--- About Us ---
The Website
This website is a soft approach to help you develop a useful attitude about your money. It is the internet presence of James W. Stone, author of Spend Joyfully! (ISBN 978-160844-084-9, August, 2009, Dog Ear Press).
On this website, Jim (as he prefers to be called) publishes articles relating to our attitudes about money — How to keep track of money; how to spend money; and how to control your desire to buy "stuff." There are also some pretty nice calculators on this site to help you better understand decisions about savings, loans, and the time value of money.
Jim points out that, overall, what he is trying to do isn’t to tell you how to invest your money. There are plenty of people claiming to know how to do that. Rather, this is about learning how to be happy living your life. It’s about knowing what you want to do with your life and making choices to stay on track to do what you want. A big part of that struggle involves money.
Jim is available to speak on many of the topics covered in his blog articles, and also conducts a six-hour workshop on Managing Your Life and Your Money. The workshop covers many of the concepts in Spend Joyfully!
James W. Stone
Jim’s background is diverse, to say the least. His working background (at least the part that he is willing to talk about) includes being a photographer, machinist, manufacturing engineer, marketing and business analyst, and investor. His hobbies include travel and playing guitar. His passion seems to be observing how people make decisions with money.
Jim has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Kentucky (‘76), and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management (‘85).
Getting to know Jim personally helps explain why he wants to bring about this awareness of using money for personal and social good. Jim was born in the coal mining fields of West Virginia, and was raised by parents whose money attitudes were formed during the Great Depression. He was taught to make the most of what you have. His parents never used the words “frugal,” or “thrifty” to describe their lifestyle. It’s just the way things were.
As soon as he got out on his own, Jim learned about credit the hard way. It wasn’t that easy to get credit in the 1960’s. But he managed to borrow money that was hard to pay back. The world was changing. He wanted to have the life he never had. He bought things he “wanted” and thought he “needed”. Figuring out how to pay for them wasn’t part of his decision process.
Jim says his memories of that time in his life become fresh when he talks with people who suddenly find themselves in trouble with debt. He wants those people to experience what he later felt when he discovered he could pay all of his bills and still have money left over.
The Book — Spend Joyfully!
Spend Joyfully! contains many of the principle teachings Jim tries to spread with his speaking opportunities. Those teachings are:
- Have a purpose in your life.
- Don't spend money you don't have.
- When you do spend, use the Four Essential Questions
- What problem am I trying to solve?
- Does this purchase solve that problem?
- Are there other ways to solve the problem?
- Does this purchase bring a new problem?
- Get the most value for every dollar spent.
Spend Joyfully! is divided into three major sections:
The first is about keeping track of your money and understanding what you want to do with your life. The theme for having good control of your money is to know what you want out of life. This is a purpose-driven approach to life and money.
The second section involves what you need to pay attention to when you are SPENDING your money. Again, this is purpose-driven. Don't spend your money mindlessly, get more bang-for–your-buck.
The third section is about living in a world that is dominated by advertising. Maybe you have a good plan for what you want to do with your money, but advertising is intended to change your plan. How do you stay on your intended course.
Spend Joyfully! is available through publisher at Dog Ear Publishing, and through Amazon.com, and BarnesandNoble.com
