Recommended text or supplemental reading for those teaching personal finance on a secondary or college level. Useful addition to school libraries and resource for school counselors.

Enjoy Your Money! How to Make It, Save It, Invest It and Give It, by J. Steve Miller (Wisdom Creek Press, 2009, 254 pp., includes index, documentation, discounts for bulk purchases, chapter reviews, thought questions, assignments, free web-based teacher resources, recommended further reading. Retail price: $15.99, but discounted for multi-volume purchases or for review copies. Available to schools and libraries through wholesalers/distributors Follett Library Resources, Baker & Taylor, as well as Amazon.com.)

Recommendations

High school principal Dr. Phillip Page (North Cobb High School, Cobb County School System) reported, "Teachers of financial management and life skills will be thrilled to discover this book! Miller uses people stories to breathe life into financial concepts, making lessons both memorable and enjoyable. As an educator, I was impressed that the book:

1. goes beyond “the same old stuff” that students hate;
2. expands minds with research-based facts;
3. engages minds with intriguing angles and creative assignments;
4. challenges students beyond selfish accumulation to consider service to humanity;
5. includes multiple cultures;
6. offers hope to those with learning disabilities.

Robert Martin, Lecturer of Accounting in the prestigious Coles College of Business (one of Princeton Review's best business schools) -- "A fast, fun read with practical and often remarkable insights. Should be required reading for every high school senior and every young adult who has landed his or her first full-time job. I'm incorporating parts of the book into my lectures."

Dr. Dwight "Ike" Reighard, Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer of HomeBanc -- "Had I read this book in my 20’s, I’d be financially independent today. It’s a remarkable blend of fabulous research with clear and lively writing. You’d pay an expert quite a sum for this caliber of counsel. That’s why I say that the best investment you make this year just might be this book. Your second best investment will be the copies you buy for your children."

Larry Winter, of Winter & Scoggins, CPA's -- "As a practicing CPA and financial counselor for the past 35 years, I've read scores of books and periodicals on personal finance. Just when you think you've heard it all, something like this comes along. It's rare and refreshing to find a book so enjoyable, so accurate, and so life changing. I’m purchasing 200 copies to give away to graduating seniors."

Financial columnist Cliff Pletschet of the Oakland (California) Tribune -- "Whether you are a beginner or advanced investor, do yourself a favor and absorb Miller's advice, filtered engagingly through rapport between a skillful mentor and her inquisitive followers." 

School Teacher with 20+ Years Experience -- "Miller's book is overflowing with appealing and agreeably structured information existing as coursework, conversation materials and motivation packed notations." "Miller has created a nicely penned, well-ordered manuscript intended to assist anyone at any phase of earning, saving, investing and enjoying their money. The text is chatty and packed with plenty of practical and constructive data. Coursework and assignments are designed to give support to the reader toward making constructive changes toward, or continuing good money management." - Reviewed by Molly Martin, 20+ Year Classroom Teacher, for The Compulsive Reader) For this complete review, click here.

VOYA Magazine, Voice of Youth Advocates, "The Library Magazine Serving Those Who Serve Young Adults" "VOYA is the only magazine that matters for librarians working with young adults. . . . Simply the best there is."—Patrick Jones, public librarian and author of Connecting Young Adults and Libraries, 2nd Ed. (Neal-Schuman, 1998).

Miller, J. Steve. Enjoy Your Money! How to Make It, Save It, Invest It, and Give It. Wisdom Creek Press, 2009. 270p. $15.99. 978-0-9818756-7-5. Index. Illus. Charts. Source Notes. Further Reading. Appendix.

"Miller’s practical approach to saving, investing, and paying cash emphasizes that managing is as important as making money and allows each person to set priorities for life goals within a context of honesty, integrity, and generosity. Four students of Asian, African American, Caucasian, and Hispanic ethnicity, are assigned In-School Suspension and eventually, with the help of Mrs. Kramer, a teacher and money-management wizard, form The Counter-Culture Club, a kind of financial Breakfast Club. In four parts divided into breakfasts, the five plus Mrs. Kramer’s guests sort out financial challenges and ways to meet them.

Although the situations and conversations sometimes seem forced, the overall content will persuade readers that anyone can realize stability and personal satisfaction with thoughtful resource planning. Each breakfast contains a flashback and review, a new topic discussion, a preview of and preparation for the next session, a self-questioning, and suggestions for further information. Several sessions include instructive and entertaining personal money management stories. As with Teenvestor (Perigree/Berkley, 2002/VOYA June 2002), the excellent complementary Web site (http://www.enjoyyourmoney.org) contains stand-alone advice and free instructional materials that expand the book’s content and purpose.

