Business-plan

Game Plan is an excellent read for those who are struggling with their purpose and significance in life.

Among some of the excellent points Buford mentions are:

1. The first half of life is spent on someone else's agenda while the second half is more about your true self.
2. Learn to say no to many good things.
3. We must have time alone with God and let Him speak to us.
4. Eventually, you will have to take a chance in the second half of your life (career, relationships, interests, etc).
5. The second half of your life can be much better than the first half.

All in all, an excellent read for the person who wants to finish well!

For those who have climbed the "ladder of success" and then wondered "is that all there is?", this book will help direct one in their pursuit of real meaning in life. While being driven from the early days of our first career to achieve "success" in line with the secular world, it is helpful to reflect on how our life can move to being of value to others. In redirecting our developed skills and ambitions, we can uncover real satisfaction and meaning from our contributions. Highly recommended for those who have already "achieved" much, but are looking to "significance" for the remaining years.

This book is a gem and will impact the design for the rest of your life. It offers a critical challenge and practical strategies for creating significance in the second half of life. Bob Buford presents a refreshing view for being active in our middle and senior years. He cites that our accumulated experience and wisdom over our first 20 professional years have prepared us to truly take our gifts and talents to another level, to contribute to the lives of many, and to leave a legacy that continues to make a positive difference after we're gone. His insights are valuable. His recommendations work well. His references to God and Christian principles are sensitively presented and make good sense regardless of the reader's stance on faith. I've been using the strategies effectively for the past 6 months. I have an enhanced personal vision and purpose and an expanded set of goals for my next several decades. I highly recommend this book.

The purposes of this study of six companies that use the Scanlon programs (a way to link improvements in productivity with pay) are to understand how they work and explore the concerns of employees, management and unions. The research and discussion also highlight political games relating to sharing power and economic gains. This book stands out from others we have reviewed on this subject because it is a truly in-depth exploration of the REALITIES of gainsharing. This is an insightful and informative work that is solidly based on empirical findings. Read this book before you plunge into implementing a gainsharing program. Too many management books toss out some trend data, cherry-pick a few happy examples, and then propose that you implement the 'great idea.' Collins' book illustrates the vital importance of careful research. If management is going to make informed decisions about approaches to motivating employees (and other organizational and human resource management initiatives), research of the type this book is based upon, is desperately needed. Unfortunately, it is the quick-read, fad fostering, pop-management books that tend to get the spotlight. Includes references. Excellent-highly recommended.

This book needs to be read by every voting American, even those who support the Bush tax cut. Author Paul Krugman clearly explains the economic and political environments in which this tax plan takes place and concludes, first, that the tax cut is not only a bad idea but might have serious consequences as the Social Security/Medicare system becomes strapped and second, that "at every stage of the debate Bush and his people have tried to obscure what they were really proposing."
"Fuzzy Math" is a book written for intelligent lay people. I personally read it in two sittings (it's only 122 short pages), then, thinking that I must have missed smething, went back and read it again. It turns out I missed nothing. Krugman breaks down complex economic concepts and explains them with great lucidity and a little bit of wit. It's really an easy read.
Krugman begins by explaining how Bush arrived at his tax cut as the centerpiece of his campaign, first as an antidote to Steve Forbes' "Flat Tax" crusade and second, to secure the support of the far right elements of the Republican Party. He then describes the efficacy of tax cuts as an economic tool, particularly as they might be used to stimulate a sluggish economy (never an issue for Bush until the economy suddenly turned sour). He concludes that this is best left to the Federal Reserve Board's manipulation of interest rates. He further compares "demand side" tax reductions, aimed primarily at consumers, with "supply side" cuts which are directed toward potential producers and demonstrates that despite the Reagan rhetoric, the economic recovery of the early '80's was demand side driven and that a real supply side expansion occurred during the late '90's happened despite Bill Clinton's upper bracket tax increase.
Nexy Krugman explains the Federal Budget, beginning with where the money goes and then where it comes from. He explains that we've gone from being a "military state" to a "retirement state". He admittedly caricatures that, based on federal spending "the federal government has become a large retirement community that does some military stuff and a bit of humanitarian stuff on the side". He also explains that our national retirement program is not fully funded (as is a private pension plan). Instead the current group of retirees is living off the contributions of the current group of workers and that enormous problems will begin when the number of retirees begins to swell as the number of workers begins to shrink (about 2011). This is aleo why privatization of Social Security/Medicare is a bad idea: it will simply pull the rug out from under the feet of the current group of retirees. He discusses the origins of the recent budget surplus andhow it was tied to the recent economic boom.
He then breaks down the Bush tax cut, explaining who gets what. Using figures from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and Citizens for Tax Justice (stats from conservative think tanks are unavailable) he concludes that about 40% of American families will get nothing or very little while the top 1% will collect about 45% of the benefits. He analyzes the Treasury Department's statistics in light of this data and exposes the hucksterism involved in the official Bush line. Unfortunately this is the only piont at which Krugman cites sources although he uses statistics elsewhere in this book. More citations would have given the book a little more authority.
Finally he proposes an alternative, a "smaller, faster, cheaper, better" cut that will get money into the hands of consumers faster and will be "front loaded" (benefits sooner) as opposed to Bush's "back loaded" (most benefits arrive much later) and so will have an immediate effect on the economy.
Krugman concludes with a swipe at the "utter dishonesty of the sales campaign".
There is no reason why every American citizen should not read this book. It explains what's going on in the tax debate and does so clearly and simply. In fact, bookshelves in any participatory democracy should be full of books like this.

