If what you thought to be true turned out not to be, when would you want to know? Obviously right away! This book is a compilation of eight commonly held financial "truths" that are generally accepted as hallmarks of a sound financial plan. What if they aren't true? What impact would relying on something that isn't true have on your financial future? For example, we have all accepted the concept of the miracle of compound interest. If the exponential growth potential were the only factor in play - anyone nearing retirement would be wealthy. But there are other factors in play that are often not accounted for, consequently, none of us are as wealthy as we thought we would be when we were first taught the miracle. Inside, find out the truth behind average rates of return, long term investing, qualified plans, buying term insurance and investing the rest, seeing your home as an investment, financing large purchases, and asset accumulation in addition to the miracle of compound interest.

Why is a Methodist minister doing stand up comedy while leading his slightly inebriated patrons in prayer? Is it possible to have more than five successful careers in your lifetime? Yes you can, if you are Reverend Dr. James H. Salmon, M.D., FACS, CPA. Dr. Salmon tells all in his memoirs. Now retired from his many lifetime endeavors, the author has written an irreverent, fascinating, and truly humorous book that entertains, educates, and delights through little triumphs and big tragedies.

A question I get almost every day is: "why isn't everyone implementing the principles in this book?" The answer to that question is that everyone who understands these financial truths is implementing them. If you carefully read and absorb the financial principles of life insurance uncovered in this book, you will understand as well. There is a finite amount of knowledge that humans know about the universe. All of this known information falls into three categories: First, there is a certain amount of information that we know and that we are aware that we know. We could say that we are "consciously competent" of this information. Second, there is a large amount of information that we know nothing about. We know that there are certain fields or concepts "out there," but we really don't know anything about them. We might say that we are "consciously incompetent" of this information. The third category of knowledge represents information we don't know, and we're not even aware that we don't know it. We are "unconsciously incompetent" in these areas. It doesn't mean that the information doesn't exist; it just means that we are currently unaware of its existence. As a result, this information currently sits in our "blind spots." Just like in our cars, there are some things we don't see that others do. But if we just turn our head 20 degrees, we will see things we have never seen before. This book will help you to turn your head 20 degrees and to discover something wonderful that you have never seen before. Victor Hugo (author of Les Misérables) once said: "all the forces in the world are not so powerful as an idea whose time has come."

In the late 1960s, Patsy Channing, a stunningly beautiful young woman, was suspended from the venerable Mississippi State College for Women for breach of conduct. The resulting scandal reached all the way to the Columbus courthouse, and the press ate it up. But Patsy’s story starts long before that, living with a preoccupied and troubled mother in Memphis, Tennessee. As Patsy grows up, she buries the memories of her unspeakable childhood trauma and is determined to have a normal life. Music becomes her ticket out and a vehicle for the one thing she covets most—a chance to be crowned Miss America. In Confessions of a Southern Beauty Queen, Julie Hines Mabus provides a peek into that world—a world struggling through the civil rights movement, reeling from the death of JFK, and cutting loose with the musical innovations from Memphis and Detroit. Patsy develops a close friendship with a guitarist at Stax Recording Studio, giving her firsthand exposure to the early Memphis Soul Sound created by such greats as Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, and Sam & Dave. Confessions of a Southern Beauty Queen opens and closes with the end of Patsy’s time at Mississippi State College for Women on that fateful spring morning in 1968 when she entered the Columbus courthouse. Patsy’s story, marked with tragedy and triumph, mirrors that of a growing and evolving South, where change never comes easy.

The hands on the cover of this book are holding a sum of money. The image next to the hands is larger. Why? Because, where your money is stored is more important than what it earns. We have been led to believe that the more money we accumulate, the more financially secure we are. However, which account those funds are in, may make the difference between running out of money, and having more money than we need during our retirement years. The accumulation phase of our life is only a portion of our lifetime. When we really need the money, during the distribution phase of our lifetime, there is very little guidance regarding how to spend your retirement funds. Confessions of a CPA - The Capital Equivalent Value of Life Insurance, explains a strategy that focuses on the distribution phase of our lifetime. Once you determine how much money you want in retirement, only then can you determine how to accumulate it. This book examines the entire process, beginning with the goal and then backing into how to achieve it. It also explains how you can transform your current nest egg, into a nest egg that will spend as if it were three to four times as much as it's paper value indicates. Confessions of a CPA - The Capital Equivalent Value of Life Insurance, explains why this is true. It also explains what rate of return is necessary in any other investment to approximate the economic value of a life insurance contract. When you get to the end of this book, you may wonder why everyone is not applying this strategy. The simple answer is that everyone who understands, does. Read the entire series, Confessions of a CPA to fully understand.