Excerpts
Enjoy a few selections from The Financial Crossroads. To download these excerpts simply click the link below the excerpt to access an Adobe PDF file.
Foreword
I have written a dozen books prior to this one. These books have included autobiographies, motivational books, business books, and several novels. As a blind person, I write in a totally unique and quite unusual way. I dictate each of my books to a very talented colleague, Dorothy Thompson, who is the best grammarian I have ever known. As I dictate, she puts the books into sentences, paragraphs, and chapters. We write very quickly and rarely make any changes or edits. With over 8 million books in print, we must be doing something right...
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Introduction
“It really is an economic Pearl Harbor,” said Warren Buffett, speaking of our current economic crisis. What brought us to this point? There is certainly no shortage of blame being spread around. Opportunistic, self-serving companies deserve their fair share of the blame. Their dedication to profit over service led them to create and sell products that were destined to hurt consumers in the future. Additional blame cast on us, as consumers, is also justifiable. Corporate greed would not have gained a foothold had we not cast aside the financial wisdom of generations past, instead seeking to have more sooner and save less, or never, while suckling off of our over-inflated home equity. Much has been said, and more will be, of the actions (and inaction) of companies and consumers that led to this historic economic demise...
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Chapter One: The Power of Money
Money is the most misunderstood commodity in our society, even on our planet. People today understand the price of everything and the value of nothing. There have been more conflicts, divorces, and disputes over money than anything else. In order to begin to have healthy attitudes toward money, we must understand that it is nothing more——or less——than a neutral tool or vehicle...