Free Orman book from Oprah

Apparently, I'm a cat that got the cream. I was able to download Suze Orman's Women & Money for free on February 14th, courtesy of Oprah. Unfortunately, the download was only available for 2 seconds days, and what I've been hearing is that a number of people downloaded incomplete files...if they managed to download anything at all. How lovely. For Suze Orman, that is. Because the Midas Oprah touch has now virtually guaranteed that women will now run to the nearest bookshop or to half.com and BUY an Oprah-touted "personal finance read" that is, quite frankly, a huge waste of time for someone with a computer & internet access.

If you're interested in discovering the difference between checking & savings accounts, W&M is your book (see page 73). Otherwise, try a personal finance blog like Get Rich Slowly or My Money Blog. One tidbit of interest I did find in W&M was an offer from discount broker Ameritrade, where you can earn an extra $100 at the end of the year IF you:

• open a brokerage account in your name
• set up an automatic deposit of $50+ per month for 12 consecutive months
• sign up between 2/27/07 and 3/31/08.

But I haven't researched other Ameritrade offers, so I don't know how good this offer actually is. So if contacting me is easier than checking out page 85 of W&M, email me for more details about page 85 instead. (Likewise if you're interested in hearing about the "Action Plan" quiz/checklist available on www.suzeorman.com - to the readers: see password provided on page 59.)

If you're still considering buying W&M, here's my frugal suggestion: visit your local library or bookstore and skim the book. If you find it will help start you on your road to financial awareness, please use it. But do not pay $15+* for it.

*As of this writing, Women & Money was available on eBay, Half.com, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Borders for $6-$15.