'Ultimate Financial Plan' lives up to name
— -- You'll get your money's worth with this book alone, but what gives added value to The Ultimate Financial Plan: Balancing Your Money and Life (Wiley, $27.95) is its website, ( www.ultimatefinancialplan.com).
The book, by Jim Stovall and Tim Maurer, emphasizes financial education stretched over a lifetime. The authors say that what makes you wealthy is knowledge — that is, understanding the options in putting together a financial plan that serves you through all of life's stages. It applies whether you're single or married; have children or not; or are getting ready to retire.
Just how long it takes you to go from cover to cover depends on where you are in developing a financial plan.
Some chapters require pulling out personal files to answer questions, deciphering insurance plans or analyzing savings programs to see if your choices are truly the best ones for you.
There'll be times, they say, when you'll need to ask your financial adviser point blank, "How much commission is being paid to you and your company for my purchase of this product?"
The answers, the authors say, will help you gauge whether your adviser sold you a product that benefits you or one that boosts his or her commission and the company's revenue.
Stovall is author of the bestselling The Ultimate Gift (which became a movie) and The Ultimate Life. His personal story is an inspirational one. Blinded by a degenerative eye disease, Stovall still became an Olympic weightlifting champion and president and founder of the Narrative Television Network, which made television accessible to blind and visually impaired people. Maurer is a financial educator and planner.
The third in the Ultimate series, the book examines the connection between our feelings, thoughts and actions when it comes to financial decisions. True personal wealth, they say, is the contentment that comes from balancing the influence of money with personal values and goals.
"If you stop worrying about money and concern yourself instead with creating value in the lives of those around you, you will have more money than you need," the authors say.
Stovall and Maurer spend the early chapters on basics such as identifying personal beliefs, building goals, monitoring cash flow and eliminating debt. Readers are asked to look at their history with money by creating a "Personal Money Story," answering questions such as, "What is the earliest memory you have about money, and how old were you?"
The rest of the book focuses on planning for a financially healthy future. While not sexy reading, the book explores topics such as how to choose a financial adviser, investing in stocks and bonds, and knowing the tools that will help you construct an enjoyable, worry-free retirement. There is good, in-depth information about insurance — life, home and auto, health, long-term care, and disability income. You'll find tips on estate planning, including ways to avoid probate costs.
On their website, Stovall and Maurer offer a template for what they call a personal "Action Plan." The template helps you organize all the "homework" assigned throughout the book into a financial health plan. The plan — a financial "to do" list — prioritizes your actions and lets you set a date on which to complete the last step.
Gaines is a freelance writer based in Lake Wylie, S.C. Her website is
