Your Money Map: A Proven 7-Step Guide to True Financial Freedom

by Howard Dayton

Finding your way to a travel destination requires a map and the same is going to be true for reaching your financial destination. Based on the phenomenally popular Money Map concept created by Crown Ministries, this is a simple roadmap for organizing one’s finances through life. Howard Dayton’s expertise and financial experience come to light as he guides readers on a journey toward Biblically based, true financial freedom…

Genres: Finance, Business, Nonfiction, Money, Self Help, Christian, Spirituality

256 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2006

About the author

HOWARD DAYTON was born in Daytona Beach, Florida in 1943. After graduating from the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University in 1967, he served two and a half years as a naval officer. In 1969, he developed a successful railroad-themed restaurant in Orlando, Florida. Howard began his commercial real estate development career in 1972, specializing in office development in the Central Florida area.
In 1974, after a business partner challenged him to study the Scriptures to discover what God teaches about handling money, Howard's life was profoundly changed. The Lord gave him a passion to share the life-changing principles he discovered, resulting in the authorship of four books, including Your Money: Frustration or Freedom, Your Money Counts, Free and Clear, Your Money Map, and his most recent title, Money and Marriage God’s Way.
Howard founded Crown Ministries in 1985 and developed a remarkably effective small group financial study. Crown Ministries merged with Larry Burkett’s Christian Financial Concepts in September 2000 to form Crown Financial Ministries®, the world's largest financial ministry.
Howard and his wife, Beverly, were married in 1971 and have two grown children, Matthew and Danielle. Howard and Beverly reside in Gainesville, Georgia, and have just completed leading their 55th small group.

Reviews

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Christian-based view on money. It contains a very clear road map on how to get your financial house in order. There's hundreds of references to keeping your financial house in order and it was a VERY enlightening course. Crown Ministries also has many quality resources to help out. The Money Map alone is worth it the cost!

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am always interested in reading books about money. Everyone usually has the same idea but does things a tad different. I really like the layout of this book. Easy to read and understand. I like the map idea because I am a visual person and I like to see where I am headed. I do wish that there had been more examples with different charts. Most things are just told and not shown which is a bummer for me. Otherwise I would say this is one of the better money books I have read in awhile.


"Thanks to MP Newsroom for the gift of this book. All opinions are my own. "

[Rap · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must read for those wanting to get out of debt, have a secure financial future, and manage money God's way. Simple steps (that take discipline) are given to help you. In these tough economic times, these are principles that will help you now and for whatever the future brings you.

[Svetlana Sheifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must read. It really opened my eyes to how little I knew about managing finances God's way. In fact, it made me realize how much the Bible says about it. It has turned my financial life around.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book is a must-read for anyone wanting to get their finances in order in a biblical way. I checked this out from the library but need to get a copy to put on the shelf for when we reach the various destinations in becoming debt-free.

[Ross H · Rating 4 out of 5]

Biblically based; practical; readable; helpful.

[Hope · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little simplistic maybe but worthwhile for a money dunce/novice like me. Literary broccoli, not cheesecake.

[Cedric Dukes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Biblical view of money. Only 4 things required from you Stewardship, Budgeting, Giving and Investing. Nothing else is needed. Money is not complicated if followed.

[Bookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book! Visually appealing, interesting, good information.
He has little Q&As on some pages. My two favorites:
“Is it okay with God for me to retire from my job?”
“Yes, you may retire from your job. However, as long as you are physically able, you should be actively involved in service to God.”
Which made me happy since I hope to F.I.R.E. but still volunteer places, to give structure to myself and help to the world.
Also
“I like investing in high-risk, high-return investments. Unfortunately, my wife doesn’t feel comfortable with my approach. How can I convince her I’m right?”
“Listen to her advice! God speaks most clearly to the husband through his wife.”
I love the honor.

