In today’s society many young people have lost sight of the value of money and seem to believe that money really does «grow on trees.» Part expose and part survival guide, Prodigal Sons and Material Girls addresses the nagging issue faced by many parents today – why do their children have such unrealistic expectations about money? The book is divided into two comprehensive parts. Part I outlines the disturbing facts about America’s possession-crazed youth and the society that has distorted their views. You’ll be introduced to everything from the «three-headed monster»—a high-powered triumvirate of consumer products companies, media conglomerates, and advertising agencies that has tremendous influence over your children—to the distorted view of the American Dream as shaped by principles known as «The Teen Commandments.» In learning what you’re up against you can teach financial responsibility from a position of strength. In Part II, Dungan offers creative and convincing examples on how to leverage his highly successful «Share-Save-Spend» approach to money – critical elements for you to help your children break free from the materialism that has become ingrained in our society. Through insightful anecdotes and simple exercises, you will learn how to: Talk to your children about money Understand the difference between financial wants and needs Increase the probability of your children having a prosperous life Raise your children’s marketing IQ Maintain healthy financial boundaries Set a healthy example for your children to follow The «Share–Save–Spend» methodology will help your children establish healthy financial habits and will undoubtedly become their foundation for making a lifetime of responsible financial decisions. Nathan Dungan is an innovative leader in the financial services industry. Over the past 15 years, he has been a top-performing financial advisor outside of Philadelphia, PA and most recently served as Vice President of Marketing for Lutheran Brotherhood (now Thrivent Financial for Lutherans), a $57 billion member-owned financial services company with nearly 3 million members. Dungan is a frequent speaker and workshop leader and has been widely quoted on this subject in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and has appeared on CNN and PBS.
A fact-based and proven approach to help working mothers rediscover happiness as they balance their duties at home and work Science and sociology have made great strides in understanding what makes us happy and how we achieve it. For working mothers who face endless demands on their time and attention, What Happy Working Mothers Know provides scientifically proven and practical ways to find the right balance and replace stress with happiness. Written by a behavioral scientist and global leadership guru, and an international lawyer and career coach, this mom-friendly guide offers practical tactics that truly work. The demands of juggling work and home lead many women to try to do everything and be everything to everyone. In the effort to be Superwoman, many women lose sight of what makes them happy and they fail to realize how important their happiness is to being a good worker and a good mother. The key to being your best at everything you do is to take care of your happiness the way you take care of your health, through conscious choices every day. You’ll learn to overcome obstacles, apply lessons learned at work to your motherhood skills, and learn lessons from your children that you can apply at work. Includes interactive activities that illustrate important lessons in the book Shows you how to use positive psychology to shift from a scarcity mentality to an abundance mentality for workplace success Helps you tap into your own sense of joy every day for your own happiness and the happiness of those around you Science-based and packed with real case studies of real working moms Written by authors with impeccable qualifications and real-world experience Many moms raise great kids and achieve the professional success they desire and deserve, but if they aren’t happy, what’s the point? This book doesn’t show you how to have it all, but how to have all the things that really matter.
Based on cutting-edge research by leading corporate critic Louis Lowenstein, The Investor’s Dilemma: How Mutual Funds Are Betraying Your Trust and What to Do About It reveals how highly overpaid fund sponsors really operate and walks you through the conflicts of interest found throughout the industry. Page by page, you’ll discover the real problems within the world of mutual funds and learn how to overcome them through a value-oriented approach to this market.
Nationally known personal finance expert Terry Savage helps you answer the most important retirement questions During a time when looking to the future is more important than ever, author Terry Savage offers street smart advice for the many soon-to-be retirees wondering how much longer they will have to work to make up for the losses in their retirement accounts. The New Savage Number provides the strategic guidance and hands-on techniques necessary to plan a successful, satisfying retirement. Throughout the book, Savage helps you figure out how much money you need to retire-your savage number-and how to invest to reach that goal. Then, as retirement looms, she guides you through the process of planning withdrawals so the money lasts your entire lifetime. In between, Savage offers practical advice on everything from getting personal finances organized to insuring retirement plans against the disastrous need for long-term care. An informative, engaging book that future retirees of every age can utilize, The New Savage Number Contains updated chapters reflect the current economy including changes to the mortgage market and stock market performance Takes issues such as social security, long term insurance, and new investment risks into consideration Offers guidance on continuing to earn income in retirement Written with every retirement bound individual in mind, The New Savage Number, Second Edition provides you with the tools needed to rescue your retirement.
Written by America's most respected Fed watcher-Dr. David Jones-Unlocking the Secrets of the Fed gets inside the world of monetary and fiscal policymaking and explains how understanding and anticipating the actions of the Federal Reserve is critical to your investment success. This straightforward and well-rounded guide offers a wealth of practical information on the leading economic policy institution in the world-the Federal Reserve. This unique book: * Addresses the impact of Federal Reserve actions on the economy and the average American's wealth-creation potential * Closely examines the Fed's policy objectives, operating techniques, and favorite financial and economic indicators * Reviews the modern-day Fed's main challenges * Underscores the important role that psychology plays in our nation's economic expansions and contractions * Explains asset price bubbles and the implications for the economy * Assesses the performance of contemporary Fed leaders such as William McChesney Martin, Paul Volcker, and Alan Greenspan As one of the pioneers of «Fed watching,» Dr. Jones knows all there is to know about the Federal Reserve. Take this opportunity to learn how the Federal Reserve's decisions affect your investments as well as the economy as a whole.
