'The First National Bank of Dad' Book Review

This book is sub-titled, "A Foolproof Method for Teaching Your Kids the Value of Money," and to my mind it delivers on that promise. At 190 pages it is an easy read, written in a very relaxed and humorous style, and full of personal anecdotes.

As parents, we are often conflicted about teaching our children to handle money. We want to give them practice at it, but we usually accomplish that by taking away their responsibility and forcing them to save. Large birthday or festive gifts of cash from generous relatives get whisked away from them and deposited in their savings account, out of their control, because we don't believe they will spend the money wisely. A child finds it hard to appreciate the need to save for college or a car or some other event way in their future, and the amount of money they earn on their deposits is so small as to be irrelevant (why is it called 'interest' when it is so uninteresting?).

It was while thinking about these problems that the author hit upon the idea of The First National Bank of Dad. This bank pays its depositors 5% interest a month on unused cash balances, which when compounded would equate to a 70% annual return (he does make it clear that he doesn't accept deposits from adults, or from anyone who didn't receive half their chromosomes from him!). The children's accounts were funded with an initial $25, their allowances were deposited on the first of the month, and after that they were completely in control, to spend or save, no questions asked. Not surprisingly, once they could see the advantages of letting their money 'charge up for a while', they voluntarily saved a good part of their income. They realized that, if they deferred consumption for a while, they would eventually be able to consume more.

As the children became older, the author eventually opened the Dad Stock Exchange to teach them about stock market investing. Once again, the 'rules' were easy to understand and implement but they were very effective in achieving their learning objectives. However, I won't spoil the plot by explaining them here - you'll have to read it!

Do whatever you have to do to get your hands on this wonderful book. My only regret is that it was published too late for me to use the excellent, easy-to-implement ideas on my kids. However, now that they're grown and have kids of their own, this book will be top of my present list for them to read and, hopefully, put into practice.

Mick Brooks is an educator, a public speaker, and an avid stock market investor. As a UK-qualified CPA, he thought making money in the stock market would be easy, but his 'education' cost him around $30,000, so now he makes it his goal to help others to avoid replicating the more obvious mistakes. Visit his website, http://www.beginning-investing.net/ for more advice and information, and don't forget to pick up your FREE copy of the 'Investing Secrets - Day Trading' report!
If you would like to teach your children how to invest, and give them a gift that will last them a lifetime, visit http://www.stocks-for-kids.com/ for information and resources.

Review of The Spirit Level - Why Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better

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Sex education for potential teenage mothers; free gym membership for the obese; cognitive behavioral therapy for badly behaved children - all are inadequate, piecemeal solutions to the symptoms of a wider social malaise - inequality - says a new book by UK researchers.

The Spirit Level argues that the difference in earnings between richest and poorest in developed societies is the source of a catalog of social problems.

What is more, the authors insist, these problems cannot be solved without first addressing the underlying structures of inequality.

Richard Wilkinson, Professor Emeritus at the University of Nottingham and his co-author Kate Pickett at the University of York argue that throughout human history the most effective way of increasing well-being has been to increase material wealth.

But we have reached "the end of that historical journey".

The starting point of The Spirit Level is the suggestion that when average income levels reach a certain level - comparable to earnings in countries such as Chile or Poland - increases in wealth cease to have any impact on well-being.

The book charts how inequality, not average income, is the more accurate predictor of signs of distress in developed countries - poor mental health, drug abuse, obesity, low educational performance, teenage parenting or violence.

Thus, in the US, one of the world's most unequal societies, one in four people have mental health problems. By comparison, in more equal societies such as Germany, Japan and Spain, the rate is lower than one in ten. This is just one of countless examples, backed up by compelling data. Across the 50 US states the pattern is the same: more equal states do better.

The common explanation for this is that unequal societies have proportionally more poor people. But Wilkinson and Pickett argue that although these problems affect the poor more seriously, the rich still suffer. This is why the super rich in the US, UK and Portugal - three unequal societies - do not live as long as the rich do, for example in Sweden, which has a more equal income distribution.

And this applies across the board. A rich child in the UK will not achieve as much educationally as children do in more equal European states like Belgium or Finland. On the face of it, the message is clear: we all suffer from inequality.

Wilkinson and Pickett draw on a range of evidence and theory, hypothesizing that more inequality leads to greater "status anxiety" - our concern about our standing in the world, whether we are going up or down, if we are winners or losers. Our self-image is forever in need of external praise to accept ourselves. Greater status anxiety leads to negative reactions like stress and violence, and their knock-on effects.

In offering a solution, Wilkinson and Pickett consider how some countries may have succeeded in achieving more equality. It seems that there is no single solution. Sweden and Japan for example, two of the most equal societies, operate by entirely different models.

Sweden has high taxes and redistributes wealth through a large welfare state; Japan, with some of the lowest public spending in the developed world, achieves the same by having much greater income equality before tax.

They also look to solutions already flourishing within unequal market democracies, turning to the success of the not-for-profit sector and workers co-operatives for inspiration.

Almost an outcomes agenda for the economy

A chapter is dedicated to suggesting how this philosophy can link up with current debates about environmental sustainability. Discussing the reduction of carbon emissions, they advocate a system that would make the rich - who inevitably expend more through greater consumption - pay their fair share.

But a more radical approach is needed. They question the entire ethos of consumerism and never-ending economic expansion that, they claim, is fueled largely by status competition. According to their research, cutting economic growth does not mean reductions in real quality of life. It almost sounds like an outcomes agenda for the economy.

Publishing of the book coincides with social activism in the form of The Equality Trust to carry the findings further. The trust is promoting employee-owned businesses; it commissions research on equality issues, lobbies politicians and policymakers, and engages with the media.

Were they to be widely corroborated, the conclusions of The Spirit Level would have potentially far-reaching implications for prevention and early intervention efforts. The authors acknowledge that governments can dampen the impact of some of the privations of growing up in poverty, for instance through social housing, health care and high quality early childhood education.

However, they are forthright in their criticism of interventions to tackle social problems one-by-one, on an individual basis.

"The unstated hope is that people - particularly the poor - can carry on in the same circumstances, but will somehow no longer succumb to mental illness, teenage pregnancy, educational failure, obesity or drugs." They are in no doubt that tackling inequality should be the priority before turning to intervention programs.

They question how far we can go by assisting the poor financially, without reining back the earnings of the rich. Far from being an asset, it appears the super rich are actually a burden on the rest of us. Salary caps and more progressive taxation are one way forward. Although this may horrify supporters of neo-liberal economics, Wilkinson points out that, in a curious twist of logic, equality is actually in everyone's own self-interest.

