it doesn’t go up, don’t buy it.” By contrast, Poorvu walks readers through myriad real estate investment situations, fleshing out the risks and rewards, and the mindsets of the various players. While written in an anecdotal style replete with real-life examples, the book also presents an encyclopedic overview of investment opportunities (direct, REIT, syndicates, etc.) and asset categories (residential, commercial, industrial, etc.). This is a real estate investment book written by an adult, for adults — in contrast to all the other get-rich-quick-no-money-down titles targeting gullible novices.

4 Stars Not a get rich quick scheme
William Poorvu teaches at the Harvard Business School and also invests and develops on his own. He uses case studies to show examples of the techniques and rules he uses when investing which is how MBA’s are taught. Overall its some great real world advice with no promises of making you a millionaire overnight.

5 Stars Great for deepening understanding of subject…
I found this book extrememly valuable in deepening my understanding of the subject and providing perspective for me to carry my understanding further on my own by looking at market information and events.

Useful for beginner to intermediate level real estate interested people.

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Rigorous yet practical, Real Estate Finance and Investments has been the leading real estate finance and investments text for over 25 years, consistently setting the standard for currency and coverage in real estate finance and investments textbooks. The 13th edition continues to provide students with the tools they need to understand and analyze real estate markets and the investment alternatives available to both debt and equity investors. New content and problems addressing current trends in real estate finance and investments have been seamlessly incorporated into the text, without disrupting the material and organization instructors have relied on in past editions.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Would buy from again
I needed my text book fast because the class I was in had already started before I ordered the book, and this seller had the book to me in 2 or 3 days. I was very happy about the quick shipping and the condition they described the book to be in was right on. No surprises which is a good thing.

4 Stars Gets to the point, full of information
This is a detailed text that is easy to read. It should be noted, however, that due to the vastness of the subject there’s lots of similar terms that can be easily confused. This isn’t a book you read and pass along, keep it on the shelf for reference. Absolutely love the web site links that have Excel sheets ready to analyze.

5 Stars Property developement escential reference
This is a good reference for anyone who wants a property investment methodological approach, sustained by economic principles and good examples,

good for students and professionals related to the property market.

1 Star Professors spare your students!
This is by far one of the worse text books I have encountered so far in my three years of higher education.

The authors do a horrible job summarizing points and one must read paragraphs multiple times to understand something as simple as a fixed rate mortgage. The book also has poor illustrations and confusing graphs.

The book has paragraph headings but after reading the entire paragraph 3 or 4 times I find it difficult to write in words what the paragraph title actually means. There are no bold terms or summarized definitions on the side margins which makes studying nearly impossible. For the amount of math in the book the authors also do a poor job explaining how to work the problems and show little work.

5 Stars quick delivery
ordered on Aug 28 night with standard shipping fee,as I thought it was not worth to pay premium shipping fee as Labor day was coming. books were actually sent out on Sep 1 and received on Sep 4.

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This eagerly awaited non-fiction debut by acclaimed Native Environmental activist Winona LaDuke is a thoughtful and in-depth account of Native resistance to environmental and cultural degradation. LaDuke’s unique understanding of Native ideas and people is born from long years of experience, and her analysis is deepened with inspiring testimonies by local Native activists sharing the struggle for survival. On each page of this volume, LaDuke speaks forcefully for self-determination and community. Hers is a beautiful and daring vision of political, spiritual, and ecological transformation. All Our Relations features chapters on the Seminoles, the Anishinaabeg, the Innu, the Northern Cheyenne, and the Mohawks, among others.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Truth, told with powerful clarity
Winona Laduke ran as vice president alongside Ralph Nader. It would be truly amazing if this woman had become our vice president (for many reasons). It is my hope that some day she will be our vice president (or president). Her views on the environment and its effect upon animals and people (particularly babies, children and pregnant/nursing mothers) are exactly how I feel. She expresses these views eloquently in these quotes by Lil’wat grandmother Loretta Pascal, “Where did you get your right to destroy these forests? How does your right supercede my rights? These are our forests, these are our ancestors.”(p.5), by Ted Strong, “If this nation has a long way to go before all of our people are truly created equally without regard to race, religion, or national origin, it has even further to go before achieving anything that remotely resembles equal treatment for other creatures who called this land home before humans ever set foot upon it….”(p.5), and by Katsi Cook, “Why is it we must change our lives, our way of life, to accommodate the corporations, and they are allowed to continue without changing any of their behavior?”(p.12). Reading this book you will feel sorrow, and be inspired to action. Most of what was said in this book I already knew a little about, but through this book I understood the depth and complexity of all the factors. I can not recommend this book enough. She tells the truth of our world with a powerful clarity. She tells the stories of many Native American Tribes throughout North America (Canada and the United States, including a chapter on Hawaii). She ends the book with the optimism that it is possible for us to make change, but it is up to us.