Does Bill Gates?s retirement consign Microsoft to the corporate retirement home as well? Mary Jo Foley doesn?t think so. Her 25 years of Microsoft-watching provides a unique vantage point from which to speculate on how Microsoft might write its next chapter. Identifying signposts and interpreting clues she knows well, Foley offers a thought-provoking view of the software giant?s post-Gates future. Don?t be surprised to be surprised.
Julie L. Davis and Suzanne Harrison Today's corporations are always on the lookout for exciting new and innovative ideas that can be used to generate revenue. Up until recently, this meant taking these ideas and turning them into products or services, which could then be sold for profit. But today, a unique new concept is revolutionizing the way companies are getting value from ideas. Instead of incorporating them into products or services, today's innovations may be bartered, licensed or sold in the «idea» stage for tremendous amounts of money. For example, IBM currently receives well over $1 billion in revenue every year from licensing its intellectual property, unrelated to the manufacture of a single product. Today more and more companies are adopting this idea of turning their legal departments, where intellectual property is housed, from cost centers into profit centers. Edison in the Boardroom: How Leading Companies Realize Value from Their Intellectual Assets takes an in-depth look at the revolutionary concept of Intellectual asset management (IAM). IAM is changing the way companies all over the world are doing business. In their careers as business consultants, the authors have been privileged to meet individuals who were clearly ahead of their time when it came to realizing value from their companies' innovations. Based on their interactions with the ICM Gathering–an international group of companies who meet several times a year to create, define and benchmark best practices in the area of IAM–the authors have compiled a wealth of knowledge and successful stories that illustrate how far businesses have come in their ability to leverage and monetize their intellectual assets. Incorporating stories and teachings from some of the most successful companies in the worlds – such as Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Procter & Gamble, Rockwell, Dow, Ford and many others – the authors have made an exhaustive study of IAM and its implications for today's businesses. They have culled a hierarchy of best practices that today's companies can integrate into their own business philosophies to gain the best return from their intellectual assets.
George Kohlrieser—an international leadership professor, consultant, and veteran hostage negotiator—explains that it is only by openly facing conflict that we can truly progress through the most difficult business challenges. In this provocative book, he reveals how the proven techniques and psychological insights used in hostage negotiation can be applied successfully to any personal or business relationship. Step by step, he outlines the seven key factors that anyone can use to remove the blocks that stand in the way of resolving tough problems and shows how business leaders, in particular, can develop and access the skills they need to create trust and a positive mind-set in their companies.
One of the toughest lessons every business leader learns is how hard it is to generate sustained growth. Stalled growth is the rule, not the exception–even for the best-managed companies. That's especially true in unpredictable economic environments such as the one we're experiencing today. McKee has a unique understanding of what happens when growth stalls. His firm commissioned a study of 700 companies that had at one time been among the nation's fastest-growing businesses. Developed in concert with Decision Analyst, a leading national research and consulting firm, the study probed areas as diverse as corporate structure, competition, branding, finance, and strategy. The target respondent profile were CEOs, owners, principals, presidents, managing directors or chairmen of the board. In-depth follow-up interviews yielded fascinating stories and personal comments from executives who had been living on the front lines of real-life growth crises. McKee presents compelling knowledge about how and why companies lose their way, and offers practical advice about how they can rekindle growth. When Growth Stalls demonstrates that sluggish growth is generally produced not by mismanagement or strategic blundering but by natural market forces and management dynamics that are often unrecognized–and widespread. The book presents seven characteristics that commonly correlate with stalled growth and what to do about them. Some are external forces to which countless companies have fallen victim: economic upheavals, changing industry dynamics, and increased competition. What McKee points out, however, is how often they catch companies off-guard. More surprising are four subtle and highly destructive internal factors that conspire to keep companies down: lack of consensus among the management team, loss of nerve, loss of focus, and marketing inconsistency. McKee makes the case that, regardless of what's going on outside of an enterprise, it's what's inside that counts.
A fresh exploration of a redeeming, dynamic, and radically different way to hold one's religion Samir Selmanovic—who grew up a in a culturally Muslim family in Croatia, converted to Christianity as a soldier in the then-Yugoslavian army, and went on to become a Christian pastor in Manhattan and in Southern California—looks at how our ongoing and sometimes violent power struggles over who owns God and what God wants for the world and its peoples are not serving God, humanity, or our planet. Shows how our religions have become self-serving, God-management systems, however Selmanovic contends—change is possible Offers a path for people of all faiths and traditions for living together on our fragile earth Karen Armstrong said that the book is «asking the right questions at the right time» This is a personal story and a moving exploration of a new way of treasuring one's own religion while discovering God, goodness, and grace in others and in their traditions.