Money, Finance, and Giving

My 16 year old daughter, Tanille, has been so interested in money, finance, and investing lately.  It has been so exciting to see her feel passionate about learning this.  It is also good for her to have a connection with her dad.  My husband likes to dabble in the stock market - some good some bad - and his dream is to someday be able to retire and be a full-time investor.  I'll be honest: that scares me a little.

She first read "The Richest Man in Babylon" by George S. Clason.  This has been one of my favorite books about the importance of investing in yourself and you future for a very long time.  I think I first read it when I had been married about five years and it has affected the way I handle my money since then.  Next was "Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? A Fast, Clear, and Fun Explanation of the Economics You Need For Success in Your Career, Business, and Investments" (An Uncle Eric Book) by Richard J. Maybury.  That really got her excited about this subject.  Incidentally, I would highly recommend any of his books. Overall, this was one of her favorites.

Dave Ramsey

A couple of years ago, I read "The Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey.  I feel, with half of the world, that he is a truly inspired man who teaches true principles.  He made the idea of being debt-free real to me.  So, I bought the "financial peace" curriculum he has created for high schoolers and Tanille, Natalie, and Noelle have been working through it.  All the girls have learned, but Tanille has grasped onto these ideas and is thinking about them all the time.

So, I bought her two more books to read.  "The Five Lessons a Millionaire Taught Me About Life and Wealth" by Richard Paul Evans and "Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!" by Robert T. Kyosaki.  I had read the first book before, but the second had just been highly recommended by a friend.  Tanille started with "Rich Dad Poor Dad".  Something occured which I was not expecting but which made me very happy: she told me when she was about 2/3 of the way through the book that, although she liked the principles and the things she was learning about investment, she did not like the author of the book.  She told me she like Dave Ramsey much better.  Why did she have such strong feelings about the author?  Remember, I have not read "Rich Dad Poor Dad", so these are her interpretations of he message of the book.  She said that this author seems to want money with no regard to other principles.  She stated that, although Dave Ramsey emphasizes the need to give as part of your financial picture, this author was not at all concerned about giving back.  She also said that some of the ways that he earned money seemed less than upright.  She was concerned that he described buying property at a ridiculously low price and selling it ridiculously high when the buyers didn't know better.  And lastly, she wanted to play a board game that he produced but found that it was $150.00.  We laughed and said that his next book should be titled, "How to Get People to Buy Your Overpriced Board Game and Get Rich". 

I don't know if selfishness was the intended message of the author.  I sincerely doubt it.  At 16 she does not know that it is not dishonest to buy low and sell high to make money.  But she felt that the way he had done it was cutthroat.  I am glad that my daughter, who seems to be "money hungry" right now to some of my other children, realizes that she has a responsibility to serve others, to be honest in all her dealings, and to give back to her family, her community, and her country.  She wants to have money and to live comfortably, but she also wants to use those resources to bless others. 

Another thing she said was, "Mom, I realized that if I wait until I am rich to help other people, I will never do it.  I need to start right now finding ways to use my money to help others.  Then, when I have more I will just be able to help more."  What an astute little girl!

Tweet

Skip These Books

I hate to write about books that you shouldn't read.  I don't read much that I really detest, and these books don't fall into that category either.  Mostly, they were just boring.  Here I am posting about four books that just didn't make the grade for me and I'll tell you why.

My first disappointment is "The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared" by Alice Ozma.  This book is based on the author's experience of having her father read to her every night of her life from the time she was about 9 or 10 until she left home for college.  Every night!  They didn't miss a beat.  What a cool idea!  If she was out late, the read when she got home even if it was midnight.  If she had a sleep-over, the read over the phone.  These times the reading time was short, but other times they read for much longer.  Sounds great and so intriguing, right?  The idea was very interesting to me and my son and I even decided to make a goal to do this for one month.  However, the book was just boring.  Her reminisces of her life are not exciting enough to engage an audience for an entire novel.  I have related to you already the best part of the book.  My disclaimer is:  I did not make it to the end.  I just puttered out after a while.

