Review: Mind Over Money by Eric Tyson

One of my favorite financial authors is Eric Tyson. He's a practical, no-nonsense kind of guy that focuses on the basics (like me). So when I was asked to review his new book, Mind Over Money, I jumped at the chance.

The best summary of what the book is about is found on the jacket cover and in the introduction (no surprise there). Here's what it has to say:

Just a generation ago, finding a television station that provided much more than a two-minute stock-market update was difficult. Today, we're bombarded with financial advice. With ready access to more information and advice than ever before, one might expect that managing investments, saving for retirement, getting out of debt, and taking care of a host of financial issues would become significantly easier for just about everyone. However, most will agree that just the opposite is true. Plenty of intelligent and well-intentioned people with access to financial information fail to master their personal finances.

The basics of good personal-finance practice -- spending less than you earn, investing your savings in proven vehicles for the long term, and securing adequate insurance coverage -- are relatively simple. Many people, however, are unable to follow these rules for the same reasons people can't follow a diet: it's difficult, and it can be emotionally taxing. I've written some of the most popular financial guides of the past decade, I've worked personally with clients as a financial counselor, and I've taught financial-management courses to large groups. Through these experiences, I've seen that many people are unable to do the right thing because good financial habits emerge only when the individual possesses the right mind-set about money. Many people allow their individual fears, biases, mistaken beliefs, past experiences, and other quirks and demons along with external pressures from a consumer society permanently set on fast-forward, to color and sabotage their efforts to practice good financial habits.

I'm in 100% agreement with these statements (as I'm sure you could have guessed). It's the state we find ourselves in today as a country -- there's no denying it.

A few pages later, Tyson summarizes why he wrote the book:

My goal is to change the way you think about and relate to money for the better. I want you to get much more from the money that passes through your hands. I'd like you to enjoy your life more, be less stressed about work, and broaden your narrow focus on making more money. One of my goals is to help you recognize and conquer (or at least control) the cultural issues that lead you to focus so much on consumption and following investments too closely.

Tyson then spends the rest of the book detailing the common money hang-ups and how to cope with/eliminate them. He covers the following issues that people deal with:

• Excessive spenders and debtors
• Workaholics
• Herd followers and information junkies
• Obsessive behaviors
• Extreme savers
• Avoiders
• Conflicting couples
• Financially challenged children

The book describes the symptoms of these issues, gives real-life examples of them, and offers solutions for how people can deal with them. It's simple, practical, and if applied, life-changing.

With all that said, here's what I think about Mind Over Money:

1. I loved it. This book could make a tremendous difference in millions of people's lives. Free Money Finance Rating for Mind Over Money based on my 0 thru 10 rating system: 8 Stars.

2. The book won't make a difference -- and won't sell well. Why? The people that need it most, won't want to read it. They refuse to admit that they have any of these money hang-ups -- or they think they have control over them. It's like trying to sell a book titled "I'm a Dirty Old Man who's an Alcoholic and Beats my Wife." Who's going to walk into Barnes and Noble and pick it up? Not many people unfortunately.

3. I want to do all I can to help sell as many of these books as possible because I know that a small investment in this book will have an Almost Infinite Investment Return for the reader. If you are someone who has a money hang-up of some sort, I implore you to pick up a copy of Mind Over Money. Or if you know someone (or several people) who need help with their money-thinking, buy them a copy of Mind Over Money. It will change their lives if they read it and take the information to heart.

Free Money Finance books that earn 8 stars or more (not all money related):

• The Millionaire Next Door
• How to Win Friends and Influence People
• Your Best Life Now
• The Purpose Driven Life
• Think and Grow Rich
• The Power of Positive Thinking
• Richest Man in Babylon
• The Automatic Millionaire
• Mind Over Money

Comments

[Lori]

I would really enjoy reading this book. Being a couple who is working their way out of debt (will be debt free in 2007), we are doing good. But I am afraid my husband has fallen into the trap of a Workaholic, so I would be really interested in what this book has to say.

[Big Cajun Man]

Conflicting couples is always a problem. It's hard to feel like you are on a team, when the other player keeps giving the ball away! Oh my wife is going to kill me for that one...

--C8j

[Phillip Murphy]

Balancing the habits of perpetual savers and spenders is always a problem. In our house it seems to back and forth - surely there is a happy medium! :-)

[Phillip Murphy]

I want to know how Allen won yesterday! :-) He left a post on the wrong thread, as most others did, when the announcement post clearly said to leave comments on the thread for the Review of the book!

Quote:

"Every day this week (five days total), I'll announce the winner of the Mind Over Money book for the previous day as well as the giveaway for that day. All you need to do is leave a comment, any comment, ***on that post***. That's all you have to do."

I am going to leave a comment on both so I don't get robbed again! :-)

[Russ]

I fall under the catagory of information junkie when it comes to finances. That said I hope I can win the book!

Thanks

[Arlene]

Sometimes the basics are the hardest for all of us to learn - that's why these kinds of books are good - to review and go through about twice a year to make sure we are on track. (Heaven knows there's enough around us to to try to throw us off!)