Fix your relationship with money

Image courtesy of Greenleaf Book Group.

Book Review
Title: 'Killing Sacred Cows: Overcoming the Financial Myths That Are Destroying Your Prosperity'
Author: Garrett B. Gunderson with Stephen Palmer
Publisher: Greenleaf Book Press, 2008; 272 pages; $21.95 list ($14.93 on Amazon.com)

Myth-busting is not a brand-new concept. Neither is paradigm-shifting. But Garrett Gunderson's "Killing Sacred Cows: Overcoming the Financial Myths That Are Destroying Your Prosperity" is a novel take on paradigm-shifting dressed as myth-busting, relative to its brethren on the personal finance bookstore shelves.

"Killing Sacred Cows" is a mindset-expanding vehicle for Gunderson's mission to shatter the foundations of what he sees as counterproductive financial belief systems and replace them with squishy, New Age-y, but potentially powerful new perspectives.

The book's format -- and message -- is super-simple: Each chapter houses Gunderson's attack-and-rethink on an old-school financial doctrine, like: "Financial Security Means Steady Paychecks and Benefits"; "Money is Power"; "High Risks Equal High Returns"; and "Avoid Debt Like the Plague."

What is novel about "Killing Sacred Cows" is the substance of Gunderson's offerings as truths to replace the myths. Rather than compiling a bunch of financial proofs to bust myths with facts, Gunderson largely devotes his energies to proposing, explaining and supporting new ways of thinking about these various tenets -- then uses stats and data to make a case for the paradigm shift.

When, for instance, Gunderson tackles the age-old, virtually unconscious and universal belief that financial security involves steady paychecks and benefits issued by the government, employers, financial institutions and the like, he explores an empirical study to debunk the myth of financial security by relying on others.

But as the chapter proceeds, Gunderson focuses more on emotional, lifestyle and empowerment implications than on financial calculations in advocating personal responsibility and creating prosperity by producing value in the marketplace as an alternative model for achieving and maintaining financial security.

Similarly, the book exhorts readers to attack the core emotional, mindset and behavioral traps underlying their excessive or dysfunctional indebtedness. Instead of the usual finance book fables of how skipping a daily coffee can get rid of your debt "for good," Gunderson's approach acknowledges the utility of right-minded and strategic debt/leverage.

Then, it challenges readers to craft a lasting, personal solution to chronic debt by delving deeper into how the lack of alignment between their consumer behaviors and their life's "Soul Purpose" gave rise to problematic spending and debting. ...CONTINUED

All rights reserved. This article may not be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, in part or in whole, without written permission of Inman News. Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright law.