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• Newsweek article by Ms. Quinn
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Tavis: We continue our 'Road to Wealth' series with award-winning journalist Jane Bryant Quinn. She is, of course, a contributing editor at "Newsweek" magazine whose book, "Making the Most of Your Money,' became a long time 'New York Times' best seller. Her latest is called "Smart and Simple Financial Strategies for Busy People." She joins us tonight, with her busy self, from New York. Jane, nice to have you on the program. (Laugh)

Jane Bryant Quinn: (Laugh) Hi, Tavis, nice to be here.

Tavis: I guess this book, I'm about to ask who the book is for. But since everybody I know is busy, I guess the book is for everybody, huh?

Quinn: (Laugh) The book is for everybody, and I really was thinking about that. 'Cause we are so busy with our families and our jobs and our kids that we always mean to get around to thinking about money, and we never quite do it. We're gonna do it tomorrow, and we know it is so important. I'm busy. Everybody's busy.

I really think that there are easy ways that you can handle your money so you can set it up, it can run automatically, and then you can get on with the rest of your busy life, and you don't have to think about it. That's my dream. My dream is a financial program that's easy, that works, that you don't have to think about all the time.

Tavis: I guess when I first saw the title, Jane, before I started flipping through the book, what got my attention, as is often the case, the cover, the title, in your case, the title. Smart and simple financial strategies. Oftentimes, what we think of as smart and what we think of as simple are oxymoronic. Things that are oftentimes smart aren't always simple, and vice versa.

Quinn: Do you know, I've been reporting in this field, Tavis, a long time. And one of the things that I have learned is that all of these complicated products that are out there, that people get buffaloed about personal finance. They say, I can't think of it, there's too much stuff; I don't understand how it works. The truth is, you don't need that stuff.

Ninety-nine percent of what is out there in the world that Wall Street has to sell and salesmen have to sell, you don't need. The simple products are easy, they're things you can understand yourself, and the key thing for me, Tavis, is that they are also the best products. When something is easy and something is low cost, it's going to be better for you.

It will work out better in the long run, 'cause you're not paying a lot of money for it, and it's not reducing, if you're investing, not reducing your returns. And this is what I do. If you looked at my financial life, you would not believe how simple it was; because I've learned you don't need the complicated stuff. You need the simple stuff. It's the best.

Tavis: So the stuff that you write in this book, I hear you suggesting, is stuff that you use. Stuff that you do.

Quinn: Absolutely. Absolutely. This is what I do. You want to know my financial life? You just have to flip through this book, and you'll find it. (Laugh) A total disclosure.

Tavis: Let me ask about, before I get into some of the specifics of the book, I want to get to the text here in just a second. Are there certain prerequisites? In other words, is there a place one has to be in one's financial life to start to engage what's here? Oftentimes I read books that start out at a particular place, that make assumptions about where I am in my particular life.

Quinn: I think the assumption I'm making in this book, Tavis, is that you're out of school, you've got a job, and you have a future for yourself. Those are the only assumptions. This is not a book only for people who are wealthy, who have a lot of money, who are going to fancy tax accountants, saying, what do I do?

April fifteenth is coming up. This is the book for the average person who really needs to have life insurance and health insurance and savings plan, and needs to get out of debt. And who, if they have kids, they maybe want to save for college for their kids. That's it. That is who this book is for.

Tavis: As I said a moment ago, I want to jump right to the text here. One more question before I do that, though. Tell me more about Jane Bryant Quinn, and how it is she came to get to the place of dispensing advice around money matters to the rest of us?

Quinn: Well, when I got out of school and went to work, I always wanted to be a reporter. And I happened to get assigned to being a business reporter, and it turns out I loved it. But nobody born knowing personal finance. You don't learn this in the cradle. So I learned it the same way everybody else learned it.

I learned it by doing it. I also learned it by reporting it. And I started out, as I say, I just got a job in the personal finance area. I loved it and I started reporting, and doing my own investing and doing my own learning at the same time I was reporting. It was a tremendous experience, I think mainly because I have been through so much of the stuff I now reject.

'Cause I take a look back at what happened, and I said, all these smart guys said I should do this, I should do this, I should do this. And when I look at what happened to that over 15 years, 20 years, I say it was expensive, it was complicated, and it didn't work out. What worked out? The simple things.

Tavis: I'm not sure you meant this, as a matter of fact, you probably didn't, and maybe you did. I'll give you a chance to explain in just a second. But you said a moment ago that all these smart guys, I'm putting the emphasis on the word guys, not you.

Quinn: (Laugh) Okay.

