Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: The Lifestyle Financed: You are enjoying a lifestyle that is financed through debt, and you aren’t sure how you will ever live without credit.

The Career Trapped: You have a job and income, but would do something else if you thought you could afford to.

The Starting Out: You are just starting on your financial journey and want to get off on the right track

The Worried Wealthy: You are managing your assets, but don’t enjoy your wealth because you worry about losing your money.

Enlightened Wealth has been especially popular with women age 40 – 65, who have some money and want a better understanding about how money interacts with their life goals. They are looking for lifetime financial security.

Q: What is this book about?
A: If it’s personal financial independence you’re looking for, Enlightened Wealth is where you start and where you return to throughout the wealth creation and management process. Change is uncomfortable – even if it’s for the better. In Enlightened Wealth, you will have a place to get clear on what’s really important to you and where you really want to go. The “Daily Review” section of the book is designed to help you see what’s happening to inspire you throughout the day, supporting your vision or things that could be improved. Its a tool to help you become accountable to your goals and to develop greater clarity about your true priorities.

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?

A: I’m a Certified Financial Planner(R) professional with expertise in insurance, banking and investments. My career has spanned over 16 years in the financial industry. While working as a successful broker for one of Canada’s largest investment firms, I realized that the charts, graphs and rates of return weren’t helping my clients win in all areas of their financial lives. So I developed some day-to-day financial tools and processes to help explain financial success planning and coaching concepts to people who don’t want to become “money experts.”

My perspective also comes from both personal financial success as well as financial loss and the frustrations of starting over. A government tax audit forced my family into bankruptcy – it was applying the principles of MoneyMinding that brought us back from the brink. I’m proof that succeeding financially is not about sacrifice; it is about individual strategies based on universal facts about finance, success, and you!

Q: How is this book different from other books on the same topic?
A: This is a book about personal finances, but it also incorporates the success teachings that conventional financial planners miss. Instead of saying “save money and cut back”, Enlightened Wealth encourages you to Believe, Begin and Become – by determining your life goals and your “ideal budget”, then working out how to provide the ongoing income to meet those goals. Where other financial planners say “contract”, Enlightened Wealth encourages you to expand your possibilities, your imagination, and your chances for success – and gives you practical tools to do it.

Q: Is there anything else to know about this book?
A: Enlightened Wealth is currently available in two formats – a concise 80-page manual to use with your own journal, and a year-long journal where you can write your daily thoughts and progress.

Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: Written with young adults in mind, Get Your Assets in Gear! Smart Money Strategies by Jan Dahlin Geiger, CFP, MBA is a guide for launching and maintaining a lifetime of wise money management practices. While we assumed individuals in their 20’s and 30’s would be our primary readers, people in their 40’s and 50’s have become our largest group of buyers.

Q: What is the book about?
A: At mid-life, many recognize the urgent need to get their finances on track!

Fortunately for our older audience, it’s not too late to make significant changes.

After more than 30 years in the financial services business, Jan can testify that getting rich is pretty easy: You simply have to learn what rich people do to become rich and then do the same.

Conveniently, the formula for becoming rich involves three basic steps:

1. Get out of debt and stay out of debt.

2. Save money automatically.

3. Learn to invest wisely.

Given such simple guidelines, why do so few people become rich?

The answer is attitude. If you believe you can do something, then you will work to make it happen. If you believe you can’t, then you will not take the first step forward. Because most people believe that getting rich is hard, they don’t bother to pursue the goal.

In addition to the basics, you’ll find several bonus chapters that cover topics rarely discussed in personal finance books:

• How to achieve financial harmony with your mate with concrete, step-by-step guidance for peaceful financial togetherness.
• How to buy cars and how to buy houses.
• How giving money to others in need attracts even more money back to you.
• How to address your mental attitude about money—the deciding factor between achieving success or ending in failure.

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: Throughout this book, I repeatedly steer my readers away from get-rich-quick schemes. As a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER Practitioner, I share tried and true practices as well as invaluable insights.

All in all, my gifts for making financial concepts clear-cut and for presenting them in a lighthearted manner have produced a book that is well-worth your time and money!

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: This powerful book shatters all the silly ideas that hold people back from believing they can become rich. Essential are the easy-to-understand, step-by-step guidelines:

• Presenting practical solutions for getting out of debt and remaining free of debt, several chapters delve into ways to increase income and decrease expenses to build savings.
• Other chapters walk the reader through investment basics so that your newfound savings earn profits.
• An especially powerful chapter discusses the critical importance of using a spending plan.

Think about it: the behaviors we measure are those we improve. Likewise, most people can’t save money because they have no idea where every dollar goes. When they begin tracking their spending, almost all grow free of debt and start saving money within two years.

Though armed with workable, researched advice, I hesitated considerably before writing this book. After all, thousands of personal finance books are available. What persuaded me to put pen to paper was the feedback from people who attended my seminars. Individuals of all ages and backgrounds told me that I had to share my rare gift for explaining money basics.

Not only is my approach straightforward so that anyone can “get it,” but my style is positive and engaging. People respond to me. They are motivated to let go of limiting beliefs and, instead, accept this powerful idea that becoming rich is possible and easy.