Miller’s message is that financial responsibility gives personal freedom and the power to contribute to something larger than oneself. Short, easy-to-read sections facilitate individual self-improvement or collaboration. Miller offers great support for junior or senior high students faced with their own or their parents’ financial challenges and provides teachers and support groups a wealth of information and direction." — Review by Lucy Schall.

High School Teacher - "As a high school teacher for over 30 years, I have seen a void develop with our youth about how to handle money. This book fills that void and should be used in all high schools and colleges. It is so good and well written that I could not put it down until its completion. All ages can learn from Mr. Miller's methods that he presents in just the correct way to make it interesting." - David Cady

Author Bio

Interview

Book Outline

Blurbs

Review in The Oakland (California) Tribune

View Book on Amazon.com

Sample Chapters

Book Ordering Information

Author Bio

J. Steve Miller - educator, investor, entrepreneur, and speaker - has taught audiences from Atlanta to Moscow. He’s known for drawing practical wisdom from serious  research and communicating it in accessible, unforgettable ways. In researching and field testing this book, he not only drew from respected books in the field of finance, but received input from business leaders, educational leaders, professors, students, CPA's, financial advisors and parents.

Steve is the founder and president of Legacy Educational Resources, providing global resources for teachers of life skills in public schools and service organizations at www.character-education.info. A self-styled "wisdom broker," he collects wisdom from many fields and packages it for teachers and writers via his published books and the Web. His wife, Cherie, and their seven sons continually remind him what works and what doesn’t. Connect with him at www.jstevemiller.com.

Interview

Q: Steve, what motivated you to write this book?

A: First, people are hurting with their finances. Even before the current recession, surveys found that:

1. Twenty-five percent of American adults live paycheck to paycheck. They fear going under and desperately need to accumulate wealth.
   
2. Ninety-eight percent of middle-aged people reported regret at how they spent their money in the light of how much they could have saved.
3. Today's college students graduate with, on average, over $22,000 in debt. Their first job out of college doesn't pay what they expected. They want to get out of debt and accumulate enough wealth to purchase a house.
4. Personal debt is reaching record highs as personal savings reach all time lows (under zero percent average savings in 2006). How will people ever get ahead?

Second, to get more personal, Cherie and I are raising seven boys, from 14-year-old twins to a 27-year-old. I don't want them to live their lives experiencing the misery of financial bondage. This book sums up what we're trying to teach them about finding financial freedom.

Q: Bookstores offer shelves of books on personal money management. Why write another one?

A: Some of those books are really good. I read wheelbarrows' full of them in my research and recommend many of them throughout my book and Web-based resources (www.enjoyyourmoney.org). But I thought a different approach was in order, something that could help people totally rethink the way our culture has taught them to manage their money. So I wrote a book with these distinctives:

1. Well researched and documented, ensuring that the advice is solid
2. Story form to grab and hold attention
3. Multi-Cultural (Afro-American, Hispanic, Oriental, White Anglo-Saxon)
4. Multi-Generational, including characters from eighteen to eighty
5. Defies stereotypes
6. Likeable characters
7. Neither talks down to students nor ridicules teachers
8. Encourages learning from one another and multiple sources
9. Includes building knowledge, skills and character
10. Fosters giving as well as getting
11. Encourages those with learning disabilities
12. Includes reviews, thought questions and assignments
13. Practical
14. Realistic
15. Broad use of real people stories

Q: The story line reminds me of the movie The Breakfast Club, where high school students from different parts of the school culture broke through the stereotypes to find that they weren't so different after all.

A: Great observation! That movie was a part of my inspiration. So I've got this white cheerleader, an Afro-American muscle car enthusiast, a Hispanic do-gooder and an Asian low achiever. They meet at "In School Suspension" and discover that they've got at least one thing in common: their parents are inept at personal finances and it hurts their families. They desperately want to do better, but they first must overcome their demons.

Amy, Antonio, Akashi and James

Akashi suffers from undiagnosed disabilities, making her the black sheep of her high achieving siblings. Can a "C" student get any better than a "C" vocation and a "C" life? Antonio loves outdoor adventures and serving the less fortunate. But can he make enough of a living to support a family while working in a potentially low-paying career? James wants to make a million dollars before age 40, but no matter how much he works, he can't seem to save a cent.

They're introduced to Mrs. Kramer, an eccentric high school teacher who's unusually successful with her finances. She meets with them each Saturday morning for breakfast to discuss money management.

The resulting package includes adventure, romance and fascinating people - everything you'd never expect in a financial book.

Q: This book is more about people than numbers.

A: Yes! And not only about my fictional characters, but about real people who've succeeded marvelously with their money. Kramer introduces them to Oseola McCarty, who washed clothes for a living the old fashioned way - boiling them in a kettle over a fire. After arthritis forced her into retirement, she shocked the world by giving a $150,000 gift to a college to allow deserving students to get the education she never had. How did she save $280,000 dollars while working such a low-paying job?