Addressing inequality is, in some ways, far simpler. It provides a universal remedy for many of society's ills. But it implies a much grander task. Rolling out a program of parenting classes for kids with conduct disorder is hard enough. Taking on inequality implies altering the values of entire societies.

The Spirit Level: Why more equal societies almost always do better by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett is published by Allen Lane. It is also available as an ePub and an eBook.

Prevention Action (http://www.preventionaction.org/) is an online news publication reporting internationally on prevention and early intervention programs for improving children's health and development.

Comprehensive
The focus of the website extends to physical, behavioral, emotional, social and intellectual development. Daily stories, comment and blogs look at the potential causes of impairments to children's health and development, such as poverty, poor housing, genes and gene-environment interactions, and family dysfunction.

We are also interested in public policy, professional practice and public behavior that bears on the success of prevention.

International
Coverage takes a determinedly broad view by reporting on initiatives from all over the world, among developed and developing societies.

Reliable
Prevention Action is intended to provide a high quality resource - as readable as a quality newspaper and as reliable for its high scientific standards as an academic journal.

We are an independent online publication managed by The Social Research Unit at Dartington in the UK http://www.dartington.org.uk/

Jubilee! Church and Community Support For Local Economic Growth in a Book That Matters to All of Us

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Why Historians and Americans Are So Worried About Socialism - Read This Book!

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There is a lot to be said about the economics of socialism, and how the ramp up of converting a capitalist society into a socialist one can bring good times temporarily, as a socialist leader can seize a nation by becoming a populist and wreak havoc on a nation. We've seen this in recent periods in Argentina, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Ecuador. Many in the United States warn we are indeed, headed in the wrong direction with our current leadership, in fact I am one of those who don't like the direction we are headed.

But rather than me get into a long debate on the subject, why not do yourself a favor and read a little history on the topic. Here is a good book to read, I highly recommend it to you:

"Lords of Finance," by Liaquat Ahmed, Penguin Press, New York, NY, (2009), 536 pp, ISBN: 978-15942-01-820.

The book discusses the end of WWI and the demented inspiration of Hitler, and how the NAZIs came into power quickly from a very small group to one of the major parties in only a year and a half. Also discussed are the chaos of war, appeasement, gold Standard, Banks of England, and New York at the time and of course the Great Depression.

The Author suggests we are in the same place today, and he's got a great argument in that the charts sure look a lot the same. Another good book review on this very excellent book can be found online. It was in the New York Times, the title of the article is;

"A Monetary Horror Story that Looks Like Today's," by Janet Maslin on January 14, 2009.

Indeed, I recommend reading both, because I don't want to burst your next bubble, but socialism does not work, read for yourself. Please consider all this.

Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank. Lance Winslow believes it's hard to write 20,000 articles; http://www.bloggingcontent.net/

Note: All of Lance Winslow's articles are written by him, not by Automated Software, any Computer Program, or Artificially Intelligent Software. None of his articles are outsourced, PLR Content or written by ghost writers.

Book Review - Flat World, Big Gaps - Economic Liberalization, Globalization, Poverty and Inequality

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The position advanced by the authors of this book represent a shift from the dominant view in neo-liberal economic circles that economic liberalization and globalization are good for economic growth, poverty alleviation and reducing inequality in society. The authors argue that instead of closing the gaps created by poverty and inequality between countries and within societies, economic liberalization and globalization have made the situation worse. To substantiate their arguments, the authors draw richly from various case studies ranging from Eastern Europe, Latin America, Middle East, East Asia to Africa. The plethora of case studies presented makes this book unique, and exciting to read as it offers the reader the opportunity to search for the evidence themselves to test the validity of the arguments posited. Furthermore, the inclusion of a useful list of tables and figures in the beginning of the book makes it easy to find information that the reader may be urgently looking for a specific use without having to browse through the pages e.g. rates of poverty per region, global Gini coefficients and other useful information.

The book shows that contrary to conventional neo-liberal wisdom that globalization creates opportunities and opens market for countries; it aggravates inequality which the authors attribute to inter-national (globalization) rather than intra-national disparities. The book further shows that the advent of globalization has not brought any improvement in terms of addressing inequality and poverty rates, instead the conditions appear to have worsened. Countries' commitment to social spending has been negatively affected as a result of slow economic growth associated with globalization.

Avoiding being trapped in theoretical deliberations, this book presents a realistic picture of a world which is supported by hard facts on the impact of economic liberalization and globalization. Worth noting is that the issues that the books raise are not necessarily new as other authors have raised them before. However, this book goes a step further to present comprehensive evidence from a myriad of authors. The book therefore gives the reader a sanctuary from which he/she can critical reflect on the developments in the world today without being clouded by neo-liberal propaganda which blindly accepts that economic liberalization and globalization are good for development and creating an equal world. The recent anti-globalization movements throughout the world symbolizes a rise of a giant wave of dissatisfaction among the economical marginalized.

Finally, it is clear that although globalization may have created a world with integrated systems which makes it easier for people to interact and conduct business, it has however created gaps in terms of poverty and inequality. In other words, economic liberalization and globalization has done nothing to close the gaps but instead they have 'globalize inequality'. It is a source worth reading, especially for those who want to understand the impact of globalization and economic liberalization on poverty and inequality.

Review on Freakonomics and How it Makes Anyone Suddenly Interested in Economics!

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So at my local library I saw a copy of Freakonomics in the "best seller" area. After a bit of a internal debate I decided to pick it up and boy was I surprised. This book was really good! While economics can often be told as a boring subject with graphs and numbers decorating a big board the book mainly emphasizes the motivation behind human action. Many people enjoy saying that humans are only motivated by greed and selfishness and Freakonomics does a good job of showing how this motivation might affect us in our day to day lives. Without spoiling some results the book describes and proves with a lot of detail certain interesting questions such as what do school teachers and sumo wrestlers have in common?

The presentation of the data and results is one of the major selling points of this book because it is laid out in an enjoyable way while constantly making you want to turn the page and see more mind blowing and humorous details. One of the most interesting topics in the book was how abortion might be a great tool to stop the growth of crime. Once again I don't want to spoil the reasons the author gives to defend his point but a lot of it is definitely based on solid fact. Another topic that many people will most likely deal in their lives presented in the book is how real estate agents might not necessarily be doing the best job possible selling your house even If they earn a % commission to do so. This topic can be applied to many other jobs where people earn commissions and it is quite interesting to see the author's opinion, accompanied by a lot of data, on how some things might not be as we believe they are.

