Before readers go to Charles Schwab, they should come here. Clare La Plante will show them that with just $5 a day, and a bit of knowledge, anyone can take control over their financial future. In this fun, user-friendly, handbook for the frugal investor, La Plante first offers hopeful investors a plan for trimming your budget and finding $5 a day in it. Then she provides scores of valuable tips exploring every aspect: retirement plans, stocks and bonds, mutual funds, dividend reinvestment plans (DRIPs), investment clubs, and much more. The author shows how to get spectacular results with below-average risk, and an actual financial advisor illustrates the principles using six fictional characters in different representative situations, so readers can see exactly how it's done. Finally there are many sidebars -- "Wall Street Wisdom" -- on important, if tangential issues, so readers will get the most complete picture of investing possible.