Young Warren Buffett started making money with lemonade stands, finding and selling golf balls, and running paper routes. With jobs that anybody could do, he ended up making more than his teachers while he was in high school. Then he multiplied that money into billions. What were his secrets?

The answers aren't hard to comprehend; they're just counterintuitive - not what you'd expect. The book introduces the reader to a host of interesting people and their finances, from Thomas Jefferson to Mark Twain to Sam Walton. I think that financial principles are more easily understood and applied when you learn them in the context of people stories. Yet, math weaves its way through the story, as students prepare budgets, figure compound interest, calculate grocery savings, etc.

Q: With the story line, I assume your target audience is high school seniors?

A: My characters range from 18 to 80 years old. Warren Buffett started investing at age 11. My grandmother started saving and investing at age sixty-five. At age 101, with her sharp mind intact, she's accumulated a small fortune. If the interest is there, I'm finding that a wide range of ages enjoy it and reap the benefit.

Q: In the book, you keep referring readers to your Web site for more information. Why didn't you just include everything in the book?

A: Because few people would buy a 1000 page book that's about finances instead of Harry Potter! Even fewer would actually read it once they brought it home. Personal finance is a very broad subject. My copy of Benjamin Graham's classic, The Intelligent Investor, is over 600 pages, and it just covers one slice of personal finances: investing in stocks. The Web gives me unlimited space to offer teacher resources and cover topics that readers want to explore further. I think many will especially find helpful the in depth summaries of other books related to personal finance. If you want to get a snapshot of the advice of several financial writers, or to get the scoop on a book before you buy it, I think you'll find my executive summaries valuable.

Q: How much do the Web resources cost?

A: They're free. You can find them at www.enjoyyourmoney.org . 

Book Outline

Introduction: Part One – Investing Money

1. Breakfast 1 – Discover the Basics
   Oseola McCarty cleaned clothes for a living the old fashioned way - boiling them in a pot over a fire. So how did she accumulate over a quarter of a million dollars, when people making multiples of her salary can't seem to get by?
2. Breakfast 2 – Catch the Vision
   Young Warren Buffet worked paper routes and found and sold golf balls - stuff that anybody can do. But through saving and investing, he out-earned his teachers while he was in high school. How did investing multiply that money into billions?
3. Breakfast 3 – Don’t Lose Money in Stocks
   "Hash Brown" made all of the mistakes that most investors make, losing tons of money trying to beat the market. He shares his hard-earned lessons with wisdom from Warren Buffett, mutual fund expert John Bogle, Buffett's mentor Benjamin Graham, and Wall Street Journal personal finance columnist Jason Zweig, leading readers safely through the investing minefield.
4. Breakfast 4 – Make Money in Mutual Funds
   Here's how to choose stock and bond funds for the ultimate in diversity, safety and healthy returns.
5. Breakfast 5 – Diversify with Real Estate.
   Travis is a likeable "Dukes of Hazard" type who prefers muscle cars over golf and real estate over stocks. At twenty-eight years of age, his cars and comfortable home in the country are totally paid off. How did he do it?
6. Breakfast 6 – The Breakfast that Almost Wasn’t
   A kidnapping, a car chase and a life lesson.

Part Two – Saving Money

1. Breakfast 7 – Live WAY Beneath Your Means
   "Watch your expenses more than your revenue." So says the successful CEO of Wherehouse Music. Since a dollar saved can equal two dollars earned (hint: savings aren't taxed), cutting costs is the most underrated trick to building wealth.
2. Breakfast 8 – Save on Food and Clothes
   Carmen, a spunky young mother, leads a whirlwind field trip through a grocery store, finding huge savings with "loss leaders," generic drugs, bulk buying and "store blitzes."
3. Breakfast 9 – Save on Cars
   Kramer asks a hairy, audacious question: "Is it possible to spend almost nothing over a lifetime on purchasing cars?" James's answer tells a lot about how to save a bundle on reliable transportation.
4. Breakfast 10 – Save on Houses
   Bob and Bud live in identical houses in the same neighborhood. Why is one paying half what the other pays?
5. Breakfast 11 –Ten Popular Ways to Lose Lots of Money
   Thomas Jefferson was brilliant and famous, but spent his last years fretting over his huge debt. Mark Twain and coach Joe Gibbs lost fortunes in bad investments. How can we avoid their mistakes?

Part Three – Making Money

1. Breakfast 12 – Find Jobs You Love
   Researchers Stanley and Danko discovered that first-generation millionaires made their money at vocations they loved. How can we find jobs we're passionate about?
2. Breakfast 13 – Excel at Your Job
   It's more than college degrees and developing skills.
3. Breakfast 14 – Invest in your Mind
   "In times of profound change, the learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists." (Al Rogers, Global SCHOOLHOUSE Network)

Part Four: Enjoying Money