As a final note, this is one of the first book that deals with economics that I completely enjoyed. Not only is it informative but it has great humor and subject matters that can be relevant to our lives instead of only the broad economy of x country. This is a must read, even if you think economy is boring you will probably find some of the subjects presented in the book to be of interest to you

I'm currently interested in health, finance & video gaming/entertainment. If you ever need information on waterproof cast covers or how to select the best fish oil supplement feel free to contact me:).

Economic Development in Singapore

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Singapore's history is one of riches and romance spice trading and piracy, colonialism and growth. In the 7th century, she was the Temasek, the trading center of Sumatra's ancient Srivijaya empire.

In 1963, Singapore was part of a political and economic alliance formed between the Federation of Malaya, Sarawak and North Borneo which is now Sabah under the nation of Malaysia. This alliance, proposed by the Malayan Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, was called Malaysia, and proved to be short-lived.

In 1965, Singapore separated from the Malaysian Federation to become an independent republic. Over 45 years, Singapore has relentlessly pursued the goal of becoming Asia's Pre-eminent center for tourism, trade and finance, by developing education and technical training programs, investment strategies, aviation and environmental policies.

Now the small island republic of only 633 square kilometers, boasts the world's busiest port and an airport served by over 70 of the world's major airlines, serving more than 21 million airline passengers year. This diamond-shaped island is only 224 square miles with the population of 6 million.

As a major tourist destination, Singapore welcomes an average of 12,000 visitors each day.

Singapore has a highly developed market-based economy that depends heavily on exports and refining imported goods, especially in manufacturing, electronics, petroleum refining, mechanical engineering and biomedical science sectors which could in the website in Wikipedia.

This nation is a good example of model urban planning and a former colony of Great Britain, it is a tiny city state. It is a member of Association of Southeast Asian Nation or known as ASEAN. Singapore is a major international hub in whole Asia, it is positioned on many sea and air trade routes.

Slum areas were eliminated and the urban planners have been knowledgeable about the planning experiences in other parts of the world especially in Western Cities.

It is hoped that major cities in the Philippines such as Manila, Cebu, and Davao can learn a lesson from Singapore.

Why Not Learn About the Business Cycle and Policy Making Manipulation in Economics

Most people do not really understand the economy, business cycles, how the Federal Reserve works or how on Earth this terrible crisis occurred that ended up taking down the whole world, causing the global crisis we are now in. But in case you are one of them, and if you care to learn a little, might I be so bold as to recommend a very good book to you?

"Meltdown - A Free Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse" by Thomas Woods; Regnery Publishing (2009)

Woods is very critical of politicians that tell us that it is the "Free Market that failed" as he says; NO, that's just not so. So what was the government's role in this, well consider the Community Re-investment Act, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and the Federal Reserve System and their manipulations and intervention of the moving market to achieve the desired results.

This book boasts that it answers the following very important questions: (1) Which brave few economists predicted the economic fallout--and why nobody listened; (2) What really caused the collapse; (3) Why the Fed--not taxpayers--should have to answer for the current economic crisis; (3) Why bailouts are band-aids that will only provide temporary relief and ultimately make things worse; and (4) What we should do instead, to put our economy on a healthy path to recovery.

And I would submit to you that he's done a very good job of showing how our manipulation of the business cycles is nothing more than a scam at times. The author says that the people that believe in Freedom are the smartest people in the world. And you may recognize his name, as he also wrote the bestselling book; "The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History."

He is a free-market guy, and rightfully so, best of all he writes with conviction in an easy to understand format that even a novice can comprehend. I very much recommend this book to you. Think on This.

Lance Winslow enjoys community philanthropy - Lance Winslow likes small business. Lance Winslow has also been involved in the Oil Industry; http://www.oilchangeguys.com/aboutus.shtml.

Suze Orman Shares Investing Common Sense With Women & Money

Women & Money ~ Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny

Money is a topic you either embrace or avoid. Orman's book delivers straight talk on investing for women and building individual wealth.

Personally I've always known just enough about investing to put some money away each month and I rely on financial advisers to steer me in the right direction.

Suze shares a candid look at her life and how she got to where she is now. Plus she offers a no nonsense approach to making sure women begin to really think about taking care of their own business.

With an uplifting vein of optimism about what is possible throughout the book, Orman successfully illustrates traits and tactics to help women thoughtfully approach investing.

Orman's 8 qualities of wealthy women have been shared on national talk shows and cannot be stressed enough.

Qualities 1 and 2 are harmony and balance. These are said to be the most important qualities because they are the foundation for all other qualities.

Quality 3 is courage. Orman writes that "Courage gives harmony expression. When your thoughts and feelings are one, courage helps you manifest them in the form of words and actions."

Quality 4 is generosity. Orman points out that women tap into this almost too quickly. We tend to be overly generous with our time, support, love and money. The true measure of generosity, according to Orman, is being able to allow money to come into your hands and out through your heart.

This was a concept I can relate to. Orman challenges women to look at why and what they give and how it makes them feel. She also offers six rules for giving (but, you'll have to grab a copy of the book to find out what these are).

Quality number 5 is happiness. According to Orman when you find the courage to live your life in harmony and balance, you understand and practice generosity, happiness will spontaneously appear.

And perhaps the most important point she shares about happiness is this; "Happiness is not a luxury. It is a necessity for true wealth."

Quality number 6 comes in the form of wisdom. Who doesn't want to be wiser?

According to Orman, wisdom is more than intellectual and not directly related to education. Wisdom is an express result of tapping into your core beliefs to make the right decisions for yourself.

The 7th quality is cleanliness and is all about the importance of order and organization. A laundry list of situations that subtract from your wealth status include;

- Not knowing where your money is
- Not having a systematized filing system for important documents
- Pulling crumpled bills and receipts out of your purse
- Maintaining a vehicle that looks like a garbage can
- Having closets that are filled with junk and clutter.

I am sure most of us can relate to at least one area we need to work on. I have to admit, as organized as I am, I could relate to a couple of those scenarios. Orman's philosophy really makes sense and I've corrected my personal problem areas. My first order of business was donating clothing I had not used or worn in the past year to charity.

The final quality is beauty. Orman ties all the qualities together by noting beauty is what you achieve when all the qualities are combined.

To some it may seem strange that the qualities of wealthy women are included in a book on investing. However, if you personally don't possess the qualities it will not be as easy for you to achieve your wealth potential.

