A unique aspect of this text is its active approach. This text will not only get your students thinking about their current situation and financial goals, but also to put these in writing to use as a guide and revise over the course of their lives. The more a student involves themselves in the assessments, exercises and worksheets provided, the more they will discover about their current habits and how to improve them for greater financial freedom.

Students have many different financial goals, but none are more important than having a basic understanding of financial issues and peace of mind with regard to their decisions. The ultimate goal of Focus on Personal Finance is to get students to this point as a first step to achieving the many financial goals they have set for themselves.

"Absolutely amazing! It completely shifts your paradigm for life. One of the most wonderful things about it is that the results are immediate. My whole perception and relationship to money has undergone a major, substantial change."
—Chris Attwood, writer and teacher, California

"I've spent most of my life trying to figure out what's true and what's real. I have to say I now have a clear glimpse into what it really is."
—Tom Hill, Colorado

"Before Busting Loose from The Money Game, I was very unhappy and frustrated in my life. I was driven to find more ways to make money. I changed jobs, cities, countries, went back to school, read books. Financially, the stress was causing anxiety attacks and migraines so severe I stayed in bed. The joy I feel now is priceless. Money is there when I need it, in the amount that's needed, no matter what occurs (car repairs, unplanned trips, etc.). It's absolutely amazing!"
—Suresh Thakoor, Texas

"As a retired professor on a fixed and limited income, I always lived from a tight budget and felt compressed by it-especially at the end of the year. I don't use a budget anymore and have opened up new streams of income that were always closed to me in the past."
—Howard Rovics, Connecticut

"It opened a whole new dimension for me and shifted my perspective on life completely. I especially love how practical it is. The application is so simple, so effective . . . and fun!"
—Doris Kahle, Hagen, Germany

"I'd had a lot of success in the corporate arena, made a ridiculous amount of money and lost a ridiculous amount of money. But I was caught in a cycle of making it, losing it. I needed to break that cycle-for myself and my family-and this gave me the keys to do that. Busting Loose from The Money Game opened a window I had no clue even existed. This is very cutting-edge, a revolutionary approach to unwrapping yourself from limitations. If you're not satisfied with where you are financially and you're concerned about your future, get this book!"
—Ben Coleman, Texas

How to Prepare for the Unexpected

If in late 2007 you were told that over the next twelve months housing would crater to 20% below it's all-time peak, unemployment would rise from below 5% to nearly 8%, stocks would fall nearly 50%, and a gallon of gas would spike to more than $4 (and then drop below $2) you would probably have shrugged it off as just a whole lot of doomsday-scenario crankiness. But that's exactly what we all had to live through and continue to grapple with in 2009.

The lesson is that the unexpected can happen. In fact, sometimes a whole lot of unexpected happens all at once (see: 2008). No one can control external events, but you do have absolute control over the most powerful tool: your will to make the smart and right choices that will insure your financial security, no matter what happens. As I have said for years: Hope for the best, plan for the worst. If you plan for life's “what if's” there's no need to panic when the news turns bad. An emergency cash fund is your security when a recession causes rising unemployment. A long-term investment strategy that employs a mix of stocks and bonds makes it easier to get through scary bear markets; living within your means, rather than running up credit card and HELOC debt leaves you better able to weather financial storms.

My 2009 Action Plan is designed to make sure you are ready for the unexpected—this year and every year forward. I most certainly hope things get better for us all, but in the meantime I want to make sure you have a plan in place that will protect you no matter what “what ifs” lay ahead.

Bank bailouts. Ponzi schemes. Plunging financial markets. Given today’s dire headlines, planning a secure retirement has become a more critical task than ever.

Now, for Americans seeking safety and stability in a time of wrenching economic change, comes investment educator Julie Jason with this no-nonsense guide, which won the award for Best Personal Finance Book at the International Book Awards and was chosen as the top business book by Booklist. It offers time-tested, rock-solid retirement advice for people of every income level: in addition to showing those on the verge of retirement how to create their own "personal pension,” Jason deftly guides prospective retirees through the otherwise bewildering process of evaluating their needs, anticipating future expenses (and managing current ones), and converting present assets into future retirement income. To achieve this goal, she assembles—and shares with the reader—an entire tool kit of self-assessments, tables, checklists, and essential questions.

