A Piece of the Action: How the Middle Class Joined the Money Class

By Joe Nocera

Book Overview

Now with a new introduction describing the fallout of America's consumer credit boom, 1994's wildly acclaimed bestseller A Piece of the Action tells the story of how millions of middle class Americans went from being savers to borrowers and investors through the invention of credit cards, mutual funds, and IRAs--resulting in profound societal change.

"America began to change on a mid-September day in 1958, when the Bank of America dropped its first 60,000 credit cards on the unassuming city of Fresno, California." So begins Joe Nocera's riveting account of one of the most astonishing revolutions in modern American life--what Nocera labels "the money revolution." In the decades since, the middle class has gained access to credit cards, to mutual funds, to retirement accounts--and to hundreds of other financial vehicles that have allowed everyone to get "a piece of the action." In this lively, engaging book, some of the great financial characters of modern times--from Charles Merrill to Charles Schwab to Peter Lynch--strut across the stage as the course of this great financial shift is charted.

In an all-new introduction, Nocera takes a look back at the consequences of the money revolution. Were members of the middle class as prepared as the innovators claimed to take control of their financial lives? Or did events like the dot-com and the housing bubbles suggest something else: that far too many of us lacked the wherewithal to make sound investment decisions?

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1476744890
• ISBN13: 9781476744896
• Release Date: October 2013
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 480 Pages
• Weight: 0.92 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

A great primer for anyone in the personal finance business

If you work in personal finance or want to know how the business came to be, I highly recommend this book. It has one instance after another of "a-ha" moments where the light goes on in your head as to why things in our industry are the way they are. Nocera does a great job of tracing each of the innovations that made Wall Street more and more accessible to the average American, benefiting the investor and the companies that got financing. The other very instructive point this book makes is about the mind, and methodology of the people who drive innovations. For anyone looking to build the better mousetrap, here is a book about person after person who did exactly that in the arena of personal finance. Highly recommended.

Exciting story, about your attitude toward $

What a thriller! Nocera describes the way Am. attitudes toward debt, investment, savings, and inflation have been transformed since 1958 (the day 60,000 credit cards got mail-dropped in Fresno). Every chapter revealed another fascinating aspect of our changing relationship to $: Credit cards, money market funds, the discount brokerage boom and Charles Schwab's relationship to that force, the superstart fund managers and the personal stories of Peter Lynch and Fidelity, as well as the second wave of credit card design, which focused on poaching upon those most prone to run up debt. This book can give you a deeper understanding of your own attitudes toward finance, while also offering many insights into America's ambivalent relationship toward the dollar and debt.

Greatest Book Written on the History of Personal Finance

I reviewed this book for the Lexington Herald Leader when it was first published and have purchased over 200 copies for friends, clients and employees over the years. If you don't just want to understand personal finance but understand American socialogy in general, this is the book to read. Don McNay don@mcnay.com

Informative and easy-to-read.

Mr. Nocera has done a phenomonal job of putting the entire evolution of consumer financial products into an easy-to-read story. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the development of products such as mutual funds, credit cards, and discount brokerage accounts.

Terrific narration!

Anybody who wants to understand the world of finance has to read this book. Nocera has maintained a very high level of narrative power throughout this amazing book. The description of the events that led to the famous stock-market crash of 1987 is fantastic. That, in my opinion, is the most fascinating chapter of the entire book. Those who were not following the US stockmarkets at that time will find it very exciting to get an "action replay" of the events of those days. As I read the book, I could not help but draw parallels with the thriller "Moneychangers" written by Arthur Hailey. Well, Nocera is the better of the two! But then, we have to keep in mind that Hailey was at a definite disadvantage -- he was writing fiction...