5 Stars Becoming Native to America
Spoon-fed news by large media corps, few were aware that Winona LaDuke ran for the vice presidency under Ralph Nader in the 2000 elections. Even fewer know that she is also a Native American eco-philosopher with a critical perspective on the health and future prosperity of America. All Our Relations is particularly instructive, in that LaDuke surveys the entire American landscape (and by landscape, I am not merely referring to the political landscape), showing the deep connections that exist between local cultures, their environments, and the corporate-governmental giants that often compromise their health. Although LaDuke has specifically focused on Native American communities, the stories are engaging and instructive for Americans in general. Informative, powerful, and transformative, LaDuke here provides an antidote for our increasing alienation from the land and biota that sustain us. A must read for any conscious American.

5 Stars The ring of truth is heard loud and clear….
If I could, I would thank Winonah LaDuke in person for writing such an important, informative and engaging book on the travesty that is the North American government’s view of native land and those who inhabit it. The numerous tribes who make the land their home are forced to co-exist with the insensitive, selfish and literally toxic decisions made by government and corporations who dump tons upon tons of toxic pesticides in their water and on “abandoned” land. These lands are also subject to divebombings from military jets. These are illegal decibel levels that drive those within hearing range to points of mental instability, as well as potential hearing loss.

One of the most important quotes from this book that I remember (since I read this book a couple of years ago in a Native/African-American Women’s Studies course) was from a Seminole leader who said, “Selling your land for a price is like selling a piece of your mother.” [I paraphrase this.] I couldn’t agree more. When I remember that quote, I think about all of the animals, vegetation and tribes (consisting of families and friends) who have lived off of the land of the United States, as well as Canada. How can one possibly put a price on something that can’t truly be owned by anyone and is its own autonomous entity. Even if people have the illusion that they can occupy land as territory (because of treaties, as an example) does not mean that it is ever their to keep. LaDuke makes several strong examples of this in the book. We can’t continue to pollute, abuse and neglect land without paying a price environmentally or in terms of human quality of life and mortaiity. I believe everyone should read this book, regardless of occupation, national origin or territorial location. We need to face the damage done before more of it goes unacknowledged. Thank you, Winonah.

5 Stars Written by a True Patriot
To think this woman could be our Vice President today. Most people don’t even know that Winona LaDuke ran for Vice President on Ralph Nader’s ticket. An articulate and passionate writer, LaDuke presents an awareness of the plight of America unsurpassed by any other. She knows what’s wrong. She knows what needs to be done. She knows who is doing the work, how and why. She presents her advocacy as human, heartfelt and real. I learned things about what is happening to this country that I would never have known otherwise. You certainly don’t see it in the news, and you don’t learn about it in school. We’re in trouble, folks, and it’s not too late to do something about it. With more power she could have made such a difference! But she continues to work on the issues, and it is so important that more people are aware of her work. Please, please, please read this book. It is the most important book you will read all year.

5 Stars Winona La Duke’s ALL OUR RELATIONS Must Read
ALL OUR RELATIONS by Indigenous Activist Winona LaDuke is a must read for everyone who cares about our earth. LaDuke presents the state of the environment focusing on several land, treaty rights and toxic exposure struggles on reservations across North America and in Hawaii. Since I met Winona when she was an economics student at Harvard, she has been at the heart of struggles and gains made by indigenous communities, always bringing a keen intellect, diligent research, unswerving commitment, and a broad vision of the whole circle to community and tribal issues.

Because I’ve known many of the people involved in the essential work LaDuke describes in ALL OUR RELATIONS, it was a personal pleasure to read this book and catch up with what Susannah Santos and her cousins are doing on the Columbia River, be updated on Luana Busby and Melani Trask and the Hawaiian indigenous movement and to get the inside details of the complex political fight Winona’s son’s father and his people are up aqainst at St. James Bay. But this book will fascinate anyone who cares about our earth, families and communities. It is one to read from end to end, then keep around to re-read again and again.

LaDuke calls the work these tribal communities do to protect their people and landbase from pollution and corporate greed, “soul-retrieval.” It is work that we all need to do whatever our ethnic background, since as LaDuke’s reportage on the presence of PCBs in mother’s breastmilk in the Northeast attests, everyone is affected by what we are doing to the earth. Winona is a mother who has no illusions about how the choices we make as consumers affect the earth and our communities’ health. What is most inpiring about LaDuke’s writing and life is that she offers solutions. Each chapter not only outlines the problem, but it talks about solutions that are being implemented and suggests others that should be employed. Winona walks her talk. LaDuke has been a strong proponent of wind energy and has worked to engage major corporations like Ben & Jerry in developing wind energy projects on Indian Reservations in South Dakota. Native Harvest and White Earth Land Recovery Project have reclaimed White Earth land and developed sustainable reservation businesses that employ and train White Earth tribal members. Winona LaDuke would be a great President because she is the only public figure who has a sensible plan for economic self-sufficiency, the clarity to explain it to the American people, and the discipline and steadfastness to enact it.

