The Money Mentor: A Tale of Finding Financial Freedom

by Tad Crawford

You don't have to be a twenty-three year old dancer with no savings to end up with the excruciating debts young Iris is confronted with in this latest work by financial and legal advisor Tad Crawford. Every year, thousands of Americans of all ages and backgrounds overtax their bank accounts and credit cards and are left with the tricky task of pulling themselves out of their financial chaos. Rarely can they receive such high-quality financial and moral support as the The Money Mentor provides—and certainly not in the guise of an entertaining, up-beat novel!

As the author tells the story of the recovering debtor Iris, he walks his readers through all the stages of money management, from the painful assessment of assets and debts to increasing one's income and starting to save. Choosing a sympathetic "girl-from-next-door" as protagonist, The Money Mentor offers people in financial trouble what they lack most of the ability to look at themselves from a healthy distance and realize that there is a way out of their trouble.

272 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2001

About the author

My new novel, A Woman in the Wild, has just been published by Arcade Publishing (distributed by Simon & Schuster).
The novel tells of Thea, a psychologist in crisis who leaves her established practice in the city for an open-ended retreat in the mountains at the Institute for Healing and Transformation. Feeling lost, betrayed, and stricken by guilt not to have saved her daughter from sexual abuse, she hopes to find a new path to ease her pain and uncertainties. Soon after her arrival, a “wild” man who roamed the forest with a bear is brought to the institute. When the man is given to her care, she performs a suspenseful balancing as she seeks to heal him as well as herself. Hiking and meditating each day, she initiates an inner journey that shakes her free from the familiar. As the months pass, she engages her guilt and sorrow, confronts her failures, weighs the limits of therapy and self-forgiveness, and seeks to unleash the healing powers of the unconscious and of love.

I'm happy to do book clubs and library talks about the novel.

Reviews

[Betsy]

This is the heartwarming story of Iris Cassidy, 23 years, whose heart's desire is to attain a career in dancing. During a bleak moment in Iris's life she is befriended by middle aged, compassionate Saidah Samuels, who helps Iris gain self-awareness, financial knowledge, a sense of community, trust and hope. While dealing with debt is a theme in this book, the story is sooooo much more! I encourage people of all ages to adventure through this book! (Useful Money Exercises are added at the book's end, as well as supportive organizations & web sites. Additional reading material is listed as well, some of which I've personally already read and grown from.)

I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway and love it! When I went to Amazon, then Barnes and Noble to purchase copies for family members and friends, I learned the book was sold out at both sites. Yes, it's that good! So, I've got the book waiting patiently in my cart for when it becomes available!

[Kat McKay]

I highly recommend this book for anyone in the arts field struggling w/credit card debt!!! Even if you're not in the arts, but still are struggling, it's a good book! It's written in story form, so you're going along w/the main character as she comes to terms w/how she got into debt. You relate to her relationship to money, and learn as she does that through introspection and a wise financial adviser (who befriended her on a park bench one day) she was able to stop accumulating debt and start on the path to paying it off, in spite of the many road blocks that pop up and threaten to set her back financially.

I know I learned some valuable lessons and just from reading it, have stopped abusing my credit cards and listening to their siren songs!!!