This is a superb book. Krugman shows the following: (1) that Bush's tax cut is so large that it will lead to significant problems with maintinaing anything close to current government service levels or in financing any kind of meaningful Social Security reform; (2) that the Bush tax cut is overwhelmingly tilted towards the top 1% of the population. In the process of making this case, Krugman also provides a considerable education on the roles of fiscal policy, the composition of federal taxing and spending, and the nature of the Social Security program. At the same time, Krugman's critique is fair. As he shows, one could make a case for the Bush tax cut if one believes the following: (1) large cuts in marginal tax rates on income and estates of the rich will have extremely large supply-side benefits for the economy; (2) federal services should be cut to levels not seen since the 1920s. However, the Bush Administration has not made this case because there is no popular support for these possible arguments for a tax cut. Rather, the Bush Administration has attempted to disguise the true size and distributional effects of the tax cut. As of this writing, they appear likely to succeed. I wish Krugman's book could have been available a few months ago, when it might have had more influence on the politics of the Bush tax cut.

Every policy-maker and voter should read this book. After months of Krugman's anti-tac-cut NY Times Op-Eds, I was sick of hearing about this debate. But "Fuzzy Math" literally changed my mind in one night. It is not only a guide to the Bush tax cut but also a layman's guide to general tax policy, tax law, the federal budget, and distributional issues. Not only that, but Krugman provides a novel theory (at least to me) on why anti-big-government ideologues prefer tax cuts for the rich disproportionately over tax cuts for the bottom 99%. Krugman also exposes many statistical and other tricks that policy-makers play on the public in order to promote their programs. In short, this book does so much so thoroughly, and I am amazed that Krugman fit it all into so few pages.

A good reference book for anyone connected with a pension or profit sharing arrangement. It is not a guide to IRAs, Keogh plans, SEPs, rather it focuses on traditional defined contribution and defined benefit plans. While this book seems written for more for budding actuaries, those wishing to study design alternatives or asset management will find this book provides a good background. I find two flaws with the book.

First is the lack of examples. While the book discusses full funding limitations, it does not show you an example calculation. While it tells you how to calculate the minimum liability, it does not show you an example of how to present it in the financial statements. This book is not a text book, but it would be very helpful to see some real examples in practice rather than only discussions about the rationale behind the method.

Second, the single chapter on pension accounting is weak. Issues not mentioned include accounting for minimum liability, disclosures under FAS 132, understanding the relationship between funding and expense, curtailments and other plan amendments, the interrelationships between the conflicting limitations of ERISA/IRC/GAAP, the effect of pension assumptions on the financial statements and the impact of FAS 87 for an over funded plan on the financial statements of the sponsor. The perspective focuses more on the reasons the accounting standards exist, not the strategy or day-to-day issues of how the pension affects the financial statements of the sponsor. If accounting is what you need, buy a current intermediate accounting book.

Very coplete study, covering almost all imaginable subjects, from actuarial maths to investment management to organisation and HR aspects of pension provision. This is not a manual, though. Get a simpler and less in detail book to get a general view of the topic, and then use "Fundamentals..." as reference.