[Jessica Allen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is for people who are just starting to care about their finances. The book would be good for complete beginners if those people believe in Jesus. Complete beginners who don't believe in Jesus can get some useful information from this book too. The book has some basic calculations and examples to help people make their first budget. The book is more of a motivational tool or a self help book than a book about what to do financially. I already know the things this book was talking about. I did not get much use out of it.

[Sivon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Howard's easy and encouraging way to tackle finances and go debt free. I would recommend this book over and over again.

[Les · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best books I've read concerning money matters and the biblical view of dealing with our finances.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Book a must read

[Natalie Finch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Practical, gospel-centered advice. The writing was cheesy at points. But I found it overall to be helpful, encouraging, and motivating.

[Lins]

Wasn’t going to read this for school without recording it on here lol

[Lydia Howe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why I Choose this Book

I've not read or studied very much about money and saving and staying out of debt and those are some really important subjects. When I saw Your Money Map I jumped at the chance to review it.

What I Thought about this Book

This book is pretty much what I expected it to be. It was helpful and engaging and really got me thinking. I've never been a big spender, but I've never been good at keeping track of the money I spend either. This year I've been working on tracking every penny I spend and this book helped reinforce that goal.

Since I'm not really in debt, this book served as a very good warning to me that I really don't want to get into debt. Reading the statistics and hearing about how hard it is to work your way out of debt made me very happy to have learned these principles now so I can apply them to the rest of my life.

Your Money Map is written from a Christian worldview and is founded on some really great biblical truths. Howard Dayton, the author, pointed out several times that most Christians think that God tells us what to do with ten percent of our money, our tithe, and that the rest is up to us. In reality, all of our money is God's and we are just the stewards. That means that what we do in every aspect of our finances should be pleasing to Him. Then Mr. Dayton goes on to explain how we can get out of debt and bring God glory with our finances.

Conclusion

I agreed with most of this book and found it easy to read. There were a few pages about investing that I didn't completely understand, but other than that I found the book quite comprehensible.

Rating

I'm giving Your Money Map four stars (seven out of ten) and recommend it to people fourteen and older.

*I received this book from Moody Publishers in exchange for an honest review.

[Ebookwormy1 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was incredibly helpful. The MoneyMap concept made it easy for me to identify both where we were and where the next step was to go. The MoneyMap provides clear, logical, Biblical, financial advice, while allowing enough flexibility for individual circumstances.

The one draw back is the cheesy story used to illustrate the principles. Obviously, Howard Dayton is a financial guy, not a novelist. I skimmed these pretty quickly and focused on the application sections. The story was minimally helpful, but the MoneyMap concepts and explanation are where the real benefit of this book is found.

[TheReadingKnitter/ Kasey · Rating 5 out of 5]

My husband and I read this book together and it's amazing. We started our journey to true financial freedom in February 2012. A month later and we're going to be starting Step 3. It's amazing what God can do when you just let Him have control of your life!

[Joanne Bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book from Crown Financial Ministries that provides a straightforward approach to getting your finances in order.

[Bela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Personal finance tips from a Christian viewpoint. But unfortunately I didn't learn many new things.

[Dave Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really helpful for Crystal and I in thinking about how to responsibly use money. However, I do think it needs to be read with a grain of salt and a Bible.

[Carlie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must read for anyone who wants to be free from debt.

[Zulma · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book on managing your finances in a biblical manner.

[Timothy Kauphusman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book! Now I've just got to live it out and pray that I can stay motivated to lice it out.

[Michelle Brumgard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read this book before. It is a good, basic and simple way to get financially free.

[Casimir Pampo · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are looking on way to save and invest your hard-earned money in God's way, this is for you! Great illustrations with true to life experience and practical application.

[Travis Agnew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great, practical guide to do an entry dive into biblical finances but contains room to go deeper as well.

[Rebecca]

I had enjoyed Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover, and read this mostly just to see how they compare. The practical stuff is quite similar, but the tone is remarkably different. This one was much gentler and contained a lot more discussion of scripture and the practical theology of money. I think both books are good reads; I wouldn't put one over the other but consider them more like companion pieces.