The way we think about money has extraordinary impact. This book satisfies the growing longing for a financial overview that can provide practical advice and demonstrate how money is a social tool. Making Money Matter introduces the reader to common money mistakes, and the dysfunctional nature of the current financial framework. Its overview of the SRI world will inspire investors to push their advisors’ envelope while providing new strategies to meet the demand for positive impact. It provides a philosophical basis for transforming our view of money from an end unto itself to a means to change the world for the better. This book traces the author's journey from early financial innocence to an appreciation of how money works and how it can be transformed. People who care about the planet and society at large need a bridge from deeply felt values to practical understanding and advice that will lead to a new money paradigm. This new approach covers all aspects of money from everyday transactions to high impact investment options. It describes a new investment paradigm that will support both reasonable returns and long-term societal and planetary health. Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) is well established for smaller scale investors in the public space and impact investing for accredited and qualified investors is taking hold in the private-space. Readers want more than flat definitions, and need an inclusive overview that can inspire investors on all levels to move the trillions required for addressing the world’s many dire problems. This book’s unique contribution is a personal, practical and holistic approach to socially conscious investing, which engages the reader in a way that is both healing and empowering. Making Money Matter is designed for mass appeal. First, its biographical, true-confessions format introduces the reader to common money mistakes made by the author, while personalizing the dysfunctional nature of the current financial framework. Secondly, its personalized overview of the countermovement of socially-conscious investment options is designed to inspire investors to push their advisors’ advice-envelope while providing investment managers with practical new strategies to meet the burgeoning demand for positive impact. Finally, this book provides a philosophical basis for the new money paradigm that shows how to transform our view of money from an end unto itself to a means to change the world for the better. This book is aimed at people who are concerned about Wall Street, banking and our current monetary and finance system, average investors, businessmen, progressives, libertarians or fiscal conservatives. However it should be of particular interest to investment professionals looking for new ways of meeting their clients’ needs. Investment managers and consultants need to be educated about this space. This book should be as popular among family office associations as the Chartered Financial Analysts Association. But this book's ultimate goal is to provide inspiration to all levels of investors. Everyone uses money, and the way we think about money has more impact than all the impact investments put together. This thinking needs to change. Just as consumers drove the growth of the local and organic movements, investors will drive the new money paradigm. This may help anyone to begin to think about the real bottom line of every transaction, which is the impact of our actions on the planet - including all living beings that inhabit it.

Your guide to achieving personal financial success from the beginning! $1 from every book sold goes directly to benefitting a children's education charity.CONGRATULATIONS! Please take a moment to pause and celebrate yourself. You are taking a massive leap forward in your life and, after you finish this book, you will have all the tools you need to make outstanding financial decisions every single day for the rest of your life!This book is for you if: You feel like you could have a better understanding of how to manage your money that's congruent with your goals.You're like the average kid in America and you never learned how to manage your money.You're a parent who wants to help educate your kids, so that they can excel in every area of their lives, including their finances.You're a recent college graduate and you want to get started on the right track - financially.You're graduating high school and want to know how to build a solid financial foundation.You're working on getting your financial house in order.You want to learn more about finances and integrate healthier financial habits into your life.I run into so many people these days that are just confused about everything going on with their finances. Many of these people happen to be close friends and family, and I'm determined to help. Let's all be honest here: Between bankers, planners, brokers, attorneys, accountant, and 17 other professionals - you could easily spend more money than you probably have in your bank just trying to find the right advice. We don't learn personal finance in school and the world just serves to confuse us more the longer we spend in it. The other unspoken thing is that everyone thinks their method, or their plan, is the best way or the only way. The truth about finance is that there's a lot of gray area. There are multiple solutions to one problem. There are multiple pathways to every outcome. I'm here to clear everything up. My personal mission is to help young professionals take control of their financial lives - creating a pay yourself first system, avoiding unnecessary costs, asking better questions, and becoming empowered through knowledge. In my head, by reading this book, you will learn so much about all aspects of personal finance, that you will become a resource among your group of friends for all things finance, regardless of what you do for a living. It's a lofty goal.

African Friends and Money Matters grew out of frustrations that Westerners experience when they travel and work in Africa. Africans have just as many frustrations relating to Westerners in their midst. Each manages money, time, and relationships in very different ways, often creating friction and misunderstanding. This book deals with everyday life in Africa, showing the underlying logic of African economic systems and behavior. Two new chapters in this second edition emphasize personal relationships, making the book even more relevant to the thoughtful reader. Maranz introduces these principles, as well as the very different goals of African and Western economic systems, plus ninety specific observations of money-related African behaviors. Personal anecdotes bring this book to life. The result is that the reader can make sense of customs that at first seem incomprehensible. This popular book has captured the interest of Westerners living in or visiting Sub-Saharan Africa: business, diplomatic, and NGO personnel; religious workers, journalists, and tourists. The readership includes professors and students of African Studies. African readers will also be interested for what it reveals about Western culture and ways Westerners often react to Africa. David E. Maranz (Ph.D., International Development) has worked with SIL International in several African countries since 1975 in community development, administration, and anthropology consulting. His earlier book, Peace is Everything (SIL International), examines the worldview and religious context of the Senegambia region.

Many believe that American education can only be improved with a sizable infusion of new resources into the nation's schools. Others find little evidence that large increases in spending lead to improvements in educational performance. Do additional school resources actually make any difference? The evidence on this question offers a striking paradox. Many analysts have found that extra school resources play a negligible role in improving student achievement while children are in school. Yet many economists have gathered data showing that students who attend well-endowed schools grow up to enjoy better job market success than children whose education takes place in schools where resources are limited. For example, children who attend schools with a lower pupil-teacher ratio and a better educated teaching staff appear to earn higher wages as adults than children who attend poorer schools. This book, which grew out of a Brookings conference, brings together scholars from a variety of disciplines to discuss the evidence on the link between school resources and educational and economic outcomes. In a lively exchange of views, they debate whether additional spending can improve the performance of the nation's schools. In addition to editor Gary Burtless, the contributors include Eric Hanushek, University of Rochester; James Heckman, University of Chicago; Julian Betts, University of California, San Diego; Richard Murnane, Harvard University; Larry Hedges, University of Chicago; and Christopher Jencks, Northwestern University. Dialogues on Public Policy

One of America's foremost authorities on financial stewardship, Larry Burkett presents a comprehensive resource in Money Matters. Indexed for easy use, Burkett offers concise answers to the most frequently asked questions from his national radio show. Drawing from over thirty years of Bible and finance study, Burkett provides principles for managing your money in a number of categories, including: housing and automobiles, retirement, budgeting, taxes, business issues and insurance, debt and credit, giving, investments, family and money issues. Money Matters isn't just for those in need of financial Rx. It's an ideal resource for anyone desiring to align finances with Biblical principles.

Presenting the findings of the largest and most incisive study of factors influencing church giving in America ever done, this book details information from 625 churches and their members and offers surprising conclusions about member contributions. Also provided is an in-depth exploration, with relevant case studies, of 12 successfully funded churches.

This book provides a wealth of information and life lessons that can help teens and young adults achieve their goals and dreams. The book describes how your drive affects everything you do, how your family influences your educational, financial, social, and spiritual achievements, and how to manage, save, invest, protect, and share money.