In addition to the foundational building blocks Orman shares solid advice on choosing the right investor, the importance of having one personal savings account in your name only and discusses investment options in layman's terms so anyone can get started right way.

This article may be reproduced in its entirety with the following inclusion: Lisa Manyon specializes in POWERFULLY communicating your marketing messages to increase results. She's a Professional copywriter and Marketing strategist. Her work has been featured by the National Association of Women Writers, Absolute Write, Copywriting TNT, Lewiston Tribune and more. Manyon works directly with Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero as the Red Hot Communications GOLD Copywriting Mentorship Managing Director, is the first professional copywriter in Idaho to earn Glazer -Kennedy's Creating Copy That Sells certification and the Copywriting Expert for the Association of Web Entrepreneurs. Manyon specializes in making life easier for business owners and entrepreneurs by knocking one more thing off their "to do "list. She accomplishes this with her copywriting expertise and commitment to long-term business relationships. Get a Free Copywriting Action Plan & discover 7 Power-packed Insider Tricks of the Copywriting Trade to Dramatically Increase Sales of your Products & Services http://www.lisamanyon.com/

70 Million Baby Boomers, Eh? Sounds Like Opportunity to Me!

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Folks have been talking about the paradigm shift coming to the United States as the Baby Boomers grow older and retire. Social Security will soon collapse, it was scheduled for 2042, but it will occur a decade sooner. When social security was really working well, 17 people were working for every 1 person in retirement, good stuff, no problems. But in a less than a decade there will be one retired person and only 1.9 people for each still working. Obviously, that is not going to work out mathematically.

Many have talked about what is to come, and it has already happened in Japan with their post economic boom. With an aging population, the workforce is having trouble holding up the economic expansion and with zero growth, it is tough to supply the needs of the civilization. Europe is next and then the US after that. Brilliant minds like Ken Dychwald have been discussing this for years.

There is also an interesting book out now called; Futurecast" by Robert Shapiro, which is a remake of all the previous studies, research and works on this subject. Having read all the data on demographics and this coming shift, I do recommend the folks above, but would also like to recommend another economic book on this topic:

"Boom, Bust & Echo; How to Profit from the Coming Demographic Shift" By David K. Foot with Daniel Stoffman; Macfarlane, Walter & Ross, Toronto, Canada; 1996.

He discusses real estate crisis, investing issues, social security problems, retail sales, manufacturing problems, retirees younger longer and how our retirement cities will grow and be so much different than the past. He discusses the crisis in Health Care, which we are now seeing over a decade later, all great predictions, he did not miss any and there are a few more to come too.

He speaks to the Canadian problems that mimic the US population and what it means to our Northern neighbors. The appendix is a lot of data that will scare the bejesus out of any leader or economists trying to figure out how to fix the problem. You need to read this book, it's a quick one, only 210 pages, but it will blow you away.

"Lance Winslow" - Lance Winslow's Bio. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/.

Economic Development in the Philippines

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At present, former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is leaving her position, this time, it will be another chapter. Today it is President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino who is the 15th President of the Republic of the Philippines that takes over the economic development of this nation... Although there are many issues to be tackle when we are dealing with economic development.

This development is based on the aspects where they belong to our country.

The economic aspect there is based on the purchasing power of people while social aspects is based on life expectancy at birth and adult literacy which is known as educational attainment.

The question still exist in the nation's community development.The way we see it, why do most Filipinos choose to leave their homeland and live and work elsewhere?

Based on my findings and observations including opinions here is what I discover.

First, I found out that when they apply jobs after their graduation, it was resulted to lack of good-paying jobs because there are more job opportunities abroad and the standard of living is better in most countries than in the Philippines. Most of all, the salary is much higher in other countries which is true in terms of actual job.

Second, the fulfillment of the dreams because most Filipino people choose to leave their homeland and live and work elsewhere because they want to fulfill a childhood dream.

Third, there is a feeling of desperation because the Philippines compare to well-developed countries is backward in many ways and seems hopeless in getting away from a culture of corruption that most Filipinos want to leave the land of their birth to work and live in other countries where they could find peace and prosperity.

Before I end this article, the recommendation for this issue is the Filipinos will develop as long as there is no corruption in the society because it affects the future of Filipino people.

Corruption must be eliminate at all cost and we don't need to borrow money from other countries in order to avoid foreign debts to other countries.

I hope the present Aquino administration in year 2010 will fulfill his dreams to the Filipino people in order to improve the economic development.

Is Ron Mueller the Next Matthew Lesko?

His name may sound kind of familiar, but His wardrobe gives him away every time - his trademark "question mark suit;" you know the one covered with neon question marks, his mismatched bright socks, wild bow ties and a seemingly inexhaustible collection of eyeglasses in every color of the rainbow.

Matthew Lesko Is the best-selling author and infomercial host, who has published over 70 books showing everyday people how to get free services and products from the federal government. He has had two New York Times best-sellers and two national best sellers, Getting Yours and Information USA.

Twenty years ago, Matthew Lesko was working out of his bedroom with one phone line helping Fortune 500 companies get information on commodities. One day he had an idea: why not publish the names and numbers of federal programs that offer free and low cost services and money programs for taxpayers.

Ron Mueller is doing for the home-based entrepreneur, with the 5th edition of his #1 New York Times best selling book, "Home Business Tax Savings Made Easy!," (formerly titled, "It's How Much You KEEP that counts, not how much you make!") what Matthew Lesko has done for the public with his grant information; which is to take the laws written by congress and the IRS and place them in one easy to find, easy to read reference guide.

Ron Mueller uses everyday language to convey his simple message, as a w-2 employee, without a home-based business, you are overpaying your taxes week after week, month after month, year after year. Every American should willingly pay our taxes we just don't need to over pay them.

So are all those tax breaks, so frequently touted by & to would-be entrepreneurs, for real or what? Unequivocally YES! They are most assuredly for real, they're NOT "loopholes," "tax dodges," or "tax avoidance schemes." They're honest, ethical, legal tax breaks, which are Authorized by Congress, Published in the IRS Code, and Approved by the Federal Tax Court.

One of the common misconceptions many home-based entrepreneurs share however is that their accountant or tax-preparer has received specialized training in home business tax laws.

According to Dr. Mueller, that be couldn't further from the truth, "An understanding of home-based business tax law is not taught in most accounting schools, and isn't even tested on the CPA exam! So, simply finding a person with CPA after their name is no indication whether they do, or don't, know ANYTHING about home-based business tax law. In most cases they will only know if self-taught."

