The Money Class Read Online Free PDF Page B

necessarily one they themselves would realize, but for future generations. That is still true to this very day. No matter the current state of the American Dream, the promise still shines and American shores still beckon: If you work hard, you can improve your life and the lives of your loved ones.
    I cherish that promise, as an American and a woman whose grandparents, full of hope, emigrated from Eastern Europe at the turn of the last century. And certainly if you read my books or watch me on TV, you know how important family is in my own life. I’m blessed to have my mother with me, to have a spouse, to be surrounded by siblings and nieces and nephews at holidays, and to be able to enjoy and share the gifts life offers us and the fruits of what we have been able to create with those we love best.
    So is this aspect of the American Dream intact? Well, I’d have to say in theory, in our hearts, it is still alive and well. In practice, however, too often we fall prey to good intentions. We sacrifice the wrong things for the right reasons. We put our financial security at risk to make someone we love happy. We put wants before needs because we mistakenly think it’s a way to show our love. For the past two decades so many of us have spent more than we had any right to spend, all in the name of providing for our families. We used credit cards to buy things we couldn’t really afford. We bought bigger, more expensive homes, with bigger, more expensive mortgages, and then we used the equity in those homes to finance everything we couldn’t manage to save for: a vacation, a college education, retirement. The American Dream of more and bigger and better got distorted. And in the process, we lost the truth that one of the greatest gifts we can teach our children and put into practice for ourselves is self-sufficiency.
    Sadly, even families that have behaved with more financial responsibility have been buffeted by punishing economic headwinds. A layoff or a stalled career that hasn’t produced a promotion or substantial raise in recent years can mean that your standard of living has not markedly improved for quite some time; it may even feel like it’s getting harder and harder just to make ends meet. And even as you work to regain your financial bearings, you may also find that your grown children and elderly parents need financial assistance now too. Add to that poor returns on your retirement portfolio and a decrease in your home value and you have plenty of cause for worry all around.
    No matter what the current state of the American Dream in your family, we have arrived at a point in time that is defined by this one incontestable truth: How your family spends and saves money, and how money flows through the generations of your family, needs to be revisited. For many of you the challenge is to rein in your family’s spending so you can achieve the long-term financial goals you have set for yourself. For others, the task is more complex and far-ranging; it may require a reassessment of your very way of life—an honest reappraisal of your immediate needs and a realistic reworking of your priorities in the decades ahead.
    No matter what your starting point, the first step, the first thing I’m going to call on you to do, is the same: Start talking.
    The New American Dream is rooted in honesty—and honesty must be a family affair. With honesty as your foundation you can then lay down the framework of how as a family you intend to create and achieve sustainable dreams. The lessons in this class run the gamut, from how parents can instill the right money values in young children to how adult children can help their aging parents live a comfortable and secure life. You never really graduate from the Family Class, as you shall see. It is an ongoing lesson—a practice and a privilege for those of us blessed to share our lives with the ones we love.
    A silver lining to emerge from the recent economic crisis is the fact that we