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The well-known and respected authorship team of Geltner and Miller bring you a new edition of what has become the undisputed and authoritative resource on commercial real estate investment. Streamlined and completely updated with expanded coverage of corporate and international real estate investment, this upper-level text presents the essential concepts, principles and tools for the analysis of commercial real estate (income producing) from an investment perspective. This new book continues to integrate relevant aspects of urban and financial economics to provide users with a fundamental analytical understanding and application of real estate investments

The award-winning Chickasaw poet, essayist, and novelist chronicles the story of five generations of Native American women and their struggle to preserve their way of life. Reprint.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Solar Staorms as a nonovel on Native American survival after attempted destruction on their lives
As Angela Jensen goes back to her community after living from one white foster home to another, she discovers a network of female relatives who will help her to know her roots. Their journey to the North parallels the migration of their ancestors centuries before.The land is no longer the same, as it has been modified by dams, which flooded a whole inhabited region. Their fight seems hopeless, but the spiritual journey in time shows Angela her deep links with the earth. She is transformed. She finally meets her mother at her deathbed and can understand her tragic fate. As the land she has been abused, and bad spirits inhabit her body. Angela’s newly-born sister symbolizes survival out of loss and destruction.

5 Stars Solar Storms
Solar Storms is a compelling and heart wrenching story of heroic Native American women and their struggle for their land and way of life. Join four generations of Native women as they traverse the wild boundary waters from Minnesota to Canada, in search of and to protect their true home.

2 Stars Well written, but dull concept
Solar Storms is about a 17 year old girl who returns to her Native American home, which is an entirely different society than the surrounding American society. She meets with her great and great-great grandmothers, and learns about her mysterious past. Eventually they go on a journey to attempt to stop the construction of a dam that would threaten their way of life.

The problem with this story is that it cannot rationaly make sense. Sure, Native American tales can be nice to hear, but in reality we all know that animals don’t posses mystical powers, don’t think, and aren’t connected to divine beings, which is what is constantly being preached in this book. In a sense, it is a struggle between this irrational thought and the “white men” who wish to build dams to provide power and promote industry. There are many valid arguments against the construction of dams, but the characters in this book wish to stop the dam because it will make some mystic spirits angry, which is not a valid, provable reason. If the characters in the book were more focused on “stop the dam because it will flood our homeland” and not “stop the dam because the beaver spirit will get angry and leave” this book would be drastically better, but as it stands now this book is full of as much irrationality as creationism.

5 Stars A Powerful Story of Redemption and Revelation
I bought Solar Storms almost by accident; by that I mean I really liked the title and the blue cover illustration and I just bought it. I have re-read this book twice in the two years that I’ve owned it.

This story really moves me. I don’t want to ruin the story for you by offering a synopsis, but it appeals to me because the story is written in gorgeous prose, because it is a story of reconnection with one’s heritage, because it leaves me with a feeling of hope in humanity, and because it is a story of community – not only with people – but with all life. It’s just a darned good story and entertaining, but I also found a lot of personal meaning in it.

5 Stars Glad I Found This Book Again
I read this book about 8 years ago and it stuck with me ever since. But for some reason when I wanted to recommend it to other people I couldn’t ever remember the title or the author. Finally I looked it up here using various key words. Now I can recommend it to others and read it again!

It’s a book about odysseys–in some way comparable to the book “Cold Mountain” in the sense that people are traveling and finding out who they are in an amazing landscape. This book also represents well the politics and experience of Native American life. It’s more than that, though–it’s a beautiful story.

I consider it one of the best books on my lifetime list.

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THE BESTSELLING GUIDE TO REAL ESTATE INVESTING

Now in its fifth edition, Investing in Real Estate is the straightforward guide that helps you start growing your fortune by investing in houses and small apartment buildings. Successful real estate investor Gary Eldred shows you how you can outperform the stock market by investing in residential real estate–the surest and safest way to build assets.

This updated edition covers all the new trends and tactics in real estate investing, including how to shop for properties outside your home market and how to use option arms to achieve positive cash flow. As always, you’ll find all the information you need to start investing now, as well as up-to-date tips on negotiating deals, spotting market trends, and using the Internet as a research tool to find and buy properties. Let the authors show you how to:
* Buy with a low or no-money down payment
* Build wealth without paying income taxes
* Find the neighborhoods and properties that will appreciate fastest
* Add value to your properties with smart improvements
* Choose the best financing for your investments
* Protect your net worth with LLCs and other legal strategies

Whether you need money for your child’s college tuition, a prosperous retirement, or a higher quality of life, Investing in Real Estate, Fifth Edition is the best guide available to help you start building real wealth right now.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars RE investing A – Z
If you are just beginning in RE investing you must get this book. It goes over all of the different types of RE investing. This book is a must have for Real Estate investors.

