Rating: 
Summary: How to make yourself financially free
Review: The book sets the premise that you never learn to deal with money successfully until you overcome your fear of money...of not having enough, and fear of taking action with your money. It's about how to make money work for you so you have more than enough because you learn to devote energy, time, and understanding, to money. The three ways of getting money in this world: (1) Work for it (2) inherit it (3) invest the money you save (the most powerful, respectful way to get money there is). Here are the 9 steps to financial freedom: 1.Step back in time to see how your feelings about money can be traced to your past. We all have "money messages" passed down from generation to generation. 2.Face your money fears and create new, positive truths. 3.Be honest with yourself. Ouit using plastic cards for money. They are addictive and destructive as drugs, giving you a quick fix by satisfying temporary desires. 4.Be responsible to those you love. Establish life insurance, wills, power of attorney, estate planning, etc. 5.Be respectful of yourself and your money. If you do what needs to be done with money, you will attract money to you. 6.You and your money must keep good company. Credit cards are never good company. Get out of debt. Respect yourself and your money by making every penny work for you. 7.Trust yourself more than you trust others. Find the "little voice" inside you; listen to what it has to say. 8.Be open to receive all you are meant to receive. When you are in control of your money and have enough to be generous, money flows to you. 9.Understand the ebb and flow of the money cycle. Money has natural cycles as it ebbs and flows through your life. If you choose to entrust your money to someone else, and you really don't know how money works, unscrupulous people can take advantage of you. Further, you discover the thrill that comes from wanting to deal with your money instead of just having to deal with it. Get in touch with your money; delight in spending it as you did as a child, but enjoy choosing not to spend it too; take pleasure in putting some away for later. Most of us need to spend our money differently. Not drastic action like getting by with one car. Unrealistic budget cuts, like diets, never work. Rather, decide to spend $25 to $30 less per month from fifteen or twenty of your spending categories; with each decision you make to spend less, you are gaining power over your money, and you will find creative ways to reduce your spending so you hardly notice. Rather than being dictated by a restriction, your actions are guided by the choices you make. This is the hardest step to financial freedom; you become honest with yourself about how you really stand. Spend less by putting your money away before you see it. Pay yourself. It's not what you make, but what you keep. Time plays an essential role in building future wealth because the longer you contribute, the more you'll have and with time, the contributions you have already made, do more work for you. The thing that makes time so powerful is compounding. Money flows through our lives like water...plentiful at times...a trickle other times. These transitions are exciting or scary, but are all part of the natural cycles of money. There are two important reactions to these cycles: (1) You must take the long view of your financial future (2) you must believe that what happens is positive and let it be. The important thing is to understand the nature of money and take the right steps to make it work for you. Recognize true wealth. People can not be measured by their net worth. Money does not make you financially free; only you can make yourself financially free.
Rating: 
Summary: 9 Steps to Financial Freedom. Excellent Book!
Review: This is the first personal finance book that gives you not only the knowledge of how to handle money, but also the will to break through all the barriers that hold you back. This groundbreaking book goes beyond the nuts and bolts of managing money to explore the psychological, even spiritual power money has in our lives, along with useful advice and inspiration from the leading voice in personal finance. The pivotal insight in this book teaches you about redefining financial freedom -- and realizing that you are worth far more than your money. Highly Recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Deals with emotions of spending , a crucial success factor
Review: What separates Suze Orman from the rest of the Personal Finance authors? She deals with the emotional issues surrounding money. This book addresses those issues head-on.
The chapter entitled "Being Honest with Yourself" is an excellent example of this. She talks about throwing away a three dollar magazine you never read or tossing five dollars worth of food that went bad into the garbage. People do it all the time... Then she mentions trying to throw away a dollar bill. It's much more difficult, but in reality, it's the same thing.
In "Facing Your Fears and Creating New Truths", she discusses how strange it is that people can hold down a job, raise a family, deal with everything that comes up in their life except their money. She says that the most normal excuse is not enough time, then goes on to explain that time is not the issue. The real issue is that many people don't want to deal with their money, they are afraid to.
These are just two examples of the excellent, real life advice offered in this book. Conquering those types of issues and fears are the first step on the road to financial freedom.
John L. White, author "I'm in Debt, Over 40, With No Retirement Savings, HELP!" ISBN 0974068748
Rating:
Summary: Financial Serenity
Review: While this author describes 9 steps towards "Financial Freedom," I kept asking myself, "But what about ...?" For those of who want a great primer into recreating your financial identity, this is an excellent beginning. Suze Orman started out with a degree in Sociology (And she was attacked in the financial world for having "too much psychobabble"). Two events that compelled her to learn about and to be an expert on money:
1. When her father's store caught on fire, he desperately ran
into the store to grab his cash register. This caused him to
be badly burned. And it taught Suze Orman to learn about
investments, savings and related topics.
2. After college, she was a stock broker for Merrill Lynch.
This is where she learned the difference between what was
being told to the public, and what the truth about money is. Through these events she discovered her life's work is telling people the truth about money. Within this book Orman talks a lot about uncovering your money memories, and seeing where those money memories have led you to have the relationship to money that you now have. She also covers many fundamental topics about retirement and investing in this book. But she does not take readers through the journey of earning a dollar, to growing that dollar into several millions - or to allowing that money to work for you. I'd suggest that you read these seven books, after reading "Nine Steps to Financial Freedom":
1. "More Wealth Without Risk," by Charles Givens
2. "Financial Self-Defense," by Charles Givens
3. "The Millionaire Next Door," by Thomas J. Stanley, Ph.D., &
William D. Danko, Ph.D.
4. "Simple Abundance," by Sarah Ban Breathnach
5. "Creating Money," by Sanaya Roman & Duane Packer
6. "Girl, Get Your Money Straight!" by Glinda Bridgforth
7. "Open Your Mind to Prosperity," by Catherine Ponder Where most financial books assume that you have money, and that you are not only ready to allow that money to work harder than you work, they also assume that you will be at peace with this. Read "Nine Steps to Financial Freedom," to face your past, and to practice, for the sake of practicing to be a peace with your control over money.
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