Product Description

The Cure for Money Madness makes a golden promise: stress-free prosperity and a lifetime of financial peace.

When financial advisor Spencer Sherman found himself crossing a police line to retrieve his work files from a burning office building, he realized he had money madness. He noticed it in his clients, too: those irrational feelings about money that make otherwise rational adults behave foolishly—buying high, selling low, overspending, lying to their spouses, equating their self-worth with their net worth. Money madness stresses us out, poisons our relationships, and keeps us from making as much money as we can. So Spencer invented the cure. Now, in The Cure for Money Madness, he gives us the tools that have helped thousands of people find greater peace of mind—and make more money.

Money madness, Spencer shows us, comes from unproductive messages that we received long ago. “It takes money to make money.” “Paying rent is just throwing money down the drain.” “Don’t talk about money.” When you challenge the messages, you can transform all aspects of your money life: earning, spending, saving, investing, giving, borrowing. More money will flow to you. Your relationships will improve. You’ll enjoy your money more. And you’ll be more generous, too.

In The Cure for Money Madness, you’ll discover:

How much your money madness has been costing you
How wealthy you truly are, by using the revolutionary Actual Net WorthTM statement
How “small and boring” can help you outperform the top investors—without watching the market
How to communicate about money in ways that create deeper connections with your spouse, parents, children, friends, and colleagues
How to know what is truly enough

Money madness keeps us from living as richly as we might and enjoying the wealth we have. In these tough economic times, The Cure for Money Madness transforms fear and stress into prosperity and peace.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #593699 in Books
• Published on: 2009-02-03
• Released on: 2009-02-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780767928557
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Sherman, founder and CEO of a small financial firm, offers sage and soothing advice for taking the emotional factor out of making money decisions. Money madness is the author's diagnosis for the unhealthy behaviors that stem from seeing how money was handled in childhood households and linger long into adulthood: e.g., the inability to talk about money, compulsive spending and debt, the conviction that no amount of money can keep one secure enough, ruthless self-measurement in terms of wealth. Sherman describes how these neuroses can impair income and undermine net worth by adversely influencing the financial decisions people make and keeping them in a state of anxiety, avoidance and fear. A series of scripts and charts offer strategies for tackling such common issues as credit card debt and portfolio diversification. Less a treasure trove of new information, this book provides a sensible framework to understand—and conquer—the emotions and habits that hold individuals back from financial freedom and security. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Sherman, wealth advisor and entrepreneur, offers his thesis that emotions learned in childhood—“money messages”—become “money madness” when they lead to self-destructive, irrational financial actions. Money madness behaviors include muteness as spouses are unable to discuss money; individuals spending more than they earn even when their salary increases; and individuals using money to manipulate others. Tips offered to tame money madness include keeping your financial intentions reasonable (do not set yourself up to fail); maintaining a money diary; and, at least quarterly, reviewing the numbers of your cash-flow statement and net-worth statement. The author also offers his Rainbow Portfolio for investing, which has three simple principles: diversify into a high number of asset classes, leave your portfolio alone when its value changes (except when there are large market swings), and rebalance the portfolio annually. All will not agree with Sherman, but he presents thought-provoking ideas to challenge a wide range of library patrons. --Mary Whaley

Review
“We all want to do the right thing with our money—make it grow, spend it wisely, and use it to make the world a better place. But something is stopping us from doing that, and Spencer Sherman has a name for it: “money madness.” Whether your madness is debt, overspending, taking too much risk, or ignoring your finances altogether, there’s a cure to be found in this book.” —David Bach, author of Go Green, Live Rich and The Automatic Millionaire

“Part basic sanity, part good financial advice, The Cure for Money Madness shows how gaining perspective on your finances makes your life richer—and maybe even makes you more money. Spencer Sherman shows you how to have the cake you really want—and savor it as you eat it too.” —Vicki Robin, coauthor of Your Money or Your Life

“Spencer Sherman doesn’t just show us how to make more money; he shows us how to be more generous, to have stronger and more loving relationships, and to recognize how prosperous and abundant we really are.” —Keith Ferrazzi, author of Never Eat Alone

“An excellent book that teaches you how to have a ‘healthy’ respect for money.” —Robert G. Allen, author of The One Minute Millionaire and Nothing Down

“In these difficult financial times, The Cure for Money Madness offers sanity, clarity, and truly helpful understanding to calm the heart and regain a wise perspective.” —Jack Kornfield, author of A Path with Heart and founder of Spirit Rock Meditation Center

“Read this book to learn how to prioritize your household spending and spend less of your precious time worrying about how to invest your wealth. The benefits will improve both your financial and your personal balance sheets.” —Howard Kaufold, Ph.D., Director, MBA Program for Exe...

Customer Reviews

Wisdom in troubled times!
What gratification to see someone you taught years ago grow into a wise and helpful human being. This book is the product of that growth. Spencer offers a font of advice on how to look into the money madness which grips so many people in this prosperous, yet often self-defeating society in which we live. Through insightful analysis of hidden childhood money patterns and useful exercises Spencer guides the reader into his or her individual "money madness" and suggests how to remedy it. He further teaches how people can invest, free of the pushes and pulls of the get rich quick schemes in books, on radio and TV. I always wondered why people, who want to sell me ideas about how to make a million, bothered. Why waste their time when they could be out making that million rather than trying to get my money? I guess much financial advice is like this. It is too good to be true.

Spencer puts this into perspective by showing how the money madness of both seller and buyer keep them from addressing what is really important in life: living with a sense of ease, living connected to your loved ones, and living so as to contribute to the world. Spencer's goal is to address the ways in which our hidden attitudes toward money keeps us from this deeper satisfaction.

Beginning with an exploration of your destructive patterns, Spencer presents ways they can be healed, particularly in our relationships to others. He suggests how one can save and invest without being driven by emotion (and he does this in very useful detail---something one can act upon at once). He touches on how money madness affects people at work, and how to address it to make one's self more effective. He takes on the myths about house buying (which given the housing bubble burst, makes his advice all the more relevant). He talks about philanthropy, offering ways to do it more awarely.

At a time of money fear, Spencer offers a way for people to see where they truly stand in it all, and how to take action based on a clearer understanding. The subject matter of this book is greatly needed and Spencer has done an excellent job of helping people find their way through a turmoil which may, in fact, be the result of our collective money madness. This is an important book to read.

Charlie Fisher, Associate Professor Emeritus, Brandeis University

Fluff
This book can be summarized in less than 50 words: (1)Emotions control our money decisions, (2) those emotions arise out of a childhood experience, (3) you need to think rationally before making money decisions, and (4) you should diversify your investments. [That's it: 27 words. There's not another thought in the book.]

IT'S NEVER TOO LATE, I'M A RETIRED WIDOW
Not so surprisingly there's always something to learn. I found Spencer Sherman's book The Cure for Money Madness: Break Your Bad Money Habits, Live Without Financial Stress--and Make More Money!to be very useful. I love self-help books. This one looks at our conditioning to and with money.
There's an underlying relationship we all have with money that, regardless of outside circumstances, creates our ease or dis-ease around it.
This book helped me recognize, name, work with this underlying weightiness and learn how to release it.
Wish Spencer had written it years ago but it comes now, just in time.