"One of the top five books of 2008" - Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine

A great job of marrying the emotional, spiritual and practical aspects of money, financial planning and wealth management. Highly recommended. -- BellaOnline

Kessel offers "holistic financial advice" in Buddhist-influenced debut promising both a better financial strategy and greater fulfillment and happiness. -- Publishers Weekly

Your one-stop financial guide

Includes ten new tips to survive any economy

• Overhaul your investment portfolio to thrive in good times and bad
• Uncover the roots of your bad financial decisions
• Discover how much is "enough" for you
• Find peace of mind in any financial situation

About the Author

Brent Kessel was named one of the top 250 financial advisors in the U.S. by Worth magazine, and his company, Abacus Wealth Partners, which manages more than $800 million in client assets, was named one of the "top 250 wealth management firms in the U.S." by Bloomberg's Wealth Manager.

Browse Inside: It's Not About the Money: A Financial Game Plan for Staying Safe, Sane, and Calm in Any Economy

Paperback: 336 pages
Author: Brent Kessel
Publisher: HarperOne; Reprint edition (March 31, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0061234052
ISBN-13: 978-0061234057

CONTENTS
Introduction ................................................................................................................xiii
It’s Not About the Money ...........................................................................................xv
Financial Planner by Day, Yogi by Dawn .................................................................xvi
Why This Book? ..........................................................................................................xviii
Financial Freedom for Your Soul ...............................................................................xx
Part 1: The Nature of Mind
Chapter One: You Will Never Have Enough ........................................................3
The Wanting Mind ...........................................................................................................4
Wired to Want.................................................................................................................6
If Only ................................................................................................................................7
In the Flow .........................................................................................................................9
But It Feels Good! .........................................................................................................10
The Financial Toll of Wanting ..................................................................................... 11
Diminishing Returns ......................................................................................................12
The More We Want, the More We Want .............................................................12
Financial Planning and Great Investment Advice Won’t Get You “There” .........13
Wanting Better Investment Returns ........................................................................16
At War with Yourself ...................................................................................................17
Not Wanting ...................................................................................................................20
Chapter Two: The Unconscious Wins Every Time .........................................23
We Get What We Think We Deserve ...................................................................24
Your Core Story ............................................................................................................25
The Script Is Written ...................................................................................................26
The Seeds of the Core Story......................................................................................30
Understand Your Story ................................................................................................31
To the Very Core ..........................................................................................................33
No Quick Fix ..................................................................................................................35
Part 2: The Eight Financial Archetypes
Introducing the Archetypes ........................................................................................39
Our Stories Change ......................................................................................................42
Chapter Three: The Guardian ...................................................................................45
The Guardian’s Core Story .........................................................................................49
What the Guardian Feels ............................................................................................51
Seeds of the Guardian: Survival Mode .....................................................................51
What the Guardian Thinks .........................................................................................55
The Payoff ........................................................................................................................55
Breaking the Guardian’s Death Grip ........................................................................57
Chapter Four: The Pleasure Seeker .......................................................................61
The Pleasure Seeker’s Core Story ............................................................................62
Seeds of the Pleasure Seeker—“Why Suffer?” .....................................................64
The Payoff: Death-Defying Buying ............................................................................65
What the Pleasure Seeker Fears ...............................................................................66
The Dark Side of Pleasure-Seeking: Buy Now, Pay (Big) Later ........................68
A Different Kind of Pleasure ......................................................................................72
My Hands Are Empty ...................................................................................................74
Chapter Five: The Idealist ............................................................................................77
The Idealist’s Core Story .............................................................................................78
Seeds of the Idealist—“The Eye of a Needle” .......................................................80
“Money Just Sucks” .......................................................................................................81
Heads in the Sand ..........................................................................................................82
Hippies with Money ......................................................................................................84
The Payoff ........................................................................................................................85
Breaking Free ..................................................................................................................86
Chapter Six: The Saver ..................................................................................................89
The Saver’s Core Story ................................................................................................90
The Dark Side of Saving ...............................................................................................93
The Payoff ........................................................................................................................95
Breaking the Saver’s Death Grip ...............................................................................95
Chapter Seven: The Star ..............................................................................................99
The Star’s Core Story ............................................................................................... 100
Seeds of the Star—Bring on the Bling ...................................................................101
The Payoff ......................................................................................................................103
A Painful Chasm .......................................................................................................... 104
Freeing the Star ............................................................................................................105
Chapter Eight: The Innocent ....................................................................................109
The Innocent’s Core Story .......................................................................................110
What the Innocent Believes...................................................................................... 111
Seeds of the Innocent ................................................................................................. 113
The Payoff ...................................................................................................................... 114
Get Comfortable with Money ................................................................................. 115
Chapter Nine: The Caretaker .................................................................................. 119
The Caretaker’s Core Story .....................................................................................120
What the Caretaker Believes ...................................................................................121
Seeds of the Caretaker: “He’s Not Heavy . . .” ....................................................122
The Payoff ......................................................................................................................123
The Dark Side of Caretaking ....................................................................................125
A Different Kind of Caretaking ...............................................................................128
Chapter Ten: The Empire Builder .........................................................................135
What the Empire Builder Believes ..........................................................................137
The Wanting Mind and the Empire Builder ..........................................................138
The Payoff ......................................................................................................................139
Treat Yourself Like You Treat Your Business .......................................................140
Removing the Blinders ...............................................................................................141
Part 3: In the World and of It
Chapter Eleven: The Middle Way with Money ................................................151
Think More ....................................................................................................................154
A Four-Year-Old Runs Your Financial Life ............................................................156
Your Money Mask ........................................................................................................159
Your Innate Financial Wisdom .................................................................................161
Hold Both ......................................................................................................................163
This Is Depressing! ......................................................................................................165
The Middle Way for Each Archetype .....................................................................165
Heart Racing?................................................................................................................175
Opposites Attract .......................................................................................................175
Go Slowly.......................................................................................................................177
Play! ................................................................................................................................178
Your Divine Nature and Your Human Nature .....................................................178
Chapter Twelve: The Conscious Investor ..........................................................181
Holy Investing! ..............................................................................................................183
What Investing Is .........................................................................................................183
Interconnected Versus Isolated Wealth ............................................................... 184
Investing as Though We’re All One ........................................................................187
Does It Really Work? ................................................................................................ 188
When the Past Does Not Equal the Future .........................................................189
Doing Good and Doing Well ....................................................................................190
The Middle Way for Investors .................................................................................191
True Diversity ...............................................................................................................193
So How Does a Diversifi ed Portfolio Perform? ..................................................196
Unearthing the Hidden Fees and Costs of Investing ..........................................198
Time Is on Your Side ................................................................................................. 202
Prepare Yourself ......................................................................................................... 205
Chapter Thirteen: The Yoga of Money ................................................................ 211
Self-Centeredness .......................................................................................................213
It’s Not Just for Saints ................................................................................................216
Right Motivation ..........................................................................................................219
If Not Now, When? ................................................................................................... 220
How Much Should You Give? ...................................................................................221
Three Buckets ..............................................................................................................224
What Can You Give? ................................................................................................. 226
What’s Your Cause? .................................................................................................. 229
Teach a Man to Fish ....................................................................................................231
So You Want to Leave a Legacy ..............................................................................232
Don’t Wait until You’re Dead and Gone ...............................................................233
Chapter Fourteen: You Have Arrived .................................................................237
Don’t Do, Be .................................................................................................................239
As Good as It Gets .....................................................................................................241
Appendix: The Nuts and Bolts .................................................................................245
Ready-to-Go Investment Strategies .......................................................................246
Cash Flow ......................................................................................................................249
Debt and Mortgage Management ........................................................................... 250
Retirement Planning ................................................................................................... 253
Taxes .............................................................................................................................. 254
Annuities ....................................................................................................................... 255
Insurance ....................................................................................................................... 256
Estate Planning ............................................................................................................. 260
Financial Planners ........................................................................................................ 263
Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) ....................................................................... 263
Smart Philanthropy ..................................................................................................... 263
Debt Reduction ........................................................................................................... 264
Donor-Advised Funds ............................................................................................... 264
Characteristics of and Practical Recommendations for Each Archetype .... 264
The Guardian ...................................................................................................... 264
The Pleasure Seeker ..........................................................................................267
The Idealist ...........................................................................................................269
The Saver ..............................................................................................................271
The Star ................................................................................................................ 273
The Innocent ........................................................................................................275
The Caretaker .................................................................................................... 277
The Empire Builder ............................................................................................279
Resources ........................................................................................................................... 283
Acknowledgments ......................................................................................................... 289
Index .....................................................................................................................................293