4 Stars Nothing Earth Shattering
Having read a number of different real estate investing books, I am happy to report that this one is definitely above average. The author does make an effort to cover many facets (though perhaps too many?) of real estate investing. If you are looking for an introduction to real estate investing in general, this is a good place to start. If, on the other hand, you are looking for something new or different, you may want to look elsewhere. This book does a good job of hitting the basics, but it’s broad coverage means that at times it is lacking in detail.

5 Stars Very Detailed Book on Real Estate Investing
Having read the third edition of this same book, which was very good, I found this to be a more detailed and thorough revision. The way in which the information is portrayed guides the reader through the steps of investing and how to not only succeed, but to protect themselves from the failures that many novice and seasoned real estate investors fall victims to. If you want to know about investing in Real Estate, this is the book for you.

4 Stars Some shine has warn off…
Some of the shine has worn off real estate investing lately with the credit crisis and mortgage blowouts, but still, people have to live somewhere, and , unfortunately, (or fortunately), some persons losses are other persons gains.

I think the next year or two are going to be excellent times for investing in real estate, and more specifically, detached single homes purchased for rental income. McLean and Eldred have created a fine book that guides you through the pitfalls of real estate investing with some very solid advice. It could use better information on getting statistics. While it does have some links, it needs more, because some of the information is buried deep in some websites.

The first chapter is an argument on how real estate is a better investment than stocks. The authors use averages of the stock market to determine what kind of dividend you can get on stocks. While that may sound fair, the reality is a good stock picker doesn’t purchase average stocks. They purchase great stocks that are currently down. For instance, not too long ago you could have purchased Bank of America for just over $20.00, with a dividend yield of over 8 percent. Paychex was available at 3.5%. While the average yield may be 2 percent, many individual stocks are yielding between 3 and 6 percent. Then you wait for a dip in the price and pick them up between 4 and 7 percent, often giving an average portfolio of 5.5 percent. Yes, this is still lower that what you would make on a rental, but:

Then their greatest failure to understand the best method for picking stocks: you choose the stocks that have consistently increased dividends every year, year in and year out. There are many stocks that do this. They often have yearly increases well over 8 percent, many in the last fifteen years have increased over 15 percent on average. The authors expect you to be able to raise your rents 4% every year.

Given a choice between raising your cash flow 4%, or 8, 10 or 15 percent, which would you take? A single percent difference can mean hundreds of thousands of dollars lost, or gained in twenty years. A difference of five percent or more can mean millions lost or gained.

But all that aside, with the current state of the market, a lot of people are going to make a lot of money off other peoples pain. Thats unfortunate, but that is the way it is. As Baron Rothschild, an 18th century British nobleman said, “Buy when there is blood in the streets”.

The possible down side is a possible glut of rental housing in some areas, notably Arizona, which already has a good supply of rental housing and currently has a high number of vacant foreclosed houses.

Monthly rents are likely to lesson (a boon for renters) as supply increases further, causing less cash flows, perhaps negative cash flows. But Arizona has a growing population, both young people and retired are moving there. The population will eventually catch up and rents will again begin to increase.

The authors reject the stock market, personally, I think a combination of investing in stocks and in real estate will give you a more balanced and safer portfolio. I think this book will definitely help you with your investment goals.

5 Stars My real estate bible
Very useful book. Cover most topics in the real estate market. Highly recommended.

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User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Employee Benefits-5th Edition
This book is an excellent resource for both the seasoned HR/Benefits manager or new-comer to the field of employee benefits. It is a comprehensive yet readable reference guide which covers everything from basic employee benefits, to general benefits planning and administration, to retirement planning and programs.

Although the book is structured like a text book (it has chapter objectives listed, along with study questions) it is very easy to read and understand. The authors provide many tables and charts which illustrate the more complex subject areas.

As an HR Manager, I highly recommend this book as a reference tool for all companies that wish to maximize their employee benefit programs. The wealth of information and practical material contained in this book is invaluable to any sized organization.

5 Stars Excellent resource for benefit professionals-6th Edition
I’ve recently re-entered the employee benefits field after a number of years away and felt I needed a reference guide to help me identify new laws and regulations as well as coverage changes. This book is a fabulous resource. It covers benefits A to Z. Each topic I have come across in my day-to-day work is discussed in this book. This book is perfect for people in their first benefits position and well as the veteran benefits professional. When the 7th Edition comes out, I’ll definitely buy it.

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