"If I need surgery I would seek out a specialist. I now know that I need to do the same thing for tax preparation. The right surgeon can save my life. The right tax advisor can save my financial life."

How important is this guide to the average American? Quite simply stated by best-selling author and entrepreneur, Robert Allen, in the introduction to, "Home Business Tax Savings Made Easy," "everyone with a home-based business needs this book. Anyone without a home-based business needs it even more."

Dr. Mueller spent 12 months researching every tax code, congressional law or federal court ruling that pertains to home-based businesses and then another 6 months translating all of that into plain English.

Why?

Because everyone thinks they pay too much in taxes, but most people are unwilling to do anything about. This book removes the, "I didn't know" excuse from our vocab.

If you're a Network Marketing Professional who's not using the information contained in the pages of "Home Business Tax Savings Made Easy," to explain to your potential business partners the exact nature of their tax advantages - you're working way too hard.

Let's get real - What's the #1 reason most people are looking to join your business in the first place? Correct, they need more money - usually right away! Not now - RIGHT Now.

Imagine being able to flip to page 169 & showing your prospective partner how they can change the number of allowances on their w-4 and increase their take home pay as soon as their next pay period. If you believe that this would be invaluable to your business then you need to own this book.

But, don't make the mistake of thinking this book is solely for Network Marketers. If you own & operate, or are looking to own & operate any type of business, full or part-time, from your home, this book belongs in your reference library as well!

Derrick Carpenter, Home Biz Tax Coach

A home-based business offers the best tax savings strategy available to the average American. http://homebiztaxbreaks.biz/
The More you Know the Less you Pay.

Follow my "tweets" on twitter: http://twitter.com/homebiztaxcoach

Worried About Hyper Inflation? Maybe You Should Think on It

The United States has been busy printing money and we've been selling Treasury Notes, luckily we are borrowing at a low interest rate, but we are also putting ourselves in debt and printing money and forcing it into the economy at a rate never before seen. The Stimulus of 787 Billion Dollars and some $2 Trillion for financial bailouts; all this money flow will cause an inflation challenge in the future. So, let me recommend a very good book to you:

The Great Inflation and Its Aftermath - How Reagan and Volcker Tamed Economic Policy - and Why Obama Should Listen" by Robert J. Samuelson; Random House, New York, NY (2008).
It is also available to be loaded onto your Kindle "The Great Inflation and Its Aftermath: The Past and Future of American Affluence" for the low cost of $14.00
This book reminds us of the problems with high-inflation during 1960 to 1982. Most younger folks have no clue why this is. Things were pretty bad in the 1970s and stagflation was even worse, in fact things were so bad that President Jimmy Carter lost the election.
Samuelson, a columnist for Newsweek and the Washington Post reminds us also that inflation is not so much only an economic problem, as it destroys confidence making it more social and political that one might think. One interesting quote was one by Lenin, who stated that the best way to destroy a democracy is to debase its currency. Indeed, think on that for a minute.
I'd recommend this book to anyone who is wondering if the current direction of our nation's leadership and economy is a wise choice. Consider all this.

Lance Winslow enjoys community philanthropy - Lance Winslow likes small business. Lance Winslow has also been involved in the Oil Industry; http://www.oilchangeguys.com/aboutus.shtml.

Money Magic

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If you want to learn about "Unleashing Your True Potential for Prosperity and Fulfillment" then read Money Magic by Deborah L. Price! This book is chocked full of insightful, useful information.

Ms. Price starts by explaining about the energy of money and why there are winners and loser in the money game. The most interesting part of the book was Price's description of the eight money types:

The InnocentThe VictimThe WarriorThe MartyrThe FoolThe Creator/ArtistThe TyrantThe Magician

So how do we recognize these types, and identify which type we are? I am sure we've all known people like these.

For instance my friend who has no clue of what her take home pay is and how much her monthly expenses are, she'd be The Innocent. Or my relative, The Victim, who continually makes bad choices with her money then blames everyone else and gets her mother to bail her out. And oh boy, you know The Warrior type, he is so focused on money, he sets out to conquer the world, all in an effort to prove his own self-worth. Then there's The Martyr, poor thing she spends all her time, energy and money on everyone else.

I think I dated The Fool once or twice, they play by a different set of money rules, usually rules they tried to stack in their favor! The Creator/Artist type just finds it difficult to live in the material world and would rather not have to think about money. I think we've all known The Tyrant, he dedicates his whole life to making money so he can use it to feel superior and control those in his life. Finally, there is The Magician, these are probably the millionaires and billionaires, because they know how to transform and manifest their own financial reality!

Most of us are probably a combination of money types. I could see small traits of all them in myself. At times I am The Innocent, because I would rather not pay attention to the money details, and sometimes I'm The Victim, who likes to blame the economic downturn, but then The Warrior in me will emerge briefly, until The Martyr takes over and I spend too much money on my kids, then I truly feel like The Fool, and crawl into The Creator/Artist who wonders why we need money anyway, until the Tyrant emerges reminding me that the one with the gold makes the rules. Unfortunately, cycling through all these types has never lead to The Magician, who I am sure resides somewhere in my mind.

This book challenged me to define my relationship with money through a series of exercises such "Your Money Biography" and "Identifying Your Money Archetype". Although I am still a work in progress, I feel I am on my way to developing a new relationship with money and on the path to finding or developing The Magician but maybe, The Magician is just a state of mind where we feel truly abundant, prosperous and fulfilled! I can hear the tune strumming through my head, "I'm in a Magician state of mind!"

Visit http://www.rhondahsmith.com/ for more valuable strategies to create Your Business, Your Life, Your Way! Rhonda Smith is a unique business coach and QuickBooks trainer. With her professional yet personable style she works with her clients to grow their businesses, increase their income, and gain more free time! She offers QuickBooks training, bookkeeping services, and small business development strategies. ?Rhonda H. Smith, Inc. Article may be reprinted only if complete Bio is included.

New Economic Platform - More Than Analysis

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In the next 20 years, you may get bored seeing more and more books analyzing the effects of the current economic crisis and what brought it on.

But, at the very beginning of this financial crisis, I've found the first book to advocate a new financial platform and address the biggest problem: adding more jobs and restoring worldwide financial stability.

The book didn't just suddenly appear as an analysis of the world's economic crisis. It has been stored in the brain vault of Leonard S. Johnson for more than 5 years. He has been tossing around ideas, coming up with new approaches and creating new kinds of thought for that entire time. And this was long before this financial crisis put the world on its collective knees. It was now time to come to the aid of a crumbling financial world.

