By J. Steve Miller
Out of the blue one evening, I received the following e-mail from someone named Steve Miller, an author who according to him, has Hawkinsville connections.
Those two things immediately caught my attention—he being an author and having Hawkinsville connections—therefore I began reading with more rapt attention. His e-mail, in part went as follows:
Dear Sam,
Thanks for your articles in the Hawkinsville Dispatch & News! My mom takes the paper and we enjoy keeping up with Hawkinsville news.
My mom, Ann Owen Miller, grew up on Martin Street in Hawkinsville, the daughter of Ed and Pauline "Polly" Owen and sister of my uncle Ed, Junior. All of them influenced my views of personal money management, informing the ideas presented in my recent book. They were all hard workers, frugal, and seemed to understand finances in ways that the younger generations don't seem to get. That's why I mention Polly in my introduction and other relatives in my acknowledgements.
The book is Enjoy Your Money! How to Make It, Save It, Invest It and Give It, published by Wisdom Creek Press. It came off the press last month. Although well-researched and documented, I wrote it as a story to capture people who hate financial books. I thought it might be of interest to readers, especially because of my Hawkinsville connections. Perhaps, I could arrange a signing or to speak in a school or to a youth group? It might be a way to help young people (ages 16-30) get a hold of their finances. Even if I just got a mention in the paper, it would mean a lot.
To see a bit more about the book, including an overview and blurbs, check it out.
Chris Stanley of Kingston, PA wrote the following review: “This book provided me with an amazing insight into many different areas of personal finance.
The author covers every topic from saving and investing money to making and enjoying money; and better yet, the book is written in an exciting and fun to read format that won't bore you or become a chore to read. I've read...eh tried to read...many other personal finance books, and I'm sure a lot of them had very good information in them; however, they were not engaging enough to get through, and so I wasn't able to gleam most of that good information. This book was different though. With each page I found myself more and more engaged, and before I knew it I had read the whole book, taking a wealth of financial knowledge with me. I would highly recommend this book to anyone, regardless of how much you may or may not know about personal finance. Everyone could take something away from this book. I especially recommend this book to anyone in high school or college, because when it comes to learning about finances, the sooner the better. I personally read the book as a college student, and while other personal finance books for me can sometimes make the concepts of personal finance complicated to understand, the author of this book made the world of personal finance very easy to understand on my level. This is why I think this book would be especially great for any teen or young adult out there trying to get a head start on their financial future.”
By the way, Polly is doing great at age 103! I help mom care for her next door, here in Acworth. We had to move her up here a couple of years ago after both she and dad had strokes.
Sincerely,
Steve Miller
In his introduction, Steve talks about his grandmother who began investing her money in her sixties—now 103 years-old—and she has accumulated a small fortune.
J. Steve Miller, educator, investor, entrepreneur, and speaker has taught audiences from Atlanta to Moscow. He’s known for drawing practical wisdom from serious research and communicating it in accessible, unforgettable ways. Steve is the founder and president of Legacy Educational Resources, providing global resources for teachers of life skills in public schools, churches, and service organizations at http://www.character-education.info/ on the Internet. A self-styled “wisdom broker,” Steve collects wisdom from many fields and packages it for teachers and writers via his published books and the Web. His wife, Cherie, and their seven sons continually remind him what works and what doesn’t. In a question and answer session, Miller did not hold back on his inspirations.Q: Steve, what motivated you to write this book?A: First, people are hurting with their finances. According to recent surveys: Twenty-five percent of American adults live paycheck to paycheck. They fear going under and desperately need to accumulate wealth. Ninety-eight percent of middle-aged people reported regret at how they spent their money in the light of how much they could have saved. Today's college students graduate with, on average, over $22,000 in debt. Their first job out of college doesn't pay what they expected. They want to get out of debt and accumulate enough wealth to purchase a house.
Personal debt is reaching record highs as personal savings reach all time lows (under zero percent average savings in 2006). How will people ever get ahead? B: Second, to get more personal, Cherie and I are raising seven boys, from 14-year-old twins to a 27-year-old. I don't want them to live their lives experiencing the misery of financial bondage.In his preface, Miller states, “This book will help you to get out of debt and accumulate wealth. It will help you to get ahead, even when the work you love doesn’t produce “big bucks.”You will find your strengths and passions and make a living with them. You will live a more fulfilled life. The cast of characters which Miller uses to get his story across are four young people, Antonio, Akashi, James and Amy, and through them and their mentors, he is able to show how money management can be exciting! “It’s fun to see your money grow,” Miller says. “It’s fun to feel successfu
l, and it’s fun to have enough money to help others.
Those two things immediately caught my attention—he being an author and having Hawkinsville connections—therefore I began reading with more rapt attention. His e-mail, in part went as follows:
Dear Sam,
Thanks for your articles in the Hawkinsville Dispatch & News! My mom takes the paper and we enjoy keeping up with Hawkinsville news.
