If Money Could Talk

If you're like most Canadians, divorce, blended families, market meltdowns, children who don't leave home (or who come back with babies in tow), health challenges, real estate mistakes, golden handshakes -- just to name a few -- have left you wondering just what exactly you're supposed to do next, this book is for you. In my 12 years of advising Canadians on the straightest path to prosperity, I've discovered that most books about money are about just that -- money. And that there isn't really a book about life and how money fits into it. That's why I decided to write one. I've organized the book by what might be happening in your life and how you can handle the money decisions that impact it. Therefore, if you've not experienced divorce, there's probably no need to read that chapter. Feel free to graze for the topics that mean the most to you. But don't miss the chapters "One Tick Box Can Change your Life" and "The Bucket system for Retirement." They are truly universal.

We all want to live in comfort, free from financial worries, and able to acquire all we want and need. Yet only a selected few are granted this wish. They are the elite group of individuals who have a much higher income than their basic needs. The question is: What can you do to join their ranks and achieve your own personal economic nirvana? M. L. Marcos explores that question and many others in this business guide to building wealth. Learn how to: identify what successful people are doing; question your place in the world; avoid waiting for things to happen; and minimize uncertainties to build wealth. Our lives were not laid out by a computer programmer who drew a biological flowchart that will only produce a positive result. If that were the case, we would all be living prosperous and productive lives. You should not live another day living a life that is less than the one you deserve. Identify the steps to unlock the doors that few dare to open with the lessons in If Money Could Talk.

In case you've ever wondered, the walls at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue have eyes and ears -- and, what's more, they don't miss a thing. Now, listen up because the walls have a thing or two to tell you! During President John Tyler's presidency, the White House was such a mess that it was called the "Public Shabby House." President William Howard Taft was so large that he had to have a jumbo-size bathtub installed -- one big enough for four people. President Andrew Jackson's "open door" policy at the White House resulted in 20,000 people showing up for his inauguration party. (The new president escaped to the quiet of a nearby hotel!) President Abraham Lincoln didn't mind at all that his younger sons, Tad and Willie, kept pet goats in their White House bedrooms. Children all across the country sent in their own money to build an indoor swimming pool for wheelchair-bound President Franklin D. Roosevelt so that he could exercise. President Harry S. Truman knew it was time to renovate the White House after a leg on his daughter's piano broke right through the floor. Hear these funny, surprising stories and more about the most famous home in America and the extraordinary families who have lived in it.

If Nights Could Talk is a rich gothic story of a Southern family, a tale of wealth and emotional need that spans generations. Marsha Recknagel's memoir begins with the surprise appearance of her 16-year-old nephew, Jamie, who arrives on her doorstep and into her ordered, childless life. Fleeing a chaotic home run by Marsha's unstable younger brother and his wife, Jamie is an ominous creature-and the center of an ongoing family tug-of-war. For Marsha, to open the door is to risk opening herself up to the pain of the past. Reluctantly she takes him in. Thus begins the painful, terrifying, and extraordinary process of unraveling the damage inflicted by her family on one of its own.

A stunning love story about a young Black woman whose life is torn apart when her lover is wrongly accused of a crime—"a moving, painful story, so vividly human and so obviously based on reality that it strikes us as timeless" (The New York Times Book Review). "One of the best books Baldwin has ever written—perhaps the best of all." —The Philadelphia Inquirer Told through the eyes of Tish, a nineteen-year-old girl, in love with Fonny, a young sculptor who is the father of her child, Baldwin’s story mixes the sweet and the sad. Tish and Fonny have pledged to get married, but Fonny is falsely accused of a terrible crime and imprisoned. Their families set out to clear his name, and as they face an uncertain future, the young lovers experience a kaleidoscope of emotions—affection, despair, and hope. In a love story that evokes the blues, where passion and sadness are inevitably intertwined, Baldwin has created two characters so alive and profoundly realized that they are unforgettably ingrained in the American psyche.

Why did the flushing toilet take two centuries to catch on? Why did Samuel Pepys never give his mistresses an orgasm? Why did medieval people sleep sitting up? When were the two 'dirty centuries'? Why did gas lighting cause Victorian ladies to faint? Why, for centuries, did people fear fruit? All these questions - and more - are answered in this juicy, truly intimate history of the home. Through the bedroom, bathroom, living room and kitchen, Lucy Worsley explores what people actually did in bed, in the bath, at the table, and at the stove. From sauce-stirring to breast-feeding, teeth-cleaning to masturbation, getting dressed to getting married, this book will make you see your home with new eyes.

Most books about money are just that -- books about money. Advice abounds on how to earn more, save more, spend less or leave more behind. But life is more complicated than that and many of the financial situations we face in life aren't covered in any text book. George McConechy tackles the subject of money in the context of real life situations: aging parents, divorce, blended families, market meltdowns, children who don't leave home (or who come back with babies in tow), health challenges, real estate mistakes, golden handshakes, business opportunities -- just to name a few. With wry humour and tongue-in-cheek anecdotes, McConechy shares his wit and wisdom on how to tick the right boxes, pay the least taxes and give your heirs the fewest headaches possible.