That's when Johnson decided it was time to give the world a needed answer to deal with these effects of the economic crisis with his innovative book "The Bank for International Ideas." Johnson has based his book entirely on taking intellectual capital to intellectual property. He shows how to use the book's premise to create a new financial order based on worldwide innovative ideas that become businesses, scientific projects or organizations.

"The Bank for International Ideas" isn't a book of how to merely get banks to support and fund new ideas. The fact is banks are not doing that to the degree we have known in the past. BII is a complete financial platform which allows anyone in the world to submit ideas to the bank.

The process starts with the review committee. The committee, a noteworthy group of peers, decides if the idea is worthy and valid. If so, the bank actually issues credits which are then redeemed in currency in three parts: 33%, 33% and 34% totally 100%.

This means BII allows the innovator to make money on the idea while searching for investors, investment money, funding and mentor involvement. There's nothing to pay back unlike a usual bank transaction. The individual is actually paid for the idea. That's new in the world of finance. And good news for the idea-maker.

Johnson believes the world is no longer going to be run by the current skilled jobs. He believes true financial stability will be led by innovators who create areas of new job categories, not simply the skilled ones that we have known.

Johnson has created "The Bank for International Ideas" book to become the financial handbook of the upcoming new era of finance. The result is: It isn't the end-all answer to analyzing the effects of the financial crisis. It is the end-all book to the beginning of the new phase of finance in the world.

Unlike the blow-hards that puff themselves up to tell the world how they would do or would've things, Johnson has a truly remarkable way to make the entire world a better place financially.

I have also found something else he's done. He's created a 5-part YouTube explanation of the financial platform and how it works. So, you can absorb the financial concept before you get the book and delve into the details.

It just gets better and better.

"Conspiracy of the Rich" By Robert Kiyosaki - A Review

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Robert Kiyosaki launched his recent book as a viral event by having chapter by chapter released online and collecting comments from readers. The end result is a physical book "Conspiracy of the Rich: The 8 New Rules of Money".

Judging by the stream of traffic flowing to his ConspiracyOfTheRich.com website and comments from readers, it has not put the world alight, but worked fairly well.

Robert Kiyosaki is best known as author of the best-selling book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" and ever since that book came out in 1997, he and his colleagues, has just held publications to come.

The controversy over the years has focused on Kiyosaki's view that your house is not an asset (instead it is an obligation, because it takes money rather than makes money) and that mutual funds are unsafe and losing investments.

You can say that by the time he writes this book in 2009 his views have, at least in part, been shown to be accurate.

Kiyosaki was controversial in 2002 when he came out with Rich Dads Prophecy predicting a crash. His assertion that the demographics of the Baby Boomer generation and the laws of their retirement investments would lead to a heavy crash in the stock market when they stopped working and began living off their investments. He predicted this to be sometime from 2010 onwards, and it seems to be panning out.

However Conspiracy of Rich is his strongest statement literary statement yet.

Kiyosaki is at both vivid and scathing; from the Introduction "The Root of All Evil", to the later section on "Hijacking of the Education System", where he compares the US to wartime Vietnam or the shanty towns of Cape Town in South Africa.

His message continues, "Today, those who have a strong financial education have an unfair advantage over those who do not."

As always, Kiyosaki is speaking in general terms, using stories and metaphors (such as the tale of the big bad wolf and the three little pigs). He also references much from his previous books. In fact, every one of his eight new rules can be found in his earlier books.

But this book also has more hard and relevant facts, and more solid warnings than ever before.

For example, in Chapter 10 he explains exactly why the recent chaos has been followed by seeming stability. The graph shows that he is instead of green shoots, are we merely in the eye of the hurricane, and Lehman Brothers etc or worse is set to occur again, he predicts, within the next two years.

Chapter 12 shows that the U.S. stock market low on the Dow of 6547 in 2009 is no bottom, and that there is still much lower to drop.

A consistent criticism of Kiyosaki is that he is very repetitive. This book keeps the same style as the previous ones. Kiyosaki response is that repetition is a part of learning, and I'd agree.

A few months ago I went back and reread Cashflow Quadrant, and was surprised at how much I felt that I was not even to pick out all those years ago when I first read it.

Personally, I ended up after much of Kiyosakis path to riches. I'd prefer say its because I've followed his advice but in reality its more because my experiences have agreed again and again with his messages.

If you just want the guts of the "Conspiracy of the Rich" you can read the final Chapter 12 "If I Ran The School System", but there are enough interesting stories in this book to make it worth reading all the way through.

If you are familiar with Kiyosaki's most important books, and you understand fractional reserve banking, Fiat currency and the notion that the Federal Reserve is not federal or U.S., it has no reserves, and it is not a bank, then you can get the few extra nuggets pretty quickly.

If you are new to Robert Kiyosaki, or have not encountered Austrian economics (a term never used in the book) then it is both a treat, and a mental work out. More than any other of his books this one covers a lot of territory for the newcomer. This is also one of his most fundamental books about money and general financial skills, and deserves to be read broadly.

Author Martin Russell discusses marketing and online strategies at http://www.carefulcash.com/

An Evaluation Framework - Economic Policy and Human Rights by Radhika Balakrishnan and Diane Elson

Economic Policy and Human Rights by Radhika Balakrishnan and Diane Elson apparently declares an intention to compare and contrast fiscal and monetary policy, public expenditure consequences, taxation, trade policy and pension reform in Mexico and the United States of America. The choice of countries is justified on several levels: they are of comparable size, differ in level of development, contrast in governmental approaches and, crucially, are both signatories of NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement which, itself, suggests a commonality in certain policy areas. At the outset, the authors declare that the neoliberal economic assumptions that have dominated policy choice for thirty years have not worked, ostensibly because their main result has been the current crisis.

The authors thus attempt to illustrate this claim by examining a range of social, employment and economic indicators to assess the impact of the current paradigm on particular groups within both Mexico and the United States. But Balakrishnan and Elson also declare the intention of doing much more than this, in claiming that the framework they adopt could become transferable to other places and contexts. Their choice of framework appears to achieve exactly what they intend, and it does so quite spectacularly. And it is a position that could have benefited my own work a couple of decades ago, if only it had then existed.

