The Seven Stages of Money Maturity: Understanding the Spirit and Value of Money in Your Life

The author shares multiple stories to drive home his points, which is a hallmark of a really good self-help book on most any subject in my opinion.I wasn’t all that excited to read about his parallels to the shakra as a Christian, but the truths he shares about money maturity transcend (no pun intended) his religious beliefs.I highly recommend reading this book, even though it’s many years old now and few read longer books today in our 600 word article post online world.

A little background on me since it affects my review. I have read over 200 books on investing. I purchased this book because Kinder is famous in financial planning circles for his three questions that help financial planner's learn the goals of their clients.Kinder's three questions are:*You may not be as wealthy as Bill Gates or the Sultan of Brunei, but you do have all the money you need, now and in the future. What will you do with it? From this moment forward, how will you live your life?*You've just come back from a visit to the doctor who has discovered from your lab reports that you have only five to ten years to live. In a way you are lucky. This particular disease has no manifestations, so you won't feel sick. The bad part is that you will have no warning about the moment of your death. It will simply come upon you in an unpredictable instant, sudden and final. Knowing death is waiting for you sooner than expected, how will you change your life?*Again you have gone to the doctor, but this time you will learn you'll be dead within twenty-four hours. What feelings am I experiencing? What regrets, what longings, what deep and now-unfilled dreams? What do I wish I had completed, been, had, and done in this life that is just about to end?I can speculate that using these three questions helps people, and their financial planner's to learn their goals and attitudes towards money.Aside from these three questions, I found the rest of Kinder's book a very, very tough book to complete.I am an engineer, so my total education on psychology was Psych 101 and Child Psychology back in college. I do remember that Sigmund Freud believed that everyone's adult personality was determined by their childhood experiences. I refreshed my memory on Wikipedia and found........ "He theorized that personality is developed by a person's childhood experiences."Kinder adapts this theory by promoting the idea everyone's adult behavior towards money was determined by their childhood.I would agree that for some people, their adult attitude towards money was heavily influenced by their childhood. I think this is a small minority compared to 100% of the population. Kinder himself is apparently part of this small minority, since he gives examples explaining his attitude towards money based upon his childhood experiences.Kinder then keeps throwing in Buddhist related dogma, which I don't understand and have no interest in at all.If you can't live within your means because you spend more than you earn, I would recommend listening to Dave Ramsey's radio shows and read his book on how to get out of debt. Once you get out of debt, skip Ramsey's advice on investing and instead read the Bogleheads Guide to Financial Planning and the Bogleheads Guide to Retirement Planning.If the Ramsey approach doesn't work to get you out of debt, then maybe you should seek professional counseling.If you want to understand how our human irrational behavior towards money impacts our financial lives, I would suggest Michael Pompian's book, Behavioral Finance and Wealth Management: How to Build Optimal Portfolios That Account for Investor Biases.Pompian's book is more expensive than Jason Zweig's book, Your Money and Your Brain: How the New Science of Neuroeconomics Can Help Make You Rich....but I think Pompian's book has more actionable advice.I would skip this book, unless you want a CPA using an amateur psychologist's viewpoint of behavioral finance with a twist of Buddhism thrown in.

There are some great basic finance books out there, the ones that tell you what percentage of your income to save for retirement, how much to invest and so forth. Many of them will put you on the road to financial security. I'm a fan of those and of becoming knowledgable about wise use of one's money. But what about your values, dreams, aspirations and goals? How many of them acutally show you how to encompass those into your savings plan? How many actually have you explore how your views of money and its use have been shaped from childhood on? This book does all of that and by doing so allows readers to have a truly insightful approach to money management. After all, with self-understanding comes wisdom and the opportunity to make informed decisions. Like any skill, those who are truly wise and powerful money managers are often intuitive and their wisdom comes from a very clear understanding of how and why to make decisions. Even more importantly, they make decisions that are right for THEM. This book is great but if you are looking for detailed, "how to" info that doesn't take your personal values and spiritual side into account, you may not like this one. But I think it is an excellent supplement to all the other books out there, especially if you're pretty knowledgable about the basics (retirement planning, investing, home ownership, planning for kids, college, etc). There is a spiritual dimension to how we use and spend our money, well worth exploring!

In January 2002 my wife and I hit rock bottom financially. We owed nearly $45,000 in credit card debt alone, another $20,000 in student loans, and another $30,000 or so in car loans, personal loans, etc. We rented a ramshackle house and had no savings or investments whatsoever. And yet I found it impossible to pass up a bookstore without a new book in hand or the latest CD. I had read a number of books about personal finance, but I understood that there was something deeper that I was looking for. Something that would help me to understand the psychology of money, to understand why I made the choices that I made.Fortunately, I came across an ad for George Kinder's book in Harvard Magazine in 2002. As a Christian I can understand that some might be put off by Kinder's infusion of Buddhist philosophy throughout the book. I studied East Asian studies in college, so I wasn't that bothered by it. In fact, I think Kinder's metaphor of the seven chakras, or energy centers, correlated perfectly with the seven stages of money maturity.The main problem with most popular approaches to teaching personal finance is that they start at level four or five. But you haven't addressed the fundamental issues of levels one through three. This gap helps explain why the average American household has a negative net worth. We are doping ourselves at the mall with our credit cards!Four years after reading the Seven Stages we have paid off all of that old debt (no bankruptcy!), own our own home, and are closing in on six figures liquid net worth. Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad, Poor Dad helped me to realize that The Matrix had me in its grasp; Kinder helped me see the code.

I fully admit that I have read this as part of a reading list for people who are wanting to become what may be termed as financial coaches or educators.I have been through the mill myself and know only too well what it feels like.A great 'course book' and very useful for individuals searching for answers too.

How to have a better relationship with money.George Kinder is something of an expert having worked as a financial planner and coach.This book works through many case studies and may help you alter some of your beliefs about money and your relationship with it.

This book is well worth reading for anyone who gives financial advice. It is a bit dated in some of the information, but still relevant today.

Good read

This book makes the area of private banking, which used to be based on greed, incredibly meaningful and inspiring. Very worth considering if you are interested in investing but are concerned of moral issues