My mom, Ann Owen Miller, grew up on Martin Street in Hawkinsville, the daughter of Ed and Pauline "Polly" Owen and sister of my uncle Ed, Junior. All of them influenced my views of personal money management, informing the ideas presented in my recent book. They were all hard workers, frugal, and seemed to understand finances in ways that the younger generations don't seem to get. That's why I mention Polly in my introduction and other relatives in my acknowledgements.
The book is Enjoy Your Money! How to Make It, Save It, Invest It and Give It, published by Wisdom Creek Press. It came off the press last month. Although well-researched and documented, I wrote it as a story to capture people who hate financial books. I thought it might be of interest to readers, especially because of my Hawkinsville connections. Perhaps, I could arrange a signing or to speak in a school or to a youth group? It might be a way to help young people (ages 16-30) get a hold of their finances. Even if I just got a mention in the paper, it would mean a lot.
To see a bit more about the book, including an overview and blurbs, check it out.
Chris Stanley of Kingston, PA wrote the following review: “This book provided me with an amazing insight into many different areas of personal finance.
The author covers every topic from saving and investing money to making and enjoying money; and better yet, the book is written in an exciting and fun to read format that won't bore you or become a chore to read. I've read...eh tried to read...many other personal finance books, and I'm sure a lot of them had very good information in them; however, they were not engaging enough to get through, and so I wasn't able to gleam most of that good information. This book was different though. With each page I found myself more and more engaged, and before I knew it I had read the whole book, taking a wealth of financial knowledge with me. I would highly recommend this book to anyone, regardless of how much you may or may not know about personal finance. Everyone could take something away from this book. I especially recommend this book to anyone in high school or college, because when it comes to learning about finances, the sooner the better. I personally read the book as a college student, and while other personal finance books for me can sometimes make the concepts of personal finance complicated to understand, the author of this book made the world of personal finance very easy to understand on my level. This is why I think this book would be especially great for any teen or young adult out there trying to get a head start on their financial future.”
By the way, Polly is doing great at age 103! I help mom care for her next door, here in Acworth. We had to move her up here a couple of years ago after both she and dad had strokes.
Sincerely,
Steve Miller
In his introduction, Steve talks about his grandmother who began investing her money in her sixties—now 103 years-old—and she has accumulated a small fortune.
J. Steve Miller, educator, investor, entrepreneur, and speaker has taught audiences from Atlanta to Moscow. He’s known for drawing practical wisdom from serious research and communicating it in accessible, unforgettable ways. Steve is the founder and president of Legacy Educational Resources, providing global resources for teachers of life skills in public schools, churches, and service organizations at http://www.character-education.info/ on the Internet. A self-styled “wisdom broker,” Steve collects wisdom from many fields and packages it for teachers and writers via his published books and the Web. His wife, Cherie, and their seven sons continually remind him what works and what doesn’t. In a question and answer session, Miller did not hold back on his inspirations.Q: Steve, what motivated you to write this book?A: First, people are hurting with their finances. According to recent surveys: Twenty-five percent of American adults live paycheck to paycheck. They fear going under and desperately need to accumulate wealth. Ninety-eight percent of middle-aged people reported regret at how they spent their money in the light of how much they could have saved. Today's college students graduate with, on average, over $22,000 in debt. Their first job out of college doesn't pay what they expected. They want to get out of debt and accumulate enough wealth to purchase a house.
Personal debt is reaching record highs as personal savings reach all time lows (under zero percent average savings in 2006). How will people ever get ahead? B: Second, to get more personal, Cherie and I are raising seven boys, from 14-year-old twins to a 27-year-old. I don't want them to live their lives experiencing the misery of financial bondage.In his preface, Miller states, “This book will help you to get out of debt and accumulate wealth. It will help you to get ahead, even when the work you love doesn’t produce “big bucks.”You will find your strengths and passions and make a living with them. You will live a more fulfilled life. The cast of characters which Miller uses to get his story across are four young people, Antonio, Akashi, James and Amy, and through them and their mentors, he is able to show how money management can be exciting! “It’s fun to see your money grow,” Miller says. “It’s fun to feel successfu
l, and it’s fun to have enough money to help others. To this end, I hope you have fun reading my book.”During the Great Red Devil Reunion of 2003, I enjoyed communicating with many of the former students who were educated at Hawkinsville High School. Steve Miller’s mother, Ann Owen Miller, was one such individual. The acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree. In researching the Senior Annual Hawk-eye, it revealed that Ann Owen was a member of the annual staff and more importantly, she was a member of the Beta Club, the smartest of the smart.You may contact Steve Miller concerning this well-intentioned and thought-provoking book at his e-mail address smillero@mindspring.com.
1 comment:
Thanks for the blog entry, Sam! I look forward to seeing your Hawkinsville newspaper column this week about the book.
Yes, my mom's a good one! Glad you gave her some credit. As I mention in my acknowledgments, she's one of my front line editors. She's a stickler for spelling and punctuation, which helps me out a lot. I also continue to learn a lot about frugal living from her.
Post a Comment