My own research on education's role in Philippine development found that increased use of market forces and privatisation in an education system already heavily reliant on the private sector produced distortions that undermined some of education's potential and desired objectives. After the debt decade of the 1980s, increased reliance on market forces in Philippine education placed most high quality educational experience beyond the reach of anyone but the economic elite. And yet, declared policy stated that the promotion greater equality was one of the education system's explicit goals. In the future, work intending to identify such contradiction will benefit from employing the universal reference point of the transferable framework identified in Balakrishnan and Elson's superb study.

The authors begin with a short discussion of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. Importantly, the rather general goals that this advises have been rendered more specific by subsequent declarations. And, by signing up to these, governments - presumably - declare their desire to see the declared goals achieved, both at home and abroad. Such general aims have thus become more specifically objectified via the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Covenant on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Thus policy objectives, if not timetables for their achievement, in the areas of race, gender, employment and several other areas can be specifically identified as having been espoused by governments because they have willingly signed up to these treaties, even though that might have been prompted more by political expediency than commitment.

Using these objectives as a framework for evaluation, the book's individual papers conduct a near-forensic examination of a range of Mexico's and the USA's recent economic and social policies in the specified areas in order to examine whether the agreed objectives have been furthered or hindered. Almost without exception, neoliberal policy conformity is shown to undermine these agreed objectives and often to impact differently from their declared intent on specific and identifiable target groups within the population. This evidence makes a strong case for greater and more active accountability of government action and thus also questions declared commitment to previously agreed - and politically convenient - principles. In more than one area, there is strong evidence to suggest that policies are mere populist window-dressing in that their stated objectives are in line with identified and desired goals whilst their implementation can only undermine their own stated intent.

Economic Policy and Human Rights thus provides much more than an examination of particular policy prescription in Mexico and the United States. Indeed it may even present an evaluative framework that could be applied by progressive analysts to any state or region that has adopted the objectives of these quite specific treaties. As such it will surely provide an important and enduring contribution to any debate on social and economic policy.

Philip Spires
Author of Mission and A Fool's Knot, African novels set in Kenya
http://www.philipspires.co.uk/
Migwani is a small town in Kitui District, eastern Kenya. My books examine how social and economic change impact on the lives of ordinary people. They portray characters whose identity is bound up with their home area, but whose futures are determined by the globalized world in which they live.

How to Trade - Book Review - John Murphy, Intermarket Analysis

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The majority of literature that discusses asset allocation linking multiple markets has a heavy dose of macro and microeconomics. Typically, macro-micro relationships require applying econometric models to comprehend the structural linkages between the two intertwined fields of economics.  John Murphy removes the hard statistical methods while retaining the economic logic with chart-based reasoning.

John Murphy was the technical analyst for CNBC-TV for seven years and a professional analyst for over 25 years. His career includes time at Merrill Lynch as a Director of Commodity Technical Analysis.  John has his own consulting firm, JJM Technical Advisors.  He is also president of MurphyMorris, Inc., which was created to produce educational software products and online services for investors.

There are adequate reader reviews on Amazon and Google Book Search, to help you decide if you will get the book. For those who have just started or are about to read the book, I've summarized the core concepts in the larger and essential chapters to help you get through them quicker.

The number on the right of the title of the chapter is the number of pages contained within that chapter. It is not the page number.  The percentages represent how much each chapter makes up of the 246 pages in total, excluding appendices.

1.  A Review of the 1980s.  16, 6.50%.

2.  1990 and the First Persian Gulf War.  16, 6.50%.

3.  The Stealth Bear Market of 1994.  18, 7.32%.

4.  The 1997 Asian Currency Crisis and Deflation.  14, 5.69%.

5.  1999 Intermarket Trends Leading to Market Top.  16, 6.50%.

6.  Review of Intermarket Principles.  16, 6.50%.

7.  The NASDAQ Bubble Bursts in 2000.  18, 7.32%.

8.  Intermarket Picture in Spring 2003.  16, 6.50%.

9.  Falling Dollar During 2002 Boosts Commodities.  14, 5.69%.

10.  Shifting from Paper to Hard Assets.  14, 5.69%.

11.  Futures Markets and Asset Allocation.  20, 8.13%.

12.  Intermarket Analysis and the Business Cycle.  20, 8.13%.

13.  The Impact of the Business Cycle on Market Sectors.  18, 7.32%.

14.  Diversifying with Real Estate.  18, 7.32%.

15.  Thinking Globally.  12, 4.88%.

Focus on chapters 3, 7 and 11-14, which makes up about 46% of the book. Especially chapters 11-14 are relevant for practical trading purposes.  Unlike my prior book reviews, where I've summarized the key points for each focus chapter, I will summarize the key points across chapters 3, 7 and 11-14. This is to recognize the connectivity of intermarket relationships across the 4 main asset classes of Stocks (Equities), Bonds, Currencies and Commodities.  The context of the summary is to be viewed from a retail option trader's perspective.

Here are the Key Directional Intermarket Relationships in brief.

The U.S. Dollar (USD)
USD turns up as Bonds rise under normal conditions but Bonds fall during deflationary periods. USD turns down as Bonds fall but Bonds rise during deflationary periods.USD turns up as Commodities fall.  USD turns down as Commodities rise.USD turns up as Stocks rise but Stocks fall during deflationary periods. USD turns down as Stocks fall but Stocks rise during deflationary periods.

The USD remains the most liquid of all major traded currencies and maintains its position as the primary global reserve currency, despite growing sentiment for an alternative basket of currencies to replace it.

Bonds
Bonds turn up as the USD falls but the USD rises during deflationary periods. Bonds turn down as the USD rises but the USD falls during deflationary periods.Bonds turn up as Commodities fall.  Bonds turn down as Commodities rise.Bonds turn up as Stocks rise. Bonds lead Stocks and Stocks lag behind Bonds. Bonds turn down as Stocks fall. Again, Bonds lead Stocks and Stocks lag behind Bonds.
Commodities
Commodities turn up as the USD falls.  Commodities turn down as the USD rises.Commodities turn up as Bonds fall. Commodities turn down as Bonds rise.Commodities turn up as Stocks fall. Commodities turn down as Stocks rise.
Stocks
Stocks turn up as the USD rises.  Stocks turn down as the USD falls.Stocks turn up as Bonds rise.  Stocks turn down as Bonds fall. Again, Bonds lead Stocks and Stocks lag behind Bonds.Stocks turn up as Commodities fall.  Stocks turn down as Commodities rise.