The next thumbs down is "Washington's Lady" by Nancy Moser.  Now right up front I have to admit that this one might just be me.  I have read extensively about George and Martha Washington and I found this book to be ridiculously elementary for an adult audience.  That is not to say that it couldn't be more appealing to someone who is less experienced in the subject matter.  However, there were a couple of glaring mistakes that made me want to scream, "Really?  Do you have an editor?  Does anyone know anything about this time period?"  The most obvious and appalling was referring to John Adams as the representative from Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania?  I am quite certain that John Adams was very much from Massachusetts.  The first time I read it I excused the mistake thinking it was a terrible oversight and I must be confused somehow.  After all, that is such an simple, obvious fact.  But, later in the book the mistake was repeated and I was chagrined and stunned.  A person who considers herself an authority on history should not make mistakes of this calliber.  I did read to the end of this book and the writing wasn't awful, just very shallow.  (This is apparently #3 of a 'Ladies of History' series by this author.  Number 2 is "Just Jane" about Jane Austen and #1 is so stunning that it is not even listed on Amazon.  I have no idea who it is about.  Or, possible, she is writing the a trilogy backward and #1 is not out yet?  Hmmm.....intriguing idea......)

My third adult dissatisfaction was "The Eyre Affair: a Thursday Next Novel" by Jasper Fforde.  This book received rave reviews and was on my wish list for some time before I bought it, so again this may be a book that is really great and I am the strange one.  But for me, this book was just that:  strange!  It would be classed as science fiction and I have to admit that is my least favorite genre.  Excepting 'Star Wars' I don't think I have every enjoyed anything in that area.  Not even 'Star Trek'.  So there is the disclaimer:  science fiction fans will probably love this book.  Again, I didn't finish it.  It just wasn't my thing.

The fourth of my "stay away" books is a children's book that I read aloud to my children, "A Nest for Celeste: A Story About Art, Inspiration, and the Meaning of Home" by Henry Cole.  Doesn't it sound great?  Again, I have read worse but the premise of the book was objectionable to me and the action was not engaging enough to override that problem.  It is not a book I regret reading, but I wouldn't recommend anyone spend their money on it.  I wish I had not.  I have to say, though, I wanted to love this book because the art work is so amazing.  It is worth browsing through the book just to look at the pictures.  They are pencil sketches which I love, and the artist is truly talented!  One more positive aspect.  The book has John James Audobon as a supporting character and this led us to learn more about him and his work.  That was a good thing and very interesting.  We especially enjoyed reading "The Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audobon" by Jacqueline Davies and Melissa Sweet and "Into the Woods: John James Audobon Lives His Dream" by Robert Burleigh and Wendell Minor.  So, good things came out of it in the end, after all!

Tweet

Here I am again

Yes, it has been two months since I have posted for a variety of reasons.  First of all, I read a string of really dumb books I didn't want to post about.  (I am planning a post on 'what not to read' soon, however.)  Then, I just got derailed for a while.  Although reading is a passion in my life and has been since I was old enough to hold a book, I do have periods of time that it is hard for me to get into anything.  They usually correspond to times when my mental energy is taken up by other activities, and that has been so the last while.  I am pulling out of this funk, though, and I have just begun the latest and last in the 'Inheritance Cycle' by Christopher Paolini called 'Inheritance'.  I'll let you know how that goes, but I have high hopes since I enjoyed the first three books of this series. 

As an aside, fantasy is a genre that is relatively new to me.  My oldest son loved fantasy books in high school and since I try to read as much of what my children read as I can, that meant treading into the world of fantasy.  I have to admit that I enjoy much of it.  (Another future post: my favorite fantasy books.)

I have also been reading to my children a lot.  Again, nothing new, but we are spending a significant amount of time living in our motor home, and so to keep everyone busy during the evenings I read for a couple of hours every night to everyone.  We finished 'There's an Owl in the Shower' by Jean Craighead George.  Now we are in the middle of 'The Janitor's Boy' by Andrew Clements.  Both of these are favorite authors.  Last night, 'The Indian in the Cupboard' by Lynne Reid Banks was brought up and neither Bethany nor Benjamin were familar with it, so it will definitely be on my list to read right away.  That is the fun of having such a wide age range of children:  I get to read my favorite books two or three times to different groups of children.  Alicia and I were reminiscing about reading this book when she and Adam and Todd were young and then going to the theater to see the movie.

Again, I am looking forward to posting again in the next couple of days about these subjects and some of the cool books my teens are reading.  They have been pursuing some interests that I think will be fun to write about.

Until then............................

Tweet