Key Teachings from It’s Not About the Money

If we want to change something about our relationship to money, that change must originate from the inside out, and not from the outside in. We must become interested students in what motivates us to act the way we do with money before we can have any hope of transforming

Most people’s financial behaviors and choices are driven by powerful internal forces over which we feel we have little control. These archetypal forces, so ingrained in our culture and personalities, can affect us in balanced, healthy ways as well as in unhealthier ways, whether we are wealthy or struggling to make ends meet. Most people have become fixated on one set of financial beliefs and behavior patterns—one archetype—in response to particular life experiences. With great skill, willingness, and vigilance, we can transcend unconscious conditioning and experience a significant amount of freedom around money

The book is the result of years helping people understand their core story with money: some of us are savers or caretakers, some of us are pleasure seekers or spend like stars, some of us are idealists placing greater value on creativity or compassion than on financial security, some of us innocently believe our finances will work out without effort, while others obsess about building our own empires with everlasting value. So whatever your relationship with money, It’s Not About the Money™ will help you diagnose your type, provide exercises and meditations to inspire a fresh approach to your personal finances that promises to change your life.

The wanting mind is that part of our mind which can never have enough and will not let go easily. We must learn to create an open dialogue between our unconscious wanting mind and our higher wisdom in order to not be caught by our unconscious conditioning.

We can (and should) invest our money in a way which is interconnected with as many beings as possible. This interconnectedness is at the root of every spiritual tradition, and also allows our money to grow much faster and with less risk than if we invest in a more isolated way.

Compassion and generosity are the cornerstones of a healthy, fulfilling relationship to money. If we are hoarding or gripping tightly to our money, we are essentially reinforcing the belief “I don’t have enough.” When we are in a generous state of mind, we are reinforcing “I do have enough.” This helps us experience true freedom.

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