Secrets of the Millionaire Mind reveals the missing link between wanting success and achieving it!

Have you ever wondered why some people seem to get rich easily, while others are destined for a life of financial struggle? Is the difference found in their education, intelligence, skills, timing, work habits, contacts, luck, or their choice of jobs, businesses, or investments?

The shocking answer is: None of the above!

In his groundbreaking Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, T. Harv Eker states: "Give me five minutes, and I can predict your financial future for the rest of your life!" Eker does this by identifying your "money and success blueprint." We all have a personal money blueprint ingrained in our subconscious minds, and it is this blueprint, more than anything, that will determine our financial lives. You can know everything about marketing, sales, negotiations, stocks, real estate, and the world of finance, but if your money blueprint is not set for a high level of success, you will never have a lot of money—and if somehow you do, you will most likely lose it! The good news is that now you can actually reset your money blueprint to create natural and automatic success.

Secrets of the Millionaire Mind is two books in one. Part I explains how your money blueprint works. Through Eker's rare combination of street smarts, humor, and heart, you will learn how your childhood influences have shaped your financial destiny. You will also learn how to identify your own money blueprint and "revise" it to not only create success but, more important, to keep and continually grow it.

In Part II you will be introduced to seventeen "Wealth Files," which describe exactly how rich people think and act differently than most poor and middle-class people. Each Wealth File includes action steps for you to practice in the real world in order to dramatically increase your income and accumulate wealth.

If you are not doing as well financially as you would like, you will have to change your money blueprint. Unfortunately your current money blueprint will tend to stay with you for the rest of your life, unless you identify and revise it, and that's exactly what you will do with the help of this extraordinary book. According to T. Harv Eker, it's simple. If you think like rich people think and do what rich people do, chances are you'll get rich too!

QuickBooks helps you keep financial records, prepare invoices and record sales, pay bills, settle up at the end of the year, and more. In this guide, a top accounting and tax planning consultant tells you what you need to do to be ready for QuickBooks, then how to install and set up the program for your business. Discover how to:

• Use the latest version of QuickBooks to maintain your accounting records in compliance with tax laws
• Create invoices and credit memos, record sales receipts, set up inventory items, and monitor your inventory
• Record and pay bills, print checks, and process payroll, including withholding
• Balance accounts and generate financial reports
• Set up a business budget and reconcile your account
• Perform weekly, monthly, and annual record-keeping
• Create job estimates that can be easily converted into invoices or compared with actual costs
• Track accounts receivable and payable
• Produce reports that help you understand your customer list, vendors, job expenses, inventory, payroll, budget, and more
• Use job-costing procedure that help you estimate, bill, and track jobs
• Decide whether to use accrual-basis accounting or cash-basis accounting

Handling the financial chores with QuickBooks can put the fun back into owning your own business. QuickBooks 2009 For Dummies makes it easier!

The overall message of Rich Dad's Guide to Investing is that this is an abundant world, full of opportunity for the sophisticated investor. However, it sometimes takes a while to find this point. Much of the book is told in dialogues between young Kiyosaki and his rich dad, and these conversations can ramble. There are rewards for the careful reader--for example, in the middle of a section on the basic rules of investing, Kiyosaki's rich dad compares investor education to toilet training: difficult at first but eventually automatic. But getting to these inspired metaphors means wading through a lot of repetitive dialogue. It's a bit ironic that someone who advocates investor discipline should show so little as a writer. But by the end of the book, even the rambling starts to make sense. By the hundredth time you read that the rich don't work for money, and that you don't need money to make money, both concepts start to make sense. It still looks difficult to apply these ideas, but Rich Dad's Guide to Investing certainly makes the case that they'll work for anyone bold and smart enough to practice them. --Lou Schuler