Tavis: Because I wanna ask you a question behind that, Jane. Is it just me, or am I seeing and noticing, in fact, a lot more smart women, or certainly women who have been smart for some time who are getting opportunities, to offer financial advice? Years ago, I don't recall, quite frankly, seeing as many women on television, in print, hearing them on the radio, offering money advice.

Quinn: Oh, that's for sure, Tavis. In fact, I guess I was definitely thinking smart guys. 'Cause when I came up, they were all guys in the field. Furthermore, I was doing a personal finance newsletter for 'Business Week' magazine, and basically, it was a guy's job that they gave to me. And they gave it to me under one condition.

I would go by my initials, so that on the masthead, no one would know I was a woman. (Laugh) Now, those are the bad old days. Those things don't happen anymore. But absolutely, when I came up, it was a guy's field. But now, women are everywhere. Women are in all kinds professions. I think it's marvelous.

And women are certainly doing tremendous amount of financial advice, and they're out there, and their families. They're managing the money, increasingly. Especially women with jobs. They've got a 401k, they come home and they say, hey, I wanna manage the money at home, too.

Tavis: Let me jump into a few things in the text. You offer five priorities for a no-worry financial plan. We'll get to a couple of them in the time that we have left here. Let me start at the end, as it were. You talk about retirement this book.

Quinn: Absolutely. People, I think baby boomers are starting to obsess about retirement, 'cause they're worried they don't have enough, and they should be worried. Younger people have a tremendous chance catch up on it. And if you're working, if you have a 401k plan at your company, sign up for it. Have money taken out of your paycheck and put in there.

And so many people tell me, Tavis, I can't save, I'm living paycheck to paycheck. There's just no way I can do it. If you say I'm going to take, say, five percent more than what I'm saving now, take it out of my paycheck automatically, put it in the company retirement plan. Or if you don't have a plan, you can have it taken automatically out of your bank account and put in a retirement plan you start yourself.

If you just say, I'm gonna do it, and then you live on what's left, and this is the only magic in personal finance, Tavis. It's amazing. You think you don't have any money, you can't possibly save more. When it comes out of your paycheck automatically, you look at what's in your checking account, and you live on what's left.

You have no idea what it was you didn't buy, but somehow, you live on what's left. And I urge people to try it, because so many people think they just can't save. If you will shut your eyes, hold your nose, jump into the pool, have five percent taken automatically out of your paycheck or your checking account, you will be astonished that you'll live on what's left. And meanwhile, you're gonna have retirement savings building up.

Tavis: It is what I call plastic surgery, but you spend a great deal of time in this book talking about plastic surgery, or more specifically, eliminating credit card debt. You're serious about this.

Quinn: Oh, yeah. Well, please, paying interest on credit card debt is like feeding money to the squirrels. Why would you do that? You get really fat squirrels, (laugh) and you get a really thin bank account. So I really, it's very, very important that people start getting a program to reduce their credit card debt.

And you could do this automatically. You can put your bills in a heap and look at the ones that have the low interest rates and look at the ones with the high interest rates, and pay off the high ones first. Get an automatic program out of your checking account. Get those things paid off. But people say, 'My money can't be in two places at the same time. I can't save for retirement and pay off my bills.'

Do you know what I would say? Save for retirement. Because even though you've got that interest to pay, which I just hate, and you wanna work it down, the habit of saving is the most important thing you can get. So save for retirement first. Save five percent, save 10 percent.

Then go to work on your debt. When you've got your debt worked down, then go back and save 15 percent for retirement. Those would be my top two priorities.

Tavis: I wanna run and talk to Joel Silver, but I'm so fascinated by this advice, let me squeeze in one more right quick, if I can. You talk in the book about creating cushion fund.

Quinn: A cushion fund is a savings account; it's cash in the bank. And a lot of people call it an emergency fund, for emergency expenses. But the truth is, no one ever expects an emergency, so they never save it. So I like to call it a cushion fund for all kinds of unexpected expenses. If you have some money in the bank, a month's, two month's salary in the bank, and then something suddenly comes up, you don't have to put it on your credit card.

It's a wonderful thing that will save you interest, and it will make you feel real secure. So, save for retirement, then work on your credit card debt, and create a cushion fund. A savings account so you don't go back into debt.

Tavis: I read her pieces in "Newsweek" all the time. I'm glad she's given us a new book. It's called "Smart and Simple Financial Strategies for Busy People" like you. Well, I added the like you part. But anyway, "Smart and Simple Financial Strategies for Busy People" by Jane Bryant Quinn. Jane Bryant Quinn, nice to have you on the program. All the best to you.

Quinn: Thanks so much, I've had a lovely time.

Tavis: So did I. Glad to have you on the program.

Quinn: Bye bye.

Tavis: Up next, producer Joel Silver. Stay with us.