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Books : Money Drunk, Money Sober; 90 Days to Financial FreedomIn association with Amazon.comRating:  - mishmosh of other recovery programsFirst of all, I have a problem with books that spend an inordinate amount of time telling me what the book will do and why I need to read it. By the time I got through the sales pitch, I'd read half the book. This appears to be a trend in self-help books as most of them are painfully drawn out magazine articles. Unfortunately, so is this one. The solution presented in this book is a mishmosh pulled from other recovery programs. From DA, there is keeping your numbers (which the authors relabel as "counting"), a spending plan, and not incurring any new debt. From Jerold Mundis, there is the idea of a debt repayment moratorium. The most interesting part of the mishmosh was the adaptation of SLAA's concept of bottom line behaviors. With any of the behavior-based addictions, there is usually some difficulty in determining what exactly constitutes abstinence, solvency, sobriety, etc. Cameron and Bryan advise the reader to create a list of specific behaviors they will not indulge in. While this may help to highlight financial issue such as underearning or lack of self-care which are not specifically addressed by the DA solvency definition of "no new unsecured debt", it also tends to dilute the message a bit and can become redundant. Kiting checks is given as an example. Kiting checks may be a different behavior than using a credit card, but it's still technically incurring new unsecured debt as you are buying something when you don't have the money to pay for it. Listing it separately from debting seems unnecessary. In general, addiction recovery is most successful when the scope is narrow, well-defined, and universal for all participants which is why AA is still the most successful of the "Anonymous" programs. Another issue I had with the book was its focus on discovering WHY the reader has a money-related addiction. Cameron and Bryan advise the reader to spend a lot of time writing about their childhood interactions with money to figure out why they have a problem. This seems inappropriate given their premise of the alcoholic disease model. Examining why someone became an alcoholic or a compulsive spender is about as useless as examining why someone became a diabetic or why someone lost a leg in a car accident. Learning why doesn't help the person fix it now. It can't be fixed. It can be accepted and addressed, but wallowing in the "why" is a distraction. Other people may have had a horrible childhood or a flat tire, but they don't drink, debt, overeat, smoke, etc. over it. An addict acts out, regardless of the trigger, because they are an addict. A focus on recognition and acceptance of the addition rather than an attempt to establish why the addiction exists would seem to be more helpful. Blaming Mom is usually a way to wiggle out of the responsibility all addicts face in recovery. The addict really doesn't want to stop their addiction; they want to justify it. Overall, I would not recommend this book. For compulsive money issues, Mundis' How To Get Out of Debt is far more clear, concrete, and well written. Rating:  - Eye-opening, effectiveI bought the book with the intent to go through the exercises with a friend. I read the book before beginning a schedule and was blown away. Right away, I identified with two stereotypes. It was as if a veil had been lifted because I now understand why I handle things and why I need help. I am in the midst of the steps and I can already tell a difference. Not just in the way I handle money but my attitude towards money and life. The book is effectively well written and blunt. I have read other books about how to improve my relationship to money, but this book goes where other books don't - your habits and self and their roots. We have to take responsiblity for our habits but it's helpful to understand that we inherited them (in my case) to be able to break the cycle. Rating: - Change your Mind & Change Your Cash flowThis book goes on to describe 5 different money drunks Among them is the poverty addict, who is addicted to poverty. Usually this kind of person subconsciously feels that in order to be a good person or to be spiritual they must suffer. Then there's the Big Deal Chaser. This person goes from business start up to business start up looking for "THE ONE" to fix it all. They have the subconscious belief of "when I'll get rich I'll show'em all". Then there's the Maintenance money drunk. This person has let go of their dreams to "get a real job" or to get a job that pays the bills. They don't believe in "fairy tales". I think we have let ourselves have a distorted view of money. Religion doesn't help. Sayings like "money is the root of all evil" or "the rich are getting richer while poor are getting poorer". Even wealthy and rich people can be poverty addicts, feeding into the thinking that there isn't enough money to go around for everyone. Most likely you'll find yourself being a little bit of all 5 money drunk types with maybe a concentration in one or two. Between the poverty addiction and the big deal chasers, I think most of us are afraid to really evaluate our relationship with money and really let ourselves have a spiritual relationship with money. (Spiritual and money ...huh?? does that even exist? YES!) This book makes you realize that no matter if you win the lottery or get more money coming in, if your inner feelings towards money are not balanced, you will most likely create situations that will suck you dry financially. (Bills, credit, debt, etc) Cliches such as "money isn't everything" may pop into your mind, but when the topic of family comes up people don't say "family isn't everything" or when the topic of health comes up people don't say "health isn't everything". When the topic of electricity comes up , people don't say "electricity isn't everything". I think money has gotten a bad wrap due to a variety of things we've been taught including religion teaching that wealth is bad. Money is like electricity. You can use it to warm your home and cook a good meal for your friends and loved one....or you can use it to COOK YOUR FAMILY. That doesn't make electricity good or bad. Electricity just is. Money is the same way - it just IS. I recommend this book to anyone, especially those who are spiritually inclined. We all owe it to ourselves and to our loved ones to be wealthier! In my opinion we ALL deserve to have the finer things in life! Rating: - Excellent techniques for gaining control over your financesJulia Cameron, the author of the Artist's Way, Walking in This World, and Vein of Gold, among others, has done it again. She and partner, Mark Bryan, have created an approach to personal money management that takes into account our emotional attitudes and training about money. Many times our patterns interfere with the way we are able to deal with money and their approach helps us to unhook those negative patterns. Clear and concise, this book is well-written and brief, but powerful. I highly recommend it. You won't regret it. Rating: - Pleasantly amazed...I am what this book characterizes as a compulsive spender. Reading this book not only helped me get my spending under control but also helped me change my opinion on how I viewed money in my life. It really goes through different types of people such as the compulsive spender (me), to the cash co-dependant--someone who actually assists someone with their money issues (i.e. a woman who is continuously giving a boyfriend her money, when he continuously loses the money and does not do him nor her any good.). This book works on self esteem and an "I can do" attitude towards money. The first half of the book focuses on finding what type of "Money Drunk" you are and identifying with other scenarios with quick stories and examples. The second half is the battle plan, that lasts 90 days and is grouped into different themes; Awarness (Finding out what and how you acquired this problem), Acceptance (Learning to deal with your addiction), and Action (Do something about it and how). It even has a relapse checklist and a section towards the end on spirituality. If you are not into the religion aspect, please note the book does not "steer" you towards counting directly on religion so don't worry. Everyone can enjoy and benefit from this book which is easy to read and flows well... Even loved ones of money drunks can benefit from this book. I get distracted easily and never seem to finish a book but this book was so well written and gave me such continuous hope I couldnt help but keep on reading! |
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