Q: Is there anything else we should know about this book?
A: Since publishing the book, I have received encouraging feedback from my readers:

“You really didn’t say a lot that I didn’t already know, but you are the first who said it in a way that made me WANT to take action.“

“I read your book cover to cover and never got bored. I can hardly wait to dive in and get started.”

“My husband is great with money but I have never been. Your book is the first one I have read in 10 years that I enjoyed, and for the first time, I actually want to cooperate with my husband in building wealth rather than being angry with him for saving instead of spending.”

“Usually when I read money books, I feel terrible about myself and need some retail therapy to get over it! Your book is so empowering. You make me feel terrific about myself and you make me believe I really can do this!”

“Jan, you’re the first person I’ve ever met who makes money fun!”

The last comment about making money “fun” highlights the crucial difference between my book and others. Presenting money management in an enjoyable, interesting, optimistic format empowers readers to take action.

Most people feel terrible about their financial predicaments. They don’t need to focus on scolding commentary. On the other hand, words from a “you-can-do-this” coach are extremely beneficial:

“This is so easy!”

“Real people with really tough challenges are utterly successful with this process; there’s no reason why you cannot achieve the same great results!”

“Rather than fret about the past, be grateful for your mistakes—they have taught you what things not to do!”

“You can do it! Simply imitate those who have already achieved their goals.”

“It’s as simple as 1, 2, 3.”

Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: People who are tired of being bullied by the banks and want to know what they can do about it.

Q: What is the book about?
A: Learning how to talk your way out of credit card debt is the quickest, easiest, and most efficient way to start saving money! You can call your credit card banks to negotiate a better interest rate and have fees waived! However, it may not be as easy as picking up the phone and asking. That’s because bank representatives are trained to deter you from pursuing the deals you deserve. Overcoming their tactics can be difficult when you don’t know what to expect.

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: Scott Bilker, author of “Talk Your Way Out of Credit Card Debt,” and creator of DebtSmart.com, has spent 17+ years making banks compete for his business. Now, he’s sharing his personal phone calls to banks that saved more than $43,000 for himself, his family, and friends! These 52 phone calls, out of the hundreds he has made, demonstrate exactly what worked, what didn’t, and why.

His credit card advice has been featured in several magazines, newspapers, and online resources including Consumer Reports, Money Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, The Christian Science Monitor, SmartMoney.com, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine, Reader’s Digest, CNN, BankRate.com, CBS Marketwatch, Woman’s World, and many more.

Scott has also appeared on CNN’s American Morning with Miles O’Brien & Soledad O’Brien, Today in NY with Roseanne Colletti, CNNfn’s Your Money with Ali Velshi, NBC 10 News’ Consumer Alert, CBS News, FOX News, and on more than 1,000 radio stations (coast-to-coast, in Canada, and the UK) including National Public Radio’s (NPR) Morning Edition with Steve Inskeep, The Wall Street Journal This Morning.

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: There is no other book on this specific topic. It’s the most comprehensive how-to guide for negotiating with credit card banks.

Q: Is there anything else we should know about this book?
A: Here’s what the readers have to say about the book (more info at http://www.DebtSmart.com):

“Scott, I just had to thank you. I’m still not sure how we ended up with $129,000 worth of credit card debt. Yep that’s right, $129,000! We don’t have a boat. We don’t have cars. We haven’t been around the world. We did have four cards with over 24% interest with massive balances and after my husband was unemployed for 8 months I slowly started unfolding what a financial mess we were in. (Still are to be truthful.) BUT, I saw your book, ‘Talk Your Way Out of Credit Card Debt’ and bought it. What an investment! We managed to get $34,000 of debt relieved by using your techniques. Okay, with still many thousands hanging around our necks the road ahead is not an easy one, but you started us on the road to recovery. It was the best $19.95 I’ve spent in my entire life! Thanks!”

–Sara V. Olds, UT

“I spent about 2 hours reading this book, ‘Talk Your Way Out of Credit Card Debt,’ getting comfortable with the strategies. Then, after my first phone call, which saved me $210 per year, I was off and running! I was able to reduce my interest rate by as much as 9%. I called all six of my Mastercard/Visa companies and was able to save $1,983 per year from the finance charges plus having a $59.00 annual fee removed and a late fee removed ($29.00). The $/hour saved ranged from $141/hour to $2,464/hour and averaged $1,334/hour. It was so easy!!”

–Fred Robinson, Teacher, Milford, NH

“I am in the same field as Scott, and have recommended his book countless times to consumers. With credit card companies raising rates, fees, etc. his advice could not be more timely. I just interviewed Scott today on my EverydayWealth Radio program and he told me how he just got a 10-month-old late fee waived! That’s practically unheard of. Scott’s book is the
definitive guide for negotiating better rates–real advice that works!”

–Gerri Detweiler, author of “The Ultimate Credit Handbook” and host of EverydayWealth Radio

“Scott, I wanted to thank you. I ordered your books a few weeks ago and read them right away. I had an incredible amount of confidence when I called to get my credit card rate lowered. It was so easy! They lowered my rate from 10.45% to 3.9% (for a large balance too) for the life of the balance, with no fees. I calculated my savings at $3,968. WOW! Thanks again for your terrific advice!”

–Lisa Harris, DE