Practical Guide to Personal Financial Awareness

The Practical Guide to Personal Financial Awareness is a down-to-earth book for managing your finances that provides a mindful and holistic approach to personal money matters. Financial content is presented that is appropriate for high school through retirement. It is a comprehensive personal finance reference guide that can be adapted as a textbook for a high school or college freshman level course on basic personal finance. The book is also a personal story documenting one man's journey to financial awareness and the trials and tribulations along the way. Having successfully navigated the rough and often murky waters of personal finance, Lorenz provides many real-world examples combined with life lessons learned. This book is an overview of personal finance concepts that can help the average person deal more effectively with money situations in their lives, whether it's buying a car or home, investing for retirement, paying for college, or improving their credit score. The book contains relevant and interesting anecdotes describing financial situations that many have been or will go through. Interspersed throughout are important financial concepts and useful tips, delivered in an easy-to-read conversational style.

Note: Click the "See Inside" triangle on the book cover to view sample pages from book Chapter 8: Credit Scores and Credit Reports.

This financial literacy book covers a wide range of personal finance subjects and can help the average person gain control of their finances. It is both entertaining and educational and is an interesting blend of money education and mindful awareness. Topics include income, expenses, cash flow, assets, net worth, credit scores and credit reports, budgets, home, and vehicle buying, as well as college/student loans, investing, taxes, insurance, retirement, and financial scams. Chapters include Web research exercises using online financial tools, as well as guided examples to determine your personal financial indicators (PFIs). With over thirty hands-on exercises, the book can be considered an "encyclopedic personal finance workbook." Readers can use the Personal Financial Spreadsheet (PFS), which is available for download from the https://heuristicspress.com Website, and customize it to their needs. A print version of the PFS is also included in the book.

James Lorenz is an author and a Certified Financial Education Instructor℠ (CFEI®) living in Ohio. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Information Systems and a teaching certificate in secondary education. He is a published author with Pearson Education and has over 30 years of teaching experience with community colleges and with private-sector companies such as Honda, Motorola, and Cisco Systems. He has worked with financial advisors over the last 20 years and has developed an understanding of personal finance based on first-hand experience. James brings a fresh perspective and insight into the types of financial situations the average person might encounter during their lifetime while also providing many pertinent notes and money tips. Most of the anecdotes and scenarios presented in this book are his personal, real-life experiences including situations dealing with money management, investments, homes, vehicles, and college. He has had careers as an author/instructor in automotive technology, computer programming, and network engineering, as well as personal finance. A portion of the profits from the sale of this book will be used to help promote financial literacy.