Specific to Equities, as you trade the options on Sector Indexes of the S&P 500, please be aware of the correlation versus non-correlation with other equity and non-equity traded products. I am stating in brief, the more commonly known relationships that are repeatedly elaborated on in the book:
Changes in Energy (XLE) especially Oil (OIH, OSX) impacts Semiconductors (SMH, SOX).Utilities (XLU, UTH, UTY) are negatively correlated with Semiconductors (SMH, SOX).With broad-based Equity Indexes, the highest correlation is between Dow Jones and S&P 500.Canada benefits from rallies in oil being the ninth largest producer of crude oil globally.  While Japan, a major net oil importer suffers. The tickers for this inter-play would be FXC/XDC (Canadian Dollar), FXY/XDN (Japanese Yen) and OIH/OSX (Oil).Gold (XAU, GLD) behaves like the Australian Dollar (FXA, XDA). Australia is the third largest producer of gold globally.Top three currencies that have the tightest correlations with commodities are the Australian Dollar, the Canadian Dollar and the New Zealand Dollar.Gold/Silver (XAU, GLD) has very little correlation with other Indices.A deeper understanding of these inter-plays can help you construct effective pairs trading methods.

In conclusion, from a retail option trader's viewpoint, always remember that it is volatility that you are trading.  To trade the volatilities across multiple asset classes, use an optionable Index representing that particular asset class.  Remember, Implied Volatility can be added to or reduced from your portfolio, as not all Asset Classes or Sectors or Individual Companies or Countries move up/down in value ALL at the same time; and/or, ALL at the same rate.

This is not a criticism of the book but a personal observation.  It does not address the use of Relative Strength as a mechanism to cycle in or cycle out of an asset class, as one asset class weakens or strengthens against another asset class.  I have written about Relative Strength in another article, entitled "Stock Option Trading - Fundamental Flaw in Fundamental Analysis and Stock Picking". Please read it as a supplement to this article.

Thanks for reading my article,
Clinton Lee.
Founder, Home Options Trading: a uniquely retail-focused option-centric trading firm.

Please see Consistent Results (http://www.homeoptionstrading.com/consistent_results/), displaying the Model Portfolio's Performance YTD, updated each month-end. The portfolio models a typical self-directed retail option trader's account up to USD $50,000. Here's the stats in summary:
Return: Profit/Start of Year Cash Balance = up +75.62%.
Win/Loss Probability = 90.48%. 9 Wins per 1 Loss. Average Win/Average Loss = $3.09 Won per $1 Loss. Performance Ratio = (Win/Loss Probability) x (Average Win/Average Loss) = 90.48% x $3.09 = 2.80. Positive Expectancy = $1,051 per trade.

Preview an original 55 hour video-based course for online options trading from home, at http://www.homeoptionstrading.com/original_curriculum.html
Purchase the curriculum and receive a $800 options basic course as a Bonus!

Clinton's career spans 16 years of treasury, finance and banking across Hewlett Packard, JP Morgan Chase, Citibank; and, is currently a Corporate Director for Regional Business Development with ABN Amro (acquired by RBS) in Asia. Despite the years in the finance/banking industry, it did not help him directly grasp online options trading from home.

Book Review - The Flow of Time and Money

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There are lots of books in the world about the economy, about the need to have more income as a protection against hard and lean times. There are books that toll bells of financial doom and others that try to educate. But very few tell you how to get from here to there.

Dr. Lloyd Watts, in his book*, "The Flow of Time and Money...how to create a full and prosperous life," tells you how to transition from Middle Class to Financially Independent.

What could be simpler than understanding that the transition from Middle Class to Financially Independent is to:
"...Pay Yourself First, Accumulate Capital, Buy Assets that produce Passive Income, until that Passive Income equals your expenses...." and to do this you:"...find out that changing your flow of money requires effort, self-education, and consistent daily action toward long-term goals. All of these relate to how you manage your time...."

This is where Dr. Watts' book diverges from the others. He gives clear and concise diagrams and explanations for the flow of money - how the average middle class person's income comes in and goes out in expenses - and the flow of time - how the average middle class person's time is set but goes out in "expenses" related to income. It actually all makes sense, especially when you look at his simple leaky bucket diagrams.

Dr. Watts also shows how altering the flow of time and money can transition you from middle class to financially independent. Changing the flow of money to include passive income gradually eliminates the need for a job which has a direct impact on the flow of time - what you do with your time.

A theme I find in this book is the idea of leaving a legacy. He says in his section on The Flow of Life:
"...It's no coincidence that Time and Money have the same structural form...Some people call it Life Energy, or Life...But, if they are really the same thing, how does one get converted into the other? The poor and middle class do it the easy way. They spend their time working for money, and their employer does the conversion for them...We get our 168 hours/week, which is spent sleeping, eating, bathing, watching TV, commuting and working. Our employer pays us for that work, and we spend money on taxes, food, shelter, entertainment and toys. At the end of a life, what do we have to show for it?...."

Dr. Watts is obviously a bit of a philosopher. Although his book is short and to the point, it invites thought and contemplation. He takes us from a discussion of the flow of money and time and how we can transition from middle class to financially independent - and how to get there - but also he concludes with what I call Life Questions:
"...there is more to life than just financial success. Other important aspects of a person's life can include their relationships, health, spirituality, artistic endeavors, community service, contribution to the world, etc. Ultimately, we may ask what kind of a legacy have we left behind....""...Try asking yourself this question: 'What is the biggest problem in people's daily lives that I can meaningfully address?'...Help even one person solve a problem, and you make a difference to that person. If you can generalize your solution method and share it with a lot of people, you will make a contribution to the world...."

I find that this book hits at a good time, given the current global economy and the fact that millions of Baby Boomers are beginning to ask those legacy-type of questions of themselves. Understanding where we are financially and understanding how that standing effects how we spend our time is valuable information. Add to that Dr. Watts' explanation of how to get from middle class to financially independent and what that would do to how we spend our time gives us some ammunition to change our situation.

A thought that just occurred to me - in my parents' day, their goal was to be middle class. They wanted nothing more than the comfort of a house, at least the one car, a steady paycheck and food on the table. Now, we can't even be sure we can keep the house we have, cars are expensive to keep and maintain, our paychecks are no longer a sure thing and food prices are continually rising. Dr. Watts' book comes at a good time.

*To learn more about Dr. Watts and his book, "The Flow of Time and Money" go to http://www.lloydwatts.com/

Linda C Smith, author and owner of a home-based business. I write a business blog at http://intlnat.com/ where you can also find links to my business. My joy in business is sharing my passion for my products as well as showing others how they can enjoy the benefits of a home business.

economics degree online

economics degree online