Conquering Your Financial Stress:: The Five-Point Plan for Generating True Wealth

Money will not solve all of your problems. You are always going to have some stress in your life. But if you can reduce your financial stress, you can reduce some of the overall stress in your life. Bruce Eaton, a former Wall Street Stockbroker who now specializes on the subject of financial stress, has created a five-point plan for reducing your everyday financial stress. 1. Concentrate on creating value, not money. You create value by combining your time, energy and resources. The key is to use what you have, not to wait until you get what you think you need. Start thinking about your life as a cycle of generating, exchanging, and preserving value. 2. Get a handle on what you really need. Learn to separate the things that you need from the things that you want. Create a list of the things you need. Prioritize this list, by the items that would reduce your financial stress the most. 3. Take immediate action to meet your needs. Set objectives that work. 4. Consider what you can get for your money. Analyze the function, quality, enhancements and image of purchases you need to make. Then ask yourself: "What would this enable me to do, and what can't I do without it?" Are there other things you already have that can fulfill these same functions? Exchange value wisely. 5. Preserve Value. You must decide and commit to saving. Be realistic in determining what percentage you will save. Identify specific savings objectives and prioritize them to reduce your stress. Take a cautious approach to investing.

I found this book to be full of good, common sense on how to get your life (both financial and non-financial aspects) in order by taking a value added approach. Very comforting to the reader. Some points, however, seemed to go on forever (probably because the author was trying to drive them home), so the book was a little tedious in parts. (I would say to myself, "Enough already!") Still a good read, just jump ahead when you get bored (you've probably gotten the point).

Bruce Eaton's book, Conquering Your Financial Stress, provides a detailed road map that will guide the reader directly to a place called financial piece of mind. While many so-called financial self-help books provide seductive, angles for acquiring wealth, CYFS shows how people often already posess the tools, resources, and yes, the cold hard cash, to alleviate the financial stresses plaquing so many Americans today. Eaton communicates clearly the key steps in avoiding the rocky coast of spiraling debt, eternal dissatisfaction, and the stresses created by always wanting "more." Eaton's book is effective because he has in-depth knowledge on the subject, is wise beyond his years, and really cares about the subject. Rather than picking up the next tome on getting rich quick, try a pleasant and worthwhile detour with Conquering Your Financial Stress. Thanks to Eaton, the reader may find the grass is greener right under his/her own two feet.

This book was a complete paradigm shift on the essense of money. It takes the focus off of "things" and puts the focus on things of "true value". The author shows you how to reassess what you are working so hard to achieve in comparison to the quality of your life. I really enjoyed his humor.